☆ a zombie in my body

have you been listening without your ears? be honest.

I was gonna make a list of VBS songs with rap but I'm so flabbergasted id even have to think about doing that that I can't even comprehend doing so since its at minimum half of their discography: so take some obvious examples from the top of my head:

RAD DOGS, READY STEADY, Beyond the way, Ultra C, Fire Dance, CRAZY, Wah Wah World, Crash The Party, Accelerate, Realize, YY, Alter Ego, Egoist, Shanti, Hana Obore, Bring it on, Doctor Funky Beat, Imperial Girl, Ifuudoudou, Tabi ni Kaeru

AND THERES EVEN MORE THAN JUST THOSE.

it is insanely fucking frustrating to have Black-led genres like hip-hop, r&b, soul, jazz, blues, house, etc. be treated as if they're inherently dirtier or messier and something that you, y'know, just kinda think you wouldn't like before you've even listened to one artist. but the NANOSECOND someone who isn't Black touches it (or when it's being performed by POC portraying our oppressors *cough* Hamilton *cough*), it's suddenly INCREDIBLY peak.

something else telling to me is that a lot—a LOT—of y'all seem to have this thing where all rap is gangsta rap (the genre formerly known as reality rap) to you. again, back to that "inherently more sexual and violent" thing but y'all don't even care about learning about its history, the kayfabe that went into it for a lot of rappers, and the fact that it was a direct response to things like the crack epidemic, the War on Drugs, police brutality, etc. but it's fine bc at least Ifuudoudou and SHANTI are bangers, right? and that's...different! somehow.

(also what i'm saying is that your assumption that all rap is gangsta rap AND the fact that that instantly turns you off is, in fact, something you should examine because there's a 99% chance it stems from internalized biases that you think yourself immune to.)

you know what would've been a great opportunity to learn about hip-hop history and actually have some Black fucking characters, actually? VBS's trip to the US. it didn't even really have to go into detail. just get the audience interested enough to research the history more on their own. you could've framed it as like "using our voices to speak out against injustices and tell our stories" or something. but no. two white boys. two white girls. a tan man. no actual hip-hop history. it kills me to say this but it probably wouldn't have been marketable or profitable lmfao.

Bunch of Friends: Starring Hannah (Hanbon) Bondalo