Some of the attributions in this post are missing an author. My apologies.
Sometimes I feel like John Barth with this stuff. When he was in Iowa City
He had cards with quotation marks and parantheses that he held up
to help us keep track of how his discource nested ...
Thanks to Gareth for a very substantive reply, almost all of which
I deleted. If you blew by his post go back and have a look.
On Tue, 28 Mar 2000, Gareth Metford wrote:
quoted 14 lines i always saw two-step>
> > i always saw two-step
> > as the whole armani-suit 'sarf' london well-dressed
> > (over-dressed?) champagne ritzy club thang, rather
> > than any big underground experience. or is two-step
> > and speed garage not the same thing?
>
> > So presumably what your saying is that 2-step IS a cultural force?
> > Yer avin a barf aintcha? So going to a nightclub in yer beamer dressed
> > in moschino, ordering champagne and partaking of a few lines of the
> > white stuff is doing something that is a 'cultural force'?
>
> Well, I think there's more to it than that. But this whole business of the
> champagne-swilling 2-step lifestyle *is* a tricky one, no doubt.
Not to speak for a bunch of people I've never met and probably never
will meet, but ...
I can't imagine that its any different than any young urban minority
who have by their efforts have achieved some success. The way you
show your success is by it's material fruits, so you dress up nice,
tip big, and buy the best beverages. When you're just one generation
away from poverty, material success is always a cause for celebration.
It just happens that in the UK, underground garage has sprung up
and reflects that celebration. In fact the producers arise from the
same situation -- they're the first generation who could afford to
own professional recording equipment, and work things out for
themselves.
Where I'm from I've been at parties for a group known as the Black
Graduate Professionals, and they're all about dressing sharp and listening
to R&B-influenced hip hop. It's about Juvenile and D"Angelo instead
of 2-step, but it's the same thing: People in a certain position in life
looking for music that speaks to their condition.
So how can it not be a cultural force? You don't have to listen to it
if you don't like it, but don't dismiss it as trivial.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org
For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org