let's make one thing perfectly clear, i am well into blue scholars and feel their music to the fullest! my issue is strictly about their (and many other so-called revolutionary hip hop artists) unwavering support of a long-standing relationship between hip hop and nike (consumer-culture in general). now for the rundown:
- the middle bit is the original post in question
- my exchange w/geo of blue scholars on their website
- song (video) dedication
Life & Debt & Fresh-Ass Kicks
Thanks to the good people at IHeartBlueScholars (we see you!), we just got hip to these customized quilted Nike Blazers inspired by our cut “Life & Debt.” Mister Danny P, the mastermind behind these here kicks, explains:
“Life and Debt” is one of my favorite tracks from Blue Scholars. I listened to this song EVERYDAY for two years when I was away at college. Although it was a love song, the melody put my soul at peace during my rough two years at college, so I wanted a pair that incorporated the words “Life” and “Debt.”
Check out more work by FalseQuest, whose designs across the board are clean and subtly subversive.
And a shoutout to the documentary Life & Debt (Stephanie Black, 2001), which examines Jamaica’s neocolonial economic quandary at the mercy of international lending. Watch it if you haven’t yet, and go fight globalization by supporting local artisans and getting your kicks customized using our song titles.
(Yes, we know Nike is a globalization-benefitting multinational corporation. And so is the supplier of the computer you’re reading this blog post on.)
my exchange w/geo of blue scholars, which can be found on their website and maybe on facebook:
me:
isn’t it ironic that the documentary “life & debt” focuses on epz’s (export processing zones)/sweatshops and these particular kicks are nikes (an infamous and most obvious proponent of sweatshop labor)?
(i’m accessing this site from the public library’s computer, which i did not contribute any of my funds to whatsoever (+i’m a war-tax resistor) so the supporting of multi-national corporations rhetoric is empty.)
true social justice doesn’t come in the form of self-proclaimed revolutionaries literally standing in one of the most infamous capitalist/exploitative product
geo:
Said public library wasn’t built with underpaid construction labor was it? And if it wasn’t, then surely it wasn’t built on stolen Native land, right?
Right?
me:
that’s not really the point, the point is that one’s usage of a corporate-owned computer somehow justifies perpetuating nike’s exploitative practices. these are two completely different realities. sadly we live in a capitalist and corrupt system, but it doesn’t somehow mean that we should promote the largest of these corporations. nike is the issue and their is no denying nike’s egregious practices.
that’s not really the point, the point is that one’s usage of a corporate-owned computer somehow justifies perpetuating nike’s exploitative practices. these are two completely different realities. sadly we live in a capitalist and corrupt system, but it doesn’t somehow mean that we should promote the largest of these corporations. nike is the issue and their is no denying nike’s egregious practices.
this song suddenly comes to mind (listen to what dres has to say about companies):
and while i'm at it, here's "life + debt" (documentary)
No comments:
Post a Comment