The Essence of Freaknik
The Essence of Freaknik
by Ajani Husbands
You can’t be offended when the same rappers we promote and approve of start creating ignorance on another level. That’s my end thesis at the beginning of the article (for those just skimming). And now to the real article:
Have you seen Freaknik? And by Freaknik, I mean the animated 1-hour special on Cartoon Network, recently aired last week Sunday. Freaknik The Musical, is “the story of a party that turned into a ghost,” according to Cartoon Network. T-Pain featured as the voice of Freaknik. The movie also featured a dozen or so other notable rappers, including Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross, Kelis, Lil Jon, and many more. Overall, the cartoon undeniably featured an undesirable element in Black America, which provided ample fodder for Essence Magazine to produce a “10 Most Offensive Things” list. And perhaps contrary to Black intellectuals across the country, I enjoyed the cartoon. But I think I liked it for a far different reason than Essence Magazine hated it.
Essence decried Freaknik as an embarrassment to Black culture. For me, Freaknik was simply a culmination of the same rap and materialistic culture we’ve promoted over the last decade. That’s not to say it wasn’t offensive. But were the scenes of thong-clad strippers any more offensive than, say, Lil Wayne’s “Every Girl?” Did Freaknik The Musical glorify materialism anymore than, perhaps…. well, any song with the word(s) Pop, Bottles, Champagne, and/or Models? And the “10 Ghetto Commandments” all originated from classic rap songs: Though Shalt Only Pop Bottles On Models (see? What did I tell you about the proclivity of pop/bottles?)
What am I really saying here? I suppose it’s that you can’t have it both ways. You can’t be suddenly offended by something like Freaknik, and then go to your favorite club that weekend to get down on the latest songs which are all undoubtedly simply non-animated depictions of what you complained about earlier. The musical artists that lent their voices to the cartoon are the same ones we promote as a society. A good friend of mine pointed out that Black people aren’t necessarily the ones making them millionaires. No, we aren’t. At the same time, though, Black people legitimize the brand of entertainment and the entertainers therein. T-Pain is rich and famous because we made him popular. Lil Wayne is the same way. The music industry took these cues and ran with them. And now they’ve come out with a cartoon that pretty much just animates the type of things they rap/sing about it. And all of a sudden they are out of control?
Listen, I’m not telling you to NOT listen to this music. But it sure is hypocritical to like the music and criticize the cartoon.
