#I have to mention that I only draw machines for my friends hh

[snejkha]

Gilde and 74YM3 for @themyzzinglink //

[theoretically-questionable]

I'll go further: lots of (white) people *do* listen to rap. They just don't call it rap, and they actively distance themselves from anything too 'rap'-like until it gets popular — at which point they take pains to draw artificial distinctions between it and 'actual rap'.

I'm Australian. A lot of my peers growing up listened to Hollywood Undead, Hilltop Hoods, Bliss n Eso, Kerser, Limp Bizkit, and those two or three popular songs from Rage Against the Machine's discography (as did my internet friends in Canada and the USA: i'm leaving the UK out of it because their landscape around mainstream music and black rappers is different in kinda complicated ways imo).

But none of these bands were thought of as even close to 'rap' to my peers — HU and LB were just "rock/punk", Kerser was just "hardcore electronic", and (most egregiously of all) BnE and HH were just "hip-hop". They didn't listen to rap (bad, black), no! It was hip-hop (good, white)! (and of course, any Australian indigenous music, rap or otherwise, was fringe at best — the most 'indigenous politics' band was Midnight Oil (very white), and actual contemporary Indigenous music only got passed around as a joke (see Petrol Powered Goon Bag Holocaust going semi-viral amongst high-schoolers, for example).

The cognitive dissonance required to say a band isn't 'rap' because it's actually 'just aussie hip-hop' is... incredible, sure, but it's real. There's a... reflexive refusal, i guess, to engage with black art, to instead preference white artists in the genre, and to split parts of into 'less-rap' genres to make it more palatable.

Plus there's a persistent difficulty engaging with the actual themes of black art when it does get mainstreamed (see the focus on Lamar v. Drake beefing that skips over a *core* part of the feud, namely "you a fuckin' colonizer") (F.D Signifier's 'I'm What the Culture Feeling' is invaluable here for anyone looking to get their bearings on the context).

And there's this... weird shame that a lot of (again, mostly white) rap-combo-genre artists seem to feel about being rap-adjacent, now? It either trickled up from fans, or down from the bands, but it's everywhere. It's cringe, it's immature, it's juvenile masculine anger, it's not tasteful, it's not properly political. All the same patently incurious (at best) shit people say about black rap and culture.

"For anyone born before 1995 or so, the mere mention of the term “rap rock” is likely to produce reflexive shudders. The cultural imagination is littered with the unlovely offspring of attempted copulation between the styles; if, at some point, you made a name for yourself through combining rap and rock, chances are you either distance yourself vigorously from such efforts now or have learned to adjust to life as a walking joke."

—Jason Greene, 'The Unlikely Resurgence of Rap Rock', Pitchfork

Which is stunning, really, because bands in these 'hybrid' genres have been some of the most influential in the last two decades of the western popular musical landscape (and as OP said, probably less directly for the last forty plus years)!

These are bands that aren't just 'musically influenced' by rap, but bands that outright lyrically rap in their songs (regrettably, Lonely Island counts — "i don't listen to rap, unless it's a 'parody' band" was a huge genre for a while, christ)! But it's never 'actually rap' to the audience (who view rap as 'bad') and it's almost never non-white artists.

Everything from the edgelord-electronic scene (stemming out from MSI and similar bands which held an ongoing fascination with the 'shocking' aspects of black culture and rap) to straightforward nu-mental, rock, and punk, and even fucking Christian Rock/Metal, are all genres full of bands that explicitly started out directly engaging with 'rap' and were explicitly inspired by black rap artists.

Like, I don't cite Greene above just to support the idea that this reflexive shame around liking anything rap-like exists; the article also shows the writer straightforwardly leans into the 'cringe' these rap-combo genres apparently inspire. It's completely at odds with the actual trajectories (in terms of fame, subject matter, and political engagement) of the bands he's talking about. He even explicitly buys into the old canard that rap rock (as a rap offshoot) is/was predominantly misogynistic.

(The conversation around white artists extracting and popularising elements of black music culture for their own careers and musical expression, and their music's misogyny/aggression stemming from uncritical interpretations/reproductions of the more nuanced and culturally specific source material, is a whole other kettle of fish.)

rap has probably been the most consistently popular and influential genre of music for the past 40+ years but your average person on tumblr is less willing to listen to it than a random white teenage boy in the suburbs or a 4channer who lurks on /mu/ every once in a while

[sincerelyensouled]

Dani taz, Carmen Sandiego, and Mary Sage

I apologize in advance for how long this post is going to be ;;-;;

Dani

favorite thing about them I think she’s fun! Who wouldn’t love an artist who’s also into plants, a wlw, living a hotel and also a cryptid vampire creature? 

least favorite thing about them Honestly, she got so little development, I wish we got to see so much more of that. Like how long has she been at Amnesty Lodge?? Why did she get exiled from Sylvain?? What’s her favourite food?? there are so many unanswered questions 

favorite line “Aubrey you feel like home” makes me SO SOFT!

brOTP Jake Coolice bayybeeee!!! Also Barclay for some weird kitchen antics. Also Thacker! Also Mama!!! So many friends. I might have the incorrect interpretation of that Brotp is or I just might want Dani to be very loved

OTP Aubrey of course

nOTP Literally anyone else

random headcanon I think I say this literally any chance I can get but her nickname is Dandelion and only people she’s very close to can call her that! unpopular opinion uhhh.. here’s one that only might get me a callout post. At the moment, looking at canon content exclusively, Dani’s only real purpose seemed to be a prize for Aubrey. I really wish Griffin had some really rad lore to give her and I extra wish we would’ve gotten it song i associate with them Dog Days are Over by Florence + The Machine. Also, unfortunately, Riptide by Vance Joy for whatever reason. No thoughts, head song the ukulele's equivalent to Wonderwall I guess 

favorite picture of them Okay I have one piece from @/kyllu as my desktop background and it’s a drawing of Aubrey and Dani having a sleepover and Aubrey has illuminated the room with a fireball. It’s so pretty and I have such vivid memories of the first time seeing it because I was in an airport waiting for my flight home and I genuinely started crying looking at it. Also from the Davenport blog 2020 April Fool’s goof, Dani sitting on top of the roof with the caption “Tonight’s Dani misses home” is also VERY up there. 

Carmen

favorite thing about them I love older Carmens too but there is really something fun about the 2019 version actively rebelling against the way she was raised and who raised her just so she can fight for what’s right. And she’s very strong and was able to make that decision and escape all on her own! Having three “teams” in the show rather than just the two “good guys” vs “bad guys” is something I enjoy

least favorite thing about them hmmm I genuinely cannot think of anything. I am very neutral about my opinions of Carmen specifically 

favorite line ”Player, I made it. I’m off the island. I need to know where on earth I am” brOTP I *LOVE* the way her and Player’s friendship is portrayed and I can not get enough of it. They’ve been friends for over 4 years!! They call each other “Player” and “red” because that’s what they're comfortable with, no need to change it. They have a bit of an age gap but they’re still really close and they support each other so much. Geography special interest buddies. Amazing friends, respect each other’s boundaries.

OTP As much as I enjoy Carmivy I am actively opinionless

nOTP (ignoring a lot of BAD takes I see on instagram) If I see the words re//d//c.rackle one more time I am quitting

random headcanon I don’t remember how or why but one time my mom brought up the idea that Carmen has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and I probably think about it every day of my life now. It’s not based on much because my mom hasn’t watched the show but -shrug- Oh also Carmen’s hot drink of choice is hot cocoa

unpopular opinion Player and Carmen have absolutely no reason to meet up in person, do not force them to and overstep pre-established boundaries. Also, the headcanon that she and Player are siblings simply because they are both brown people who have a close bond fucking sucks. 

song i associate with them I am bad at music favorite picture of them I’m pretty sure this doesn’t actually count but there’s this one shirt we made in a TKO game that is an image of Carmen and the caption is “carsvenm sidjsnem” and I cry laughing looking at it to this day and my biggest regret in life is not being able to buy it because the shop page got corrupted before we could save the link

Mary Sage

favorite thing about them Clint just really WENT FOR IT while making Mary. The concept of her parents owning a Bible Amusement Park, the fact she’s HIDING in said park, the anger, the betrayal, being abused and used as a living weapon by the dgf, she has the highest swear ratio in all of Commitment, the fact she is I think only once depicted standing on level ground with the PCs (almost every mention of her location is her being on top of a platform of some kind because she likes to be tall and dramatic) it’s *chef’s kiss* Let her learn how to trust people again.

least favorite thing about them WE DID NOT GET HER FOR LONG ENOUGH CLINTON. Also knowing deep down that if Commitment season 2 ever does happen the first thing that will happen is leaving Mary in the middle of nowhere never to be seen again :(

favorite line “nn-where d’ya want to go?” sticks out a lot  “Everybody wants to hurt Space Cadet!” “And Mary begins to scream”  “You… Shithead! You were gonna make me kill thousands of people!“

brOTP Remy! Remy! Remy! You don’t just unload your dramatic backstory on a person you met 5 minutes ago like that and just.... abandon them. They’d be pure chaos together, unstoppable. 

OTP Nadiya uwu

nOTP Anyone else

random headcanon Mary finds a lot of comfort in hiding in small spaces. I was going to credit this to being caused by Halleluland but that makes zero sense if anything Halleluland would be a wide-open space. But small spaces are easy to keep track of, hide away from prying eyes and control everything that’s going on with-in them. Absolutely would steal all the available pillows just so she could sit comfy in a closet or something also she’s bilingual in French because rich kid in Lousiana 

unpopular opinion uhhhhhhhh no idea. I don’t think a lot of people really gave Mary a chance

song i associate with them Dirty Imbicile by The Happy Fits

favorite picture of them The one everyone (read: 3 people) in a discord server used as their icon for a couple months because we all thought it was funny (and it was). It was cropped from a comic panel of Mary seeing Kardala for the first time which was drawn by @/ 1010lilfoot

no checking for typos we die like men