Lil B Blue Flame (2010, Interweb)
Well holy shit, one of the rumored Basedgod mixtapes with Pen n’ Pixel-esque cover art finally gets a release. If I’m not mistaken, all of these tracks are already available….somewhere…aside from the title track and it’s remix.
I’ve been thinking a lot about B lately (pause) and the volume and voracity of his detractors. Most interesting has to be those that were once supporters of the #based, but now seem to insist that his creative output was a sham from the start or that he hasn’t released interesting material since the first quarter of this year.
Granted, on the one hand, this is to be expected as a once small, devoted circle recoils at Brandon’s ever growing notoriety, which has recently culminated in MTV spots, magazine articles and SF Weekly covers, but on the other hand, it seems to be a reaction to a dichotomy that is beginning to emerge on Tumblr/Twitter: that of “original content creators” v. “rebloggers”/”tricklrs”.
As a site that is often put into the latter category (rightfully so…perhaps?), I can see the merits to what those who vehemently oppose reblogging are arguing — as an upcoming site with limited visibility, you don’t need to repost what UNT, Tumblin’ Erb, Dominick Brady, Sasha Frere-Jones, Sean Fennessey, PRR, etc. have already posted since, 1) most music fans on Tumblr are following those blogs and don’t care/need to see that content more than one time, and 2) they want “unique” (read: unseen before) offerings from all of the blogs they follow. And those are solid arguments.
I guess, however, my response would be that, a) there is only so much music available to be dissected, blogged about, and discussed, and just because someone has already posted a track or mixtape, it’s not per se wrong or unoriginal for your (or our) blog to post the same thing, given the caveat that one should have something original TO SAY about the track/video/what-have-you, and b) as a personal space for people to post about what they love/hate/are aroused by, there shouldn’t be any “rules” or Noz-already-posted-it-so-now-I-can’t verboten content.
I mean, long before this o.c./tricklr dicohtomy emerged, there was already an argument raging over “content” v. “criticism” on (rap) blogs — this idea that posting to a blog multiple times/day on some sort of a schedule (content) was inferior to writing only when inspriation struck. You know, the whole “aggregators are killing rap” line. But I think that argument, and this current one as well, paint with a broad stroke.
Because my favorite blogs, and the ones I (we) frequent, are a mixture of both (though perhaps “both” are in two different places). After all, I want to know the gritty details about the music I am hearing (why I still buy records/CDs for the liner notes) and how others are responding to it, so criticism and commentary are great and essential. But at the same time, I also happen to use the internet on a daily basis, and listen to a lot of music, so I also like blogs/sites where I know there will be new rap posted regularly. Combining both of these elements, to me, makes for an ideal site — I don’t need criticism on every song or tape released (read: yes, the fifth review of Jewelry Selection was overkill) just like I don’t need 43 new posts a day from a single site, but having a few new records/tapes to listen to each day, with commentary/thoughtfulness added in, is ideal.
Which is why Tumblr has been so interesting to watch grow — instead of cats and banana gifs (not that there is anything wrong with that), there’s now a whole bunch of people discussing rap music. Regardless of how they go about it (unless they are bootlegging records), and regardless of whether or not they are talking about the same music one of the “blogs of record” discuss, this is a positive change, imo.
Maybe that “biting,” or maybe it’s actual passion and love for the craft. Either way, sometimes there’s just more to say about Swizzy than what Sean Fennessey posted. (Okay, bad example, but you get the point).
Final thought: Criticism of any creative endeavor is welcome, and we honestly value the opinions of our detractors, because it helps us get better. At the same time, though, credit should be paid where it is due, as well.
-$M
