mix tape sampler #1

Jean-Michel Basquiat : The Radiant Child

’till then love what you do.

b/c that’s what i do, instead of blogging as often as i should. I tweet.

anyway, I wondered why so-called ‘news’ organizations were not treating the former as a terrorist attack, and why we were still hearing about tiger woods at all.

in my string of tweets, i mentioned racism as marketing, and one of my twitter folks asked for clarification. I doubted I could explain what I meant in 140 characters or less, so I wrote this post. enjoy.

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The mark of a great marketing campaign is when the idea or slogan transcends the product. it attaches to the cultural consciousness, and when attached to the product, makes the product greater.

for instance, nike’s campaign, “Just Do It’ transcended the product, and began to be applied to everything from winning a basketball game, to graduating from college, to giving birth. it’s now a part of our cultural vocabulary. another example is the 1930s ad campaign for diamonds. prompted by a flagging demand, advertisers coined the phrase ‘a diamond is forever,’ and promoted the idea that one was simply necessary to cement an engagement. the advertisers even came up with an arbitrary ‘2 months salary’ rule. prior to that campaign, diamonds were NOT traditionally associated with marriage or engagement. but the concept has become so entrenched in our culture most of us have no idea it originated as marketing.

racism as we know it in the new world, was also implemented as a marketing ploy. the goal of this campaign was to devalue human beings to the status of chattel. this had to be accomplished in order for other human beings to be able to kidnap, buy, sell, torture, maim, rape, kill, and work them to death, while maintaining a sense of their moral correctness.

The product was slavery. a free work force. you couldn’t have a free work force if everyone was catching feelings every time someone dropped dead from exhaustion, screamed for their stolen child, etc. in order to ’sell’ the idea that human beings should be treated as chattel, the marketing ploy of racism had to be employed. the message was, ‘these people are not like you and me, they are different, inferior, subhuman.’

The next step was branding. Adidas brand is represented by three stripes. Nike’s brand is represented by the swoop. When you see the swoop, you think ‘just do it.’ the ‘brand’ of inferior human being, came to be represented by darker skin. this campaign was so successful, that dark people were associated with this product almost exclusively. Conversely, light people were associated with the opposite of this product, so that even those who could not afford slaves (the vast majority) felt a sense of entitlement.

Dark skin had become a shorthand, a symbol for the campaign. the media message of racism was so successful, it transcended the initial product and became attached to the cultural consciousness, so that even when the initial product (chattel slavery) no longer existed, the marketing message was entrenched enough that it could be handily applied to dismantling reconstruction efforts, segregating bathrooms and burial plots, and instituting jim crow laws.

so, that’s that.

When we talk about American media, and racism, I can’t help but think about ‘the birth of a nation.’ the first feature-length film made in America was a 3 hour diatribe about the reprehensibility of black people and the ‘heroic’ rise of the klan. All the blacks in the film were played by white actors, and most of the racist film stereotypes that we know of were introduced for the first time in that film. this was the INTRODUCTION of a brand new and extremely powerful medium of communication, and it was used to reinforce the brand message of racism. Race riots ensued across the country when the film was shown.

Racism the marketing concept had become unmoored from its attachment of the ‘product’ of slavery, and turned into a cultural trope that could be used in any arena to generate an emotional response, to turn a profit, etc.

As the world changed, the applications have changed, but the fact that racism can still be used, for example, as a wedge issue in an election to rouse people to vote against their own self-interest out of fear, is proof of the power of the marketing message.

Compound that w/the fact that this country has been pushing this advertising for four centuries, that’s a LOT of brand recognition.

by pierre bennu
edited/big words by jamyla bennu
(lol)

this is the fourth clip of media chronicling my kid’s obsession with music. previous episodes featured video of his learning to use turntables and figuring out how to scratch and use the mixer.

this bathtime audio clip was my attempt to catch him in his daily, non-equipment-reliant musical expression. enjoy!

click here to listen

** i am constantly impressed by how BUSY the baby is – always moving, working, exploring. reaching, running, babbling. but he never seems to produce any actual results, so i decided to observe and not intervene with his busy baby routine for five minutes to see if i could figure out his patterns. perhaps harness his baby power for some greater good. solving climate change? powering a karaoke machine? here are my results.**

he picks up an empty plate from the side table, which had been cleared of crackers and cherry tomatoes from an earlier snack. he brings the empty plate over to the bed, carrying it with two hands, and places it carefully down. goes back to the side table, picking up a clean diaper from the stack. he walks back to the bed and puts the diaper on the plate. scrutinizes it for a moment. opens the diaper carefully, spreading it out on the plate. frowns. flings the diaper onto the floor behind him. tells the plate, “NO!” in no uncertain terms. picks up the plate. slowly brings it up to his face, kisses the plate carefully. puts it back onto the bed.

he turns around and approaches the discarded diaper, it’s still clean, still open, still on the floor. he crouches down into that fabulous baby squat we all love, and examines it minutely. gets up and walks away.

walks around the bed. i can’t see exactly what he’s doing but he’s near the mirror on the other side of the bed. i see pointing, and perhaps some mild scolding of the reflection. comes back with his little whisk broom, waving it in the air like a drum major. drops it near the diaper.

goes into the hallway, using the old film festival pass that’s hanging on the doorknob to close the door behind him. it doesn’t catch, and swings open again partially; i can see him crouching in the hallway playing with the pass’ lanyard. he comes back in.

opens the drawer of the side table. takes out half of a cherry tomato he’s apparently had stashed there since his last snack. (!!) takes a nibble. examines it. takes a nibble. puts it back into the drawer. (note to self: once intervention mode is reinstated, MOVE THAT TOMATO!) pulls out a few socks, flinging them onto the floor behind him. finds the one he must have been looking for, turns around and puts it onto the plate that’s still on the bed. turns his back to the plate, finally satisfied. picks up his sippy cup and takes a sip of water. shakes the sippy cup back & forth in one hand, the other hand flapping back and forth too, for balance. he takes another drink, puts the cup back onto the table. turns back toward the bed and removes the sock from the plate. throws it onto the floor.

yeah. so my five minutes are up… i’ll keep searching for the answer to global warming later. right now i have some socks to pick up.

1. on sunday we are hosting an afternoon with chef and food activist Bryant Terry, author of the hit cookbook Vegan Soul Kitchen. You don’t have to be vegan to enjoy his “fresh, healthy, and creative african-american cuisine” – you’ll find everything in this book from an amazing new way to cook collards, to fabulous music recommendations to accompany each recipe. the books are available at the store, but this sunday you’ll get the chance to meet the author! )

sunday the 27th from 3-6 pm we’ll be selling the book and hosting some quality author-time

at The Yabba Pot, baltimore’s premiere vegan hot spot! it’s at

2431 St. Paul Street in Charles Village. – right around the corner from our shop! )

Dishes from the cookbook will be on the menu that day courtesy of Chef Skai and her talented staff, and Bryant will be answering questions, giving a talk, and signing books! )

learn more about bryant’s food justice activism and culinary work at http://bryantterry.com … we look forward to seeing you there!

2. in the store!  we will be offering 40% discounts on all exittheapple book titles if you wear your exittheapple nerdalicious tee-shirt at the book festival this weekend! come in this week or next week, show us the pic (on yr phone or camera is fine) and voila! deep discounts on BS or Fertilizer, the Single Woman’s Manifesto, (for grownups) or If I Was Ten or Umi’s Open Mic for kiddos.

3. on the street!  if you SEE US at the book festival anytime this weekend, and you are wearing one of your exittheapple nerdalicious t-shirts (black nerds unite, reading is sexy, or conversate is not a word/irregardless it’s wrong) we will GIVE YOU one of our exittheapple book titles. yup, that’s right – at random times on friday evening, saturday afternoon and sunday afternoon, reps from the store will be wandering around nerding it up at the book fest, and if you see us you get a free book. whoo hoo!! it’s like the booknerd lottery! )

don’t worry if we don’t happen to see you, just take a picture of yourself in the tee at the book fest and bring it to the store for your discount. )

thanks for reading – have a great weekend! )

- The best that ever did it would have been from Brooklyn.

- There would be double dutch beefs.

- they would have platinum telephone cords ropes.

- They would objectify men in their videos.

- They would not give male jumpers the credit they deserve.

- There would be “positive” jumpers & “gangsta” jumpers.

- There would be jumpers that dumb it down by jumping with one rope.

- Turners would be replaced by something digital.

- it would be dead already.

- 40 year old women would be wearing Gucci print Jellys talking about they’re maintaining the culture.

- adidas would have a jumping shoe .