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.


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It's like a state of music that is honest about how bored it is with itself and that's OK.

Returned to the Capital Region

On Sunday July 29th, I made my return to the Capital Region after some separate activites. So far our fellow wilkinism has been accounted for, coming along with his own interesting stories of the return trip, and the days since. Our other fellow Brandon C-K, with whom I parted company in Richmond, VA (our last stop), has not been accounted for since our return. For all we know, he may still be out on the road, continuing the misson, or maybe just having a good time.

Life is different now that we're back. It's a slow process getting back in the old ways (and forming new good habits too!!) while catching up with everything that has happened in the meantime.

We will continue to post blog entries here for some time based on the notes that we had been taking as we traveled. A final count of all the people we spoke with will be forthcoming too. Our hours of video footage will be reviewed as we prepare to put it all together in a narrative of what we've seen, where we've been, how we've felt, who we've spoken to, What impressions people have of our area, what we've learned about each city, and cities as a whole, what can be applied to our own localities, and why this all matters to us, and to the world at large. A wholesale written account will be turned out. Our remaining photos will be made public. Our "artifacts" and material references will be brought to light. The work of the emissaries will yet continue on.