Wierd AL video White and Nerdy ever wonder why all the "gangsters" are Black only no other nationality?
Have you noticed in the Weird Al video “White and Nerdy” all the “gangsters” are Black? There are no Latino or Asian gangsters and no skin head gangsters either. Why would you suppose that? I know how it could be seen as though I don’t think that is the real reason but I will hold that until I heard from you and what YOU think the reason might be for the seeming one-side representation of a gangster.
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Not sure but maybe he shoulda been more thoughtful in his representation? I don’t know. I guess it’s whatever effect he was going for. Nobody cares about Weird Al anyway.
That came out way too long ago. It’s just another big stereotype….obviously, because we all know there are gangsters of all races. So what’s the point? As if weird al is actually an important figure that people listen to…...no one cares about him and his opinions don’t hold any intellectual leverage.
Never saw either clip before, but now that I have to agree with @johnpowell. Let’s look at the definition of ‘parody’:
n. pl. par·o·dies
a. A literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule. See Synonyms at caricature.
source and full definition here
If you ask me, the real question should be: ‘Why is 50 Cent portraying the ‘gangster lifestyle’ to be exclusively consistent of black people?’. Wouldn’t his sales benefit from including other nationalities and or race in his videoclips? Why would he, as a black man himself, make stereotypical videoclips and contribute to the image that all ‘gangsters’ are black?
@BoyWonder @Blackberry I will agree to that, he don’t hold no intellectual clout and he is no authorial figure when it comes to race relations. But the video old as it is is still out there. Brittney Spears, Beyoncé, Shakira, and Barbie are no gurus of beauty and fashion yet girls starve themselves to appear like them. We know gangsters come in all colors, impressionable young minds might not get it even some teens seem clueless to many things they should logically know. I think maybe to make the nerd more white and nerdy he unwittingly went for the darkest extreme to make the white more white “whiter than sour cream” as it is put. The impression could still be missed as if he did one of Jews and showed them to all be stingy bankers or misers, some people might actually believe it.
@markyy “*‘Why is 50 Cent portraying the ‘gangster lifestyle’ to be exclusively consistent of black people?’*” Because he is a joke and a hypocrite. He try not to be corporate because that is playing in the court of “Mr. Gilmore” and not hard and forceful as being a gangster who calls his own shots. He has to try to own “gangsterdom” for Blacks because until he got corporate he had nothing, so having gansta rap all to Blacks was some sad attempt to own something. Now that he can actually floss all those Rolexes, and stretch limos I wonder how much time he spends “in the hood” slamming bones or shooting dice?
It is called satire.
And… Real “gangsters” are black or Italian.
Because it’s a spoof on Chamillionaire’s Ridin’.
Never even thought about it. I’m not about to start calling Weird Al a racist though.
How many white, asian, or latino gangsters are in the parodied song?
I think the idea of it is to say that white is nerdy – can’t have a nerdy, therefore white, gangster. It was stereotypically making fun of how universally uncool white people are.
Weird Al parodies a lot of musicians. I saw a special about him once and the people that he had parodied were on it. They all were saying that that’s how you knew you had made it, when he did a parody of one of your songs.
Are you implying that there is some racist thing going on here? That he is making some sort of negative statement about black people in general, or black people who live that particular lifestyle? Because in a sense, he is holding it up to ridicule. So what? There is nothing that is so sacred that people dare not poke some fun at it.
By an incredibly large margin, the majority of gangsters within 100 miles of where I live are latino gangs.
@AstroChuck Long time no see, holla’!! Yes I know the original.
@Captain_Fantasy @Trillian Neither am I trying to refer him as a racist. I understand what his attempt at the parody was; so show educated white guys as un-cool losers who spend their time playing D&D and watching Star Wars etc. But I think he got so focused on that that he parodied the parody by saying the only gangsters are Black. No one should be so sacred as to have good natured fum poked at them not even the disabled; sadly enough in this culture too many have way too thin of skin. The emphasis was not on the gangster but the nerds so some may mot even know if the gangsters were spoofed or as true as the action figures or the Xmen comics.
@OperativeQ There are no Latino, white, or Asian gangsters in the video I could count, to his defense I did not see any Black, Asian or Latino nerds either.
@Hypocrisy_Central Ok, I can live with that answer. I’m glad to hear that you’re not saying what I thought you were saying, and I’m glad I asked my question in such a way that you didn’t take it in a bad light.
I’ve loved Monty Python for years and their trademark is making fun of every established religion and the military, so I can appreciate the humor.
@Trillian No problem, we may have our spirited exchanges but I hold no grudge, I am about sticking to the points and the logic. Not everyone has the same view and I can appreciate that, and I will engage them civilly, logically and respectfully as I hope they return it. :-)
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