When I first heard it, I bopped and swang like nobodies business. For any fan of contemporary Black music, anywhere, Upgrade You has all the basics of success: it’s a base-driven polyrhythm, with the added certainty of Hip Hp: Self-aggrandizement and major Bling. The music alone makes your hips grind.
By the bridge I was scrubbing the floor, which got really serious when our Diva spilled out: I can do for you what Martin did for the people/Ran by the men but the women keep the tempo. OK. Evoking the good Reverend Doctor MLK, whom many consider to be America’s greatest civil leader, is serious business when few other images exist in the popular imagination. Worse, the story that these stars tell leaves a dampening and sober mood over the lives of girls growing up in such a racially charged and overtly sexist society.
Likening herself to the recently late Coretta Scott King made me take another hard look at the facts of Black life. MLK was necessarily middle class as much as his wife was necessarily fair skinned, and, again equally, to remain an ascetic widow for the rest of her natural life in order that she tend to that tenured flame, steadily, bravely keeping the beat for the people. Unsurprisingly this same nation is solely unprepared for women leadership. We are in fact one of the few wealthy nations to hold so tight tot this aspect of patriarchy; the sin is in regurgitating that narrow vision as a narration of our lives. Here in India, where my landlady is a widow. After one dispute a friend suggested that I politely tell her that I had heard that it was bad luck to see a widow before noon and that I just didn’t want o chance it. What’s a girl to do? According to our Diva:
Bling!
Our ethic of ‘I’m gonna get mine, so you betta get yours’ is one of the hottest exports to ever reach screens across the developing world. Moreover, the popular images is the image that if those people, the former slaves or even the women amongst their lot can attain such gleaning greatness in the land of the plenty, then perhaps the ethics marketed as hedonistic materialism can work for all. Yet, such ethic grounding, as author/critic bell hooks reminds us in her groundbreaking Challenging Media interview: creates a culture where there is no moral or ethical valuation that you can bring to bear upon anything ‘cause the assumption is that we all share the common morality of the dollar which is, get as much as you can as quickly as you can by any means necessary.
The hedonistic materialism perpetuated as a viable lifestyle sells an American dream that is well supported by our global policies. In these times of violence and increasing global gaps in access to basic resources such as education and health care, we must yield to messages of peace and of reconciliation. Yet, by getting more, by any means necessary, we can never come to judge our actions by any greater standard than that of appropriating resources: We can never really upgrade ourselves. I once read that if the cure to HIV/AIDS were a clean glass of water, then most of the world’s citizens would still be screwed. For several scenes in the music video, amidst the exotics cars, clothing and bedazzling jewels, Beyoncé stuffs her mouth with a multi-carrot diamond; I guess that is all that matters.
By the bridge I was scrubbing the floor, which got really serious when our Diva spilled out: I can do for you what Martin did for the people/Ran by the men but the women keep the tempo. OK. Evoking the good Reverend Doctor MLK, whom many consider to be America’s greatest civil leader, is serious business when few other images exist in the popular imagination. Worse, the story that these stars tell leaves a dampening and sober mood over the lives of girls growing up in such a racially charged and overtly sexist society.
Likening herself to the recently late Coretta Scott King made me take another hard look at the facts of Black life. MLK was necessarily middle class as much as his wife was necessarily fair skinned, and, again equally, to remain an ascetic widow for the rest of her natural life in order that she tend to that tenured flame, steadily, bravely keeping the beat for the people. Unsurprisingly this same nation is solely unprepared for women leadership. We are in fact one of the few wealthy nations to hold so tight tot this aspect of patriarchy; the sin is in regurgitating that narrow vision as a narration of our lives. Here in India, where my landlady is a widow. After one dispute a friend suggested that I politely tell her that I had heard that it was bad luck to see a widow before noon and that I just didn’t want o chance it. What’s a girl to do? According to our Diva:
It's very seldom that you're blessed to find your equal/Still play my part and let you take the lead role/Believe me/I'll follow this could be easyMartin and Coretta, and unsurprisingly like Beyoncé and Jay Z, present very conservative gender roles in public eye (who knows what reality lies therein). Through this, I suppose, appeal for and gain public support. Ultimately Beyoncé promises to be a descent homemaker and consumer, the woman behind the great man, thereby granting her equality and the ability to even uplift her partner. Beyoncé, like the Doris Day’s of those days, promises to take care of home and stay fly. Recreating antiquates gender roles is apparently easy, and certainly sells. She will show him how to spend money- and she’ll keep titillating on stage, hustling for cash to feed their happiness. Switching his neckties to purples labels is her commercial upgrade. Home girl goes on to say: Notice you the type that like to keep them on a/Leash though…You need a real woman in your life/It take me just to compliment the deal/Just when you think you had it all. These lyrics sounds pretty regressive compared to Janet Jackson’s 1987 decree: You might say that I'm no good…I got too many things I wanna do before I'm through…Baby you can hold me down, baby you can hold me down. Honestly, I fail to see the ‘up’ in these grades.
Bling!
Our ethic of ‘I’m gonna get mine, so you betta get yours’ is one of the hottest exports to ever reach screens across the developing world. Moreover, the popular images is the image that if those people, the former slaves or even the women amongst their lot can attain such gleaning greatness in the land of the plenty, then perhaps the ethics marketed as hedonistic materialism can work for all. Yet, such ethic grounding, as author/critic bell hooks reminds us in her groundbreaking Challenging Media interview: creates a culture where there is no moral or ethical valuation that you can bring to bear upon anything ‘cause the assumption is that we all share the common morality of the dollar which is, get as much as you can as quickly as you can by any means necessary.
The hedonistic materialism perpetuated as a viable lifestyle sells an American dream that is well supported by our global policies. In these times of violence and increasing global gaps in access to basic resources such as education and health care, we must yield to messages of peace and of reconciliation. Yet, by getting more, by any means necessary, we can never come to judge our actions by any greater standard than that of appropriating resources: We can never really upgrade ourselves. I once read that if the cure to HIV/AIDS were a clean glass of water, then most of the world’s citizens would still be screwed. For several scenes in the music video, amidst the exotics cars, clothing and bedazzling jewels, Beyoncé stuffs her mouth with a multi-carrot diamond; I guess that is all that matters.
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