Re: Jeru + tha bitchez

Kurt Iveson (kiveson@coombs.anu.edu.au)
Tue, 22 Apr 1997 17:22:17 +1000


Hi all. Just my two cents on the Jeru thread.... be warned it's kinda long
and maybe even dull...

>Anthony sez:
>
>>The comments I've heard about Jeru's show confirms what I've always felt:
>>he ain't all that. Even though he's garnered a lot of press and praise,
>>I haven't listened to either of his albums beacuse I felt there was
>>something ugly and fake about him (perhaps it's his homophobic lyrics and
>>insistence on calling out "the bitches"). Hopefully, if more people hear
>>these critiques, they will realize he's the fraud he is.
>>
>
>Huh? Well if you've never heard his music then how would you know? There
>isn't anything ugly or fake about him at all. You're taking the whole
>"bitches" thing completely out of context. The song was specifically
>about women who are overly materialistic and exploitative, and is not
>meant to disprespect anybody else. If you actually bothered to listen to
>the song "Da Bichez", you would know this because Jeru makes it very
>clear that he highly respects women in general. And even if you still
>didn't get it, there's a song on his second album that clarifies it
>further. I will concede that he is a homophobe, which I suppose is ugly
>but I can deal with it.

I just wanna say that I dont agree with this defence of Jeru. This
particular rap makes use of a classic sexist tactic - grouping all women as
either madonnas or whores. Women either fit in with some masculine ideal
of pure feminity (in this case the black queen or the young ladies), or
they dont live up to this ideal and they get dissed for it (in this case
the bitches and the ho's). Apparently men not only have the right to come
up with the categories, but also to judge women and tell them which one
they fit into. Fuck that. bell hooks has written a bunch of stuff on this
if anyone's interested. She also wrote a great essay, though, on the
racist nature of some attacks on the sexism of black rappers (for anyone
interested, point your browser at
http://english-www.hss.cmu.edu/race/misogyny.txt). IMHO, Jeru thought he
could both prove he was hard by talkin about bitches, and still maintain
that he doesn't disrespect women ... he kinda wants to have his cake and
eat it too, ya know? (do people use this expression outside Australia??)

But what should we do if we dont like this kinda shit? I still love The
Sun Rises in the East, I just program out Da Bitchez when I listen to it.
Maybe this is really hypocritical of me, but Jeru aint the only person I
listen to that seems to disrepect women. For example, check Miles' and
JB's autobiographies and you'll find that they both did some emotionally
and physically abusive shit to women they were involved with. Sure their
music doesn't promote this kinda violence, but how do their actions relate
to their music and to our listening to it? Greg Tate's obituary for Miles
tried to deal with this - he was a big Miles fan, and in reviewing his
career he gave the music the respect he thought it deserved. But he
finshed the review by saying that after reading Miles' stories about his
treatment of women, Miles might have been the man with the trumpet but "he
went out like a roach".

As for the stuff about Jeru's shows, I cant comment coz I dont get to see
'em ... and hey, it's not like all this talk about gigs going on all over
America /Europe/etc makes me insanely jealous, honest! (I dont like my
chances of catchin Jeru or others touring Canberra, Australia) But hey,
at least I know more about what I'm missing. D'oh! Someone fly me to
America...

Peece

Kurt