Envy.
Stumbling upon a Theo Von interview with Ruby and $crim from $uicideboy$, I was surprised to hear the pair discuss New Orleans. $crim recalls the emerging SoundCloud movement, rappers like Bones, Yung Lean, Xavier Wulf, and how $uicideboys$ achieved outside success before gaining acceptance in their hometown of New Orleans. $crim says, “We got poppin in all these other places first. It literally started from like Russia, and then came back… New Orleans was the last place”. Followed by Ruby, “The advice was don’t go local to international. Do the internet and attack the international crowd first because your hometown is going to be the last place that fucks with you, and it’s true because they still don’t fuck with us, deadass!”
Does this sound familiar?
While complaining in my previous blog, I stated how political commentary might’ve snubbed initial local success. However, I think it’s the name of the game, an archetypal pathway. (Obviously I haven’t been producing long either). There appear to be multitudes of reasons why artists confront resistance? I’d say resistance depends from person to person; however, how much is envy? I’m not saying this is something I’m currently struggling with entirely, but many talented artists face backlash from their communities.
Originally from Pittsburgh, when I discovered Mac Miller’s early work and Facebook messaged my old homies, they responded apathetically, “Eh, he’s a private school poser”. Granted, Mac had been a student of Taylor Allderdice for a couple years, my grandparent’s alma mater, a public high school.
Easier to hop on the hate wagon? Doesn’t require any listening, lyrics, music video watching, deep analysis, original thought, or work for that matter.
Just a repetition of words.
“That guy’s fake.”
“Yup!”
It’s a bit lazy, but also highlights the emotion envy.
Why should somebody deserve any more success than me? A nasty emotion, envy finds roots in the work of Melanie Klein, prominent psychoanalyst and contributor to object relations theory. When confronted with difficult emotions or narcissism, the infant will split the identity of the primary caregiver into two separate identities during breast feeding, the good mother and the bad mother. This is reflected by the infant’s treatment of the caregiver’s breasts. The infant may bite, tear, or strike a breast, while showing affection and gentleness to the opposite breast. The child splits the caregiver into separate identities, a good breast and a bad breast.
Why does the child split the personality? The child is preserving the caregiver as “entirely good”, to shield the child from the realization their caregiver isn’t meeting needs and expectations, the realization the caregiver isn’t perfect or even a narcissist. The greater traumas, anxieties, and unmet needs present themselves during breastfeeding, the greater a child may develop “splitting”— viewing people, situations, life as unidimensional, instead of a complex, multidimensional wholes. The child was unable to confront the caregiver, and subconsciously buried the emotions, negatively rearing the infant’s brain for adulthood.
How does this relate to envy?
The persecuted artist becomes a projection of the “bad breast” (failures, insecurities, negative emotions) instead of being recognized as an integral whole of the community.
Why should they make it, when I deserve so much more? An unhealthy comparison between me, mine, and the other.
This versus that.
The underdeveloped ego fragments their fellow man as competition, a narcissism that drags everyone downwards, instead of banding together and rising the tides, because rising tides lift all ships.
What if I told you this Bad Boob mentality leaks into the collective consciousness?
Holocausts, genocides war— Us vs. Them. A society void of multidimensional thought, projecting negative emotions onto scapegoats— them, the other, the bad breast?
Clues of the narcissism pandemic: envious, unidimensional, unoriginal thought.
How much of the problem is also rooted in society’s view of the arts?
I personally spent a great deal of childhood fighting for the attention of my parents, producing short films, writing short stories, and playing the drums. My efforts were largely ignored and viewed as hobbies, not careers. Interest in film school and creative writing were met with sighs, not outright disapproval, but sighs. Originating from a family of professors, lawyers, and small business owners, the financial outcomes of an art career looked misfortunate. Ironic, given my dad’s weekend spending habits: concerts, movies tickets, and live entertainment. Again, how much is correlated to envy?
“Why does he get to paint pictures, write stories, and make music while I negotiate deals for a hospital?” Have we lost scope of the full functioning society? The lawyers, doctors, accountants, developers, owners… but what about the plumbers, contractors, electricians?
Do we respect the working class community like we should?
Pay them like we should?
Doesn’t everybody feel under appreciated to a degree?
From an art perspective, the process is extremely under appreciated until you find “success” aka until you make money. Most likely because it requires help. Theo Von Gogh, younger brother of Vincent Van Gogh, supported his brother through art trading connections, advice, and money. The Medici Family supported Leonardo Da Vinci through purchases. Kierkegaard was born into a wealthy family. Claude Monet was often funded by his father, received a will, and often required assistance from his wife. Edgar Allen Poe regretfully enrolled help from various family members, often tumultuous. Thanks to Max Brod, the works of Franz Kafka were posthumously published instead of burned. How many underground musicians required a couch to crash on between shows, albums, etc?
I suppose artists meet great resistance due to the platform, the potential fame?
The artist may become a celebrity to whatever degree, and why do they get the chance but not me?
Despite the pushback Mac Miller received as the private school crossover, high school drop out, corny white rapper, he represented Pittsburgh throughout his entire career, highlighting the cultural possibilities of a small, Pennsylvania city — writing Blue Slide Park into the international vocabulary, and establishing Pittsburgh as a musical landmark. Mac Miller helped make Pittsburgh cool, man. Shit rolls downhill. The city and all its inhabitants become that much more enriched in history. The town Woodstock and surrounding areas shine as artistic epicenters to this day— fall out from embracing their local art community and music festival history.
Are we really going to ruin cultural opportunities based on unhealed parts of ourselves, based on envy? Is that the appreciation we show towards art?
Is that the appreciation we show toward our fellow man?
Or does hometown hate motivate artists to make even greater art, speak more freely from the heart?
Suppose it’s case by case but…
Next time you complain about your “dumpy small town”, why not think twice before shitting on your local artists?
THE BADBOOB 