I would not be anywhere near as immersed in grime as I am without Wiley, so I always planned on beginning this process with him. Doubtless I'll be returning to his music over and over; for now, I want to highlight one of the earliest times it astonished me. The song is Gangsterz, about 2/3 through the track's sing-songy call-and-response structure. It's just a small moment really, one of many variations on a theme, but the amount of information in the following two lines alerts the listener to Wiley's gifts as an MC:
"I got stabbed 14 times I can tell you it weren't by (gangsters), my uncle got stabbed like twice and he died, I told you he's one of them (gangsters)"
In these two short lines, Wiley tells us a lot about himself, his life, and the world around him. Violence may be a constant threat, but it manifests differently depending on the recipient. At the start, Wiley brags about surviving his own stabbing, in itself a boast most can't match. You would think being stabbed 14 times is as bad as it gets, but not only does Wiley suggest otherwise, he laughs off the poor technique of his assailants. In contrast, Wiley gives us the example of his uncle, who died from what we infer are two real-deal knife wounds. Not only does this further shame Wiley's unsuccessful attackers, it also demonstrates that Wiley comes from a background of true gangsters, men whose deaths are planned and executed with great skill. In quick succession, Wiley reasserts his legitimacy, delegitimizes his foes, and locates himself as one among London's toughest.
While I wouldn't want to fetishize the violence Wiley narrates, I think it's worth noting the skill with which he shares it. The truth of the matter is more nuanced than the song permits: in his autobiography, Wiley speaks to how his uncle's death deeply affected his mother, possibly to the point of her emotionally withdrawing from his own childhood. So it's not as if Wiley offers us this fact as hero worship. Rather, it's part of a complex method of synthesizing one's own experiences, often adverse, into something meaningful. Drawing again from his autobiography, Wiley doesn't look back fondly on his own stabbings any more than he admires his uncle's. But if such violence can't be avoided altogether, at least he can speak on it and narrativize it into part of his personhood. Better to subjectify oneself than be the object of someone else's violence.
Saturday, September 7, 2019
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
09/19
I am new to the recently departed Immanuel Wallerstein, but this article of his was a stupendous introduction. His emphasis on state-aided monopoly can, I feel, be read productively in concert with Nick Srnicek's Platform Capitalism, which also suggests that the goal and outcome of large enterprises is monopoly. Other areas, such as embourgeoisment and the role of rent, are provocative and helpful in understanding the 'new middle class' and what its powers include as something historically distinct from the bourgeoisie of earlier centuries.
Finally, the last section, on human capital, is perfectly descriptive of the higher education scam currently in place, in which the arbitrary selection for employment from a wide pool of competent (and compliant) students is the basis of the predatory student loan market. For the new middle class, with their precarious relation to institutional power, securing educational advantages for their offspring -- who then accrue necessary human capital -- is the only way for their family line to continue 'living in the present.' That is, without the property and privileges of the old bourgeoisie. In the current economic situation, where overworked and underpaid Millennials have only their own human capital to offer, I imagine this fragile consolidation will become ever-more stark in generations to come as fewer Millennials will even be able to afford college for their children at all (in the absence of some grand, transformative change on the lines of mass student debt forgiveness...which I wouldn't bet on). In exploiting the inter-generational transferral of privileges, the student loan market has impoverished boomers and their children alike -- not to mention older adults, who also make up a significant amount of the debtor percentage.
This is something genuinely unprecedented, in my opinion, and the effects of it will be lifelong in so many ways, as I've noted here before.
The problem is not the cure.
No child grows up wanting to be a management consultant.
The pestilence of radical centrism -- which, with luck, will burn itself out.
Of course the immigration crisis is a moral matter above all, but there will be economic consequences to it as well. I'm reminded of The Specificity of Imperialism, an essay in Viewpoint Magazine, which argues that imperialism will sometimes pursue strategies that would seem counterintuitive from an economic perspective. This is what distinguishes it from "mere" capitalism, with its absolute fidelity to the profit motive.
As a former lurker of SomethingAwful I've always regarded 4chan from a wary distance, but I'd actually never heard of 8chan until watching this report. (PS: despite occasionally putting out good stuff like this, I still think VICE needs to die, and soon)
Probably not the only person who considers a new dispatch from Ronan Farrow must-read. Specifically, his writing gives such a clear view of how power operates now.
Interrogating the bullshit job.
Found myself very moved by Shaviro's remembrance of Kathy Acker.
Too often, black genius is treated like a flash in the pan.
As outsourcing and automation decimated the working class, the higher-educated are now the largest left coalition in politics. Apologies for attention paid to the abuser Piketty, but this critique of his book is a helpful summary for those, like me, who haven't read it, and it also generates its own original insights.
I've seen this POW/MIA research take place on Letterboxd thanks to pd187, and now Nathan Smith's written a great summary of the whole wild history.
Climate change is already here in the Florida Keys.
A comprehensive overview of the Hong Kong protests, their achievements, their limitations, and the way they've reshaped the SAR. Highly recommended.
From Fordism to post-Fordism, dancefloor to silent disco. More by Robin James here, on the sadly departed YOLO era and the heinously hegemonic chill one.
Why is white wealth the standard from which lesser wealth is the deviance?
Horrible account of Rob Cohen's sexual abuse. Much love to the women speaking out, his daughter especially.
Good insights on why horror cinema doesn't need to be saved from itself.
I've yet to read Donna Haraway's works, but I really like this impassioned intellectual history of her.
Nice review of a book including essays by Wendy Chun and Hito Steyerl.
Resisting Bolsonaro.
Kid Cudi's debut album turned 10 a few weeks ago, and it's hard not to see his influence all over US rap of this past decade. It's great as ever, and Cudi's continued success is something that gives me a lot of happiness.
And last but not least, an excellent and informative interview with Jesse V. Johnson, whose newest film AVENGEMENT I liked very much, currently streaming on (ugh) Netflix.
Finally, the last section, on human capital, is perfectly descriptive of the higher education scam currently in place, in which the arbitrary selection for employment from a wide pool of competent (and compliant) students is the basis of the predatory student loan market. For the new middle class, with their precarious relation to institutional power, securing educational advantages for their offspring -- who then accrue necessary human capital -- is the only way for their family line to continue 'living in the present.' That is, without the property and privileges of the old bourgeoisie. In the current economic situation, where overworked and underpaid Millennials have only their own human capital to offer, I imagine this fragile consolidation will become ever-more stark in generations to come as fewer Millennials will even be able to afford college for their children at all (in the absence of some grand, transformative change on the lines of mass student debt forgiveness...which I wouldn't bet on). In exploiting the inter-generational transferral of privileges, the student loan market has impoverished boomers and their children alike -- not to mention older adults, who also make up a significant amount of the debtor percentage.
This is something genuinely unprecedented, in my opinion, and the effects of it will be lifelong in so many ways, as I've noted here before.
The problem is not the cure.
No child grows up wanting to be a management consultant.
The pestilence of radical centrism -- which, with luck, will burn itself out.
Of course the immigration crisis is a moral matter above all, but there will be economic consequences to it as well. I'm reminded of The Specificity of Imperialism, an essay in Viewpoint Magazine, which argues that imperialism will sometimes pursue strategies that would seem counterintuitive from an economic perspective. This is what distinguishes it from "mere" capitalism, with its absolute fidelity to the profit motive.
As a former lurker of SomethingAwful I've always regarded 4chan from a wary distance, but I'd actually never heard of 8chan until watching this report. (PS: despite occasionally putting out good stuff like this, I still think VICE needs to die, and soon)
Probably not the only person who considers a new dispatch from Ronan Farrow must-read. Specifically, his writing gives such a clear view of how power operates now.
Interrogating the bullshit job.
Found myself very moved by Shaviro's remembrance of Kathy Acker.
Too often, black genius is treated like a flash in the pan.
As outsourcing and automation decimated the working class, the higher-educated are now the largest left coalition in politics. Apologies for attention paid to the abuser Piketty, but this critique of his book is a helpful summary for those, like me, who haven't read it, and it also generates its own original insights.
I've seen this POW/MIA research take place on Letterboxd thanks to pd187, and now Nathan Smith's written a great summary of the whole wild history.
Climate change is already here in the Florida Keys.
A comprehensive overview of the Hong Kong protests, their achievements, their limitations, and the way they've reshaped the SAR. Highly recommended.
From Fordism to post-Fordism, dancefloor to silent disco. More by Robin James here, on the sadly departed YOLO era and the heinously hegemonic chill one.
Why is white wealth the standard from which lesser wealth is the deviance?
Horrible account of Rob Cohen's sexual abuse. Much love to the women speaking out, his daughter especially.
Good insights on why horror cinema doesn't need to be saved from itself.
I've yet to read Donna Haraway's works, but I really like this impassioned intellectual history of her.
Nice review of a book including essays by Wendy Chun and Hito Steyerl.
Resisting Bolsonaro.
Kid Cudi's debut album turned 10 a few weeks ago, and it's hard not to see his influence all over US rap of this past decade. It's great as ever, and Cudi's continued success is something that gives me a lot of happiness.
And last but not least, an excellent and informative interview with Jesse V. Johnson, whose newest film AVENGEMENT I liked very much, currently streaming on (ugh) Netflix.
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