My problem with the Chris Fountain situation by Phillip Charles …
Let me start with a disclaimer. I’m not an advocate of rape nor am I an advocate of depictions of rape. Nor am I an advocate of violence or depictions of violence. I feel this goes without saying but in this context it appears it needs to be said. I’m defending my actions before I’ve taken them as if I’m one of the accused in the latest witch trial which has seen the actor Chris Fountain suspended from the soap Coronation Street and vilified by the media and anti-rape charities. Let me clarify why my disclaimer is needed; I have watched “Irreversible” the 2002 Gaspar Noé film. In this film, Monica Bellucci’s character is horribly and violently anally raped in a subway. The 8 minute scene is truly horrific. This is where my disclaimer kicks in; by watching this film I am in no way saying that I condone this behaviour.
There are no disclaimers or public apologies by the film’s director, Noé for his depiction of rape. Nor is there one by the actor Jo Prestia who portrayed the rapist in the film. Or one from Monica Bellucci for taking part in the film.
The same is true for the films “I Spit On Your Grave”, “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”, “Death Wish”, “Thelma & Louise” to name a few. The original 1978 “I Spit On Your Grave” was banned in many countries due to its graphic nature but most of these bans have since been lifted. Personally, I don’t take the lifting of these bans as an indication that violence towards women is now somehow suddenly condoned or that they are now seeking to trivialise the act of rape.
We understand that they are films, that the people performing these acts in these films are actors playing characters, characters that are hopefully very far from who the actors are in real life. The same can be said for depictions of violence; when Ray Liotta famously said, “Ever since I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster” nobody took that to mean that Liotta himself actually was, wanted to be, or was condoning or glamorising the life of a gangster. And as viewers we are not saying that we condone real world actions of this type. Watching “Goodfellas” does not mean you condone murder or the mafia lifestyle.
A short while ago the BBC and other news outlets ran this story:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23710715
The story of German artist Johnathan Meese who was taken to court for twice making the Nazi salute. Said salute is, of course, illegal in Germany but yet Meese won his case with the court ruling that it was a form of “artistic expression”. It appears apparent that Meese is neither glamorising, trivialising, nor condoning the murder of 6,000,000 Jews and that he is, rather, appropriating the salute for artistic ends. How do Jews feel about this? How do families of mafia murder victims feel about the film “Goodfellas”? How do victims of rape feel about the film “Irreversible”?
And then we come to rap, an art form which, it seems, is not always afforded the same luxuries of artistic expression as movies, visual arts, or even songs of other genres. When a rapper, in character, says something controversial it is taken as a serious statement of their values, as them condoning, representing or glamorising. However, even within the genre of rap our outrage and disgust is selective. Take for example these two articles from The Sun:
This one praising the controversial rapper Eminem for sampling British artist Jamie N Commons.
Or this one highlighting Eminem’s performing travels around the UK:
Yet this very same “newspaper”, on the 16th of August 2013 had the front page “headline”, “CORRIE HUNK IS MASKED ‘RAPE’ RAPPER”. Actor Chris Fountain has been suspended from Coronation Street, vilified by the press, anti-rape charities, and an MP because in one of his freestyle raps he said, “I will f*** anybody up in the worst way, rape a bitch on her birthday…”
The Sun is disgusted. The same Eminem supporting newspaper that obviously has chosen to forget the famous lyrics performed by their hero in his song “Kill You”:
They said I can’t rap about being broke no more,
They ain’t say I can’t rap about coke no more,
Slut, you think I won’t choke no whore,
‘til the vocal cords don’t work in her throat no more?
Pretty grim stuff; drugs, violence, misogyny, possibly murder in four lines! But Eminem doesn’t stop there:
Shut up slut, you’re causing too much chaos,
Just bend over and take it like a slut, OK Ma?
‘Oh, now he’s raping his own mother,
Abusing a whore, snorting coke, and we gave him the Rolling Stone cover?’
That’s just one song! In his 1999 song, “As The World turns” we hear Eminem say:
But I ain’t got no weed, no phillies, or no papers,
Plus I’m a rapist and a repeated prison escapist
Later we hear:
Jumped up with a broken back,
Thank God I was smoking crack all day and doped up off coke and smack.
All I wanted to do was rape the bitch and snatch her purse,
Now I wanna kill her but so I gotta catch her first.
The song goes on to detail Eminem chopping off one of the woman’s nipples as well as other examples of violence.
These are just two songs by Eminem – I could go on…and on. Do we take the fact that The Sun writes articles in support of Eminem as evidence that they condone:
Drug abuse – Derogatory terms for women – Physical abuse of women – Murder – Incest – Rape – Prison escape – Blasphemy – Theft – Grievous bodily harm?
Of course we don’t. However, by The Sun’s sensationalist reaction to the videos of “The Phantom”, Chris Fountain’s rap alter ego, we can only conclude, as they haven’t reacted in such a way towards Eminem, or Hollywood stars involved in violent films or film depictions of rape, that they either do condone what Eminem is talking about or that they are overt hypocrites!
I suspect the latter, and with evidence and good reason. Page 1 of The Sun in question has their “exclusive” pasted all over the front with the story continuing on pages 4 and 5. Sandwiched between the two, on the traditional page 3, is a picture of a young woman who seems to be missing her clothing from the waist up. The Page Three model is certainly not without its controversy and The Sun has fought to maintain their right to continue this antiquated tradition. But here’s where the hypocrisy further comes into it; the Page Three model is an example of the objectification of women, the reduction of the female to her body parts, her usefulness only as an on object for men’s sexual gratification. It is this same concept, this same objectification, some researchers suggest, that actually makes men feel like they have the right to rape a woman. As a national newspaper which purportedly has the highest readership in the UK for a daily newspaper with an estimated 2,000,000 plus daily readers, I’d say The Sun’s continued display of The Page Three model is much more detrimental to gender equality than a few freestyle raps a soap actor performed a year ago…but that’s just my opinion.
This brings me to the concept of Freestyle rapping and rap in general, an art form which appears to be massively misunderstood.
Freestyle rap is the ability to create rhyming rap lyrics spontaneously, off the cuff, on the spot, without preparation or forethought. The lyrics have a set of priorities: firstly, they have to fit to the backing beat, flowing rhythmically over the top of a hip hop instrumental in a percussive manner. Secondly, they have to rhyme. Thirdly, they have to make sense. Finally, an MC has to try stick to a subject as long as possible. Now these priorities are listed in order of, well, priority and the aim is to achieve all four. But where a freestyle doesn’t make sense, it’s ok as long as it rhymes and fits the beat. If it doesn’t make sense or even rhyme, an MC can get away with that for a period as long as it is in time and flowing to the backing music.
The flowing part comes fairly easy to a lot of rappers; it’s the rhyming, making sense and sticking to topic which can be tricky. As such, rappers find themselves travelling down lyrical tangents they never expected simply because the dictate of the rhyme has taken them there. Rappers say a line and then rhyme the first thing that comes into their head and, as they’re trying to stick to topic, end up digging themselves further into a hole. Now I’m not saying for one second this is what Fountain did but I’m aiming instead to give the reader some context of freestyle rapping.
In freestyle and in rap as a whole, as with any form of character performance, rappers do not, in general, mean the hyperbolic statements they say. If anybody has watched one of the “Don’t Flop” rap battles on YouTube you will see rappers get up into the face of their opponent rapper and talk about how they’re going to beat them with a stick and cut up their pets. And at the end of the battle the two opponents will shake hands; some are even friends! And no pets are harmed.
Many people are now familiar with the “Don’t Flop” rap battle between Blizzard and Mark Grist, often presented as “Teacher beats his student in rap battle.” 3,600,000 plus views, It can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp4wEewrQdU
“Mrs Green, Mrs Green,” says Grist in reference to Blizzard’s mother, breaking the fourth wall and looking at the camera,
Please, move in to the screen, I’ve got some people behind me I’m sure that you’ve seen.
GENTLEMEN – SAY HELLO TO MRS GREEN!
You might not believe me, you’ve actually met most of them,
I mean, there wasn’t much light, you were at a lower height kinda slobbering like a Doberman.
Those nights out gathering STDs while Bradley stayed in collecting Pokemon,
And you beat him by a landslide, ‘cause he only collected most of them.
For me, as someone who has listened to and enjoyed rap music since before my teens and who has made a living from teaching young people how to rap, lyrics, freestyle or prewritten, which contain too many profanities or controversial subjects are just not my bag any more. I don’t listen to them and enjoy them in the same way I don’t watch and enjoy the Saw franchise of films. But I do recognise them as what they; artistic expressions pushing the boundaries of what is and is not acceptable, art which gains its power and potency through the use of outlandish often socially unacceptable imagery. They are not the expressions of closet murderers and rapists whose only outlet is through rap lyrics. They are not the songs of people who condone group sex with somebody’s mother or the abuse of drugs. They are not lyrics by people trying to glamorise having STDs. “Casino” is not a film condoning murder and the mobster life. Steve McFadden who plays Phil Mitchell on Eastenders was not promoting bullying or trivialising violence towards young people when his character beat up Jamie, his on-screen Godson, a scene which attracted complaints which were upheld by the Broadcasting Standards Commission who said the scenes were too strong for a programme broadcast before 9pm with people blaming the character for creating real world playground bullies. Chris Fountain was involved in a creative pastime. While his lyrics were not to my personal taste, and clearly not to the taste of many others, in a free society I respect his right to be as controversial within that setting as he chooses. Clearly he recognised himself as a role model and recognised how Coronation Street might misunderstand such a creative outlet and so he wore a mask – highly understandable given the summary trial and execution he has now experienced. When he said he was a gangster I didn’t take him seriously. When he said he’ll bench press a house, I didn’t think he actually could. When he said he was a demon who would stab you in the face with a diseased needle, I didn’t take that literally. When he said he would rape a bitch on her birthday I didn’t see him as trivialising the real world act of rape.
All I saw, all I heard, was an actor doing what he does. Acting!