Blechsploitation

I recently watched the neo-blaxploitation film Black Dynamite. It’s a rip on ‘70s cinema ala Shaft, Dolemite and Super Fly. I have to admit, I quite enjoyed it. What’s not to love about a badass brother who don’t give a damn, cracking heads and kicking asses? I mean, there’s even a nun-chuck showdown between him and Tricky Dick at the end. Certified gold.

After it was over, I got to thinking: What’s the point? I mean obviously I get it, “ironic nostalgia” is way in. But should blaxploitation be brought back?

There’s been a number of “attempts” to revive the genre in recent years, usually ironically, from bombs like Undercover Brother to the ill-conceived Chris Rock vehicle Pootie Tang. But why? I understand those ‘70s films are ripe for comedy, but those were also called blaxploitation for a reason: they created and popularized racist stereotypes of black people, negative stereotypes which are still around today.

This really isn’t something that should be revived. It’s something that should be buried. But this brings me to another query: Did blaxploitation even ever leave? 

I attended Wu-Tang Clan member Raekwon as he performed at the Pyramid Cabaret last week. I quite enjoy his music, and loved the show itself. But I question the stereotypes popularized by such artists.

I mean, it’s not that different from the gun-toting, pimping, well-endowed caricatures of the ‘70s. They rap about ‘bitches’ and ‘hos’, their massive egos and how they “ain’t nothin’ to fuck with” etc., etc. So while most historians consider the blaxploitation of the ‘70s to be a bad thing, it seems there are also many black artists today who still not only embrace it, but continue to popularize it—like Raekwon, who, in front of a crowd of *mostly* white kids, asked a question like, “You niggas smoking the good marijuana?” (I believe the answer was “yes.”)

But it’s not just him. I mean, the hip-hop crew who opened for him (“National Syndicate,” from Vancouver, B.C.) were far worse. A key example of this was the double-sided t-shirts they were selling which said in big bold letters “FUCK A BITCH” on one side and “GET MONEY” on the other. I couldn’t tell whether I was offended more by their blatant sexism or their lack of rhyming skills. (I think I’ll go with the latter.)

But does this embracing of negative stereotypes make these artists racist? Or is it simply that their self-expression is promoting stereotypes that they themselves are not aware of?

Who knows. At the end of the day, these artists need to realize that while they may feel that they are simply expressing their real issues (such as getting laid, stealing other peoples girls, being pimps, etc.), their audience, which is mostly white teenagers, are another generation who are growing up with pre-conceived negative notions of black culture.

And that’s no joke.