Gizmo Is Bungus

Saying "Not all rap music is about violence, here are alternatives" is not helpful, because the violent music ALSO has meaning.

When Biggie Smalls postures about his gang connections and packing heat, he isn't doing it because wow violence is so edgy, it's a powerful statement. Youth in urban areas where gang activity is heavy are often treated as lesser than by default, especially compared to black people the same age from a wealthy background. There's a reason that the "wholesome and respectable" black-lead entertainment of that era was stuff like the Cosby Show, with doctor-lawyer parents, or Family Matters, with a cop dad. There's a reason why the big joke of Fresh Prince is someone with a more unstable upbringing moving in with one of these model black sitcom families.

Standing up and saying yeah, I came from the mean streets, I was molded by this violence and yes, I did what I had to do to survive in a world that refuses to acknowledge my existence as meaningful or worthy of protection. I protected myself, I made my own way, and fuck anybody who tries to stand in the way of that.

Refusing to demonize that environment and wearing it like armor in a way that protects from the authority that wants you to see them as sub humans incapable of only violence and hatred, and saying HEY. I'm here, I lived this, and there is love and there is pain and there is ART in this.

That is powerful. That is the essence of gangster rap.

It isn't about hurting people for fun, it's about holding a mirror up to a society that does the hurting and then calls you a monster for what it's made you. Its about validating the experiences of the disenfranchised and biting back at authority. It's about turning a pain that the world say you deserve being one of those people from those places into POETRY. Into ART.

And thats why it matters.

I'm sick and entirely tired of having to defend my entire young life to people who want to do nothing but insult the music that helped make me ME.

I get around a lot of people who look at me and see a role model. They see something they aspire to be. They see a life they want.

And so they approach me and talk to me and I am excited to share my culture with them. All the way until, for the 784th time in a row, someone tells me "I don't listen to rap"

Or

"I only listen to music with real instruments"

Or

"I have to be in the right mood to listen to that, which almost never happens"

And they don't see how insulting that is. To walk up to me, tell me you like me, that you want to be like me, but then ignore one of the things that makes me me.

You don't want to be like me. You want to fucking cosplay as me. You don't want to watch the movies I watch, listen to the music I like, enjoy a meal or a coffee with me, or interact with anything that I create. So tell me again just exactly what it is you like about me?

What my clothes and the color of my hair? You're missing the whole fucking point of why I keep color in my hair. I never wanted to stand out. I just stood out anyway because people would fucking pick me out. People singled me out. Teachers, preachers, family, strangers, cops, leaders, and outcasts alike all looked at me no matter how boring I dressed and decided that I am meant to stand out. So I decided to stop hiding and stand out on my fucking own

It's the same thing with rap music.

These people did what they had to do to survive, and you don't get to tell them their music isn't valuable because it's not the same as the soft rock that has been playing around the world on repeat for the past 50 years.

Every fucking time I bring up a black artist I like somebody tells me they haven't heard of them and then brings up some black artist wrapped up in controversy to try to pretend THAT'S why they can't listen to black music.

"Oh she's too sexual"

OK listen to the music I listen to. It's not sexual. And even if it was, it would still be fucking valid.

"Oh he's too violent"

OK listen to the music I listen to. It's not violent. And even if it was, it would still be fucking valid.

And by the end of the conversation, they've been introduced to 7 new wholesome amazing artists that they've never heard of and will never listen to again

Because they're FUCKING RACIST

Fuck you and fuck your attitude about black music. Listen to black music

yeah that looks normal… yeah these are all— um. hold on. hang on.

Well i started playing the demo, and that part with the flower, I thought it was gonna be all cute and nice.

BOY WAS I HELL WRONG. THAT FLOWER FREAKED THE HELL OUT OF ME. IM STILL SHAKING NOW.

someone calm me down. im not even 10 seconds and this is freaky. its like OFF  but idk. sdjgklsdjg;lksdjg

“When he died the ravens sat in the trees outside for a week, watching. Taking turns. A horde of raccoons tried to break into the house every night, tearing at the siding. Eventually they gave up, but it was unsettling.”

I don't support her? Matter of fact I'd like to take a firm stance on this. Anyone who hurts my friends I'm not a fan of. Do not mistake my interaction as support. @seraphina-aureline is who we are talking about to anyone not in the know, and I'm tagging her because her public apology has opened the floor for public discussion.

If someone is sending this because I liked her apology post I'm trying to encourage accountability from her.

The apology was nearly bereft of details. She needs to more publicly state what she did and who she harmed in order to reconcile. Activities Sera participated in includes but is not limited to grooming, sexual harassment, manipulation, lying, cheating, harassment of teenagers, misgendering of any non-female person in her vicinity, and repeated threats of self harm as manipulation tactics. She has also tasked others to spy on her victims and report back to her, so that she can further cause harm as recently as yesterday.

This is a person with the ability to do harm in an insulated group of people she helped to collect. Several people have referred to this as cult-like in nature. What I do know is without outside motivation and intervention she will continue to groom young adults and teens.

Sera, if this is not who you want to be I can think of some ways to launder your now-public image.

1- kick the eugenicists out of your discord server.

2- publicly apologize to your former moderator of your discord, who you made do all of your work as server owner and also used as a therapist.

3- publicly apologize to your victims who you have stalked, groomed, manipulated and blackmailed via SH. This includes several personal friends so I will know if this has been done.

4- reassure yourself that nobody wants you dead. They simply want to be left alone. There is no campaign against you, and I would know because if there were I would have been invited.

5- please stop lying to people about your relationship status.

Best Friend Bear was added to the show in the 2000s…