ACROSS
1 Fry
6 Kung __ chicken
9 Market Fresh
sandwich and
salad seller
14 Time of old
Rome
15 Unevenly
distributed, in a
way
17 Brought on
18 Write-off
19 Charming
21 D.C.’s
Walter __
National Military
Medical Center
22 Mennen lotion
23 Govt. mtge.
insurer
26 One hoping to
provide many
happy returns?
28 Hammer
number
30 Big name in
hairstyling
32 Hyperbola part
33 Sudden stream
35 Pull on
36 Flee
38 Adjudicates
40 Maple syrup
target
41 Nearly
43 Take badly?
45 Taoist
complement
46 Uncommitted
48 Farrow of film
49 Ottoman title
50 Tack on
51 “A Death in the
Family” author
53 Relative of Rex
55 Energetic and
enthusiastic
59 Run up the score
on
62 Place for a Char-
Broil
63 Removes
restrictions on, as
funds
64 Hole __
65 Third-longest
African river
66 Uncertain no.
67 Handles
DOWN
1 “Do the Right
Thing” pizzeria
2 From the top
3 Suspected of
misdeeds
4 Certain student
5 Hams
6 First-serve figs.
7 Island reception
8 Spent
9 If nothing else
10 Depend
11 Pal
12 Start of an
engagement?
13 ’60s protest org.
16 Big bag carrier
20 Modify to fit
23 State Department
neighborhood ...
and what 3-, 8-
and 29-Down all
have?
24 Philly trademark
25 “They that have
done this deed
are honourable”
speaker
26 Changing place
27 Examined closely
29 Psychedelic rock
classic of 1967
31 Seek redress
34 Brazilian-themed
Vegas hotel, with
“The”
37 Tsk relative
39 Nebula Award
genre
42 One may begin
with “In a world ... ”
44 U-shaped, more
or less
47 Longhorn rival
52 Adlai’s running
mate
54 1997 Elton
dedicatee
55 “Spenser: For __”
56 Annoyance
57 Hessian article
58 Achieves
59 Fifth-century
conqueror
60 Athlete’s wear,
for short
61 It increases
during plant
growth: Abbr.
By Steven J. St. John
©2016 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
02/19/16
02/19/16
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
RELEASE DATE– Friday, February 19, 2016
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
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6 — Friday, February 19, 2016
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
A
lot of binaries we use
are helpful; by placing
parts of the world in
opposing categories, we create
order out of what is otherwise
chaos.
In the
same vein, a
lot of these
binaries are
also bullshit
oversimplifi-
cations that
can be just
as harm-
ful as they
are helpful.
Gender and
sexuality, for
example, both exist on a spec-
trum, but throughout our lives,
we’re taught otherwise. You
either enter a men’s restroom
or a women’s one. If you’re a
guy, you either go to prom with
a girl or (assuming you attend
a progressive high school and
feel safe enough to) a fellow
dude. One or the other. No in-
between. No overlap. And you’d
better believe this logic is ever
present in hip hop as well: The
binary of interest is none other
than underground vs. main-
stream. I’d like to apologize in
advance for writing about this
— it’s always an annoying con-
versation because it’s always
impossible to come to a resolu-
tion. But the fact that these
conversations never result in an
answer is the answer.
The guidelines determin-
ing whether much of hip hop
belongs to the gritty under-
ground or the glamorous
mainstream are built on a weak
foundation, and with just a
few case examples, the binary
comes apart at the seams.
“If skills sold, truth be told/
I’d probably be/ Lyrically/ Talib
Kweli/ Truthfully I wanna
rhyme like Common Sense/ But I
did 5 mill — I ain’t been rhyming
like Common since”
In just a few bars in
“Moment of Clarity,” Jay Z
summarizes the entire sup-
posed foundational distinc-
tion between underground
and mainstream rap. Intricate
rhymes that may take multiple
listens to reason through, like
Talib’s, aren’t found in the
mainstream because they don’t
have mass appeal. Nonetheless,
they’re more impressive, so it’s
likely that the most talented,
technical MCs are down below
in the dungeons of rap. But even
the earliest rappers wanted
to be able to eat off rhyming.
And there’s no money in that
complex, usually conscious and
often political underground
shit. That’s why Hov dumbed
down his lyrics — to “double
(his) dollars.”
There are categories
spawned in academia that are
relevant and actually line up
really nicely here. Shorthose
and Strange (2004) describe
pure artistic work as that
which is an “expression of
one’s creative capacity through
self-determined labor.” On the
other hand, managed creativ-
ity is “alienated work within
orthodox capitalist relations
of production.” Regardless of
which explanation you resonate
with more, they both distin-
guish art in the same respect.
The real, the raw, the good stuff
is in the underground because
it isn’t confined to commercial
stipulations for success, which
also means it isn’t going to pay
any bills.
From Eyedea & Abilities and
Big L, to MF Doom and Immor-
tal Tech — yes, some of the
most multifaceted rappers with
uncanny abilities to manipulate
the English language never
breach the mainstream. But the
most critically acclaimed and
almost most commercially suc-
cessful album of 2015 (behind
only Drizzy in units moved)
was from a rapper many would
dub conscious, even if he denies
it: Kendrick. An adequate
account of the genius that is
To Pimp A Butterfly requires
an entire column of its own.
Needless to say, it’s as intricate
as it is intense, confronting
still-unresolved racial skel-
etons lying in America’s closet.
TPAB is bold, brooding and
extremely Black — far from the
“money, clothes, hoes” mantra
so strongly associated with Bill-
board top charts. With topics
as explicitly political as police
brutality and Black power,
complemented with a funky
soundtrack fused with jazz and
sprinkled with soul, the kid
from Compton still went plati-
num. How Sway? Doesn’t that
go against the guidelines?
This rule is often broken in
the alternative sense as well
— when underground rappers
think they’re being revolution-
ary, key word think. Brand
Nubian’s 1990 release One for
All is widely lauded as being
one of the coolest, most colorful
and socially-conscious projects
of its time. The biggest hit,
“Slow Down,” may be accom-
panied with a melodic hook
and hypnotic beat, but there’s
nothing mesmerizing about the
relentless misogyny, only grow-
ing worse from verse to verse.
It culminates in Grand Puba
expressing his anger at “stunts”
[’90s for “hoes”] who like to
have sex, maybe in exchange
for “a forty and a blunt, that’s
all she really wants.” He ever-
so-intellectually ponders “what
makes a bitch want to act in
this way,” but, in the end, real-
izes he doesn’t care: “If you
want to live foul and be a dumb
diddy dumb dumb bitch/ Well
go ahead.” He’s still not down
with it though, and so con-
tinues to pass judgment and
wants to make sure you know
it through the use of redundant
word choice: “You’re living
foul.” Great, got it.
The underground can be
just as regressive as the main-
stream. But the mainstream can
also be as monetarily discour-
aging as the underground.
“Y’all a disgrace to C-P-T/
Cause you’re getting fucked out
your green by a white boy, with
no Vaseline.”
Jerry Heller is the white boy
Ice Cube refers to, infamously
known for managing NWA and
favoring some members over
others while doing so. Though
Eazy-E was best taken care of
by Heller, it was Cube who was
the best writer in the group
and composed the majority of
the lyrics heard on Straight
Outta Compton, the group’s
best selling release. Remember
“Express Yourself”? Remember
thinking, damn, Dre can really
rap after hearing it? Yeah, Cube
wrote that too. Eventually,
Cube said fuck it and left. And
understandably so. Though
Eazy was something like the
star of the show, the compensa-
tion simply wasn’t fair; in fact,
E didn’t write much if anything
at all. But it was Eazy who
founded Ruthless Records with
Heller, so it was Eazy who’d
see most of the returns. Lesson
learned: Just because you make
it, doesn’t necessarily mean
you’re going to make much
anyway.
And NWA isn’t an exception
to the rule. It actually is the
rule: Specifically, “Industry
rule number four thousand and
eighty/ Record company people
are shady.” There’s a long his-
tory of labels exploiting their
artists. I’m not going to get into
the TLC story because, hon-
estly, it’s too sad. But read up if
you’re unfamiliar. In this day
and age, though, exploitation
follows a perfected pattern:
Sign the artist after he drops
a dance hit that catapults him
onto the scene, milk him for all
he’s got, and either shelve any
projects he’s interested in or
release him soon after. Much
of the exploitation — the only
way you can get some dollars is
if you dance for it — bears eerie
resemblance to the legacies of
slavery. So going mainstream
doesn’t guarantee a steady
income; in some cases, it can
actually threaten it. Mean-
while, there’s a host of under-
ground artists who release
projects predominantly for
free, yet are able to put food on
the table through touring, mer-
chandise sales and the like. And
avoid dealing with any label
execs along the way.
There are a lot of important
conversations to have regarding
underground vs. mainstream
rap. Many have to do with the
transition from the former to
the latter and the stages artists
go through, beginning with
the humble come-up and ide-
ally culminating in platinum
plaques. In the Internet age,
where so many have the abil-
ity to release music of their
own, what implications does
this oversaturation of talent
have? In addition, there’s a
lot of contention surrounding
going commercial and it being
equated to selling out; and in
the world of hip hop, not much
is more important than keeping
it real. How is this assumption
complicated by artists who
maintain their artistic integ-
rity and still manage to reach
best-seller lists? And when
artists evolve upon garner-
ing mainstream attention, and
their sounds change, is it unfair
to get mad at them for not hav-
ing a static identity throughout
their career?
I don’t have the answer to
many of these questions, but
before we can really get into
any of this, it’s important to
complicate the underground vs.
mainstream distinction. When
categories are placed on oppos-
ing ends of a spectrum, they’re
easier to understand but more
difficult to work with. A little
confusion can actually bring us
some clarity. By accepting that
there are a lot of exceptions
to the rules used to differen-
tiate between underground
and mainstream, so many
that it’s questionable to even
refer to them as exceptions,
there’s room for variation, for
richer propositions. Finally, it
becomes possible that the next
time you do engage with this
topic, you won’t end up wanting
to hurt somebody.
Bajgoric’s e-mail is probably
too underground for you to know,
so here it is: lejla@umich.edu
HIP-HOP COLUMN
What defines the
underground?
LEJLA
BAJGORIC
New documentary
explores American
ideals abroad
By DANIEL HENSEL
For the Daily
“Oh, we live in sick times,
sick, sick times.” About two
minutes into his 1997 film
“The Big One,”
documentar-
ian
Michael
Moore (“Roger
& Me”) relays
his
political
outlook to an
audience
at
Northwestern
University.
During
the
presidential
campaign
that year, Moore had sent $100
checks signed by groups with
objectionable
names
(Pedo-
philes for Free Trade and Abor-
tionists for [Pat] Buchanan
are two examples) to each of
the four prominent candidates
at the time. “And who do you
think cashed the check first?”
Moore asks the audience.
Nearly 20 years later, in his
new
documentary,
“Where
to Invade Next,” Moore is as
unabashedly
progressive
as
ever. This film, though, takes
a more subversive path. While
Moore’s previous films promi-
nently featured the documen-
tarian and his crew attempting
to speak to CEOs at their offices
to question their efforts to out-
source labor and lay off Ameri-
can
workers
during
record
profits, “Where to Invade Next”
finds Moore off American soil,
seeking to improve America by
“invading” other nations and
claiming their ideas as our own.
Moore finds himself speaking
to Italian business executives
and Portuguese police officers,
Norwegian prison guards and
Icelandic politicians.
“Where to Invade Next” is
endlessly hopeful. Though each
interview features cutaways to
relevant tragedies in contempo-
rary American history, the end
of each segment seems to stare
into the eyes of Americans and
say, “We can do this. We can
fix these problems.” And while
Michael Moore could have
cemented his work’s legacy as
a response to Bush-era politics,
“Where to Invade Next” finds
relevance in the still-unsolved
problems in American poli-
tics and society over the last
few decades. Labor, education,
nutrition, student debt, drugs,
prisons and women’s rights
are all discussed, and it is in
this way that Moore creates
his most relevant film in some
time. His ability to touch on all
these matters with a height-
ened sophistication — rather
than attempting to ambush
executives to identify prob-
lems, here he talks to problem
solvers who discuss their solu-
tions — demonstrates his dedi-
cation to actually address these
issues in the real world, beyond
the cinemas.
And
although
he’s
more
sophisticated, Moore is still
his acerbic, subversive self. By
framing the film as a form of
non-violent
and
self-serving
imperialism, Moore not-so-sub-
tly reminds his audience that
the practice of invading nations
to steal their good ideas can
be as American as actual mili-
tary invasion. “Make Love, Not
War” becomes “Steal Ideas, Not
Lives.” And as we learn near the
conclusion of the film, these
ideas all came out of America in
the first place. The Norwegian
practice of putting prisoners in
more trusting and friendly pris-
ons was adapted from Ameri-
ca’s 8th Amendment, forbidding
cruel and unusual punishment.
Tunisia’s recent wave of wom-
en’s rights bills was inspired by
the Equal Rights Amendment,
which was heavily debated in
1972 but never passed.
At 119 minutes, “Where to
Invade Next” certainly drags
and feels redundant, especially
later in the film. We see two
different segments on labor
rights, two different segments
on education and two different
segments on women’s rights.
Moore’s unapologetic progres-
sivism also prevents him, and
us, from effectively under-
standing the complexities of
each issue. Sure, these are great
solutions for these countries,
but what are the drawbacks?
What are the sacrifices? Would
these solutions work in Ameri-
ca? Further, what should we do
about it? Those with the fore-
sight to stay through the credits
will be able to see what Moore
makes of his ending message of
guidance, but for all the solu-
tions Moore provides, he ends
the documentary without guid-
ing the audience to knowing
how to actually institute these
changes. The important ques-
tions are left unanswered, per-
haps strategically so, to leave a
slightly disillusioned aftertaste.
Still, “Where to Invade Next”
shows Moore at his most poi-
gnant. One particular scene
features a German school, with
young students learning about
the Holocaust. Their education
teaches them to be critical of
their government, but the stu-
dents are no less proud of their
country. They’re Germans who
are aware their government
failed their people and other
countries’ people in the past.
This scene is an apt analogy for
Michael Moore and his rela-
tionship with America; regard-
less of one’s opinion of him, it’s
hard to deny that Moore doesn’t
have its citizens’ best interests
at heart.
Moore travels to
seek out answers
FILM REVIEW
A-
Where to
Invade
Next
State Theatre
IMG Films
Moore is as
unabashedly
progressive as
ever.