‘Crack Music’: Michael Jackson’s Invincible

by Elizabeth Amisu

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    ‘Crack Music’: Michael Jackson’s Invincible


    23 October 2014
    By Elizabeth Amisu


    Inspired by the chapter, ‘Invincible, The Denouement Album’ from The Dangerous Philosophies of Michael Jackson by Elizabeth Amisu (Praeger, 2016).

    Abstract:
    Little academic writing has been devoted to Michael Jackson’s final studio album, Invincible. This article explores Invincible through Kanye West’s metaphor of Crack Music from the 2005 album, Late Registration and places it in the context of black aspiration as a threat to dominant Western ideologies.

    ‘CRACK MUSIC’: MICHAEL JACKSON’S INVINCIBLE


    ‘Sometimes I feel the music is the only medicine
    So we cook it, cut it, measure it, bag it, sell it.’[i]


    Listen to the track, Crack Music from Kanye West’s 2005 album, Late Registration. The political, ‘Ronald Reagan cooked up an answer’ is intertwined with the historical, ‘we’ve been hanging from the same tree ever since’ and religious, ‘God, how could you let this happen?’ West’s gospel harmonies soar, as if reaching for impossible dreams while his lyrics remain entrenched in the gutter. A similar bittersweet-ness is found in the rising choruses of Whatever Happens and Heaven Can Wait from Invincible. Both songs deal with existential themes and death is at the centre. There is a heavenwards reach, ‘tell the angels no’ tempered with an earthbound fear, ‘if the Lord should come for me before I wake’.[ii]

    The curious dichotomy between what nourishes us and what kills us is the stage on which all Jackson’s songs were performed. Like Jackson did years before him, ‘black man, blackmail, throw the brother in jail’, West continually questions how blacks can forge identity in a predominantly white Western world, ‘they wanna pack us all in a box like styrofoam’. While Jackson encodes his sentiments in metaphor, ‘I’m not a ghost from Hell, but I’ve got a spell on you’, West laces them with taboo lexis, ‘that’s that crack music nigga’.[iii]

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    Some critics may disparage rap music as in binary opposition to art, and ‘one can readily find aesthetic reasons which seem to discredit it as a legitimate art form’ but West’s career was made by using the form to engage in tough racial discourse. It is unsurprising then that both were soon deemed eccentric and ridiculous, ‘West is an idiot, so mired in a fog of narcissism and self-delusion that he doesn’t realise the full implications of what he’s saying’. [iv]

    But what exactly is ‘crack music’ and what does it have to do with Michael Jackson’s final studio album?Well, although Invincible is the least known of all Michael Jackson’s solo albums, (much like his book of poetry, Dancing the Dream), it was undoubtedly ‘explosive’, ‘intoxicating’ and an example of a black man selling “black” music to a predominantly white (Western) world. Invincible was also a ‘crack’ in Jackson’s career.[v]

    Invincible marked the beginning of a new phase, a change of artistic and musical direction and unsurprisingly, it jarred with contemporary music critics, ‘he does need to leave Michael Jacksonland, that place where every sign points back to the spectacle of himself’. This particular critic simply ignores the fact that many of us were born (musically, metaphorically and artistically) in “Michael Jacksonland” and will continue to live there as long as his unparalleled influence pervades.[vi]

    Performance poet Malik Yusef, who speaks on West’s Crack Music iterates the eponym as the way ‘former slaves trade hooks for Grammys’. However, that exchange is mired because respect cannot be bought. Still, the black artist has no choice but to own all of it: the otherness and fragmentation. It is the dynamic repossessing of these difficulties which transforms poison into power, ‘this dark diction has become America’s addiction’.[vii]

    By 2001 and Invincible’s release, the world of popular music had changed radically. Jackson was no stranger to leaping across the decades but this time things were (as in the Thriller short film) different. He was simultaneously a living legend, a caricature and a has-been.Jackson’s dream of beating Thriller’s phenomenal record sales was distant. Even if he ever stood a chance of accomplishing it, he could never have done so without the fair wind of public opinion. The shadow of suspicion raised by extortion decimated his reputation and by proxy, his sales.[viii]

    The poison which spiked Jackson’s career was ‘thinly veiled racism’ which effectively barred him from the artistic recognition he sought and deserved. Jackson’s delinquency was the outrageous notion that he was both extraordinarily successful and black. Kanye West’s ‘crack music’ is predominantly black music. It ‘oozes through nooks and crannies’ so black women don’t have to remain ‘cooks and nannies’. It changes the status quo, turns poison into power and must be silenced at all costs.[ix]

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    For many, the Invincible album was a drug that did not do what it had promised. As in J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, happy thoughts alone cannot give flight. Jackson recognised Tinker Bell as the true hero of her story and was eventually buried with her ‘slinging a stream of the dust he so loved inside the right breast of [his] jacket’. It is a combination of fairy dust and ‘happy thoughts’ that convinces the wearer they can fly. Perhaps the problem with ‘crack music’ is the audacity of the aspiration, that black men like Michael Jackson and Kanye West have the gall to attempt such dizzying heights. [x]

    One thing is certain, in the case of a man who can fly, ‘it’s all done in the heavens’, awe must eventually turn to resentment, no matter his colour. Invincible was Michael Jackson’s successful attempt to craft his own musical world, while his multiple personas sped ahead of him. Yet, Invincible, though still largely relegated to a “lesser work”, far surpasses much of what was released in the same decade, yet alone the same year. [xi]

    Like William Shakespeare’s most dismissive critics and staunchest supporters, all will be long dead by the time Invincible’s fate is decided, and just like Shakespeare’s Tempest, the latter works of a great artist can be overlooked by audiences in their time. People forget that Shakespeare’s plays, now so exalted, were the common entertainment of prostitutes and peasantry in the seamier side of seventeenth century London.

    The playhouses were far from the air conditioned theatres of today but plague-filled pits which incubated disease. As our modern actors spout four-hundred year-old lines in Received Pronunciation on brand new stages made of imported wood, ‘we cannot recreate the stenches, the clothes of the audience, their mindset, the surrounding city’.

    Shakespeare’s Thames teemed with sewage and his lyrical constructions have more to do with ‘crack music’ than most would like to admit. It is easy to forget how working class William Shakespeare actually was and it took several years for Shakespeare to be regarded as a genius. Let us hope it doesn’t take so long for Michael, his blackness notwithstanding, ‘people will not understand this album right now. It’s ahead of its time[…] the album will live on forever’ because ‘music is what lives and lasts’.[xii]


    Elizabeth Amisu is a postgraduate scholar of Early Modern English Literature at King’s College London. It is her goal to bring wider attention to Michael Jackson as artist by creating an academic model for the study of his art. Find out more here.

    [i] Kanye West, ‘Crack Music’, Late Registration. Exec. Prod. Kanye West. Roc-a-Fella/Def-Jam. 2005. CD. 9885652.
    [ii] Michael Jackson, ‘Heaven Can Wait’, Invincible. Exec. Prod. Michael Jackson, CD, 4951742000 (2001)
    [iii] Michael Jackson, ‘They Don’t Care About Us’, HIStory Past, Present and Future Book 1. Michael Jackson. Exec. Prod. Michael Jackson, CD, 59000 – E2K/E2T/E2M (1995); ‘Threatened’, Invincible; ‘Crack Music’, Late Registration.
    [iv] Richard Shusterman, ‘The Fine Art of Rap’, New Literary History, Vol. 22(3), pp. 613-632 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/469207> [accessed 18 October 2014]; Alexis Petridis, ‘Kanye West: Yeezus – review’, Guardian 17 June 2013 <http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/jun/17/kanye-west-yeezus-review> [accessed 18 October 2014].
    [v] Elizabeth Amisu, ‘On Michael Jackson’s Dancing the Dream’, Writing Eliza, 7 July 2014 <http://elizabethamisu.com/post/91073957802/on-michael-jacksonsdancing-the-dream-dangerous> [accessed 22 July 2014].
    [vi] Conversation with Karin Merx, Academic/Musician, 27 September 2014; James Hunter, ‘Invincible’, Rolling Stone, 6 December 2001 <http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/invincible-20011206#ixzz3GW7W6wrM>; Hampton Stevens, ‘Michael Jackson’s Unparalleled Influence,’ The Atlantic. 24 June 2010.
    [vii] ‘Crack Music’, Late Registration.
    [viii] Joseph Vogel, Man in the Music (Sterling, 2011),p. 219-235; Joseph Vogel, ‘Second to None: Race, Representation and the Misunderstood Power of Michael Jackson’s Music’, Featuring Michael Jackson: Collected Writings on the King of Pop (Baldwin Books, 2012), pp. 7-14.
    [ix] Armond White, Keep Moving: The Michael Jackson Chronicles (Resistance Works, 2010), p. 106; ‘Crack Music’, Late Registration.
    [x] Michael Bush, The King of Style - Dressing Michael Jackson (California: Insight Editions, 2012), p. 196; Elizabeth Amisu, ‘The Isle is Full of Noises’: Revisiting the Peter Pan of Pop’, 22 August 2014, Writing Eliza <http://elizabethamisu.com/post/93786694677/the-isle-is-full-of-noises-revisiting-the-peter-pan> [accessed 28 September 2014].
    [xi] Michael Jackson, VIBE Magazine. March 2002; Elizabeth Amisu, ‘Throwing Stones to Hide Your Hands: Mortal Persona of Michael Jackson’, Writing Eliza, 11 June 2014 <http://elizabethamisu.com/post/88515649217/throwing-stones-to-hideyour-hands-the-mortal-persona> [accessed 17 June 2014].
    [xii] William Shakespeare, The Tempest (eds.) Alden T. Vaughan & Virginia Mason Vaughan (Arden, 2011), p. 1-2, 112-126; Rowan Moore, ‘Sam Wanamaker Playhouse – review’, Guardian, 12 January 2014 <http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/jan/12/sam-wanamaker-playhouse-globe-review> [accessed 18 October 2014]; Man in the Music, p. 219, 256-259; Michael Jackson, USA Today, 2001.

    Source: http://elizabethamisu.com/post/10073569229...sons-invincible

    Edited by ArcoIris - 8/4/2018, 23:42
     
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    'Crack Music': Michael Jackson’s Invincible


    23 Ottobre 2014
    di Elizabeth Amisu


    Ispirato dal capitolo, ‘Invincible, L’Album finale’ da The Dangerous Philosophies of Michael Jackson di Elizabeth Amisu (Praeger, 2016).

    Sono pochi gli scritti accademici dedicati all’ultimo album in studio di Michael Jackson, Invincible. Questo articolo esplora l’album, attraverso la metafora di “Crack Music”, pezzo tratto dall’album di Kanye West “Late Registration” del 2005 e lo colloca nel contesto delle ambizioni “ nere” come una minaccia delle dominanti ideologie occidentali.


    ‘CRACK MUSIC': MICHAEL JACKSON’S INVINCIBILE

    ‘A volte sento che la musica è l’unica medicinaCosì la prepariamo, la tagliamo, la misurariamo, la impacchettiamo, la vendiamo ‘.[i]

    Ascoltando il brano “Crack Music” dell’album di Kanye West,”Late Registration” si nota subito che il tema politico, “Ronald Reagan si e’ inventato una risposta” si intreccia con lo storico, “siamo appesi sullo stesso albero da allora” e il religioso, “Dio, come hai potuto permettere che accadesse?”

    Le armonie gospel di West si alzano in volo, come se se volessero raggiungere sogni impossibili, mentre i suoi testi rimangono radicati nei bassi fondi. Un simile fondo agro-dolce si trova nei cori crescenti di “Whatever Happens” e “Heaven Can Wait” dell’album “Invincible”. Entrambi le canzoni trattano temi esistenziali e la morte ne e’al centro. C’è un cielo da raggiungere, “digli agli angeli che e’ no” temperata dalla paura tipica di noi terrestri, ‘se il Signore venisse a prendermi prima del mio risveglio. [ii]

    La curiosa dicotomia tra ciò che ci nutre e ciò che ci uccide è il palcoscenico su cui si basano tutte le canzoni di Jackson. Come Jackson ha fatto anni prima di lui, “l’uomo nero, il ricatto, mandare in prigione il fratello”, allo stesso modo West si chiede in continuazione come sia possibile per i neri forgiarsi un’ identità in un mondo occidentale e prevalentemente bianco, “Ci vogliono impacchettare e pressare tutti in una scatola, come si fa con il polistirolo”. Mentre Jackson codifica i suoi sentimenti in una metafora, “Io non sono un fantasma venuto dall’inferno, ma ho fatto un incantesimo su di te’, West li lega con un lessico tabù, ‘questa musica e’ droga (crack) negro’.[iii]

    Alcuni critici musicali non danno alcun credito alla musica rap e la considerano un’espressione diametralmente opposta all’arte ed “ in effetti si potrebbero trovare alcune ragioni estetiche per screditare il rap come arte legittima”, ma West ha costruito la sua carriera utilizzando questa forma di espressione impegnandosi sul duro discorso razziale e non ci deve sorprendere se sia lui che Jackson sono stati immediatamente considerati eccentrici e ridicoli. “West è un idiota così annebbiato nelle sue illusioni e nel suo narcisismo che non si rende conto delle implicazioni di quello che sta dicendo’.[iv]

    Ma che cosa è esattamente “Crack music” e cosa centra con l’ultimo album in studio di Michael Jackson? Allora, benche’ “ Invincible” è l’album da solista meno conosciuto di Michael Jackson, (esattamente come il suo libro di poesie, “Dancing the Dream”), è stato senza dubbio ‘esplosivo’, ‘inebriante’ e un esempio di come un “uomo nero” vende musica “nera” alla grande maggioranza occidentale. Invincible e’ anche un “crack”, una “spaccatura” nella carriera di Jackson. [V]

    Infatti segno’ l’inizio di una nuova fase, un cambio di direzione artistica e musicale e chiaramente scombussolo’ i critici di musica contemporanea: “deve dimenticare Michael Jacksonland, perche’ ovunque vada, ritrovera’ sempre la proiezione di se stesso”. Il critico che scrisse questa frase, ignoro’ semplicemente il fatto che molti di noi sono nati (musicalmente, metaforicamente e artisticamente) nella “Michael Jacksonland” e che continueremo a vivere li’ fino a quando la sua influenza senza pari continuera a esistere. [vi]

    L’artista e poeta Malik Yusef, che parla nel pezzo di West “ Crack Music” ripete l’eponimo come gli “ex schiavi commerciano aria fritta in cambio di Grammys’. Cio’ nonostante lo scambio è vischioso perché il rispetto non può essere comprato. Tuttavia, l’artista nero non ha altra scelta che accettare tutto questo: la sua diversita’ e la sua frammentazione. E ‘ rientrando in possesso di quelle difficoltà che il veleno si trasforma in potere, “questa oscura dizione e’ diventata assuefazione in America ‘. [vii]

    Con il 2001 e il lancio di Invincible, il mondo della musica popolare era cambiato radicalmente. Jackson era abituato a balzare tra i decenni, ma questa volta le cose erano (come nel cortometraggio Thriller) diverse. Michael era contemporaneamente una leggenda vivente, una caricatura e il sogno di battere il fenomenale record di vendite di Thriller era lontano. Anche se avesse mai avuto la possibilita’, non avrebbe mai potuto farlo senza il vento favorevole dell’opinione pubblica. L’ombra del sospetto sollevata dal tentativo di estorsione che ben conosciamo, distrusse la sua reputazione e per procura, le sue vendite. [viii]

    Il veleno che accompagno’ la carriera di Jackson fu ‘quel razzismo appena velato’ che di fatto gli precluse quel riconoscimento artistico che cercava e meritava, e il suo crimine fu la percezione oltraggiosa che fosse un personaggio con un successo straordinario ed un “nero”. “Crack Music” di Kanye West è prevalentemente musica nera e trasuda di questo “ tra gli angoli e le fessure” cosi’ le donne nere non devono rimanere “cuoche e bambinaie”. Cambia lo status quo, trasforma il veleno in potenza e deve essere messo a tacere a tutti i costi. [ix]

    Per molti, l’album Invincible e’ stato come un farmaco che non ha dato l’effetto desiderato. Come in “Peter Pan” di JM Barrie, i pensieri felici da soli non possono volare. Jackson riconobbe Trilli come il vero eroe della sua storia e alla fine fu sepolto con lei “mentre lanciava la scia di polvere luminosa che lui amava tanto, infilata nella parte destra dell’interno della sua giacca”. Si tratta di una combinazione di polvere fatata e di “pensieri felici” e chi la indossa e’ convinto di poter volare. Forse il problema con ‘Crack music ‘ è l’audacita’ del sogno di uomini neri come Michael Jackson e Kanye West, i quali hanno avuto il fegato di tentare quelle altezze vertiginose. [x]

    Una cosa è certa, un uomo che puo’ volare non e’ cosa da mortali e lo sbalordimento puo’ sfociare in rancore alla fine, non importa il suo colore. “Invincible” fu per Michael Jackson il tentativo riuscito di fabbricarsi un suo proprio spazio nel mondo musicale, mentre le multiple sfaccettature della sua persona correvano davanti a lui . Eppure,” Invincible”, anche se ancora parzialmente relegato a “opera minore”, supera di gran lunga molto di ciò che fu pubblicato non solo nello stesso decennio, ma nello stesso anno. [xi]

    Come accadde a William Shakespeare, le cui opere sono state recensite dai i critici più sprezzanti e dai fedeli sostenitori, saranno i posteri a decidere il destino di “Invincible”; proprio come accadde per “la Tempesta” di Shakespeare, le ultime opere di un grande artista spesso sono trascurate dal pubblico contemporaneo. La gente dimentica che i drammi di Shakespeare, ora così tanto esaltati, erano il comune divertimento delle prostitute e dei contadini dei quartieri malfamanti della Londra del XVII secolo.

    I teatri non avevano nulla a che vedere con gli spazi accessoriati di aria condizionata dei nostri giorni, erano dei buchi pestilenziali, stipati di gente e malattie in incubazione. Malgrado i nostri attori contemporanei recitino perfettamente i versi di 400 anni fa su lucidi e scintillanti palcoscenici in legno d’importazione, non e’ possibile ricreare i fetori, gli abiti del pubblico, la loro mentalità e i dintorni della città.

    Il Tamigi di Shakespeare era pieno di liquame e le sue liriche avevano molto più a che vedere con “Crack music” di quanto la maggioranza accademica voglia ammettere. E ‘facile dimenticare quanto William Shakespeare appartenesse alla classe operaia e ci sono voluti diversi anni prima che venisse considerato un genio. Speriamo non ci voglia così tanto tempo anche per Michael, malgrado il “suo essere nero”. “Questo album non verra’ capito adesso. E ‘in anticipo sui tempi […] l’album vivrà in eterno perche’ la musica è ciò che vive e dura’ per sempre. [xii]

    Elizabeth Amisu è un’accademica con laurea magistrale in letteratura della prima età moderna inglese ottenuta al King College di Londra. Suo obiettivo e’ sensibilizzazione il pubblico su Michael Jackson come artista tramite la creazione di un modello accademico per lo studio della sua arte.

    References
    1- Kanye West, ‘Crack Music’, Late Registration. Exec. Prod. Kanye West. Roc-a-Fella/Def-Jam. 2005. CD. 9885652.
    2- Michael Jackson, ‘Heaven Can Wait’, Invincible. Exec. Prod. Michael Jackson, CD, 4951742000 (2001)
    3- Michael Jackson, ‘They Don’t Care About Us’, HIStory Past, Present and Future Book 1. Michael Jackson. Exec. Prod. Michael Jackson, CD, 59000 – E2K/E2T/E2M (1995); ‘Threatened’, Invincible; ‘Crack Music’, Late Registration.
    4- Richard Shusterman, ‘The Fine Art of Rap’, New Literary History, Vol. 22(3), pp. 613-632 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/469207> [accessed 18 October 2014]; Alexis Petridis, ‘Kanye West: Yeezus – review’, Guardian 17 June 2013 <http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/jun/17/kanye-west-yeezus-review> [accessed 18 October 2014].
    5- Elizabeth Amisu, ‘On Michael Jackson’s Dancing the Dream’, Writing Eliza, 7 July 2014 <http://elizabethamisu.com/post/91073957802/on-michael-jacksonsdancing-the-dream-dangerous> [accessed 22 July 2014].
    6- Conversation with Karin Merx, Academic/Musician, 27 September 2014; James Hunter, ‘Invincible’, Rolling Stone, 6 December 2001 <http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/invincible-20011206#ixzz3GW7W6wrM>; Hampton Stevens, ‘Michael Jackson’s Unparalleled Influence,’ The Atlantic. 24 June 2010.
    7- ‘Crack Music’, Late Registration.
    8- Joseph Vogel, Man in the Music (Sterling, 2011), pp. 219-235; Joseph Vogel, ‘Second to None: Race, Representation and the Misunderstood Power of Michael Jackson’s Music’, Featuring Michael Jackson: Collected Writings on the King of Pop (Baldwin Books, 2012), pp. 7-14.
    9- Armond White, Keep Moving: The Michael Jackson Chronicles (Resistance Works, 2010), p. 106; ‘Crack Music’, Late Registration.
    10- Michael Bush, The King of Style - Dressing Michael Jackson (California: Insight Editions, 2012), p. 196; Elizabeth Amisu, ‘The Isle is Full of Noises’: Revisiting the Peter Pan of Pop’, 22 August 2014, Writing Eliza <http://elizabethamisu.com/post/93786694677/the-isle-is-full-of-noises-revisiting-the-peter-pan> [accessed 28 September 2014].
    11- Michael Jackson, VIBE Magazine. March 2002; Elizabeth Amisu, ‘Throwing Stones to Hide Your Hands: Mortal Persona of Michael Jackson’, Writing Eliza, 11 June 2014 <http://elizabethamisu.com/post/88515649217/throwing-stones-to-hideyour-hands-the-mortal-persona> [accessed 17 June 2014].
    12- William Shakespeare, The Tempest (eds.) Alden T. Vaughan & Virginia Mason Vaughan (Arden, 2011), p. 1-2, 112-126; Rowan Moore, ‘Sam Wanamaker Playhouse – review’, Guardian,12 January 2014 <http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/jan/12/sam-wanamaker-playhouse-globe-review> [accessed 18 October 2014]; Man in the Music, p. 219, 256-259; Michael Jackson, USA Today, 2001.

    Traduzione: di simo60 pubblicato da Michael Jackson Academic Journal
     
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    CITAZIONE
    Saranno i posteri a decidere il destino di “Invincible”

    Personalmente lo trovo un album molto interessante e complesso, adatto al periodo della vita che Michael stava vivendo.
     
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2 replies since 4/5/2015, 14:13   174 views
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