Good Boy, M.a.a.d City

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Good Boy, M.a.a.d City

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Ā© Kahlil Joseph, Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
m.A.A.d., 2014
From: IS NOSTALGIA DEAD?Ā
GOODNESS CHAPS
Itās that time again. Top songs of the week eh. Well, I donāt know about anyone else but Iāve got no idea what week it is let alone day or month so perhaps weāll scrap that little feature but not so ruthlessly that it gets dropped as the convenient format kickstarter for my blog.
In other music discussion:
Kendrick Lamar.
Heās really popped up these last few years/decade or whatever time frame is the right one.
Wasnāt a huge fan of Bitch Donāt Kill My Vibe. And I mean I wasnāt a huge fan in the sense that I didnāt constantly listen to it or have a shrine or whatever, not that there was an aversion to the song.
To Pimp A Butterfly however. I am so intrigued by this album.
Thereās so much to it. Objectively, as an incredibly produced sum of music thatās accessible and upbeat and just so much fun to listen to. But also as a huge piece of black history.
Iām not gonna read a couple of articles then paraphrase the information as my own so hereās an already well written link of where Iāve read such information:
https://noisey.vice.com/en_uk/article/how-kendrick-lamars-to-pimp-a-butterfly-artwork-is-the-lasting-document-of-americas-hip-hop-president
Like, I am a huge fan. As in shrine type fan with constant chantings and near religious worship, but at the same time I have my questions.
Why are the faces of the women in the album artwork covered up by hands/bottles/menās faces etc?
Still not sure iām on board with the whole calling women ābitchesā thing but am open to an explanation.
What is the meaning of King Kunta and why the references to James Brown, Michael Jackson, Johnny Burns, etc? So I know that the title references a guy from Alex Haleyās Roots which has been on my reading list for too long but I wanna know how the brain process happened that took such specific little snippets from a board of songs and sewed them back together in the craziest patchwork blanket that makes everybody wanna cut the legs off him.
Probs should read this: http://justrandomthings.com/2015/03/14/kendrick-lamar-releases-new-single-king-kunta-analysis-and-meaning/

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Make it look mad
m.A.A.d, 2015 (dir. Kahlil Joseph)
Brace yourself, I'll take you on a trip down memory laneĀ
This is the opening to the first verse of Kendrick LamarāsĀ ām.A.A.d cityā. It brings to mind Nasā 1994 songĀ āMemory Lane (Sittinā in da Park)ā, in which Nas reminisces about the tumultuous days of his past living in Queensbridge. Lamar takes a similar position throughout his debut studio album - the hood poet who observes and is occasionally steeped into the environment. Itās a vivid recollection that paints images with just enough room for imagination. Itās the type of storytelling that writers cream their pants over.Ā
And over 3 years after the album had been released, it received a visual counterpart.
Any way you look at it, the art of making music videos is not what it once was. Video killed the radio star, and YouTube flattened the industry. So when things like Frank Ocean or Beyonceās āvisual albumā come out, I see the push to make visuals once again significant to music being made in a big way. One particular short film remains, for me at least, the focal point of understanding the art of marrying music and film today.
Kahlil Josephās name is becoming slightly more recognizable thanks to his work on Beyonceās Lemonade, but his other works like Flying Lotusā āUntil The Quiet Comesā and FKA twigsā āVideo Girlā have built his impressive catalogue up to this point.
M.a.a.dās distribution remains less widespread than everything I just listed. There was no HBO special, no creator-sanctioned upload to YouTube - just a premiere at Sundance and an exhibit at the MOCA in Los Angeles. I wonāt speculate too much about this choice, knowing thereās probably some āartistic grandiosityā that the creators behind the short film give to it - but I wonāt be surprised if it eventually comes back online again, officially.
Two things previously said about this short that I will cite here before going forward:
the short film has been described as, "a feeling of Compton, two decades after the riots."
when asked about filming the LA community twice (for FlyLo and Kendrick respectively) director Joseph said āI shoot communities because I think there's a lot of richness there and a lot of honesty and a lot of pain. It's interesting how they deal with that pain, it's been there for centuries. And it's not fake pain. They mask it with all these layers to the point where they don't even know what they're masking.ā
And so, if youāre reading this and youāre mad because you havenāt seen the short and donāt have a way to do so, donāt worry. Because Iāll describe it as I speak on aesthetics and such. (But Iāll also be flexinā because I got to see this shit and you didnāt, HAHA!)
M.a.a.d has little to no narrative. As stated before, itās feeling. Itās a mood collage of Kendrick Lamarās environment growing up. Compton, California is rich with a distinct culture, and itās on full display.
Beginning with the opening lines of ām.A.A.d cityā we are thrust into kinetic energy and violence: gunfights, dancing in the kitchen with strobe lights, VHS footage of Reagan, the Rodney King riots, and tires burning out for no other reason than to help us visualize strife in the city.
Thereās a notable switch of aspect ratios throughout the entire short, giving a scattered, patchwork feel throughout the 15 minutes. Portions in 4:3 with rounded corners, others in widescreen, some segments entirely in VHS format - all illustrating a different look at the community that the artists bear to the audience. Thereās a āpicture bookā feel to it, as though youāre looking at portraits, while the widescreen portions are wholly cinematic, feeling almost surreal, jarring even. Once it depicts the upside down specters that are fixed throughout the city, it becomes apparent that its concern is not solely with documentary realism or heavy abstract symbolism, but something in between.
Kahlil Joseph masters the combination of art film and music video in an age where thereās no real demand for either. Maybe thatās part of why itās not officially online? I donāt know, I said I wouldnāt speculate but there I go typing it down. Whoops.
The point is: the music informs the visuals. None of these images would exist without Kendrickās coming-of-age concept album. And while you can appreciate each frame of this film on mute (or at least I could), you have to realize that theyāre woven into each other in a way that only makes sense. Itās musical. Itās poetry. Itās why Kendrick will always be listed as one of the best of his generation, next to Macklemore. (Nah, Iām fucking with you.)
Maybe the best way to communicate what Iām talking about is to risk being banned and show you a snippet of the āSing About Meā sequence.Ā
It has everything that Joseph to packs throughout: life, death, intimate family footage, magical realism, the city, the people, and home. Is it staged, or is it natural? Maybe both? Who knows?
I return to this short film every so often because I still havenāt figured it all out. Sometimes itās a minute or so, sometimes almost the whole thing. I know itās nice when you watch anything and immediately āget it,ā but thatās not a requirement, and M.a.a.d is proof. I donāt get all of it and I donāt need to. It simply needs to exist, for us to stumble upon, like an installation in a museum.
I hope this kind of content is not a temporary thing. With movies and media moving where they are, itās refreshing to see artists still putting their voices out, even in short form. Look out for whatever comes with Joseph Kahlilās name in the future. And of course Kendrickās name as well. Because it only comes every so often.