game

the game feat. kanye west
"wouldn't get far"

initially i dismissed game. he looks like a tatted up teddybear and his beef with 50 cent wasn't exciting because it seems counterintuitive to bite the hand that feeds you. however, this song is lyrically brilliant and the video is as smart and perceptive as its star's lyrics. rap music, especially of the top 40 variety, is in a strange and interesting state in a post-notorious b.i.g./tupac musical landscape. timbaland, swizz beats, pharell williams, and lil jon rose to prominence as the innovators who gave rap music a recognizable and specific sound for the new millennium that eventually contributed to its top 40 dominence. like any aspect of what is popular, image is valued and intrinsically linked to mainstream rap's sound and success. when we think of jay'z "big pimpin'" that now iconic timbaland beat pounds in our head, but we also think of that woman in the string bikini being doused with a bottle of belvedere vodka in the video. entertaining yes, but completely regressive and it makes it difficult to point a finger when the woman looks like she's enjoying her vodka shower. to perhaps give a point of view on this cultural quagmire, game's use of lyrics and image convey something relevant and subversive.

although music videos have become less relevant over the last decade, in terms of music finding an audience alongside a developing technology (what cable was to music audiences in the early 80s, the internet is to audiences today), every so often an artist recognizes the visual punch and power a video can have. it can mold and craft an image for an artist, but more importantly give their image a context and substance. game's song takes an unexpected point of view on the incorporation and exploitation of the rap video staple most commonly known as "the video ho". mysoginistic images of women in rap videos has been criticized since their inception in the early 90s, but in the late 90s videos like nelly's boobs and bootyfest "tipdrill" and bet's late night softcore rotation of uncut videos, the video ho's place in rap as a sexual offering for men on set and the appeal for the video's rotation success became cemented. these women also became an important prop to the persuasive image of popular rap music just as much as luxury cars or bling factor into a video. in such a male dominanted genre of music, these highly sexualized and damaging images of women in bikinis and a glint of subservience in their eyes contribute to the oppressive male fantasy of women in popular culture. this is what makes "wouldn't get far" such a rarity in the otherwise homogenized scope of popular culture. game speaks of the disilussionment of a video star at the hands of a male rap star and by valuing a false sense of empowerment this should inspire women to pride and value their intelligence in an environment unlike the one where they grind and shake for titilation. his argument is an astute observation only supported by the self-aware tone of the video. every rap video cliche (cars, cameos, girls) is thrown in for good measure, but the lampooning word bubbles and self-deprecating skit at the beginning between he and kanye west contradict the artifice and standards of rap videos. game has given us a breath of fresh air admist the party anthems and self-aggrandizing anthems of his contemporaries. well played game.