Homie, neighbor, DJ/Writer colleague, Eddie Stats arranged a meet up and debate between the “big man” in the “global bass” scene, Diplo and myself. While I too feel left wanting more, the conversation we had took a little more than four hours (which had to be boiled down for the four-page transcription.) I have to say though, in the time since the post went up I’ve been noticing debates amongst friends and colleagues, and I love what folks are saying around various web-spaces. So in the spirit of more, that’s exactly what we’re going to do this afternoon…

Join me, and some of my favorite thinkers around these ideas at the EMP Conference at 2:15 at NYU today.

>> Roundtable: Tropical Music, Appropriation and Music “Discovery” in the Global Metropolis
Venue: KC 406

The explosion of international sounds in the pop sphere—associated with Pitbull, Black Eyed Peas, Shakira and M.I.A, among others–has been paralleled and driven by a mirror-underground usually simply called global bass, ghetto bass or tropical bass. This roundtable explores the power dynamics of cultural appropriation, tastemaking and music discovery within this digital space, looking at rap, Bollywood, kwaito, Baltimore club, dancehall, baile funk, bhangra, cumbia villera, etc., where they merge into this new melting pot/marketplace.

Moderated by: Edwin STATS Houghton
Featuring:
Wayne Marshall
Rekha Malhotra
Venus X Iceberg
Chief Boima