Thursday, October 18, 2012

Buddhist Rap Music Fan? Yes!

Reader N. "Hedgehog" Wilcox, San Francisco, to Wisdom Quarterly
  
By and large, Who's enjoying gangster rap music in America? The question is answered in the opening scene of the classic MTV movie Office Space by Mike Judge (creator of "Beavis & Butthead") featuring Jennifer Aniston ("Friends"). The character Michael Bolton is observed rapping (Scarface "No Tears") in his car.
 
WQ READER: I thought I was the only one, a Buddhist and a rap fan. As a White male and a middle-class professional in the engineering field at a large Silicon Valley giant, I may not look the part, but I love gangsta rap. 

I'm not the only one. The violence always seemed cartoonish and bigger than life, in spite of the fact that I drive through Oakland on my daily commute and either a car was backfiring or I once heard gunshots. 

Being White means not thinking about race.
My Buddhist practice is largely confined to the East Bay and the City [San Francisco]. I rarely make it into Marin to sit vipassana. But Buddhism of all the world's religions most conforms to my reservedly skeptical scientific outlook. I'm not sure how I feel about my teenage daughter listening to rap. However, rap does beat her Deadmau5 and Skrillex.

(Does it? See below.)
"Damn It Feels Good to Be a Gangsta" at "The Office" ()
  
  
Why are Whites so violent?
In this very violent scene from the comedy "Office Space" Michael Bolton and two of the other main characters beat a stolen FAX machine senseless and unwittingly inspire Family Guy's Stewie and Brian Griffin to exhibit the same level of aggression against a record. It even seems to have affected electronic dance music aficionados Deadmau5 and Gerard Way:


Here are two for your daughter courtesy of Deadmau5 and G3rard, "Professional Griefers," as well as Skrillex "First of the Year (Equinox)," which begs the question: Is EDM the scourge of the 'burbs?

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