{"id":126743,"date":"2023-04-29T09:43:46","date_gmt":"2023-04-29T13:43:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/?p=126743"},"modified":"2023-04-29T09:43:46","modified_gmt":"2023-04-29T13:43:46","slug":"harvard-student-paper-asks-for-reviews-of-rap-concert-editorial-board-then-calls-them-racist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/harvard-student-paper-asks-for-reviews-of-rap-concert-editorial-board-then-calls-them-racist\/","title":{"rendered":"Harvard student paper asks for reviews of rap concert, editorial board then calls them ‘racist’"},"content":{"rendered":"

A couple of weeks ago, the Harvard student paper The Crimson<\/em> asked students what they thought about a rapper’s performance at the free Yardfest concert.<\/p>\n

When the reviews turned out to be lukewarm, the editorial board played the race card.<\/p>\n

According to the linked article<\/a> in their editorial, The Crimson<\/em> editors make their accusations<\/a> of “racialized” music judgments based on a grand total of … two<\/em> students’ less-than-stellar critiques of rapper Jeremih’s concert (all the while three others had positive reviews!)<\/p>\n

One of the negative reviewers called Jeremih “Jere-mid” due to his “unfulfilling” performance, while another (who admitted she was unfamiliar with his music) merely said this year’s Yardfest headliner was “worse than last year’s.”<\/p>\n

For the editors, since Jeremih is an “award-winning” hip hop and R&B artist, they “can\u2019t help but wonder” if these students’ views reflect a “covert racialized conception of fun and campus culture.”<\/p>\n

For example, did the student who preferred last year’s Yardfest headliner — Swae Lee —\u00a0 do so because his most popular tune (“Sunflower”) also features white singer Post Malone?<\/p>\n

The editors believe so<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Music considered to have widespread appeal often caters to a culture that spotlights whiteness \u2014 a culture that ends up shafting Black communities and artistic expression.<\/p>\n

Selectively embracing Black culture \u2014 only when it\u2019s conveniently close to a white norm \u2014 is a pervasive campus-wide trend that has bled into this very newspaper\u2019s own coverage. The Crimson\u2019s headline about Yardfest this year pulled a quote from an interview to describe the concert as \u201cJere-mid\u201d: an egregious use of African American Vernacular English to discredit the work of a Black man. …<\/p>\n

Either The Crimson deliberately chose to unfairly highlight an unusually negative viewpoint in the headline of an article on a varied response, or Harvard\u2019s culture is so saturated with disregard towards Black culture that no Harvard student involved saw a problem.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The editors go on to claim that “concert etiquette” demands people “familiarize themselves with an artist\u2019s discography” and songs before attending a live show.<\/p>\n

“To future Yardfest headliners,” the editorial concludes, “we hope that the ungracious and biased criticisms of Jeremih, as presented in The Crimson\u2019s coverage, don\u2019t deter you from coming to perform.”<\/p>\n

A commenter to the editorial says<\/a> “[S]tudents criticizing a musical act that they don’t like can’t be so morally laden as this. People can’t go to a concert and not like it? Or it’s just that they can’t talk to reporters about it?”<\/p>\n

MORE:<\/strong> Muslim rapper makes transgender joke at Muslim student event, leaders freak out<\/a><\/p>\n

MORE:<\/strong> Hip-hop professor: \u2018Angry\u2019 white rappers unpopular now due to Trump\u2019s constant anger<\/a><\/p>\n

IMAGE: Shutterstock.com<\/p>\n

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