soundtrack to a pending litigation?
I wonder what Drake's court wig will look like.
Let me start by saying congratulations to the people of LA. No really, this gotta be said. On Friday, November 22, Kendrick took note from his good sis Beyoncé and dropped a surprise album, ‘gnx.’ Bria and I were at a coffee shop trying to get work done when the news hit my phone. Instinctively, I slipped my headphones on and told her I’d see her later. I’m always surprised when artists say they’re retiring and then keep on doing what they’re known to do: make music. I could have sworn K-Dot said his last album was his last album, but I’ve been known to tell a lie here or there too so I’ll let him walk it back.
The new album is filled with what I’d like to call cousin bops to ‘Not Like Us’ which arguably is the song of the year, songs you can dance to while someone is getting metaphorically smoked. Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times writes that spite is the fuel of this project, and most of Kendrick this year. Similarly, folks online have dubbed 2024 as the year of the hater, all due respect to Kendrick.
If you ask me, spite is a lot like a good ole fashion crush when you have attention defecit/hyperactivity disorder. It appears as a hyper-fixation, all-consuming. As a late ADHD diagnosée myself, I recognize this. Does Kendrick Hate Drake? Yes. But he also kinda loves him it feels. As a cancer, recognizing that someone loves to hate someone, I still hear the love. Maybe that’s my one Leo placement. Or maybe I’m just in search of my own muse, someone that can make me complete three consecutive songs in 72 hours. A diss record, but maybe also, a kiss record.
Don’t get me wrong, Drake vs. Kendrick, or really Drake vs. everybody else continues to be a fun lil drama cycle. Boy rap has really been boring to me over the years. I’m a much bigger fan of the girlies rapping about being young and hot and scissoring sometimes. But thanks to Kendrick, Real Housewives of Rap has been very, very entertaining. On this episode, Drake is lawyering up. As of writing this, we are two legal actions and counting. In New York, Drake has served Universal Music Group (UMG) and Spotify, claiming they conspired to have ‘Not Like Us’ everywhere. In Texas, he’s added iHeart to that legal action.
I hate to admit this, though, but with each new drop and shenanigan coming out of this, I am slowly starting to wonder: is this all a distraction?
Recently, I watched the documentary film Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat about the UN protest launched by musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach in the aftermath of the assassination of Congolese revolutionary and the first elected leader of the newly independent Congo, Patrice Lumumba. In the shortest summary imaginable, I’ll say the documentary explores music and counterinsurgency. At the end of the two and a half hours, I had the five journal pages full of scribbled words in the dark. I have so many questions about jazz, the United States of Africa (especially as it seems we are in a moment of growing unity with the AES), African women’s movements, the list goes on and on and on. But the biggest takeaway for me is how art can be co-opted by empire.
Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat also talks a lot about the jazz ambassadors program used by the United States during the Cold War. Unbeknownst to artists like Nina Simone and Duke Ellington, these artists toured the world on a program fully funded by the CIA. These artists, while on tour of the world must reconcile their role in rehabilitating America’s image amidst racial tensions during the Civil Rights movement. The film ends where it begins, inside the 1961 UN Security Council protest.
I couldn’t help but think about some of my favorite pop stars and their perpetual use of Americana imagery in their work. Or their allegiance to NFL halftime performances. Or their pit stops on campaign trails. Or their silence on genocide. These acts, like the acts of our jazz ambassadors from before, bolster an American patriotism that ultimately serves people in power and compromise the work of the marginalized, both knowingly and unknowingly. And it ultimately kinda sucks. In the increasing turn to the far right, the “reclamation” of the American Flag or the cozying up to America’s (second?) favorite sport just feels off to me. And so what should I do when I like the music and I’m having fun and then I start to pull at the threads keeping the party going? What don’t the powers at be want me paying attention to as they dangle the music in front of me? Is it that deep or am I reading into things? I guess I’m trying to make more sense of my role as a consumer, especially on my many revisits of this new Kendrick album.
On my favorite track of gnx, ‘TV Off,’ Kendrick raps “few solid niggas but it’s not enough” and honestly, I felt that. In the last year, I’ve been trying to get more solid with the people of the world, attending teach-ins, speak outs, consciousness-raising sessions of the like. I’ve been learning how movements are interconnected, how people power truly is the power I feel closest to. There’s always more to do and I’m trying to find my part in it.