And In Arts News
In juvenile detention, she would write “really radical raps” that rattled her supervisors.
Why, yes, I am reading the Guardian. Where the paper’s Janine Israel is positively gushing over aboriginal rapper Barkaa and her “politically potent” music.
The Malyangapa Barkindji woman… is on the verge of releasing her debut EP, Blak Matriarchy,
You know you want to.
Based in south-west Sydney, Barkaa takes her moniker from the Barkindji word for the Darling River. She comes across as warm and humble,
Warm and humble. An interesting choice of words. And followed almost immediately by:
Earlier this year she played the Sydney Opera House forecourt, the lights of the harbour stretched out before her as she performed her song Bow Down: “They used to look down on me / Look who’s looking up now. Bow down.”
Regarding said ditty, our mistress of the surly pose and monotonous loop informs us,
Bow Down is one of my favourite tracks to perform because a lot of people growing up [were like]: ‘Oh you’re not going to be much, you’re just going to be a lowlife, you’re just going to be a junkie, you’re not going to get anywhere, you’re just going to be in and out of prison.’ It’s kind of like: middle fingers up to them.
Same article, seconds earlier:
Born Chloe Quayle, the 26-year-old rapper was a former teenage ice addict who did three stints in jail – during her last, five years ago, she gave birth to her third child.
Despite three children, no father, or fathers, are mentioned. Well. Perhaps we should move on.
Being “unapologetically truthful and unapologetically Blak,” Ms Barkaa’s other contributions to human betterment include claims of “trauma” from being “colonised”; endless middle-fingering; and For My Tittas, in which the musicianship and wordsmithery are, like, totally next-level, dude:
Embrace your black skin
And your race within
You’re blessed by your blackness
And your dark-skinned kin
Raise strong black kids
Throw those drugs in the bin
And you’ll be bound to make
Your old people look at you and grin
It’s potent, world-rattling stuff. No wonder the Guardian is all a-gush.
Update, via the comments:
Jen notes that the Guardian’s comment section is heavily “pre-moderated,” presumably to ensure a unanimity of approval. As of the time of writing, some 62 hours in, only 8 readers have managed to penetrate the paper’s famed moderation, all scrupulously enthusiastic and very much on-message:
Strong, powerful, Earth Mother, Kali, survivor, loving mama, we hear your voice.
For instance.
In the comments, Daniel adds,
The irony – that absolutely no one would have ever heard of Ms Quayle had Ebil Yte music producers not picked her up out of whatever the Australian equivalent of the gutter is, packaged her for consumption by Ebil Yte Australian teenagers, and financed her distribution channels to Ebil Yte music stores and venues – does not go unnoticed.
I was poking through Ms Quayle’s YouTube videos, a joyless task, and couldn’t help noticing just how often approving comments would begin with some variation of “As a white…” It seems our Lady Of Limited Talents, to whom harmony and key changes, even simple rhythmic variation, are things of infinite mystery, is being marketed, with some success, to racially neurotic lefties.
And so, the Guardian’s Ms Israel somehow fails to register the details touched on above, or is at least careful not to acknowledge them, busying herself instead with airy waffle about artistic and political potency. Apparently, it takes near-superhuman talent to loop the same four bars of someone else’s music over and over again. Indeed, in terms of appeal, the music, such as it is, seems secondary, rather notional. What’s prompting the gushing appears to be the pigment and the pose. The idea of a jabbering aboriginal woman and her “really radical raps.”
What that says about enthusiasts, I leave to the reader.
our mistress of the surly pose and monotonous loop
Lol. That.
“Comments on this piece are pre-moderated to ensure discussion remains on topics raised by the writer”
“Comments on this piece are pre-moderated to ensure discussion remains on topics raised by the writer.”
As of five minutes ago, and sixteen hours in, only three people had managed to penetrate the paper’s famed moderation. All scrupulously enthusiastic and very much on-message, of course.
I got issues
Yep.
a lot of people growing up [were like]: ‘Oh you’re not going to be much, you’re just going to be a lowlife, you’re just going to be a junkie, you’re not going to get anywhere, you’re just going to be in and out of prison.’ […]
the 26-year-old rapper was a former teenage ice addict who did three stints in jail – during her last, five years ago, she gave birth to her third child.
Major self-awareness fail.
Well, at least David breached the Guardian paywall for us to bring us the radical illiteracy that signals how oppressed “Blak” people are. And I am grateful for that.
Major self-awareness fail.
Yes, but now she raps, albeit not particularly well, about her string of awful boyfriends and being a single mother of three fatherless children. So everything is fine. That’ll show ‘em.
And I am grateful for that.
I’m positively heroic.
Major self-awareness fail.
What’s interesting is how the Guardian’s Ms Israel didn’t seem to register such details, or at least was careful not to acknowledge them, busying herself instead with much gushing about artistic and political potency. Apparently, it takes near-superhuman talent to loop the same four bloody bars of someone else’s music over and over again.
There’s a gold mine of inspiration out there, in remote Aboriginal communities, for the aspiring rapper. Dysfunction writ large by way of assorted impediments to a better life. . Child abuse, rape, alcohol fuelled violence especially against women, drugs, homicides, pornography, indifference to education. With guaranteed welfare, work is best avoided. Barkaa might care to pen a few lines
And it takes near-superhuman talent to say “I got issues” too.
Not entirely unrelated.
And also.
And of course this.
Oh dear Lord. My YouTube recommendations are now filling up with identikit rap videos.
#FeelMyPain
And of course this
Completely off topic but something that perhaps I’ve misunderstood for my entire life…in an aside comment there you said “They keep down the beetles.”. In UK lingo, might the word ‘beetle’ be synonymous with ‘cockroach’? Because that…well…hmmm….
I’m positively heroic.
Kindly specify to which intersectional attribute(s) you wish to associate your heroism. I.E. Are you a heroic Trans, a heroic Gay, a heroic Nero-atypical plus-sized GenderFluid Domme, etc.
There’s no such thing as a heroic person anymore. Heck, there’s no such thing as person. It’s all groups, nowadays.
Choose your fighter.
“They keep down the beetles.”
That was a typo. It should have been Beatles. [ spoken in Oxbridge voice so you know it’s true ]
Heck, there’s no such thing as person. It’s all groups, nowadays.
He is large, he contains multitudes.
Not entirely unrelated.
Also not entirely unrelated, another autotuner with issues has thoughts, and I use the term loosely.
Nero-atypical
[ Consults history of Rome ]
The Left loves the primitive and will happily take us into anarchy and chaos all the while gushing about how “brave” and “authentic” it is. For example, riots in 2020 that the media pretended were not riots.
If you have been an addict and had 3 children out of wedlock and been in jail, that is not “oppression”–that is choices. White people go down that path of self-destruction too.
Anything this girl knows about aboriginal life is imaginary.
another autotuner with issues has thoughts
Date an alien? I’ve met people who claimed to be aliens.
He is large, he contains multitudes.
I am, rumour has it, legion.
Still only four comments have been allowed. ‘Lives and struggles of marginalised people’, ‘indigenous’, ‘female’, blahblahblah…
I am, rumour has it, legion
Oh, you’re that David.
‘Lives and struggles of marginalised people’
I’m guessing we’re supposed to believe that Ms Quayle – sorry, Barkaa – only ended up in prison, three times, and impregnated by trashy men, three times, and addled on crystal meth, because of the doings of Evil Whitey. She having no agency of her own and no responsibility. Much as we’re supposed to applaud an obnoxious, barely literate musician who gives us the finger in every bloody video, and to whom harmony and key changes, even simple rhythmic variation, are things of infinite mystery.
Much as we’re supposed to applaud an obnoxious, barely literate musician
Much like the CanCon regulations, the irony that absolutely no one would have ever heard of Ms. Quayle had Ebil Yte music producers not picked her up out of whatever the Australian equivalent of the gutter is, packaged her for consumption by Ebil Yte Australian teenagers, and financed her distribution channels to Ebil Yte music stores and venues does not go unnoticed.
the irony that absolutely no one would have ever heard of Ms. Quayle had Ebil Yte music producers not picked her up out of whatever the Australian equivalent of the gutter is, packaged her for consumption by Ebil Yte Australian teenagers,
I was poking through Ms Quayle’s YouTube videos, a joyless task, and couldn’t help noticing just how often approving comments would begin with some variation of “As a white…” It seems our Lady Of Limited Talents is being marketed, with some success, to racially neurotic lefties.
I was poking through Ms Quayle’s YouTube videos, a joyless task
[ Slides packet of chocolate biscuits across the bar ]
“Why, yes, I am reading the Guardian.”
It isn’t compulsory. Yet.
“Raise strong black kids
Throw those drugs in the bin
And you’ll be bound to make
Your old people look at you and grin“
Not entirely objectionable sentiments, to be fair (although one wonders what precisely is meant by “strong”, given their source). But it’s hardly Cole Porter, is it?
Not entirely unrelated.
Behold the majesty of this aboriginal telescope:
I am, rumour has it, legion
Somewhere recently I saw a blogger state “I am a river for my people”. Shame that one is taken.
About those “radical raps,” our hero “describes [her musical alter ego] Barkaa as ‘an outlet to express my anger’.”
Get it? The world is her stage, and if her disturbing psychological issues pushes more poison into our culture, than that must be a good thing.
Is rap anything more than incitement with a backbeat?
“I am a river for my people”
Lawrence of Arabia: “The Turks pay me a golden treasure, yet I am poor! Because I am a river to my people!”
Truly this blog is a river of knowledge and wisdom. And hump fat.
Is rap anything more than incitement with a backbeat?
It can be.
“Why, yes, I am reading the Guardian.”
It isn’t compulsory. Yet.
I don’t know. It can be a fun read if one pretends to be reading the Babylon Bee.
It occurred to me not too long ago that both Liz Brady and Gilbert Bécaud dabbled with a kind of proto-rap.
If you see what I mean.
Behold the majesty of this aboriginal telescope:
Well, considering their aircraft and likely their spacecraft are made from similar materials and share similar functionality, I’d pronounce their telescope to be most efficacious*. Chariots of the Gods and all that.
*I’m still unpacking from my September move and came across an old “Word of the Day” calendar. It was opened to efficacious. So I get bonus points for using it in a sentence today.
Is rap anything more than incitement with a backbeat?
It can be.
I like this series of videos.
If white people hold on to their ancient primitive heritage by acting as druids, we roll our eyes. Culture is linked to a way of life. To hold on to that culture when one no longer wears deerskin, hunts with a bow, and grinds corn with a stone is simply pretentious. There has been nothing stopping indians (in US) from joining the modern world. They are no longer forced to stay on the reservation. They can attend school. Same with aus aborig. And all this “marginalized” stuff–what does it even mean? My persian immigrant friends are a tiny minority here but they are not angry or “marginalized”.
Despite three children, no father, or fathers, are mentioned.
And her own father (Mr Quayle?) isn’t mentioned, his race or his involvement in her life. Her mother is said to be part of the Stolen Generations. What’s the likely background here?
From her photo she looks quite Aboriginal (full? half?), which isn’t obvious, given that we’ve seen so many stories about “the first Aboriginal to ___”, where it’s a European in the photo, one of whose great great great grandmothers is supposedly more important than the 15 others put together.
Chloe was born around 1995, so say her mother was born between 1955 and 1975. In what kinds of circumstances would her mother have been taken away from her parents? Born out of wedlock? Mixed race? Abuse at home?
And if the mother grew up (say) in a children’s home in a Sydney suburb, and contact was lost with the rest of the family, I’m sorry, the cultural chain is broken, and Barkaa (who was Chloe Quayle until last year) has no more of a connection to Aboriginal culture than Kylie Minogue does. But Guardian readers who are skeptical about Manx language revivalists and lederhosen folk dancing enthusiasts can be very credulous about the ethnic kitsch of non-whites.
And if it’s not the ethnic fusion Aboriginal hip hop that’s so culturally significant, if it’s the race and ancestry of the performer that are so important, that’s fine. Race and ancestry are an important part of diversity and should be preserved. A child shouldn’t be disconnected from, or made to feel ashamed of, its ancestry. Social engineering so that the historical population’s genes are washed out by successive generations of miscegenation with numerically dominant newcomers, that’s a kind of genocide. Noted, and it’s a principle that can be applied to “there’s no such thing as white people” and to the social engineering of mass immigration into white countries.
“Why, yes, I am reading the Guardian.”
And speaking of the Grauniad, I thought I was reading from its pages when I came across this headline today:
Alas, it was only Slate’s sex advice column. The advice is almost as funny as the question. The intrepid reporters insist
Yes, because there’s a relationship that screams integrity and demands preserving.
Sexual racism
That’s only the second time I’ve seen that combination of words. The first time a couple of weeks ago, lesbians refusing sex with MtFs were accused of being sexual racists. In what direction was that metaphor tending: whites refusing social intercourse with non-whites is racism, therefore lesbians refusing sexual intercourse with non-women is a kind of racism too.
And among the speculation on right wing blogs about what’s next after World War T, some commenters think that it’ll involve socially shaming white women who don’t want to have sex with non-whites. But of course non-white men wanting to have sex with unwilling white women is a Trope, and anyone who believes in the Trope is really hiding an interracial cuckold fetish, so we can discard that speculation.
It’s not about white men, who on the whole don’t find black women to be sexually attractive, and whose sexual interest in Asian women isn’t seen as proof of open-mindedness but as exploitation and exoticism and yellow fever. Anything white men do is and will continue to be Problematic.
But if “sexual racism” is a thing now, how far behind are “sexual justice” and “sexual equity”? Titillating concepts, if you’re a rapist.
And the quoted reasoning is edging towards Problematizing Consent – nobody is questioning your right to consent BUT if you’re not sleeping with the right race we can socially shame and pressure you, especially if you’re a woman who’s more conformist and sensitive to social shaming. Besides, if there’s a Power Differential, isn’t consent really a form of discrimination?
he’s choosing only white women: ‘Sexual racism'”
He’s a racist regardless of what he does:
If he does not choose black women, that’s racism.
If he does choose black women, that’s exploitation and jungle fever, and thus is racist.
therefore lesbians refusing sexual intercourse with non-women is a kind of racism too
Pity the poor radical lesbian separatists. 😉
Titillating concepts, if you’re a rapist.
I believe David has already covered the gays and trans “women” who denounce men who won’t have sex with them.
Self-warming bolster pillows. Futon torpedo meets photon torpedo.
Zou’s right, and I can take that further. The Isle of Man is a small place, and I know enough about its history to state that members of the Quayle family were not amongst early white Australian settlers, convicts or bonded workers, and incidentally historically not linked to the slave trade either In fact, Quayles didn’t really move to Australia until the 1960’s, when work started getting scarce on IOM. So Chloe Quayle appears to be descended on the father’s side from a white ‘whingeing pom’. Also, Chloe is a popular name amongst Manx folk and language revivalists, suggesting the Manx cultural influence in her background and upbringing is…well…let’s just say far stronger than any Aboriginal one.
Why Modern Movies Suck – They’re Destroying Our Heroes
Why Modern Movies Suck – They’re Destroying Our Heroes
So I take it we’ve given up on that whole ‘Find Sarah Connor’ thing, eh? Pity.
“It can be.”
I’m still rather partial to this. (Around 1:10 and 2:50-ish.) And who can forget the first rap to hit the charts? After 40 years (yikes!) I still haven’t the faintest idea what she’s on about, but I’m fairly sure it’s not poppin’ caps in n****s’ asses.
The resulting music is utterly trivial and devoid of any brilliance.
It is perhaps suitable for the accompaniment of dancing monkeys, jugglers, mountebanks,
swallowers of swords and snakes in public squares and at dirty street corners.