(We are featuring, for our second instalment of the Dance music post series none other than Professor T.D. Coleman from the University of California at Berkeley talking about Ghetto Tech. I find it hard to express our pride at having such a luminary of cultural studies writing a small review for us. If you don’t know who he is, you better get on with the program and read his classic ‘Ain’t no Fun if my homies can’t have none: a Marxian guide to G-Funk’ published in 1998 by UC Berkeley Press).

That ghetto tech has acquired a bad reputation in certain quarters is symptomatic of the extent to which the members of the i-Pod generation unlisten to music. It is a shame that the acute observations carried out by keen social commentators such as DJ Assault, DJ Funk, DJ Deeon, DJ Nasty or DJ Godfather are only enjoyed at the shallowest level, as mere vehicles for sexually explicit lyrics and dancefloor ‘ruckus’. This is all well and good, and I am the first to get down and dirty when their hits are spun in da club, as it were, but I am foremost a social scientist, and as such it is my duty to problematise these cultural artifacts. This is a worthy endeavour I recommend to any adventurous listener with an analytical mind who might be reading this brief review, an authentic treasure trove of political nuance and witty social observation awaits as reward for this effort, if it is undertaken with a suitably open mind.

Take for example ‘Dick by the Pound’ by DJ Assault, which at first listening would seem to constitute a mere example of sexual braggadocio taking place between an undentified young couple. However, when we look into this piece taking into account the relevant socio-cultural circumstances, it becomes patent that what Mr. Assault is trying to do with it is to convey the confusion beckoned by the co-existence of two metric systems in many supermarkets. That this particular dimension of the track has so far been ignored says a lot about the small degree of attention paid by listeners in the confusing and sweaty milieu in which one would expect to hear it played.

DJ Assault- Dick by the Pound

Something similar happens with ‘Hold Up’ by DJ Funk, where underlying the frantic call and response dynamics that recreate a ‘party atmoshere’ one can find a clear political message relevant to the current situation in the Middle East, this is, the potential attack on Iran by US Army forces. As the lyrics proclaim, ‘Hold on Wait a minute’, a wise recommendation aimed at the highest echelons of the government. What is more, when one of the ladies on vocal duties asks if she ‘can get a ride’ she receives, as a response, the perennial dove-ish ‘wait a minute’ caution. The linkages between ‘ride’, ‘car’ and ‘petrol’ (the ‘shit to be pumped up’ and an adduced reason for US military involvement in the area) is obvious. The solution DJ Funk prescribes for this conundrum, i.e. a ‘pussy ride’, can be thus understood as an homage to old counter-cultural principles which need not be made explicit here.

DJ Funk- Hold Up Mix (DJ Chip & Jammin’ G)

DJ Funk’s political worries are also present in his ‘Shake It’ collaboration with DJ Deeon, which addresses the democratic deficit faced by disenfranchised citizens living in a two-party political system: These two conscious artists are, hence, pondering on the fact that there does not seem to be a great difference between shaking what ‘your mama gave you’ (this is, the vote) left or right. Some would argue that the introduction of the track constitutes a veiled allusion to the frequency with which elected politicians fulfil their promises, but I am classier than that.

DJ Deeon & DJ Funk- Shake It 2002

Let us finish this brief review referring to two tracks by DJ Deeon on one side and Disco D and DJ Profit on the other: the confrontantional dynamics present in the former are a simple example of dialectic gender tension which is resolved through the act of dancing. The eager anticipation of the Booty Bar visitor is perfectly conveyed in the second song, and can be compared with the unabashed stimulation that situationist drifters derived from their random walks. The aforementioned element of confrontation and danger is an indispensable aspect of the experience: let me paraphrase scholars in the field of innovation studies by saying that ‘excitement thrives at the edges’, which is what ghetto tech, to conclude, is about.

DJ Deeon- The Baddest Bitch

Disco D & DJ Profit- Booty Bar Anthem

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(Check out the ever so great Pound for Pound for more Halloween DJ Deeon)

Go to the Concorde 2 tonight to see the awesome It Came from the Sea team djing in the lounge for this party thrown by that famous magazine that features the best column on dance music in the world right now, Electric Independence. Shame they aren’t bringing the guy who writes it down to DJ, but some people who used to be in a band that used to have a crackhead wannabe poet for singer and now are in a band which is even worse apparently woo. Stay in the lounge & enjoy, standard.

Epilogue -
This post is tagged with prog