Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
Do you really, honestly think that the designer is trying to fool people into thinking Shlomi Aber is a black man by shooting him in shadow and then photoshopping grime onto his face? It's such a ing stupid suggestion there are no words for it.
No, I think he specifically asked his designer to make him look questionably black as if it was that you couldn't tell he was either white or black. I think he genuinely feels that he is some kind of heir to detroit. In his interviews he uses phrases like 'back to my detroit roots' etc (i can give you sources if you want to see)
Total conjecture, but that's what I think it is.
quote:
Arf. So he's ripping off a skin colour?
Huh? read the thread title. "grand theft culture"
Heres a relevant quote from Theo Parrish on the matter:
quote:
Underground dance music, which is not controlled by the industry directly, is where we exist, but also have a lot of control, because to get music out we have to start our own labels usually. But the copying goes on here the worst. We don’t have a lot of protection against thieves because their aren’t a lot of lawyers, because there’s usually just enough money for the artists to survive on, unless you helped father the form. There aren’t managers suggesting to artists to do white versions of black songs, but there are white artists with labels doing it on their own. This is one of the few places a thief will try to copy your music, then send it to you calling it a tribute in hopes of you endorsing it. They’ll find the sources of your samples if you use them, and use them verbatim, then try to cash in on your previous successes. The Black producers in this form are a lot closer knit, so there’s a lot of respect for the other producers doing it, and there’s a shared philosophy of innovation as a supreme ethic, you simply would lose respect from your contemporaries if you tried to use the same sources as they did for sampling. The thieves, usually white, are typically the culprits of this phenomena. Its almost as if they want to convince the buying market that since they sampled from where you did then they must be just like YOU, only white! Once they get it ready to put out, they’ll use pictures of little black children, and black women with afros- things they never could be, and never have been -on their cover art to help complete the illusion of having a truly down, soulful product to offer the market. Sometimes they’ll outright sample YOUR song, and copy your drumpattern, send it to a magazine and some adjective limited writer will say the copy sounds ’so-and-so esque’, never making that artist stand on their own, letting the thief who made it ride on the back of original artists.
The curtain that supposedly hides all this is the bull illusion that dance music has no race, no gender, that its about the celebration of some sort of utopian concept. This mere notion wasn’t even circulated until some white folks were made to feel uncomfortable at a party they had no business being at, and came face to face with the fact that this music like all other music is originated on african/black experience, and that perhaps they were very much like every other Elvis and Eminem that ever came or went, That perhaps they too, are tourists, but they still want to be superstar-dj-such-and-such. The issue is that its simply too easy to get into dance music without having to pay dues in dedication. There are a few non black underground dance artists that simply have gravitated to the form because its as free a musical form as you can get. They don’t even care who their music sounds like, they are just trying to express themselves honestly and truthfully. I’m not talking about them. They are rare and appreciated. They are original. Whatever success they garner is deserved.
SYSTEM-J
Shlomi Aber is not "white" and he's ripped off white people as often as black people. I think you're being an utter clown with this idea they deliberately conspired to make him look black.
EddieZilker
quote:
Underground dance music, which is not controlled by the industry directly, is where we exist, but also have a lot of control, because to get music out we have to start our own labels usually. But the copying goes on here the worst. We don’t have a lot of protection against thieves because their aren’t a lot of lawyers, because there’s usually just enough money for the artists to survive on, unless you helped father the form. There aren’t managers suggesting to artists to do white versions of black songs, but there are white artists with labels doing it on their own. This is one of the few places a thief will try to copy your music, then send it to you calling it a tribute in hopes of you endorsing it. They’ll find the sources of your samples if you use them, and use them verbatim, then try to cash in on your previous successes. The Black producers in this form are a lot closer knit, so there’s a lot of respect for the other producers doing it, and there’s a shared philosophy of innovation as a supreme ethic, you simply would lose respect from your contemporaries if you tried to use the same sources as they did for sampling. The thieves, usually white, are typically the culprits of this phenomena. Its almost as if they want to convince the buying market that since they sampled from where you did then they must be just like YOU, only white! Once they get it ready to put out, they’ll use pictures of little black children, and black women with afros- things they never could be, and never have been -on their cover art to help complete the illusion of having a truly down, soulful product to offer the market. Sometimes they’ll outright sample YOUR song, and copy your drumpattern, send it to a magazine and some adjective limited writer will say the copy sounds ’so-and-so esque’, never making that artist stand on their own, letting the thief who made it ride on the back of original artists. The curtain that supposedly hides all this is the bull illusion that dance music has no race, no gender, that its about the celebration of some sort of utopian concept. This mere notion wasn’t even circulated until some white folks were made to feel uncomfortable at a party they had no business being at, and came face to face with the fact that this music like all other music is originated on african/black experience, and that perhaps they were very much like every other Elvis and Eminem that ever came or went, That perhaps they too, are tourists, but they still want to be superstar-dj-such-and-such. The issue is that its simply too easy to get into dance music without having to pay dues in dedication. There are a few non black underground dance artists that simply have gravitated to the form because its as free a musical form as you can get. They don’t even care who their music sounds like, they are just trying to express themselves honestly and truthfully. I’m not talking about them. They are rare and appreciated. They are original. Whatever success they garner is deserved.
:stongue: :stongue: :stongue:
Mr. Parrish clearly feels strongly about this but I have to question the sense of reality he's drawing his conclusions from.
bas
This is the 2nd time Adam has brought up this blackface vs techno debate, remember Magda's RA podcast? sake man, you're hyper-sensitive to something that doesn't even exist.
jupiterone
sigh
nefardec
quote:
Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
Shlomi Aber is not "white" and he's ripped off white people as often as black people. I think you're being an utter clown with this idea they deliberately conspired to make him look black.
I dont think it's a conspiracy, I think it was poor taste.
nefardec
quote:
Originally posted by people
s sake, if this doesn't interest you, then go back to popping pills and posting pictures of dicks to each other.
bas
quote:
Originally posted by nefardec
s sake, if this doesn't interest you, then go back to popping pills and posting pictures of dicks to each other.
:stongue:
There's nothing to be interested in.
Groundhog Boy
This seems like an appropriate time for a cinema flashback
nefardec
I should be Ovum's Graphic Designer
jupiterone
Adam420
quote:
Originally posted by nefardec
I dont think it's a conspiracy, I think it was poor taste.
It has nothing to do with being black. period. Trust me on that. Please. This album ain't the darkest (I listened to it), but a yellow or a pink cover wouldn't exactly suit it either. It's simply an attempt to capitalize on the current market trend where all things EDM that hail from the Midwest are utterly revered. As a Shlomi Aber fan (hey, he is a homeboy after all) I was disappointed when I first saw the title/cover of the album because I genuinely believe that he is a good producer and doesn't need this cliched and [by now] ridiculously overdone theme to represent his music. And also, the color black (having nothing to do with the skin color) is a recurring theme within his productions/label. He previously had a track called "Black Title" and nobody made a stink about it. The labels and the general art direction of Be As One records is usually black-colored as well.
Aaaanyway, I think it's safe to say that we all totally get your argument, we just don't happen to agree with it. But yea I think that his portrait on the cover is meant to convey thoughts of warehouses, abandoned industrial spaces and generally dusty and filth-ridden spaces, where (at least romantically) techno is thought to have originated from. It's not meant to convey thoughts of black people or him as a black person. Anybody who looks at that picture and thinks is black is an idiot.
