Urban Jumble - discussion of the word 'urban' and its vague concept.
Ok here’s the thing. If I said to you “rural youth”, what image would that conjure up in your head? A real farmer’s son and his trusty sheepdog? Pig-tailed girls bringing pales of milk to the sons of preacher men? Maybe blue-eyed toffs exiting mildly mud-spattered 4x4’s in Barbour jackets?
Well, whatever the imagery, it’s all wrong. And right. You see there may be blue-eyed toff milkmaids driving the 4x4’s, sons of preacher men spattering mud
at the farmer’s son, and the sheepdog might have pig-tails. The point is, they’re just ‘youth’, the only thing ‘rural’ about them would be the mass of stereotypes that instantly spring to mind when the phrase is mentioned.
So why, then, this current obsession with labelling all things youth-orientated as ‘urban’? Certainly there seems to be a stem from music and culture of black-origin; hip-hop, R&B, drum & bass, funk and soul. So I guess therein lies yet another excuse for useless political correctness. But I feel the issue is rooted a little deeper than that.
Last time I checked, urban meant ‘of the city’. So, technically that would encompass, well, everyone in London under 25 (by the way last year that would‘ve been 24, I’m still youthful…still youthful). Of course, looking at the demographic this god-awful moniker is attached to, we see the trend lies with the general hoody-wearing, delinquent population. They are seen in groups of between 8 and 12 and communicate via intermittent grunts of “yeah”, “like” and “nah man”. In order to ensure the message is firmly translated to the group peers, this must be infused with careful and frequent positioning of the word “fuck” and its various derivatives.
Oh dear. You see what I did there? I just gave you your stereotype. But wait, there we have the happy-slapper urban youth we all know and love to hate. What about the other ‘urban’ youth? The council estate inhabitants, the underprivileged kids who didn’t get the chance in life that you or I have had? So should I now take ‘urban’ to be an acronym for ‘disadvantaged’? Reeks of the old political correctness again really. Well done again to the powers that be in creating a whole new prejudice and assumption, whilst simultaneously trying to relinquish it.
The truth is, it means absolutely nothing. Somebody, somewhere wanted to find a dictionary definition when one wasn’t needed and now we’re stuck with it. ‘Urban’ music, as far as I can tell, could be anything from Whitney Houston, to the Black Eyed Peas, Mary J Blige, Roots Manuva or even, dare I say it, Blazing Squad (eurgh…). Now, even someone with the mildest appreciation for any of these acts will tell you they’re from completely separate schools of thought, even though their roots show obvious parallels. Yet they all fall under the ‘urban’ category. Whether that was just pure laziness, or somebody needed a title for their latest music festival, I don’t know. But surely the Urban Music Festival could simply just be a ‘festival’, like any other. Tell them we’ll be playing hip-hop, drum & bass, R&B and soul – that’s not too hard for anyone to grasp is it? There are rock festivals, trance and techno festivals, folk festivals, country and western festivals. There’s even arts and craft festivals, but for the sake of convenience we’re lumped with ‘urban’.
This does nothing for the advancement of the cultures. It hinders, forms presumptions when all one wishes to do is expose a little creativity in an otherwise market-driven pot of drivel. Tell me, can you honestly compare the incendiary originality of Roots Manuva with the talentless nonsense that spouts from the prepubescent mouths of Blazing Squad, let alone put them in the same category?
I speak from the perspective of an avid hip-hop fan, a culture that has endured many a stigma over the years to be recognised today as a bold representation of outspoken and intellectual artistic medium. These artists have strived long for their recognition as forerunners in creativity, and yet have grit their teeth and nod when some otherwise ignorant punter asks them “So, do you make ‘urban music’ then? How interesting…are you a fan of Blazing Squad?”
Oh, and while you’re at it, how about asking Bob Dylan which member of Girls Aloud he likes best.
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J~Bright
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