Oreo Moments: War After Barack, Rap After Race
Oreo Moments Contest Winners
At first I was annoyed that I had to post both winning videos from the Oreo Moments Contest to get the white guy rapping but the juxtaposition actually offers an illuminating peak into post-Barack America.
Although I'm not quite ready to leave the concept of race behind, given that it clearly has real effects in the world, many believe that we have reached a place where race is becoming a non-issue, like class, and that Barack Obama is the first major political symbol of this emerging transcendent state of consciousness.
In which case, the touching multicultural Oreo moment featuring a young man going off to war with good vibes from a little girl is an example of Oreo reaching out to The New Mainstream rather than a reminder that the people we send to kill and/or die are disproportionately people of color from the lower ends of the economic spectrum.
Man, that takes some guilt off me. Thanks Oreo! Thanks new generation of post-race young people!
What's cool about the second video is that I don't think this guy is making fun of white people rapping, I think this is just how he raps, you know, like a Nerdcore rapper.
Sure, there's some ironic energy in there, but we all know that's more of a generational stance rather than a slam on hip hop cause that's just how these kids are today. And he sure ain't taking no final cookie before heading off to Iraq! Why should he?
So big ups to Oreo for showing us that life in America isn't all black and white, it's more of a "twisted open, licked all over, dunked in homogenizing fluids" sort of thing.
Note:
I just watched the first video again and realized it's titled "Coming Home" but it's clearly not about that.
Or is it that I'm just another relic from the past?
Note 2:
I actually like both these videos. But, once I saw those interwoven subtexts, I had to unravel them.


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