Reading the Ghetto-tech
Stylus Magazine reports on Detroit:
Ass. Titties. Ass and titties. Ass, ass, ass, ass, ass and titties.” -- DJ Assault, “Ass N Titties” (1996).
Everyone loves “Ass-N-Titties,” And by everyone, I mean me, everyone I know, and a legion of YouTubers. DJ Assault’s magnum opus, easily the biggest novelty hit Detroit’s ghettotech scene ever produced, and probably ever will, pushes all the right pop buttons: the silly sex-talk over a bouncy electro throb anticipates (and bests) Fergie’s entire career by almost ten years.
Where did this irresistibly dumb sonic oddity come from? Detroit, of course: a city whose musical legacy continually strives to rehabilitate its image as a crime-ridden post-industrial wasteland. But ghettotech (a term of some contention) was not merely a sound from the Motor City; it was the sound of urban Detroit, a ubiquitous presence in clubs, cars, and local radio before it infected DJ playlists worldwide. The full story of ghettotech can’t be summed up in a simple place name, however. Especially for a locale as complicated as Detroit. Because while the music’s lyrics mostly stick to sex-talk, ghettotech’s story tells us much about the state of local music scenes, and their subsequent effects on the current delightful proliferation of mongrel hip-hop/dance genres.
---
It's like a state of music that is honest about how bored it is with itself and that's OK.
Ass. Titties. Ass and titties. Ass, ass, ass, ass, ass and titties.” -- DJ Assault, “Ass N Titties” (1996).
Everyone loves “Ass-N-Titties,” And by everyone, I mean me, everyone I know, and a legion of YouTubers. DJ Assault’s magnum opus, easily the biggest novelty hit Detroit’s ghettotech scene ever produced, and probably ever will, pushes all the right pop buttons: the silly sex-talk over a bouncy electro throb anticipates (and bests) Fergie’s entire career by almost ten years.
Where did this irresistibly dumb sonic oddity come from? Detroit, of course: a city whose musical legacy continually strives to rehabilitate its image as a crime-ridden post-industrial wasteland. But ghettotech (a term of some contention) was not merely a sound from the Motor City; it was the sound of urban Detroit, a ubiquitous presence in clubs, cars, and local radio before it infected DJ playlists worldwide. The full story of ghettotech can’t be summed up in a simple place name, however. Especially for a locale as complicated as Detroit. Because while the music’s lyrics mostly stick to sex-talk, ghettotech’s story tells us much about the state of local music scenes, and their subsequent effects on the current delightful proliferation of mongrel hip-hop/dance genres.
---
It's like a state of music that is honest about how bored it is with itself and that's OK.
posted by Wilkinism at
12:44 PM
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