Rapper YG of "F Trump" Fame Declares "The Hood is For Trump," Why Gen-Z is Making Creed a Popular Band Again, Latest "College Controversy" is Just Classic Greek Lit (The Five for 09/29/23)
Plus, Modern Family's Sofia Vergara plays a real life drug Kingpin (Queenpin?), Switchfoot's epic guest vocalist list and Sum 41's epic send-off.
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Welcome to The Five, a publication about the stories that matter.
Just before publication…an arrest was made in the nearly 30-year-old murder case of rapper Tupac Shakur.
There isn’t time for a reaction, but that’s huge news in the music world.
Now, let’s get into Culture & Commentary.
[one]
Rapper YG, one of the most vocal critics of Trump in 2016, shared an unexpected nugget on comedian Theo Von’s podcast…many of the people in his community love Donald Trump for 2024:
When that PPP sh*t came out, black people forgave him.
‘I was like, damn so you all back with Trump?’ He was like ‘hell yeah.’
This is notable that YG isn’t standing against thew4e former POTUS, as one of his biggest hit songs is “FDT (F*** Donald Trump)”
YG’s comments come on the heels of a recent Washington Post poll, showing potential record support for The Donald:
Multiple polls in recent weeks have shown Trump performing historically well among Black and Hispanic voters in head-to-head matchups with President Biden, helping put him neck-and-neck with Biden in a way he rarely was during their 2020 matchup.
Across five high-quality polls that have broken out non-White voters in the past month, Trump is averaging 20 percent of Black voters and 42 percent of Hispanic voters.
Both numbers — and especially that for Black voters — could set modern-day records for a Republican in a presidential election. Trump in 2020 took just 8 percent of Black voters and 36 percent of Hispanic voters, according to the Pew Research Center’s validated voter survey. Exit polls pegged those figures at 12 percent of Black voters and 32 percent of Hispanic voters.
In a poll conducted by Spanish language TV channel Univision, Trump is so far up on the competition with Latino registered voters, the other candidates might as well not bother.
No one knows if the swing in the opinions of minority voters hold come election day, still 14 months out (which is a lifetime in the world of politics). But if, (and that’s a BIG if), Trump swings a notable percentage of minority voters to his camp…that’s not just a political sea change, but a social one as well.
I’m still somewhat skeptical that this support will turn into votes, but something is happening here.
[two]
The idea of “one campus, one book” is a fairly popular idea in the college world. For example, one Evangelical Christian college in the Chicago suburbs asked all students and staff to read Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist.
(Side note: Kendi is currently under investigation for misuse of funds by Boston University after his “Kendi’s Center for Anti-Racism and Social Justice” burned through $43 million, then laying off half the staff without producing any tangible work—so, maybe not the best book selection, in retrospect).
So, the idea of “one book, one campus” isn’t that big of a deal…unless it’s a very old book, apparently.
A response a college in Florida making The Odyssey required reading racked up more than 225,000 views on Twitter, declaring that reading the book constituted White Supremacy:
Except…a LOT of the ancient Greeks weren’t white. Maybe even a majority. Maybe the original author of the work.
From Tales of Times Forgotten:
Furthermore, there were undoubtedly people whom we would consider Brown and Black present in ancient Greece and Rome from a very early date. These people almost certainly included famous ancient philosophers, writers, theologians, and even Roman emperors. In fact, people whom we would consider people of color probably made up a significant proportion of the total population of the Roman Empire, if not the majority.
The ancient Greeks (and Romans) didn’t have a concept of modern race…in art, they portrayed men as dark skinned (due to working outside) and women as pale (due to staying inside—a major status symbol in that time).
Still, it’s tough to argue that the ancient Greeks don’t depict themselves with facial traits more common in modern African and Arabic peoples, in modern times.
Even in the U.S. in the early 1900’s, Greeks were considered “non-white,” and faced horrible persecution. In Omaha, NE in 1909, a mob of more than 1,000 people burned out Greek businesses and forced more than 3,000 Greeks (as well as Italians and Romanians, because racists are too stupid to know the difference) to flee and move to Iowa or Utah.
The police stood down, and refused to help the migrants.
Six years later, the newly re-formed KKK passed out this pamphlet ahead of an election:
“When cotton grows on the fig tree
And alfalfa hangs on the rose
When the aliens run the United States
And the Jews grow a straight nose
When the Pope is praised by every one
In the land of Uncle Sam
And a Greek is elected President
THEN–the Ku Klux won’t be worth a damn.”
To conclude, the Greeks, who have never been “white” exactly, should not have their culture’s greatest literacy work taught because of “White Supremacy” is one of the dumbest ideas ever put forth in modern education.
Keep classical literature alive.
There’s a reason this book has lasted more than 3,000 years, and inspired more than 30 movies across several genres (including the award winning O' Brother, Where Art Thou)…because classic literature does in fact have something to say about how we live today.
[three]
IGN.com ranked the top 100 shows of all time this week, and I’m a sucker for a good pop culture list, (but aren’t we all…or at least all of us who read something like The Five), and only take moderate offense at Sons of Anarchy, my favorite show of all time, not making the cut, somehow.
Rather than try to tackle reacting to such a gigantic article…here are a few of my picks, that you may not have seen.
(Note: I’m assuming you don’t need anyone to hold your hand and recommend Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad—the obvious picks have been left off my mini-list).
(IGN rank: 20) Running from 1992-1995, Batman: The Animated Series hit my late elementary school years, so I remember it fondly…I didn’t realize others held it in so much prestige as well. Steeped in the atmosphere of 1930’s Noir detective stories (a far cry from the jokey tone of Marvel in the modern era), the series was made for kids, but with a heavy emphasis on narratives that many would view as too complex for 4th graders to follow.
Time has shown that assumption was wrong.
(IGN Rank: 24) Freaks and Geeks should have been a huge hit show, at the level of Dawsons Creek, The O.C. or Gossip Girl. Despite massive future star power (the core cast has all gone to have notable careers) and being helmed by future Hollywood heavyweight Judd Apatow (Bridesmaids, The 40 Year Old Virgin), this one never got past a single season.
But…what a season. You’ve never seen a “high school show” with writing quite like this (unless you previously watched it). Bonus points for the peanut allergy episode, the only time I've seen my life threatening condition portrayed accurately on screen.
(IGN rank:32) Community lived on the edge of cancellation for six seasons…and barely hung in there to make one of the best sitcoms of all time.
Most people haven’t watched this oddball comedy about a group of misfit friends at a community college…if you’re among them, add it to the watchlist.
It’s tough to pin down the individual comedy tastes of a diverse audience like the readership of The Five, but if you liked The Office, Parks and Rec and/or Friends, you may find plenty to laugh along with at Greendale Community College.
(IGN rank: 4)At this point, it’s essentially settled that The X-Files invented modern TV, heavily influencing everything from The Sopranos to Breaking Bad.
The 1990’s sci-fi FOX show bridges the gap between episodic TV (stand alone stories that fit in 30 or 60 minute packages) and everything to come in the 2000’s and beyond, with TV/movie crossovers (Marvel, John Wick, Star Wars) and fan theories and deep dives (which now live on YouTube and Reddit, but existed as old-school internet message boards for fans of the show, accessing virtual community via dial-up internet).
Hey Gen-Z, this is what internet communication looked like before the year 2000 (and yes, self-serve 90’s boards often had terrible design including red-on-red font).
[four]
There’s never been a band loved, then hated, in such a short window of time as Creed. Part of that is due to the fact that their first two albums, My Own Prison (1997) and Human (1999) are top shelf pop/grunge, while their their third offering, Weathered (2001), is so bad it broke the band up.
This tells us as much about the world they existed in, as about the band itself, as pointed out in the brief video above by the channel Deep Talks (also on podcast platforms—I highly recommend subscribing).
Creed’s first two albums existed in the pre-9/11 America, where the modernism worldview still had a strong foothold, defined by an optimism that technology and human nature were improving the human condition.
Then, the deaths of 9/11 and two endless wars (plus a near-Depression level economic crash in ‘08), ushered in a stronger era of postmodernism, which is defined by a lack of sincerity, detached irony…and general hopelessness. To quote a very old book, Ecclesiastes 8:15, postmodernism is pretty much summed up as “we eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
In 2023, the metamodern worldview is taking over in pop culture:
A common image used to describe metamodernism is that of a pendulum, constantly oscillating between creation and destruction, hope and doubt, optimism and realism. When talking about metamodernism in comparison with modernism and postmodernism, Fabio Vittorini described it as “a pendulum-like motion between the naive and/or fanatic idealism of the former and the skeptical and/or apathetic pragmatism of the latter.”
So, Creed is still the same band, but now Gen Z’ers are kinda into them…as metamodernism is having a cultural moment. Looking back the Creed’s videography from the Clinton and Dubya years…the visuals haven’t aged well at all.
But don’t be surprised if you hear “can you take me hiiigherrrrr” bleeding from a pair of Gen Z earbuds near you.
[five]
As always, let’s head into the weekend with a pop culture roundup.
Sofia Vergara (Modern Family, Lords of Dogtown) takes a sharp turn from her typical comedic fare for Griselda, the true story of a one-woman cocaine operation in Miami across decades.
Catch the limited series come January…feels like Netflix is angling hard for awards season with this one.
There’s a bit to unpack with Argyle, the new spy movie from Matthew Vaugn (Kingsman, X-Men: First Class).
Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World, The Help) plays a hit novelist who writes…James Bond-esque novels…and is pulled into the real world of espionage.
Henry Cavill (Man of Steel, Mission Impossible),Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad, Godzilla) and Samuel L. Jackson (Star Wars II, Pulp Fiction) is a heck of a trio of supporting cast members for a flick that, in typical Vaugn style, will probably walk the line between spoof and straight ahead actioner.
Oh, and Wonder Woman scribe Jason Fuchs (the good movie, not the terrible 1984 sequel) penned the script here, so expect some real heart and stakes.
We’ll find out in February. This one goes exclusively to theaters.
This one takes some context. MAY DECEMBER tells a fictional tale about the real Mary Kay Letourneau became a household name in 1995, after she was caught having a sexual relationship with her 6th grade student. She went to prison, and was released in 2004, when her student, at that time 21 years old, got the court to reverse a no-contact order and married the teacher…who allegedly began grooming him in SECOND GRADE.
An upcoming Netflix film imagines a world where Natalie Portman (V for Vendetta, Avengers: Endgame) plays an actress who will portray Letourneau (Julianne Moore—Crazy, Stupid, Love., 30 Rock) in an upcoming movie…and meets up with the freed felon to research the role.
The way the trailer goes, it looks like she’s discovering that Letourneau is more “master manipulator” than “naive.”
It’s a weird one that I probably won’t get around to…but it would be interesting if Hollywood actually makes an anti-child-grooming statement in an art film.
In theaters 11/17 or on Netflix 12/01.
NEW MUSIC
Pop-punk pioneers Sum 41, who are calling it a day after 28 years, released a surprisingly strong single off their forthcoming farewell album.
The band has been put out consistently quality albums and toured for a legion of loyal fans for nearly three decades, with little to no controversy or drama. There’s worse things than putting out a string of good records before wrapping things up.
More impressive still is the fact that they “peaked” in the early 00’s, and were happy to continue on with much less fame than the early days.
Well done, Canadian lads.
I’m continually surprised at how “anniversary re-releases” are not just cash grabs. In the case of Switchfoot’s 20 year celebration of their breakthrough pop/surf rock album Meant to Live, the San Diego natives both rework the original recordings AND record an entire second album, featuring some of their favorite singers on vocals of every track.
Front man Jon Foreman sits out singing duties for the most part on the guest re-recordings…which includes Ingrid Andres, dream pop singer Sleeping at Last (a friend of mine since high school), electronica artist Owl City, former Disney channel kids Jonas Brothers and singer/songwriter Noah Gunderson. It’s an odd mashup that…somehow works.
The Zach-Bryan-esque craze continues with more underrated Americana singer/songwriters being discovered every week. Sam Barber grew up in a small town in southeast Missouri, mainly focused on athletics until he picked up his great-grandfather’s vintage Gibson, and discovered his voice, both literally and metaphorically.
Until the next one,
-sth