Racism in the Punk/Alternative Scene (Jason Aalon of Fever 333, Hanif Abdurraqib, Sky Acord & More)
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- Опубліковано 7 чер 2020
- A discussion led by some Black voices in our community, so they can share their experiences growing up in our scene, and the rest of us can LISTEN. How can we as Emo Nite and the alternative/punk community as a whole move forward and be more aware of places where racism exists? We want to change the shape of the alternative music scene and take steps to make sure people of color always feel included, not only in Emo Nite, but in the scene as whole.
Moderated by Courtney Coles - Photographer/To The Front ( / kernieflakes )
Panelists:
Jason Aalon - Fever 333 and Letlive ( / mrjasonaalon )
Hanif Abdurraqib - Writer ( / nifmuhammad )
Sky Acord - Issues - ( / skyduck64 )
Aaron Brown - Emo Nite - ( / brownabouttowne )
Jordan Calhoun - Heart Like War - ( / s0calhoun ) - Розваги
Thank you for this conversation, so interesting!
Two great quotes I wrote down:
- “Being black is the most punk thing ever!” (Aaron)
- “We didn’t learn about black kings and queens, we learned about slavery, and we didn’t even learn it right, we had to go and self educate.” (Jason)
Thank you for letting them have a platform! We need to see more black musicians and artists in this type of scene. I grew up listening to Issues and Jason Aalon and their music has been so impactful.
Rhode Loïs give Meet Me @ The Altar a listen to, they are an all girl pop-punk band from Florida, Atlanta and New Jersey. My favorite local band since 2017, but recently they aren’t really local anymore, give them a try
@@mikaruisu698 Yeah, found out about them two years ago. They’re sick 👍
The one thing I don’t like is how some people are like “oh black kids can’t be emo or scene or goth” i find that dumb and annoying i been emo since middle school and it’s annoying how people see being punk or being in a band if you’re black it’s annoying anyone can be punk or emo it really doesn’t matter being punk or emo or goth isn’t a race
Especially when we created rock music (and country, rap, blues, jazz) in the first place.
Erica M ikr!!! We made rock music
Preach!!
Erica M you heard Issues new album? A lot of og fans aren’t into because it’s not like they’re first two albums, but I love it. Its got so many different layers and elements of pop, r&b, jazz, metalcore, soul, hip hop and josh’s drumming style is all over the place if you listen closely. Tyler’s vocals on ‘Find Forever’ (my favorite song on the record, that and ’Without You’)are so similar to Bruno Mars (and sort of like Set It Off’s Cody Carson), which makes it an amazing upbeat heavy pop track. It’s catchy as fuck, and an instant bop, with the gospel-inspired choir gang vocals adding to the fun on that song. One thing i’ll add too, is it sounds very Atlanta, the gospel and funk elements are there in the sound, you can hear it and I’m from Atlanta myself. Its one of my favorite albums of 2019, i’d recommend listening if you haven’t heard it yet ;)
Who has ever said black kids can't be emo, scene or goth? Do you have a reference?
THIS FELT SO GOOD TO LISTEN TO! Thank y'all for having this discussion in the open. Where's those FB and Reddit groups? I'm trying to keep this convo going!!! \m/
Being biracial all my life, its been confusing for me and still to this day is confusing. I remember first coming into the scene, and when I started going to shows, that I was definetely the odd one out in the crowd always. I’m 6,3, black, skinny, and I have an afro, (hairs longer now). I don’t look like the white kids with bangs, straight hair, ear piercings, and tattoos in the crowd or what the media portrays alternative, punk, rock and hardcore to be. I honestly used to want to look like Kellin Quinn or Gerard Way or John Floreani or Derek Discanio so bad, all white vocalists, but over time stopped and was happy that i looked the way I look. Not saying that to say I was ever bashed for being black at a show, no never, but people of color reading this comment know what I mean or am trying to say. Some of my favorite bands are the ones that stand out to me like Sky said, Issues because of Sky’s bass playing and AJ’s guitar parts, Fever 333 because of the drum sections in their music and Jasons presence and what hes talking about in his lyrics and how he performs them, Waterparks because they move from a wide variety of music genres into their sound and can’t be labeled as one, its absolutely impossible. What they said about being trying to be apart of the culture of rock and punk, that was bluprinted and established by black people, and then other black people try to shame us and belittle us for it I can relate to. I can’t tell you how many times I’d play Good Charlotte or Rage Against The Machine or The Used and then when I recommend it, I get hit with “thats that white people shit“. Going to Warped Tour, and going to shows has always been therapuetic and saved me, because its the only time I truly can be myself without fearing how people are gonna judge me. Every show I go to, I always am the wildest and pretty mucj the only black guy in the mosh pit having a good time. We do need to support more black local artists, and not just black, but people of color, especially in this scene we grew up in. My favorite band is an all girl pop punk band called Meet Me @ The Altar, and they’ve been a band since 2015. Been supporting them since 2017 and they have always brought it, every time and it baffles me to see how long it took them just to get support from other bigger pop punk bands, because they’re black? Because their woman of color dominating a genre thats used to being dominated by white males?
I say all this to say, black people of the emo/scene/punk/hardcore/pop-punk/metalcore/rapcore/funk/indie rock/alternative pop or whatever like me, lets come together and be proud to be different. Lets support and help black artists, let us try to make a difference in the scene and one documentary I want to recommend to better understand what I’m trying to say is Afropunk. If what I’m saying doesn’t make sense, then watch that
@@xbfdx988 Tell the racists to stop first.
Black people didn't create punk rock lmfao
this is such an important conversation, thank you for sharing this with us ❤️
THIS IS AMAZING. Thank you so much for this!
I always wonder bout this , why aren't there more black people in the scene? Thank you❤
Roadtomanic .901 oh trust me we are here, but it’s like digging in the cereal box for the prize when you were a kid, you got to really dig and find us. But I can recommend some of my favorite black rock artists & bands/black fronted bands/color fronted bands/bands of color.
1. Meet Me @ The Altar (pop-punk, USA)
2. TCIYF (thrash punk, South Africa)
3. Danny Denial (queer punk, USA)
4. Pleasure Venom (punk, USA)
5. Crystal Axis (Kenyan punk, Kenya)
6. The OBGMS (garage party punk, Canada)
7. The Txlips (fusion punk, USA)
8. Unlocking The Truth (heavy metal, USA)
9. Samurai Shotgun (progressive rock, USA)
10. DeWayne Jackson (rap & alternative rock, USA)
11. HYVMINE (progressive metal, USA)
12. Fire from the Gods (rap metal, USA)
13. Sevendust (rock & nu metal, USA)
14. Straight Line Stitch (metalcore, USA)
15. Living Colour (rock, USA)
16. God Forbid (heavy metal, USA)
17. Nonpoint (hard rock, USA)
18. Bad Wolves (heavy metal, USA)
19. BODY COUNT (heavy metal & crossover thrash, USA)
20. Bad Brains (punk rock & reggae, USA)
21. Fishbone (funk metal & ska punk, USA)
22. Bloodbather (metalcore, USA)
23. Shepherds Reign (rock, USA)
24. Pedestrian Strike (punk rock, USA)
25. I Am The Coffin (punk & pop-punk, USA)
26. Roman6ixv3 (lofi & trap, USA)
27. Bad Seed Rising (hard rock, USA)
@@mikaruisu698 Don't forget about Loathe, Killswitch Engage, Animals As Leaders, Fire From The Gods, Glass Cloud, Sycamour, Oceano, For Today and letlive.
@@xbfdx988 What? Black people practically invented blues and rock n’ roll. No, the main reason was that around the 80s when oi and street punk culture became overwhelmingly about the white working class, to the point of many bands (especially when it came to oi in the UK) becoming full on neo-nazi, because they saw minorities as just another threat to getting work. This in turn lead to the SHARP movement as well as DK’s famous Nazi Punks Fuck Off song, but ultimately, the punk community always seemed to have more of a “we tolerate you” attitude toward minority attendees rather than any actual effort to reach out and help them feel normalized in the community.
The truth is that the history of rock included stealing royalty from black musicians and artists, and making it more marketable to white audiences while excluding black audiences from the very music they helped create. As a result, black people eventually found solace in rapping over old r&b and funk tracks about their problems, which of course later came to be known as hip-hop.
Even now among alt scenes, the exclusion subconsciously continues. White listeners just naturally gravitate towards white-fronted bands because they simply see them as more relatable, and see listening to black artists as a means of being inclusive rather than simply listening to them because they make good music. I see posts on r/punk asking about POC fronted bands only to have someone say why does it matter what they are? The thing is that it matters because you’re more likely to hear songs that come from a different walk of life, with messages you might not necessarily hear simply from white-fronted bands.
I hope this helps explain where that attitude comes from, but the onus really isn’t on black people to like rock. It’s more like rock and its subgenres were consciously and subconsciously made more difficult for them to be a part of as it became more about problems related to white audiences, rather than everyone as human beings.
@@mikaruisu698 Add Radkey to your list; they’re awesome.
@@punkgrl325 oh I thought I did! Tbh I completely forgot about this comment I made months ago, but yeah I love Radkey too dude
This is beautiful. Thank you Emo Nite. Much love
Thank you SO much for this conversation!! I honestly didn’t know about some of these people!
Thank thank thank for this content. ❤️🖤
Thanks for saying that about racism vs prejudice. I basically got kicked off of Muffwiggler forums for making this point.
NSV OG wow
Wow
Any prejudice based on race is racism
Any prejudice based on race is racism
I'm a black goth metalhead guy. I've been a metalhead for over a decade. I never received racism in the scene. Nor in general. But I got called the n-word before, but hey I don't personally pay attention to racists they are a waste of time and life. 🤘🤘metal, goth, emo, punk and alalternative music forever!!
Thank you for this 🖤🤘
Nothing more punk than care for your disenfranchised family and the community around you. Thank you for the video!
Thank you for bringing up cancel culture. Yes. Transforming cancel culture is part of transformative justice.
does anyone who reads lips know what Aaron said at 19:41?
After he said he's been a lobbyist it looks like he's talking about being someone on the front lines but no clue after that!
Times like this, I'm happy I never like Minor Threat.
Guilty of being white is a classic anti racism song
@@xbfdx988 and I'm sure Skrewdriver sang about loving everyone.
@@remowhat3879No they were racist. Minor threat sang against racism
My internet is freezing up on this, but it seems like it is going way off the topic of the title of this video.
Just some thoughts on the subject of Racism and Punk Rock... There's no denying skinheads have taken over the Punk movement in the past especially in the early 1990s, but consider the following points:
Punk rock evolved from 60s psychedelic rock, from bands like Love...a black fronted band.
Ska Punk (and Reggae too) evolved from the First Wave of Ska popularized by Millie Small, a black woman.
And let's not disregard Fishbone...