Music & Identity
“Dito ka lang makakakita ng rocker na mag-h-hip-hop!”
Julia Clarete said this last Saturday on the noontime variety show, Eat Bulaga!, before her badly choreographed, barely synchronized dance number with a bunch of high school kids. To those reading this who are Tagalogly incapable, allow me to translate: “This is the only place you’ll see a rocker doing hip-hop!”
I don’t really have a problem with Clarete’s snobbish proclamation (I mean, let’s face it, we all tend to get a bit snobbish when discussing the music, movies, books, hangout places, former presidents, baristas, underwear brand that we dislike). The great thing about the freedom of choice is that not only do we have the freedom to choose whatever we like, we also have the freedom to choose whatever we hate. So what I’m about to say is not surprising at all: some, like Julia, hate hip-hop, some hate rock, some hate country, and some vehemently hate Hinder and Nickelback.
I have a problem, however, with the way she made the remark, like she’s about to do something extraordinary, something unconventional. I’m sure she intended to be hyperbolic with the comment but the point is definitely made. A “rocker” dancing—a “rocker” dancing to rap music, no less, and not something by Fallout Boy or the Red Hot Chili Peppers—should NEVER happen. There’s no way you can have both T.I. and Metallica in your iPod library ever, or else it’d be hypocritical, like voting for Bush one election, then Kerry the next. You’re only suppose to pledge your loyalty to one genre and listening to other genres is like committing a Benedict Arnold.
The thing with the music that we choose to listen to, to some people, it’s much more than selecting an aural preference that tickles the cochlea and massages the eardrums. To some people, it’s about choosing an identity, using music as a tool to define who you are. Whether you like it or not, whether you are aware of it or not, your cultural choices are shallow signifiers of who you are. The music you listen to certainly determines where you hang out and who you hang out with, but it even go as far as determining the clothes you wear, the way you talk, or the way you do your hair.
But, it shouldn’t, right? Who you are should define what you listen to, not the other way around. Once you stop worrying about what owning a Young Jeezy album and amalgamating it with your Mudvayne and Dishwalla records says about you, you can start taking it on its own merits and you can unabashedly wiggle to hip-hop without making a disclaimer on your pre-dance interview. And once you’re past this phase of insecurity, the silliness inherent in statements like “For the first time ever, a rocker will do hip-hop!” becomes clear. Choosing a side is not necessary, but until your ego stops screaming at you that it’s bad to do the Crank Dat dance BECAUSE you like rock, you’ll never going to realize that.
I hate to single Ms. Clarete out like this because she seems like an adorable girl, but I needed a sound bite. This is all an assumption, of course, and doesn’t mean anything at all. For all we know, Julia has heard the entire Wu-Tang collection and all of Lil’ Wayne’s mixtapes and has actually exhausted the genre to the point where she doesn’t want to hear it again. Even so, she’s not the only one with the mindset discussed here. By shunning whole genres of music for the sole reason that “it’s not something someone like me listens to”, you are missing out on a whole lot of hidden treasures. Admitting that you get down to Snoop unironically, even when you’re a “rocker”, will not and should not destroy your character.
Julia Clarete said this last Saturday on the noontime variety show, Eat Bulaga!, before her badly choreographed, barely synchronized dance number with a bunch of high school kids. To those reading this who are Tagalogly incapable, allow me to translate: “This is the only place you’ll see a rocker doing hip-hop!”
I don’t really have a problem with Clarete’s snobbish proclamation (I mean, let’s face it, we all tend to get a bit snobbish when discussing the music, movies, books, hangout places, former presidents, baristas, underwear brand that we dislike). The great thing about the freedom of choice is that not only do we have the freedom to choose whatever we like, we also have the freedom to choose whatever we hate. So what I’m about to say is not surprising at all: some, like Julia, hate hip-hop, some hate rock, some hate country, and some vehemently hate Hinder and Nickelback.
I have a problem, however, with the way she made the remark, like she’s about to do something extraordinary, something unconventional. I’m sure she intended to be hyperbolic with the comment but the point is definitely made. A “rocker” dancing—a “rocker” dancing to rap music, no less, and not something by Fallout Boy or the Red Hot Chili Peppers—should NEVER happen. There’s no way you can have both T.I. and Metallica in your iPod library ever, or else it’d be hypocritical, like voting for Bush one election, then Kerry the next. You’re only suppose to pledge your loyalty to one genre and listening to other genres is like committing a Benedict Arnold.
The thing with the music that we choose to listen to, to some people, it’s much more than selecting an aural preference that tickles the cochlea and massages the eardrums. To some people, it’s about choosing an identity, using music as a tool to define who you are. Whether you like it or not, whether you are aware of it or not, your cultural choices are shallow signifiers of who you are. The music you listen to certainly determines where you hang out and who you hang out with, but it even go as far as determining the clothes you wear, the way you talk, or the way you do your hair.
But, it shouldn’t, right? Who you are should define what you listen to, not the other way around. Once you stop worrying about what owning a Young Jeezy album and amalgamating it with your Mudvayne and Dishwalla records says about you, you can start taking it on its own merits and you can unabashedly wiggle to hip-hop without making a disclaimer on your pre-dance interview. And once you’re past this phase of insecurity, the silliness inherent in statements like “For the first time ever, a rocker will do hip-hop!” becomes clear. Choosing a side is not necessary, but until your ego stops screaming at you that it’s bad to do the Crank Dat dance BECAUSE you like rock, you’ll never going to realize that.
I hate to single Ms. Clarete out like this because she seems like an adorable girl, but I needed a sound bite. This is all an assumption, of course, and doesn’t mean anything at all. For all we know, Julia has heard the entire Wu-Tang collection and all of Lil’ Wayne’s mixtapes and has actually exhausted the genre to the point where she doesn’t want to hear it again. Even so, she’s not the only one with the mindset discussed here. By shunning whole genres of music for the sole reason that “it’s not something someone like me listens to”, you are missing out on a whole lot of hidden treasures. Admitting that you get down to Snoop unironically, even when you’re a “rocker”, will not and should not destroy your character.
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