Stanley Crouch

[Delano]

 

[Pioneer1]

I wonder is that a picture of him when he was younger.
Doesn't really look anything like him.

[Troy]

By a show of hands who has heard of (1) Stanley Crouch and (2) who has heard of Megan Thee Stallion?

 

Most hand would go up for #2 right?

 

Crouch asked similar questions for a different reasons, but it speaks to the fact that for Black intellectuals are marginalized and raunchy hip-hop artists are elevated and this has become increasingly worse. 

[Pioneer1]

I've known about Stanley Crouch for a long time.
I saw him on BET doing various panels and interviews but didn't care too much for his commentary.

[Troy]

BET -- when? Sure, dude like you, Del, and I have heard of him, but when was the last time you heard anything about him?  Do you think someone who is 30-something is more likely to heard of Thee Stallion of Crouch?

 

Does it matter?.

 

If James Baldwin, Malcolm X, or MLK were alive today they would be obscure fringe entitles personalities eclipsed by the likes of Cardi B and Kanye West.

[Pioneer1]

I'm not sure about James Baldwin but if Malik or Martin were still alive today or lived just 20 more years PAST their assassination dates not only would they be MORE popular today than Cardi or Kanye....Cardi and Kanye as the personality figures they are probably wouldn't EXIST!

With their mentorship and guidance, the intellectual and socio-political maturity of AfroAmericans would have been so much more sophisticated as compared to what it is today that they wouldn't have tolerated Gangsta-rap,  Mumble-rap, and other silly self-destructive forms of AfroAmerican culture.
Which is why the Caucasian power structure wanted to get rid of them.

Jesse Jackson will go out on stage with and shake hands with Gangsta-rappers and tolerate their foolishness.
I seriously doubt that Malik Shabazz would have.
He probably would have organized a group of concerned brothers to go from concert to concert confronting them and shutting them down.
 

[Troy]

1 hour ago, Pioneer1 said:

Malik or Martin were still alive today or lived just 20 more years PAST their assassination dates not only would they be MORE popular today than Cardi or Kanye....Cardi and Kanye as the personality figures they are probably wouldn't EXIST!

 

That is an even more interesting thought to contemplate! Imagine if every Black leader who was assassinated were allowed to live full and productive lives -- from Nat Turner to Medgar Evers to Fred Hampton.  I knew Barack Obama never had to fear being assassinated, he would never be capable of having the impact of an MLK or Malik.

 

Some great writer should spin quite a tale crafting a world where El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz was allowed to live ... imagine that!

 

If Malik and the others were never murdered maybe gangtser-rap and it's sister hooker-rap would never have emerged.

[Pioneer1]

Well, I'm sure Hiphop would be alive and well but there would be OTHER newer even more popular music genres around today, why?

Because the INTELLECT of AfroAmericans would be so much more mature and developed today had those two still lived.
 

Music, art, dance, and other great works continuously flow out of people with high intelligence and creativity.

If you notice......
From the 1920s to the 1980s every decade brought a different genre of music from AfroAmericans.  But  AfroAmerican musical creativity pretty much stopped at Rap in the 1980s and has remained there since.
Why?
For the same reasons I mentioned in another thread about why many AfroAmericans can no longer hold an intelligent 5 minute conversation with you about politics or current events. 

If you want to have a good discussion you better go find yourself a Caucasian.....lol.
A Negro will just stand there looking at you (or ask you for some money) with some red-eyes hoping you shut up and leave him alone so he can keep on going to the liquor store and get his zigzags before it closes...lol.

 

 

"Nicca what da HELL you stop me fa'....
Cain't  you see I gotz ta GIT somewhere??"
 

 

But my point is, while there would have been much more types of music....probably NO Gangsta rap or Hooker rap.

Malik would have shut that shit down QUICKLY.
There probably wouldn't have been the drugs and urban decay to even RAP about!

People often say that Malik and Martin would have been Conservative had they lived longer.  
That's not correct.

They would have remained steady and stable on their moral platform and so would the rest of AfroAmerica, but it wouldn't have been considered Liberal or Conservative.  They would have had another name for it like "Black Traditionalist" or something similar.

But the arguments over abortion, transgenderism, Marxism, ect....would have been held primarily among Caucasians and few of us would have gotten involved because our political ideaologies would have pretty much been united.

During Segregation, Caucasians were the ones divided into two basic sides.....while WE were pretty much united.

But after so-called "Integration", Caucasians remained divide in the same two sides....while the AfroAmerican community FRACTURED into a thousand pieces over politics, religion, music, etc.

Ain't it funny how "Integration" made AfroAmericans MORE divided?
 

[Delano]

I think I may have heard him in person. I also had heard of more of the white performers . However I was more familiar with the  Black artists . Even though though I was hanging out with an artsy crew I made a concerted effort to see Black artists . I felt it was important to see certain artists before either of us died . I also had low financial obligations.

Stanley Crouch  points out that we are more familiar with the white copy than the same Black originator . I can name more actors in the last thirty years years than politicians throughout history .

[Delano]

6 hours ago, Troy said:

BET -- when? Sure, dude like you, Del, and I have heard of him, but when was the last time you heard anything about him?  Do you think someone who is 30-something is more likely to heard of Thee Stallion of Crouch?

 

Does it matter?.

 

If James Baldwin, Malcolm X, or MLK were alive today they would be obscure fringe entitles personalities eclipsed by the likes of Cardi B and Kanye West.

I didn't know he was an intellectual and social critic. I wrote him off because he dismissed Miles Davis and was praising Wynton Marsalis. I just assumed he was a conservative and so I didn't pay attention to him.

I just watched a documentary on Baldwin, and I have seen people quote Baldwin I don't think we will be quoting Kanye despite his celebrity.

[Delano]

You can tell by his delivery he is a poet and he was also a musician.

 

[Guest Hope]

Intriguing exchange. THANK YOU for posting this from SCrouch. This is an excellent analysis and commentary. I wasn't a fan of Crouch's commentary when I saw  him on mainstream shows - not as pointed. I wonder if he got tired of not being heard or making money? Total speculation. We all need courage to tell the truth and say what is, which seems to not be in fashion (was it ever?) these days.

[Delano]

I also was not a fan of some of his commentary. However after listening to this and reading his words he is clearly an independent thinker. And his points are as worthy ody debate as they are provocative.

[Delano]

KmStanley Crouch may have not understood Miles Davis Bitches Brew. It is a scorcher.