10 Comments Friday, October 5th, 2007
Book ‘Em
An exclusive interview with the creators of the most controversial song/video of the year. Read this, then read a book, read a book, read a muh’f**ckin book!
Story by T.A.N.
The hottest, most controversial video of the summer was a public service announcement about one of the most fundamental activities in which people can partake. Reading. But when does a PSA go from being an agent of change to an offensive, patronizing teaching tool? The author of “Read A Book”, Bomani Armah, and the video directors, Tyree Dillihay and Brendan Burch, sit down to discuss their much talked-about collaboration with T.A.N., author of the blog, theassimilatednegro.blogspot.com.
KING-MAG.com: How did the different members and parts of the “Read A Book” video come together? Which came first: the song or the PSA video request? How did BET get involved?
Bomani: The song came first. I teach creative writing and song writing classes to young people here in D.C.. After telling a fellow emcee named Haze (Marcus Richardson) I wanted to do a crunk song he gave me three rules.
1. Be repetitive
2. Be confrontational
And lastly, curse as often as possible.
Brendan: Tyree was already working as a Director/ Art Director at 6 Point Harness. Denys Cowen, of BET’s newly formed animation division approached 6PH with the song and asked if we would be interested in producing the video - of course we agreed!
Tyree: After picking up our jaws off the ground… I put together a proposal animatic to approximately 1:30 of the song. We presented it to BET, who laughed their asses off … and voila!
How involved were you, Bomani, with the making of the video?
Bomani: I was not as involved in the making of the video as I would have liked at the time, but it ended up being a good thing because the song is about more than me and it was cool letting someone else interpret it. I stand behind it 100%.
The video is packed with imagery that skewers the black community. The lyrics of the song begin with a cultural commentary but then the lyrics diverge into broader criticisms, i.e. drinking water and personal hygiene. Was this directly aimed at the black community, or youth/hip hop culture, or any community in particular?
Bomani: This was meant for who ever is listening.
Tyree: The skewering is directed at the mainstream hip hop community, not the black community. I just wanted the piece to be really critical and reflective on the state of hip hop today to make the viewer see just how buffoonish this shit is.
In talking to folks about the video, there’s universal acclaim for the booty-popping girls with the “book” pants in the first chorus. Did you guys do extra research or pay special attention to that? What are your favorite sections?
Brendan: That’s all Tyree- seems like the first idea he mentioned when we started the project! My favorite section is the painting on the magazine cover.
Tyree: I like the whole intro into the chorus. One of the magazines said “BLAXIM” instead of MAXIM. A lot of people are getting the “Raphael De La Getto” High School reference in the beginning…shout out to Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
Many are surprised BET would touch a video like this. Did they need to be persuaded? Were they hands-on?
Tyree: During actual production, BET was very hands off because I gained their trust in the animatic phase. I’ve always come from the notion that to build new things you have to tear old things down. To do that, you gotta come hard and that’s why the BET of today is airing a video they call “the anti-PSA.”
What’s your opinion on using the “n” word? What do you think about censorship and other censorship related issues in regards to imagery and language?
Brendan: I’m a white dude- and repulsed by the “n” word. I think in this context, and how over the top the piece is, all the offensive material in the song and video give it the punch it has.
Bomani: All government censorship is bad. If something is hurtful and harmful to the community at large the community will find it’s own ways to censor it.
Tyree: I was raised in Inglewood, California. “Nigga” is just one of those words that just becomes part of your everyday ‘hood vocabulary. However, I also graduated from college with an English degree and I know when to leave the ‘hood language where I found it… in the ‘hood.
When I posted the video I received an interesting note from one commenter: “How is this video going to effect change in its supposed target audience? Perhaps it is satire, or perhaps its just entertainment disguised as a racially meaningful message.” What are your thoughts?
Bomani: The debate is worth more than the song. I’ll let people take from it what they want and have fun watching them.
Tyree: It’s been brewing in the minds of the hip hop community for a very long time and finally with the help of some negative press from the media, hip-hop is being forced into a long overdue makeover. Songs like “Read A Book” instigate change.
Brendan: I think that if people can learn while laughing, the video will be effective. It’s a catchy song and the message is pretty blunt. This message is important for all races to hear.
When’s the last time you read a book?
Tyree: Two months ago, The Millionaire Mind by Thomas J. Stanley.
Brendan: I read a few at a time these days- just finished the newest and last Harry Potter, and loved it.
Check out the video!
This entry was posted on Friday, October 5th, 2007 at 1:16 pm and is filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
10 Responses to “Book ‘Em”
10.5.07 at 2:32 pm
chad says:
lol!!!!..at this video.
but yall do know that the republican station a.k.a. fox news is gonna try to bring this video down because they don’t understand this shit. if you black you should understand where these guys are coming from with this video being made.
THE CHAD HAS SPOKEN !!!!! WWW.MYSPACE.COM/CHAD8353
10.5.07 at 3:21 pm
Game Over says:
They ducked that question about “how is the video going to effect change” because they probably realize it won’t. Nor does it make sense to aim a commentary about brushing your teeth and bathing to the “general hip-hop community”. Rappers and producers need to be told about hygiene? Really? LOL. This song is a conceptual mess and the video makes it even more muddled. The guy with the bad hygiene in the video is an ordinary black male, nothing indicates any connection to the hip-hop community when he’s on-screen (he’s not rapping, DJing, doing graf, none of that, he’s just walking! LOL!). Extra special LOL @ Bomani not having an answer about what book he’s currently reading. SMH @ all three of these clowns.
10.5.07 at 6:00 pm
Parting Shots / Stereohyped says:
[…] • How BET’s controversial “Read A Book” skit came to life. [King] […]
10.6.07 at 11:53 am
chel says:
message is cool bottom line if every1 raised they kids the right way and stopped having 4 or 5 different baby mommaz they could raise they kids and shit wouldnt be as bad as it is. Men need to start thinkin with the big head as much as they try using the little 1
10.7.07 at 11:02 am
Raphael De La Getto says:
nah LOL at the niggas getting offended by it. This is exactly what we need right now, fuck all yall I cant get enough of this! How can you argue the need to reform, whats so wrong about it? Somebody gotta give a fuck cause YOU wont. We need something to ‘move’ us (black america) again (not you suburban kids, you get plenty from us to move you as it is) but WE dont care no more. Theres no concearn for tommorow, no immediate concearn or respect for our ancestors no more, no more community, no more responsibility for us, nothing. Everybody from coast to coast hood to hood is content on nothing changing and doing nothing about it. We dont have a soul anymore, nothing to bond us, besides hip pop, and even that is segregated between the south & the north on some ol’ slavery bullshit as we speak. can u believe that shit? No unity for US as a whole, but the south is united, and the south dont like the north and vice versa. WE did that one ourselves, we didnt need corporate america on that one, lol. we gonna wreck that side of the wall on our own! right? well thats whats happening and only WE are gonbna sufferf from it. Yup hip hop is dead like a mu’fuckah… dont worry, once the story REALLY picks up steam it will be on the cover of every magazine, news brief etc. just like the east west BS so they continue to get rich while we killin each other for ‘dominance’. You’ll care then I bet. Theres alot that needs to get cleaned up and the word nigger aint where to start, were playing the blame game now. The older generation was kickin the same bullshit when we were afrocentric with the malcom X hats etc. and that was in, they cried bloody mary then and they gonna cry now. But now its REALLY something going on! it aint just an NWA sprinkled here and a LUKE sprinkled there no more, now its really hip hop as a whole doing! The picture that was always painted about hip hop has finally manifested itself, now they got a true problem and nobody to give a fuck about what they want to change. I just hope they realize that they had a chance to connect with my generation a looooooong time ago, but due to the conditioning in which america placed us all in it was very hard to realize what was happening at that time…
I hope they make video soon cause nobody seems to get it anymore, and the writings on the wall clear as day…
10.8.07 at 8:21 am
My Urban Report » CHECK DEEZ says:
[…] TheAssimilatedNegro’s T.A.N. interviews the creators of BET’s controversial PSA “Read a book, read a book, read a muh’%$#@! book!. […]
10.19.07 at 9:17 am
G says:
The whole of America needs to read a muthf@#!kin’ book.
10.19.07 at 4:55 pm
Heru says:
The message is clear to me -get knowledge of self, however I don’t think everyone will be able to get past the repetitive language or the images.
11.13.07 at 11:03 pm
Blacktastic Duel says:
Hello people, Thank you for allowing us to add our $2.50 in this mix. Yes, We did find the video both interesting and long over due. This kind of reminds us of the Spike Lee movie “Bamboozled” in which he tried to get a message across that Black people were selling out because they were doing what they thought was the right thing to survive back in the day. We didn’t think much of his movie because he really seemed to dodge a lot of the issues that plague many of us today. “Read a Book” offers a few good points that needed to be addressed by us Black folks. However here are a few more suggestions that may be helpful for the next video: Pull your motherfuckin’ pants up nobody wants to look at your nasty-ass drawers, Leave them damned fagots alone when your asses go to jail or the pen because you’re giving our sisters AIDS faster than any other people in this country. Yes I’m talking to you down low brothers all of you. Put some money away for later don’t spend it all on the first, cause you got 29 or 30 more days until the next one. Get your grown ass out of your mommas house. Use birth control and take care of the children you all ready have. Stop creating zombie ass crack-heads in your neighborhood, all money ain’t good money. Both baby’s momma and baby’s daddy need to become mother and father to their children regardless if they’re together or not . Thank you for allowing us to share some of our thoughts wether you agree or not “We gots to do better”.
04.6.09 at 9:41 am
Crunk “Read A Book” Video Was Old Booker T. Washington’s Style | The Black Fives Blog says:
[…] For more on crunk ideology and the origins of the “Read A Book” song and video see this. The NY Times’ reaction. NPR’s take. […]