If the people running this forum do not mind I would like to, from time to time, start a series of posts/discussions that deal with the media’s handling of IR and/or the black male image. I will be posting these topics under a "Let's Discuss" topic heading. I wasn’t sure at first which forum to put these post in so I’ll hope this particular forum of this site will do. My goal is to dive into topics that will hopefully generate intelligent and thoughtful responses. And lets have fun with them too; humor is accepted. My first topic will be American Idol and the lack of black male representation on it. Now, I’ll admit up front that I have never watched even as much as 10 minutes of the show when its being broadcast. All I know about the show comes from newspaper and magazine articles, online write-ups and mostly the endless post-show coverage the series gets on celeb shows such as Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood. So perhaps I am not a person in position to judge the show fairly. But I can’t help myself. For years I have seen the show as one that has no use for black men singers whatsoever. Not just when it comes to the final contestants but even in the initial episodes as well. What stands out is that there always seem to be far more black female singers involved in the contestant groups than black males. I do not notice such an imbalance when it comes to white males and white females. But black guys just don’t seem to have much representation after the first two seasons of this show. Why is that? Did the ‘singing gene” that an endless number of black ladies display stop being produced in their male counterparts? Or is something else at work here? For nearly two decades I have noticed a trend of a shrinking number of black male vocalists in popular music. I have written about it in fact on this website and have even tossed some theories around to help explain the lack of black male singers. But I was disappointed to not come across many people who also felt something was afoot. Well, Ann Powers did my heart good when she boldly spoke of this in a blog/opinion piece recently for the LA Times. Here’s a link to the article as well as a copy of the article itself: START OF COLUMN http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2008/03/idol-banter-the.html 'Idol' Banter: The Chikezie Conundrum 04:07 AM PT, Mar 27 2008 Why does it feel like this year's "Idol" family is getting whiter and whiter? Chikezie going home tonight is a big blow to the Top 10's overall energy and fun quotient and to fans of the R&B-based pop that's well served so many previous finalists. Who's left to provide us with our weekly dose of melismatic testifying? Not Sayesha -- despite her recent spate of emotiveness, she's made for Diane Warren-style ballads, not Aretha jams. Yet Chikezie's departure, especially after he dipped back into Luther Vandross' catalog this week, was no surprise. Aside from Ruben Studdard, the Velvet Exception who proves the rule, black male singers have a tough time on "Idol," hanging out on its bottom tiers. Brandon Rogers, Anwar Robinson, Gedeon McKinney and Rickey Smith all lost their spots before the end of March. Only George Huff lasted into May, and that was after Simon used a wild card to reinstate him. Does this shock you? Take a look at the Billboard charts. Last year's 20 best-selling albums (topped by Daughtry, the whole reason this season's "rocking" so hard) included not one traditional soul man. R. Kelly, who's ruled that position for years, topped out at No. 50 with his album "Double Up." Skinny pretenders Justin Timberlake and Robin Thicke both did much better. R&B crooners still have a place in pop, but it's increasingly marginalized. Marvin Gaye spoke for his generation when he recorded "What's Goin' On," and Stevie Wonder managed to be both proudly Afrocentric and universally minded on his great 1970s albums. But since the 1980s, when Prince and Michael Jackson broke every barrier, R&B's biggest crossovers have almost always been women. (The exceptions appeal to teens: Usher, for example.) The men who do thrive find support from the same fans who've made Tyler Perry a massive mogul: women of color and their swoon-tolerant partners. The reasons for this are complex and go beyond music itself (and, really, the scope of tonight's post). The "urban music" business operates at a remove from other aspects of the music industry, with different promoters, publicists and marketing teams selling its artists to a pre-ordained audience. What's more troubling is white America's seeming reluctance to universally embrace a strong black male voice, unless it belongs to a rapper selling blaxploitation fantasies to teens. If you hate armchair sociology, please stop reading right now. I gotta ask -- is it a coincidence that during the same period R&B's men got shoved into a corner, a stunning number of African-American males were incarcerated? Or that, according to a 2006 study, the rate of unemployment for black men was twice as high as for men of other ethnic groups? Sorry to be a total bummer, but according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, such men also have the lowest life expectancy of any ethnic group. As daily life goes, so goes pop. Female artists tend to be more chameleon, and less categorized by their race; white homeboys like Timberlake channel black style without being burdened by negative stereotypes. Teen artists like Chris Brown seem to be able to break down these divides; hope lies with the kids, as usual. More mature-seeming R&B lovemen, like Chikezie, have trouble crossing audience lines. So did racism do in Chikezie? That seems too harsh a statement during a season that's actually more diverse than usual. Contenders like David Archuleta and Jason Castro rep for the new style of teen idol, whose biracial beauty matters as much as puppy-boy cuddle appeal. Biracial Syesha Mercado and Filipino Ramiele Mulabay contribute to a roster that looks a lot like America (not to mention a certain Democratic presidential candidate). Still, I'm sad that we've lost this season's one true soul singer, and one of the program's most charismatic black male contestants. Chikezie worked his Luther vibe a little too hard in the end, solidifying his stance in a way that mainstream America couldn't support. He should have taken a cue from the black male singer to find the greatest recent success -- Akon, who almost beat Daughtry for last year's top spot. Like Chikezie, Akon has African roots, and he's used his immigrant voice to shake up preconceived notions of what a soul singer should sound like. Chikezie kept talking about "Nigerian cultural music" during his interviews; he should have incorporated some into this performances. Maybe then he wouldn't have been Konvicted tonight. Ann Powers END OF COLUMN When you click on the link tot the article you can read responses to this piece. Also below you will find links to other blogs discussing this writeup as well and the numerous e-mail responses they generated too. Not surprisingly most of the responses are negative towards Ms Powers’ comments. They disagree which is fair enough. But annoyingly they tend to also dismiss any consideration of any possible racism. To me what’s even worse than a person who is always crying racism is a person who is always claiming that racism does not exist or is not the issue at hand. (links) http://throwingthings.blogspot.com/2008_03_23_archive.html#4494564505745532277 http://althouse.blogspot.com/2008/03/this-wasnt-nikki-over-tamyra-bad-or.html Look, I do not agree with everything Ms Powers wrote (such as equating the current problems of crime by black men as being a reason why so few of them are successful crossover songs). And I think she made an error by not pointing out that record companies, including black-owned record companies or labels, are not going out their way trying to find and produce the next, great black male singer as they do black female singers (Beyonce was recently quoted as saying that the first thing she will do now that she is working for Jay Z’s company is to produce the album for a new black singer she discovered…who of course is female). But Ms Powers, whom I'm assuming is black, earned my respect for pointing out how this trend of thinning out of black male singers has been going on since the end of the 80s. I thought was the only one to have noticed that! By the way let me point out that with all due respect to his abilities and untimely death I never liked Luther Vandross. He was part of the problem because his songs seemed meant only for women. As much as females adored idols like Sam Cook, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and Barry White, male listeners loved their songs just as much and wanted to be like them. Not many homeys that I know of really had passion for Vandross’ music unless it was something to play to help get the panties off of their latest conquests. But something to listen to and sing along while at work or when by one’s self in a car? No, Vandros wasn’t the type of stuff for guys to gravitate to in those situations. Besides Vandross’ crossover appeal was a bit limited and he was a fat, corny and obviously gay dude that did not threaten white society. And the vast majority of straight black men who listened to R&B did not want to be him. But I digress... Waiting to read some of ya’s responses.
