I have been enjoying Adam Neely’s videos for a few years, so it was pretty exciting when he asked me to help out with his recent examination of white supremacy and music theory. It was even more exciting when he invited me to do an interview on the problem of the white rap cover. See the result here:
Seeing Adam’s process from the inside gives me great respect for his skills as an editor. He had a list of questions for the interview, but it was free-flowing and jumped around on many tangents. The tight and logical sequence of ideas you see above is the result of postproduction.
Almost immediately after the video went live, someone on Twitter made the criticism that I was expecting.
I liked the video, and found it informative, but the fact that the video was essentially two white dudes in a room talking about rap didn't sit right with me. I would love a part 2 with some perspective from someone more ingrained in the culture.
— Ethan Roy (@EthanEmRoy) September 22, 2020
I agree with this! I’m glad Adam included Toni Blackman, but the video centers our outsider white-dude perspective. Adam is aware of this problem as well, and I expect he’ll include more black voices in future videos on hip-hop.
In the meantime, it was a real pleasure to meet and talk to Adam. In person, he’s like a more laid back version of his onscreen persona: capaciously smart, witty, and hip. It was fun getting a look at his bookshelves, too, they have a “cool music teacher” vibe. Notable titles, beyond the many jazz theory and composition books: Enacting Musical Time by Mariusz Kozak; On Repeat by Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulies; Sonic Technologies by Robert Strachan; and Groove by Tiger Roholt. Adam considers himself more of a journalist or entertainer than an educator, but there’s certainly a lot here for music educators to consider.
You talk about fear of vulnerability, while recognising that improvisation connects rap, jazz, baroque, and church in a deep way. Personalism was the topic of ML King’s dissertation….
This is the perfect combination of people, I appreciate both of you guys’ content. I haven’t even watched it yet but I already know it’s an interesting video.