According to the results of a recent study out of the University of South Australia and published in the Journal of International Business and Economics, 18-26 year old girls are far less likely to buy products (regardless of what the product might be) from female sales associates that they perceive to be more attractive than themselves. As Stylelist.com points out, this phenomenon is far more damaging if your company is, say, Abercrombie & Fitch, than if you’re Bloomingdale’s. But still, the author of the study finds that “upward social comparison, where individuals compare themselves with people who they believe are socially superior, can create anxiety, lower confidence and create feelings of inadequacy” leading to “avoidance behavior.” As if women didn’t have enough to deal with already!
But if you’re a pretty girl who is starting to worry about her job security, fret not: you’ve got a friend in Wale (and let’s not forget Lil Wayne, who is very clearly not discriminating).
Wale (real name: Olubowale Victor Folarin), who hails from Washington, D.C., began his career back in 2006 with a series of local hits that were largely inspired by/examples of go-go. Go-go is a sub-genre of funk that originated in the D.C. area (and remains mostly unknown outside of D.C.) that is characterized by its syncopated bass/snare pattern as well as the importance of live “call and response” interaction with the audience.
I first heard about Wale in 2007, when his manager gave a copy of his song “Good Girls” to Mark Ronson, who liked it so much that he invited him to spit a few bars on his East Village Radio show, “Authentic Shit.” Since then, Wale has been riding the Ronson train straight to Hitsville. While playing at Ronson’s record release party at the Highline Ballroom, he was interviewed by MTV news and was later asked to perform at the MTV Video Awards in 2007. This led to his teaming up with Lady Gaga on “Chillin,” and on October 20th, Ronson’s Allido Records (an Interscope imprint) will release Wale’s first official record. Not too bad of a ride thus far.
Getting back to the original point, the most recent leak from the record is “Pretty Girls,” which has a great beat and sample (from D.C. go-go group Backyard), and is one of my favorite new hip hop releases of the moment. Not only is it his second song with the word girls in the title, but it is a pretty good example of go-go (hear that call and response in there?) and reps D.C. hard. So to all the pretty girls: put this record on while you pick up the pieces of your shattered retail-sales-associate dreams, and then go find some rappers to love you!
Wale – Pretty Girls:
-Drew
East Village to Brooklyn 
Jam(s) of the Day – Mapping Social Networks and Technology in the Rap Game
Yesterday a friend of mine out in San Francisco sent me a link to this song called “Hit Me On Twitter” by Mistah F.A.B., and it sent me off on a train of thought about the use of various social networking sites in recent rap jams. Even more broadly, it made me start to think about all of the songs that heavily feature some new, cool, technology in the chorus. Does this sort of usage cause a rise or decline in popularity of the social network/technology? Or does it only occur once the social network/technology has reached a certain societal saturation level? I honestly think that it might be possible to reconstruct the evolution of technology, and the popularity of that technoolgy within the culture, by “reading” rap songs.
I’m sure that this has already been contemplated by various stoned white dudes over the years, and I’m not about to try to get into it on a Thesis Paper level of research or detail, but here’s a couple of examples (in text or video) of what I’m getting at, starting with pagers, just to get the conversation started:
Big L – Lyric from “Ebonics”:
“Hit me on the hip means page me”
Lil Scrappy & G’$ Up – Cell Phone Watch:
J-Shin ft. T-Pain – Send Me an Email:
(Anyone who watches A Shot At Love on MTV will notice the Tila Tequila cameo in there)
Brandon T. Jackson ft. T-Pain (?) – What’s Yo Myspace:
(haha I love the part where he starts naming hot celebrity females that he wants to become friends with on Myspace: “Lindsay Lohan, put me in your Top 8!”…also this always comes up as T-Pain, but that just doesn’t sound right to me. Dude ALREADY has a song about emails… one is enough)
Mistah F.A.B. – Hit Me On Twitter:
And honestly, I compiled that list just off the top of the dome. I think this needs to be explored further. Someone want to call up Marcyliena Morgan at Harvard and get her on the case? I smell a best-seller here.
Know any other songs that would fit the bill? Then post it in the comments, already!
-Drew
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Tagged as Jam of the Day, mistah f.a.b., rap, social networks, T-Pain, technology