Sort-a Word-y

Get it?!?! Ridin’ Dirty – White & Nerdy – Sorta Wordy. Hopefully you do now. It’s not every day that my creative genius is stretched so thin. So, onto this Tuesdays blog post. We were asked to compare/contrast the song, “Ridin Dirty” by Chamillionare with the satirical parody “White & Nerdy” by ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic, along the lines of the satirical portrayals of whites and blacks in the videos. Also, we are to see to what extent racial satire is helping/harming relationships between the races.

Whew. Where do I start?… To address the first concern, I think that both videos represent true cultural aspects. I mean, that when the police have Chamillionare pulled over in his video, his car screams black. Well, in all fairness, it also is on the verge of screaming Mexican, but Mexicans would have better rims. Having grown up in various parts of town, I know which race to associate various cars to. Now don’t go getting mad. It is true. Perhaps you’ve never noticed because you’ve lived in one town, but take it from someone who has an idea of what they are talking about. I think it is a cultural divide between whites and blacks and these videos just exploit the differences. Generally speaking, no white person will drive a car like Chamillionare in the video. Nor would a black person be caught dead driving a Prius (again, generally speaking). Now as for the portrayal of whites, I was dying laughing. The action-figures and comic books are spot on for a majority of people. But on a more serious note, I know that Chamillionare is saying that they/he were pulled over because of their race. But from personal experience, I always have seen more whites pulled over than blacks. And more often than not, the police officer is black. How is that for a reality check? And if blacks really wanted to make a change, they would go to the police academy and become officers, instead of complaining about the lack of representation in a VOLUNTARY organization. (This is also a subject that I have written about previously).

As to the second question: I don’t think these videos are accurate representations, and consequently think they fuel the stereotypes and ignorance surrounding this issue. I think that the racial satirizing is harming more than helping. Because most people don’t realize that it’s a satire in the first place, so these satires can create confusion. I think this is all I have to say… Until later, ~V

OH! Here are the videos I am referencing: