Blackety Black
So The B.E.T Aw.ards happened last night.
Lots of hype due to them saying they would handle Boyfriend’s tribute correctly.
I feel like they did fine with it. They weren’t slick, but they were authentic and heartfelt.
Two parts bothered me about the night though :
- Lots of people consider themselves Prin.e fans, but they know like 5 songs at most...mostly from Purp.le Rain They also get upset if you don’t play these songs and call tributes lame if they don’t play those songs and/or hear them performed exactly the way he did them. Also what was up with the audience? Greatness is in front of you! Get your life!
- Princ.e was a Black Man. Like a regular Black dude. #Neverforget This annoyance was agitated by Jess.ie Williams’s speech. Specifically this part :
“We’ve been floating this country on credit for centuries, and we’re done watching and waiting while this invention called whiteness uses and abuses us, burying Black people out of sight and out of mind, while extracting our culture, our dollars, our entertainment like oil. Ghettoizing and demeaning our creations and gentrifying our genius and then trying us on like costumes before discarding our bodies like rinds of strange fruit.”
The awards were simulcast on all the major Vi.acom owned networks (MT.V, V.H1, B.ET, Nickelo.deon, Come.dy Central, etc).
Again lots of hype to celebrate arguably the greatest all around musician of all time…and he was a Black man.
Lots of “Pr.ince fans” tuned in to see the tributes…
And I don’t know why I’m always surprised by this, but SUPER evident that when it comes to Black icons, people are very quick to play the “I don’t see them as Black”, “they transcend race”, or “they’re not REALLY Black” cards.
I was absolutely disgusted by some of the comments made in his FB fan groups. Very clear that it was only one part of him that they loved…or maybe a few including [crude remark]…not even about him I would even say, but more associated with a time in their lives. He never existed as a person, but as a concept or projection. He didn’t have his own thoughts or struggles, he existed solely as someone to entertain and titillate them…Prin.ce? Black?! Legit saw someone argue that his mother was white.
Purp.le Rain was a MOVIE people. His people are from Louisiana. Regular Black!
YOUR IDOL IS A REGULAR BLACK MAN AND THIS TRIBUTE IS BY REGULAR BLACK PEOPLE BECAUSE BLACK! THIS PLATFORM WAS NOT TAILORED TO CATER TO YOU BECAUSE BLACK! BLACK!
I noticed that same dismissiveness in the biographies I’ve read about boyfriend. All so far written by white guys (I can’t with Toure.’s.) They all totally glossed over boyfriend’s R&B/Funk/Rap heavy work…calling it “uninspired” or part of his “decline”…but HUGELY celebrated the pop/rock (Besides Cha.os and Disorder)/folk work he’s done.
Like….though dude started out trying to make you forget he was Black so you’d take him seriously, that was for MAYBE up until Pu.rple Rain…after that he was cool with you seeing him as the Black Man he was…and especially leaned into it when the New Power Gener.ation was a thing for the last 25 years.
So…yeah all you guys are infatuated with a Black man. Not because of who he was, but because of what he represented to you…and he’s not allowed to represent anything that you can’t identify with…and he ESPECIALLY can’t be proud of his Blackness because apparently that’s nothing to be proud of.
Not cool.
In a self awareness check, I admit I’m somewhat guilty of the projections as well, but it’s not me crafting him into this Frankenstein thing that he wasn’t, it’s me studying his life and work and words ALL of it…and piecing him into a full person based on what’s available to know. Good and bad…with the bad stuff making him human. Yeah extra points because he’s also Black…and “different” in his expression of it, all things I identify with, but still…
A whole and full human being with real experiences, thoughts and feelings.
He just happens to be someone who had a platform to share this expressions with the world.
And I’m here to consume and appreciate ALL OF IT!
I will jam SO hard on this song and roll it back 3 times every time it comes up :
Just like I would jam on this one and put a hand in the air like it’s church after a rough day :
Just like I would jam to this one while walking into a meeting to set the record straight :
Just like I would church rock to this one and wait for the day I can relate :
Just like I would be like “and what” when this comes up when in Blackety Black mode :
I like all of him, not just parts…and even for the stuff I don’t favor, maybe it just wasn’t for me.
Everything has its place.
People are the sum of their parts.
Remember these idols are actual REAL people.
“Just because we’re magic doesn’t mean we’re not real.”
~ Jessie Will.ams
