Rapper hangs a kid in his video

[juju 18,907]

4 minutes ago, Evan Peters said:

isnt this the same bitch who beats women?

yes, he's a rapist and also kidnapper too

[Bebe 16,799]

I knew it would be XXXTentacion before I opened the thread  

It's definitely supposed to be controversial, but it's also topical especially when considering the poor biracial boy that was lynched recently. It is interesting that there are scenes of himself getting hung, along with other black men - there are references to Emmett Till (the black child hung in Mississippi in 1955), Philando Castile and Rodney King that are examples of real world violence - but the outrage is over the scene where the white child is depicted hanging. It's interesting.

It's supposed to make you feel sick, it's supposed to make you feel extremely uncomfortable - but it would probably be helpful if people looked past that initial feeling and asked why they feel that way and why the scene was included. The white kid is allowed a certain amount of innocence not granted to black kids, or black men. We don't see the white child and pass any judgment, we don't see him as a violent criminal, we see him for what he is - innocent - and we see his death as tragic, undeserved and gut wrenching. We get a visceral feeling we might not get when we hear about yet another black teenager killed. We've become so desensitised to these stories and are not confronted with the real, disgusting reality - it's merely described to us in a cold, matter-of-fact way.

The depiction of this white child being hung is supposed to parallel the real violence african americans face and challenge the audience to view that real violence in the same way, with the same outrage. It's supposed to challenge you to see a child like Emmett Till, not as just some historical person, but as an actual child who was hung in front of an audience of people who came to watch. It's supposed to challenge you to feel the same amount of gut-level disgust at the current real world killings of unarmed black men as you felt when confronted with this depiction of such extreme violence against someone society views as inherently innocent.

His monologue at the end is about how such violence is disgusting and how it needs to end is really him spelling out the entire message of the video.

 

[SpookyKid 15,095]

I'm sorry, well, really I'm not, but who?

[Burger 307]

This is the same mf that was saying "Death to dark skins". He'll do anything for a mention.

[Oivind 287]

2 hours ago, OBEY said:

There's others way to pass your message across than hanging a kid  

Sure, but sometimes it's good to create some controversy. The funny thing is that I haven't seen any reactions to the footage of real-life killings in the video. Everyone is just talking about the fake hanging. That's all it is, even if the actor is a kid. Some people lose their kids for real, like the parents of the person being shot by the police in the video.

From some of the comments, I can see that the guy probably is an asshole. He also has disgusting lyrics at the start of the song. But that doesn't change my feelings about the hanging scene.

[Oivind 287]

1 hour ago, Bebe said:

I knew it would be XXXTentacion before I opened the thread  

It's definitely supposed to be controversial, but it's also topical especially when considering the poor biracial boy that was lynched recently. It is interesting that there are scenes of himself getting hung, along with other black men - there are references to Emmett Till (the black child hung in Mississippi in 1955), Philando Castile and Rodney King that are examples of real world violence - but the outrage is over the scene where the white child is depicted hanging. It's interesting.

It's supposed to make you feel sick, it's supposed to make you feel extremely uncomfortable - but it would probably be helpful if people looked past that initial feeling and asked why they feel that way and why the scene was included. The white kid is allowed a certain amount of innocence not granted to black kids, or black men. We don't see the white child and pass any judgment, we don't see him as a violent criminal, we see him for what he is - innocent - and we see his death as tragic, undeserved and gut wrenching. We get a visceral feeling we might not get when we hear about yet another black teenager killed. We've become so desensitised to these stories and are not confronted with the real, disgusting reality - it's merely described to us in a cold, matter-of-fact way.

The depiction of this white child being hung is supposed to parallel the real violence african americans face and challenge the audience to view that real violence in the same way, with the same outrage. It's supposed to challenge you to see a child like Emmett Till, not as just some historical person, but as an actual child who was hung in front of an audience of people who came to watch. It's supposed to challenge you to feel the same amount of gut-level disgust at the current real world killings of unarmed black men as you felt when confronted with this depiction of such extreme violence against someone society views as inherently innocent.

His monologue at the end is about how such violence is disgusting and how it needs to end is really him spelling out the entire message of the video.

 

Well said. This is exactly how I felt when I saw it. I just want to add one thing: He's probably trying to create more controversy by hanging the white kid, but I think most people (and certainly everyone here at Gaga Daily) would be equally disgusted if he hung the black kid. But I still like the fact that he's raising the question: Would everyone care as much if he chose the black kid?

[Knife 6,606]

16 minutes ago, Oivind said:

 Would everyone care as much if he chose the black kid?

Then he would simply be condemned as a self hating black person, and white people wouldn't even be looking in his direction.

[ToxicHot 6,438]

4 hours ago, gag said:

Trust me sis no one thinks this is woke nor do they think it's acceptable.

OT: Isn't XXX a woman-beater? I hate that he's still popular. 

So then why did this rapper and/or director of the video think it was acceptable to depict this then?

 

[Bebe 16,799]

7 hours ago, Oivind said:

Well said. This is exactly how I felt when I saw it. I just want to add one thing: He's probably trying to create more controversy by hanging the white kid, but I think most people (and certainly everyone here at Gaga Daily) would be equally disgusted if he hung the black kid. But I still like the fact that he's raising the question: Would everyone care as much if he chose the black kid?

Yeah, I think that is a really interesting question.

I agree that there would still be outrage and controversy if a black kid was hung, but I also wonder if the reaction would have been "Yeah this is confronting and disgusting, BUT this did historically happen so ultimately it's forgivable because in the context of the video he is showing the audience the ugly truth".

He is depicting violence against Emmett Till, he does show the actual killing of Philando Castile cut with footage of a re-enactment, he does show footage of Rodney King actually getting beaten. They even show a reenactment of Heather Heyer getting hit and killed by the car and the Ferguson Riots. They could have hung the black child at the end and have the message be some variant of "It's still happening to us today" and I think it would have been more readily accepted as a political point tbh. 

I think a lot of the negative reactions I've seen, not just here, are based around this "Really??? Is this how you help ease race relations??? I get that he is trying to be a commentary of the lynching of African American's - but still, that doesn't make it okay to lynch a white kid" It's kind of this outrage over the idea he would depict this violence against a white child in order to make a political point.

It's impossible to prove that the controversy would have been lesser if a black child was hung, but considering the lack of interest in the other violence depicted in the video I wouldn't be surprised. I think it raises yet another question: Why is it okay to depict a black child hanging in order to make a political statement, but not okay to depict a while child hanging in order to make a political statement?

[musicnotbling 1,692]

good riddance. his garbage mumble rap can choke. 

[Omar Vela 2,494]

this is racist

[NCgaga 4,278]

Is this what he wants? To some how justify the killings of black people by hanging a white kid? I dislike the people that watch the video and think, you know this is ok...just because it is a white kid. You're becoming equally as racist and you don't even realize it. 

I do however believe that it is a form of art. We, as people can chose whether to support it or not, but it should not be censored. It does promote a dialogue that is open to opinions. I don't agree with it, but that is only my opinion. 

[Cuchulainn 3,040]

I don't think it's tasteful at all, but it's art. It's not like he's saying he hates all white people and wants to hang white children, he's just trying to convey a message. This doesn't/shouldn't need to turn into 'if a white person did this it would be racist' argument. 

[Bebe 16,799]

3 minutes ago, NCgaga said:

Is this what he wants? To some how justify the killings of black people by hanging a white kid? I dislike the people that watch the video and think, you know this is ok...just because it is a white kid. You're becoming equally as racist and you don't even realize it. 

I do however believe that it is a form of art. We, as people can chose whether to support it or not, but it should not be censored. It does promote a dialogue that is open to opinions. I don't agree with it, but that is only my opinion. 

You got the message way wrong if you think the intention was to somehow "justify the killings of black people" or if you viewed the hanging of the white kid as a "racist" action made as some kind of statement against white people or as justified due to the past and present violence against African American people.

He included footage of himself and other black men being hung from a tree, actual footage of Philando Castile being shot dead, actual footage of Rodney King being beaten by police and a reenactment of Emmett Till being beaten and mutilated. He didn't include that to send the message that any of that was "ok". 

His entire monologue at the end was that violence, regardless of race, was disgusting. 

The hanging of the innocent white kid at the end wasn't made as some call for retribution against white people, it was made to parallel the real violence faced by African Americans. You were not supposed to cheer or feel anything positive about the white child being hung, it wasn't a celebratory moment, you were supposed to feel disgusted and outraged. 

[Earthling 3,685]

31 minutes ago, Bebe said:

You got the message way wrong if you think the intention was to somehow "justify the killings of black people" or if you viewed the hanging of the white kid as a "racist" action made as some kind of statement against white people or as justified due to the past and present violence against African American people.

He included footage of himself and other black men being hung from a tree, actual footage of Philando Castile being shot dead, actual footage of Rodney King being beaten by police and a reenactment of Emmett Till being beaten and mutilated. He didn't include that to send the message that any of that was "ok". 

His entire monologue at the end was that violence, regardless of race, was disgusting. 

The hanging of the innocent white kid at the end wasn't made as some call for retribution against white people, it was made to parallel the real violence faced by African Americans. You were not supposed to cheer or feel anything positive about the white child being hung, it wasn't a celebratory moment, you were supposed to feel disgusted and outraged. 

Thank you. Finally someone with well informed ideas on race issues to refute some of the ignorant comments I see here on ggd.