sarnold10 – The Black 90s

As a network developed to provide a new platform for music’s developing stars, MTV changed the lives of countless young artists looking for a break into the industry. During the 90s, MTV featured shows that primarily emphasized music: Yo! MTV Raps, MTV Unplugged, Alternative Nation, Club MTV, and Total Request Live are several programs that linked the entertainers and fans together by giving the fans control over what content aired. MTV’s popularity anchored itself in the young viewership of teens and young adults between the ages of 18-25; the pride of the network centered around creating a space dedicated to youth popular culture and the decade’s hottest rappers, rockers, and pop stars.

MTV also designed programming that focused on broader topics, like MTV News, in an effort to round out its offerings. The network’s longest running series, MTV’s The Real World, highlighted the day-to-day lives of young people from various backgrounds living together in a predetermined city. The show’s introductory tagline became ubiquitous with its content, and viewers could always count on an explosive combination of personalities to fuel each season’s unpredictable episodes:

“This is the true story of seven strangers, picked to live in a house, work together, and have their lives taped. Find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real…”

For twenty-five years, young people from different geographic locations and with varying backgrounds came together in cities throughout the country for our viewing pleasure, making The Real World the first successful reality television show broadcasted in America.

The Real World was modeled after Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place, as an alternative to major network soap operas targeting middle-aged women. Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray, the show’s creators, opted for the “reality” format of The Real World, because their budget didn’t allow for writers, set design, actors, etc. So, they decided to let the participants create the storyline. The show’s first season was set in New York City and filmed over a three-month period, with each cast member receiving $2,600 for appearing on the show. And in New York, things got really real (well, at least according to mainstream TV content in the 90s).

What later becomes typical behavior amongst The Real World castmates was exciting and fresh during its 1992 debut (and for a few seasons thereafter). The thirteen episodes of Season One show Becky, Kevin, Heather, Julie, Andre, Eric and Norman working through romance, sex, illness, familial relationships, and social issues. The roommates are divided by gender 3:4 (female-to-male), and 5:2 ethnically (with two African-American cast members). Race plays a factor is several episodes, with Kevin Powell leading many conversations that highlight divisions within the house. His (in)famous confrontation with roommate Julie Gentry demonstrates the organic manner in which controversy arose, making the episodes worth watching.

Norman Korpi, Andre Comeau, Julie Oliver, Rebecca Blasband, Heather B., Eric Nies and Kevin Powell of The Real World New York Cast (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage)

The abridged version of the confrontation goes as follows: Julie accused Kevin of threatening her with physical violence and spitting at her after she refused to let him use their house phone (remember: this show’s original airing predates cell phones and all things technologically mobile). He admitted to being upset with her but denied spitting at her. When Norman and Eric sided with Julie, Kevin pointed to race as the underpinning for Norman and Eric’s alignment with Julie, but Julie sited what she determined as Kevin’s past record of aggressive behavior as the justification for her sentiments. The parties later reached some type of amicable resolution, but this episode created a precedent later followed by other seasons, where not only race, but religion, gender, and sexual orientation often divided the castmates. The show’s best moments are those credited for opening up tough conversations among young people.

Future roommates, almost always from various upbringings and of different ethic backgrounds, would confront similar issues: race, gender discrimination, differences concerning sexual orientation, political beliefs, body image issues, and religion. In Season Two, The Real World: Los Angeles, castmates Tami Akbar (m. Roman, later star of VH1’s Basketball Wives) and David Edwards divide the house after what begins as a prank targeting Tami. The incident escalated to a physical confrontation between the cast members, ultimately resulting in the decision to remove David from the house.

The Real World may be credited as the pioneering reality television program, and its influence remains evident in various popular “reality” TV shows on various networks. While there’s a show out there for a number of interests—meant quite literally, as every network, from HGTV to The History Channel, offers some reality-based series— few strike more intrigue than those offering insight into Black culture. More specifically, many shows feature African-American women feigning friendships, chasing men, and digging into entrepreneurial endeavors. And no Black reality TV show is complete until an episode features a shade-throwing-, tea-spilling-, let-me-get-you-together-type confrontation. The entertainment factor is undeniable, though, as shows like Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Atlanta and VH1’s Love & Hip Hop have reached ratings as high as 4.3 and 3.8 million, respectively.

Bunim and Murray’s reality TV formula allowed for an organic plot-development (although film was edited to help establish a traceable storyline), and the issues the casts encountered mimicked situations relatable to the audience. As The Real World progressed, audiences criticized producers for what many perceived as scripted conflicts and contrived conversations. It seems, however, that recent reality TV shows are only popular if the drama is “too good to be true.”

Nonetheless, our favorite reality starlets are also feeling a little shade from their fanbases, too. Ratings for many shows reflect a decline in viewership over the years, and in an effort to remain relevant, many storylines have expanded far too far away from “reality” (Do they have to fight every week?). And more troubling, for some, is what’s frequently cited as a collective misrepresentation of Black woman and the threat of conveying a distasteful, inaccurate message to young Black girls about Black womanhood in America.

Because of a history of oppression, subservience, dispossession of the body, abuse, malicious sexual intrigue, and marginalization by American at-large, we may question if Black reality TV supports or disrupts the perpetual race- and gender-based pursuit of acknowledgement, acceptance, and encouragement of Black women (and other women of color) in society. Are these women our entertainers, role models, or stereotype perpetuators? —Shari Arnold

RHOA

References

<http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/shows/real-world-the>

<http://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/real-world-new-york-cast-reuniting-22-years-later-on-oprahs-show-20141712>

<https://lmarsh11.wordpress.com/tag/seven-strangers-picked-to-live-in-a-house/>

<http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2013/03/race_on_the_real_world_retro_mtv_and_social_issues.2.html>

<http://www.ibtimes.com/mtv-ratings-decline-raises-relevance-questions-young-people-cut-cable-cord-devices-1881468>

<http://allthingsrh.com/rhoa-ratings/>

<http://allhiphop.com/2015/05/08/is-love-hip-hop-languishing-in-ratings/>

“Soul music is soul music. It can be wrapped up in a neo soul package; it can be called hip-hop soul. But soul is soul, and it’s been around; it will never go away.”

Maxwell, Gulf News

Samples, mixes, electronic bass, high hats, and Motown-esque harmonics underneath idiosyncratic stories of love, politics, and identity positioned neo-soul as an alternative to the decade’s earlier fascination with West Coast gangsta rap by blending elements from various genres to create a new sound: brass horns and improvisation mimic jazz compositions, stacked harmonies and electric guitar melodies replicate 70s soul and funk, and digital beats and storytelling borrow from 80s hip-hop. In the mid-90s, Neo-soul artists seamlessly fused these elements and combined them with original lyrics, branding the genre as a new approach to old conventions.

The term “neo-soul,” universally credited to former Motown Records president Kedar Massenburg, names a space for borrowing and creating. Neo-Soul’s patriarchal genealogy is unclear; some reference D’Angelo’s commercial success with Brown Sugar as his right to the genre’s throne, but others believe Tony! Toni! Toné! front man Raphael Saadiq initially created the experimental space neo-soul now inhabits. Saadiq (and other late 80s/early 90s R&B artists) began experimenting with R&B’s conventions by addressing topics outside love and relationships and mixing electronic elements with live band compositions. The resulting work provided emerging artists creative license while footing them in established soul, funk, and hip-hop roots.

Erykah Badu, neo-soul’s undisputed matriarch, stepped to the mic declaring that her “cypher keeps moving like a rolling stone.” Merging hip-hop (cypher) and soul (Temptations’ “Papa Was A Rolling Stone”), Badu’s 1997 Baduizm presented the definitive neo-soul archetype for artists to-come. Her lyrical content engages love and happiness, familial relationships, political affiliations, and her status as controller of her universe-In, Baduizm’s “Apple Tree,” the songstress makes her position clear: “The world is mine when I wake up/I don’t need nobody rollin’ over lookin’ after me.”

Later neo-soul artists and enthusiasts certainly owe the music’s success to the innovations of Massenburg, D’Angelo, Saadiq, and Badu. Massenburg’s commodification of the sound through the term “neo-soul” packaged the movement for mass consumption, providing fans an accessible product and clearly delineated identity for entertainers. Saadiq’s experimentation acted as the Beta Test for blending diverse sounds. Together with the first accomplishments, the pioneering artists unification of the look and the sound made neo-soul what it was at its height: an intellectual melodic commentary on social, political, economic, and romantic aspects of black realities in the 90s. The music evolved into a lifestyle centered around collective concern for and protection/support of black lives, with an emphasis on interconnectedness through the recognition of individuals as “brothers” and “sisters.”

Though little debate surrounds neo-soul’s impact on Black culture and music in the 90s, recent discussions about its relevance today question how much, if at all, neo-soul exists as an independent genre capable of influencing music trends and lifestyle behaviors. Many artists, both underground and mainstream, take advantage of social media’s ability to instantaneously reach millions of people and receive raw feedback about their work. Where record labels used to primarily discover new talent and market it to the masses, fans now heavily influence artist popularity. Additionally, digital publication allows artists to control their work’s release and opt to expose their albums/mixtapes/singles without corporate backing. Neo-soul, as a publically commodified sound, shifted towards less emphasis on label support and more concern with producing music the fans wanted to hear, and people still want the raw, vulnerable connection to the artists that first made neo-soul popular.

If facts are necessary, the numbers also show that neo-soul remains relevant. Mother Badu boasts an impressive 18-year career, featuring 59 award nominations and 16 wins, 6 albums, 5 number one singles, and a host of features, music videos, and collaborations. Later generations born from the Saadiq-D’Angelo-Badu lineage include artists committed to the self-empowerment and communal love essential to the movement, but they each bring their own flavor to the sound. Those artists include Jill Scott, Musiq Soulchild, Lauryn Hill, Anthony Hamilton, Angie Stone, and India Arie (each who achieved commercial success); others, like Dwele, Ledisi, Leela James, Van Hunt, Tweet, and Bilal embody the neo-soul spirit on a smaller commercial scale.

Music’s evolution creates space for innovations and new artists. And established artists are always pursing new sounds (see Badu’s But U Caint Use My Phone, inspired by Drake’s “Hotline Bling” [which is stolen sampled from D.R.A.M.’s “Cha Cha”]) to grow within the field and with the fans. Neo-Soul’s hybrid composition lends itself to the very sampling, mixing, and collaboration used to create the sound. Because so many sounds begin with techniques popular in other genres, it’s tough to mark a definitive end of any era. —Shari Arnold

The People|The Sound|The Influences|