Hot Takes: Thoughts on the
2017 Oscar nominations
It’s “La La Land” ’s world
and we’re all just living in it.
Early yesterday morning,
while
you
were
sleeping
through your 8 A.M., the
Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences released
their nominations for the 89th
Oscars, including
14
nominations
for
Damien
Chazelle’s
“millennial
musical.”
The
only other films
to land that many
nominations are
“All About Eve”
and
“Titanic,”
both
of
which
took
home
the
centerpiece Best
Picture award in
their
respective
years.
So,
“La
La
Land”
is
good.
After the film cleaned up at
the Golden Globes earlier this
month (walking away with
the award in each category
for which it was nominated),
it wasn’t a surprise to see its
name all over the Oscar list.
There were some nice little
surprises.
Lucas
Hedge’s
Supporting Actor nomination
for his role in “Manchester
by the Sea” comes to mind,
as does the screenplay for
“The
Lobster”
by
Yorgos
Lanthimos. Both are unlikely
to take home a statue, but
deserve to keep company with
the other nominees.
There were some bizarre
surprises
like
Hollywood
pariah
Mel
Gibson
being
brought back into the light
with a Best Director nom and
the complete vacancy of the
controversial “The Birth of
a Nation,” a film which, this
time last year, was already
being praised as a Best Picture
frontrunner. In other odd,
record-breaking news, “OJ:
Made in America” became the
longest film ever nominated,
at a whopping 467 minutes.
Similarly, some expected
names were missing from the
list. Amy Adams and Ralph
Fiennes (for “Arrival” and “A
Bigger Splash” respectively)
both
gave
performances
I
thought
deserving
of
nomination. Especially since
both have climbed to the top
of the Hollywood without
picking up a golden
statue along the way.
What
was
really
surprising
though
— a rather relieving
surprise — was how
diverse the top of the
ballot was. After last
year’s
Oscars
were
strikingly white, there
was worry in the film
community (or at least
people on twitter) that
this
year’s
awards
would similarly ignore
the contributions of
actors and filmmakers
of color.
It would be easy
(and I’ve heard it said already)
to say that the Oscars are no
longer “so White.” They’re
noticeably
less
White,
especially
in
the
acting
categories. Six Black actors are
nominated this year—setting a
record. Mahershala Ali seems
to be the frontrunner in the
Supporting
Actor
category
and Viola Davis is a lock-
in for Supporting Actress.
Additionally, three of the films
nominated for Best Picture
(“Moonlight,” “Fences,” and
“Hidden
Figures”)
center
around a predominantly Black
cast. However, while Black
actors stepped further into the
spotlight, Asian and Latinx
performances were noticably
missing,
with
Dev
Patel
picking up the only nomination
for an Asian performer for his
role in “Lion.”
But there’s still a huge race
disparity
in
the
technical
categories.
Bradford
Young,
who
is
nominated
for the cinematography in
“Arrival” is the first Black
cinematographer
ever
nominated for the award—a
tragedy
intensified
when
you realize he’s the same
guy
responsible
for
the
stunning
cinematography
in “Selma,” for which he
was snubbed a nomination.
In an interview with Ava
DuVernay, who he worked
with on “Selma,” he notes that
he is only the seventh Black
cinematographer
inducted
into the American Society of
Cinematographers.
One
exception
is
the
Documentary
Feature
category—four
out
of
the
five directors of the films
nominated are Black. And,
even better, these directors
are all also producers on their
films, meaning they’ll get to
walk away with a statuette if
their film’s win.
So the Oscars are still pretty
White and, more specifically,
dominated by White men.
Unfortunately,
the
only
categories in which we can see
women regularly nominated
are Best Actress and Best
Supporting Actress.
There are, yet again, no
women nominated for the
award for Best Directing. Only
one woman, Allison Schroeder
who
co-wrote
“Hidden
Figures”
with
Theodore
Melfi, was nominated in the
writing categories (for which
there are ten nominees). The
only woman nominated in
the editing category is Joi
McMillon, who is nominated
alongside her partner Nat
Sanders for their work on
“Moonlight.”
McMillon
is
also the first Black woman
nominated in this category.
That there are women and
people of color nominated
in these categories is an
improvement from past award
shows,
but
their
limited
numbers seems to hint to a
larger deficit in Hollywood
on
non-White,
non-male
filmmakers. Hollywood has
gotten better—at least a little
better—at
making
movies
about women and people of
color, but fares less well when
it comes to the other side of
the camera.
MADELEINE
GAUDIN
Senior Arts Editor
FILM COLUMN
Despite progress, Academy Awards still noticeably White
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On Sunday night, the sight at
Detroit’s El Club is impossible
to miss: At 8:00 PM, hundreds
of
twenty-somethings
lined
up for blocks, eagerly awaiting
Isaiah
Rashad,
Top
Dawg
Entertainment’s
young
rap
prodigy. The changeable letters
on the announcement board
show two words beneath the
Tennessee-raised
rapper’s
name: SOLD OUT.
For fans standing in line,
the words are unsurprising:
Isaiah Rashad is a technically-
profound, critically-acclaimed
emcee with a cultish following,
and 2016 was his biggest year
yet. Rashad released his second
album, The Sun’s Tirade, in
September, and due to the
massive success of his debut
LP, Cilvia Demo, which came
out in 2014, his fanbase and
creative space were already
well-established.
At the meet and greet, where
I had a chance to stop by,
about 100 people were lined
up, and the rapper received
each one with a smile, an
organic embrace and warmth,
so much so that it was easy to
forget they were his paying
customers. Standing aside the
merchandise table — because
that’s where the best lighting
is — he poses for photo after
photo while his peer acts as a
cameraman, shuffling through
endless fans’ iPhones as each
one stands with the star.
For the most genuine fans,
the real-life interactions looked
emotional, moving and, above
all else, memorable. Rashad’s
followers
feel
personally
connected
to
him
because
he offers himself wholly and
unashamedly in his lyrics. He
publicly wrestles with drug-
dependency
and
depression
in some songs but, even then,
there’s no embarrassment in
his inflection: He is a confident,
hyper-aware
storyteller
spitting parables for people to
struggle with and learn from.
Life is often troublesome but,
in
Isaiah
Rashad’s
music,
forward-movement is the end
goal. So, for his most dedicated
fans, meeting him is something
like meeting Superman.
Among the crowd of early-
enterers is LSA junior Vincent
Haze, wearing a University of
Michigan long-sleeve t-shirt
and waiting to meet with the
rapper. Haze is at the show
with Anthony Ellis, a friend
he grew up with in Ann Arbor,
and though the two of them
have been listening to Isaiah
Rashad’s music since 2013,
neither has seen him perform
live. When I ask if they’re fans
of Top Dawg Entertainment
— the record label that hosts
Rashad,
Kendrick
Lamar,
Schoolboy Q, SZA and others
— they confirm my suspicion.
“That would be putting it
lightly,” one says. TDE loyalty
is common in this crowd.
Some time around 10:00
P.M., Jay IDK — a Maryland-
raised newcomer with a lot of
grit and energy — popped on
stage to open the show, but
not before his DJ turned the
standing room into a mosh pit
by asking, “D-town, what the
fuck is up?” and leading off
with the Migos’ party catalyst,
“Bad and Boujee.”
Jay IDK walked out wearing
a rubber Ronald Reagan mask
for a creative skit built on one
of his most defining lyrics:
“The Reagan Era put a fucking
voice in my head,” he raps
on the crack-thrilled song,
“The Plug (King Trappy III).”
Though he goes on to glorify
the salesmanship and slyness
of successful drug dealers, the
introductory line remains the
root of the story: The Reagan
Era turned naive kids into
criminals. Or, at least, it did
according to Jay IDK. But
that’s his whole shtick: The
IDK stands for “Ignorantly
Delivering Knowledge,” so you
should expect him to rap with
thorough theses and to deliver
hot takes.
“Mentality” was next on
the setlist, but it wouldn’t
arrive
without
another
clever
performance:
First
the DJ shocked the crowd by
playing “Bye, Bye, Bye” by
N’Sync, setting Jay IDK up
to explain that he can’t bring
his DJ anywhere because he
always “fucks it up.” Jay then
played “Mentality,” on which
“fucking things up” is an
ongoing theme, and the whole
thing proved to be a bit. “She
Blocked Me” and “I Picture”
came next, followed by a
heartfelt accapella verse on
which Jay IDK found himself
watching “The Breakfast Club”
and wondering, “How can I
get in the conversation?” He
closed with “God Said Trap,”
two performances of “Boy’s
Innocence” and a wild leap into
the crowd, where he turned up
with the rowdiest attendees.
By the time Jay IDK walked off
stage, the venue’s volume was
at its maximum and a handful
of unsure attendees had surely
been converted into fans.
11
P.M.
rolls
around,
and
a
“T-T-T-T-Top
Dawg
Entertainment”
soundbite
comes erupting through the
speakers as DJ Chris Calor
emerges to ask the packed,
excited room, “Do y’all fuck
with
TDE?”
After
playing
Kendrick’s
“M.A.A.D.
City”
and A$AP Ferg’s “New Level,”
with the energy peaking, Isaiah
Rashad emerged. In-person,
he’s shorter than expected
(shorter than me, and I am only
5’9”), but on stage he’s larger
than life and able to command
the crowd like a legendary
figure. A huge chunk of the
audience knew every word to
every song (though his music is
seldom played on the radio) and
the small club felt just enough
like a basement to create a real
hip-hop illusion (think the last
scene in “8 Mile”).
Isaiah Rashad thrived off
of the energy. He opened with
“Smile,” a single from 2016,
then tore through “Brenda,”
“Soliloquy,” and “Dressed Like
Rappers” before sandwiching a
seemingly improvised singsong
about hydrating via drinking
water in between “R.I.P. Kevin
Miller” and “Tity and Dolla.”
His songs range from chilled-
out, flowing rap to angsty,
aggressive gangster music, but
it’s his conscious which creates
the cohesion.
By the end of “Heavenly
Father”
and
“Rosegold,”
Rashad was so worked up that
he had to change his sweat-
soaked
shirt.
“Menthol,”
“Stuck In The Mud” and “4r
Da Squaw” came next, with
the rapper pushing forward at
a rapid pace that demonstrated
both immense professionalism
and
and
an
eagerness
to
appease every type of fan.
He jumped back into older
hits, playing “Ronnie Drake,”
“Webbie Flow,” “Banana” and
even “Shout You Down” and
then closed with a string from
his The Sun’s Tirade.
Considering
the
concert
kicked
off
with
an
artist
wearing
a
Ronald
Reagan
mask,
the
night
unraveled
rather apolitically, especially
for a conscious rap show that
occurred
on
the
weekend
of
Donald
J.
Trump’s
inauguration.
Early
in
the
night, between the sets of Jay
IDK and Isaiah Rashad, a DJ
onstage claimed to be curious
if the crowd “felt the same
way” as him about a current
issue, then proceeded to play
“F*ck Donald Trump” by YG, a
protest rap that’s been earning
a lot of attention recently. For a
while, it seemed like that might
have been the most pointed
commentary of the night.
But at the close of his
set, after he had finished
performing all of his own songs
and was simply thanking the
crowd for coming out, Isaiah
Rashad bopped and moved
with the attendees as Kendrick
Lamar’s “Alright,” an anthem
of empowerment that seeks out
positivity in darkness, blasted
through the venue’s amplifiers.
In that moment, his genuine
engagement spoke louder than
any prepared statement could
have.
Isaiah
Rashad
is
an
evolutionary figure, a human
who has struggled (like all do),
both privately and in lyric, yet
has
remained
unswervingly
focused
on
continuing
to
grow,
both
personally
and
artistically. The Lil Sunny Tour
is his largest headlining effort
yet, and he’s fought for this
moment his entire life. No one
can take it away from him —
not even the president. Isaiah
Rashad is “gon’ be alright.” As
a matter of fact, he’s going to be
more than that.
Isaiah Rashad hype and
hopeful concert at El Club
SAL DIGIOIA
Daily Arts Writer
TOP DAWG ENTERTAINMENT
Isaiah Rashad at a recent performance.
Isaiah Rashad is
an evolutionary
figure, a human
who has struggled
Rashad’s Lil Sunny Tour is his most earnest headlining effort
CONCERT REVIEW
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Wednesday, January 25, 2017 — 5A