The past week has, for me, a Black man living in Nigeria, been something of a mixed bag. Retrospectively considering the week, it’s hard to parse just how I feel about the general complexion of popular culture. Sure a crop of positive events dappled the culture scene, but Diddy’s acquittal of two of his most serious charges—sex trafficking and racketeering—bore down on the scene like an ugly, dark cloud.
It seems to me that a lot of people, especially on social media, despite constant exposure to narratives and meta-narrative about the Diddy case—especially as regards his infamous “Freakoffs,” wild nights where all sexual inhibitions essentially fly out of the window—are in the dark about the fine points of the charges leveled against him. While a lot of attention has been paid to these “Freakoffs,” and Diddy’s rumored same-sex relationships, these are at best incidental to the case against him, which is tremendously complex and far reaching, encompassing everything from his abusive and predatory actions towards his girlfriends, to supposedly blowing up Kid Kudi’s car and exacting similar acts of violence and coercion against others.
On the African continent, despite a putative peace treaty between Congo and Rwanda, the conflict in the region, which is admittedly complex, continues to rage on. The civil war in Sudan, which is being fiercely prosecuted by two factions of Sudan’s military government, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), continues to intensify. In Nigeria, where I live, Trump recently rolled out a blitz of visa restrictions targeted against non-migrating Nigerians, so, Nigerians visiting the US for temporary business.
Amid this gloomy backdrop, there have been a lot of positives, to take some of the edge off. BNXN, last Friday, released his sophomore album Captain. GoodGirl LA, whose voice is as boisterous as it is transcendental, released a new six-track EP Goodgirl, after about two years of being off the grid. Then there’s the new Clipse album which is on the way. Burnaboy’s No Sign of Weakness is also within touching distance. To chronicle and help make sense of the endless slew of topics that dominate the culture scene, every week, Deeds Magazine has birthed a new column, PopTakes, which is essentially a portmanteau of Pop Culture and Hot Takes. Every week, a writer from the editorial team will essentially distill the past week in pop culture from their unique lens.
In this week’s installment, I dissect topics such as the simmering rift between the US and UK rap scene, the embers of which Skepta has been fanning; the new Travis Scott dunks in partnership with (drum rolls) Labubu, and Demna’s exit from Balenciaga. But before that, here’s how my week has been going
What I’m Watching
I just finished watching the second season of The Last of Us, an HBO series adapted from a popular game of the same name. The series is set in a post-apocalyptic world in which a noxious fungus—Cordyceps—has brought about a global pandemic. The affected victims, soon after their infection, become zombies. Essentially, it’s another zombie film: the world is riven by this epidemic, zombies run and the non-infected are trapped in a ceaseless hide-and-seek. Where the series shines is in its delicate portrayal of the father-daughter relationship between Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey). They’re not actually father and daughter, and their relationship is at certain moments palpably volatile, the pair being hot-heads, but the bond they share is immaculate, textured, and honest. And it’s a joy to watch them and the myriad characters in their orbit.
What I’m Listening To
As always, my current music rotation is incredibly eclectic, composed of a little bit of everything from everywhere. I’ve been listening to Roddy Ricch’s Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial, and I’m struck by how fresh and exhilarating it still sounds, almost five years from its release date. I've had songs like Roll Dice, Bacc Seat featuring Ty Dollar $ign, High Fashion, and not least, Big Stepper on repeat. I have also been listening a lot to U2, an Irish Rock band, formed in the late 70s. They are, to me at least, the greatest band of all time. And if you're unwilling to take my words at face value, listen to With or Without You or Beautiful Day. There's something very calming, very spiritual, very tender about their music. It scratches an itch in my soul that few artists are capable of reaching. I've also been listening to Central Cee’s Can’t Rush Greatness. In Walk in Wardrobe, my favorite song on the album, he raps “I don't even know how to make a song, I just rhyme on a beat and say how I feel.” In Introduction, the opening track, he makes a similar charge, criticizing lesser rappers for deploying vacuous lyrics. “Spitting on beats and using similes but their lyrics ain’t got no meaning.” Taken together, these two lyrics capture the brilliance of the album: every single word, line or melody is laden with emotion and meaning, so much so that you could pick a line at random and be certain it would be statement-worthy.
Skepta is Fanning The Embers of UK-US Rap Beef
I will start this section on a somewhat unconventional note: this Rap battle, the modern incarnation of the War of 1812 between the stalemate—a fiercely contested and valiantly fought war that ended in a stalemate—this intercontinental fray which Skepta has for sometime now been instigating will not happen (unless something drastic happens, which is unlikely). About a week ago Skepta, who, to many, is considered the linchpin of the UK Rap scene, fired off a blitz of tweets aimed at stirring an epic beef between UK and US rappers. “I wanna clash an American rapper anyway, finally get this UK/US rap debate sorted,” the first tweet reads. It’s important to note that this prospective beef did not materialize from nowhere. Although things are starting to get better, US rappers have considered UK rappers inferior, many UK rappers have in turn held their American counterparts in contempt.
Skepta’s motivation seems to be a desire to settle the subliminal tensions between the two rap scenes with a rap battle. In theory, it sounds interesting, incredible even. I think UK rappers have for the longest time been underestimated. The way Skepta is going about this, however, is impractical and ineffective. If you want a Rap battle, an intercontinental one, why not just gather other British rappers who sympathize with your cause and release scathing diss tracks? Never have I ever seen any rapper, at least not one of Skepta’s pedigree, try to instigate a rap beef. Just imagine if Kendrick had run off to X to diss Drake, instead of releasing that supremely acerbic verse on Like That? In a hypothetical Rap battle, however, with a few exceptions, I think US rappers will steamroll their UK counterparts and it won’t be close.
Demna Says Goodbye To Balenciaga
Demna Gvasalia has put up his final fashion show for the storied Parisian couture house Balenciaga, and with that, the love story between the designer and the fashion powerhouse has turned its final page. His exit from Balenciaga has been a long time coming and the past few weeks, speculations have become reality, unfurling with cinematic bravura before our very eyes. Of course, my rational mind knows the facts. Demna has left Balenciaga and will resume his new role as creative director of Gucci next week. My heart, however, struggles to come to grips with the facts. Demna took on the mantle at Balenciaga in 2015, ten years ago. In his time as design chief at the brand, he has shaped the brand to fit his eccentric design sensibility, birthing some of the most iconic sartorial trends, silhouettes, and garments of our time. It’s incredibly difficult to imagine Balenciaga without Demna, and Demna without Balenciaga. I’m however excited to see what this change will occasion for both parties—more exciting things, I hope.
Travis Scott Unveils Imminent Shoe Collaboration With Labubu
Travis Scott, who is as much a sneakers virtuoso as he is an incredible artist, has announced an imminent sneaker collaboration with Labubu, a brand of collectible plush toys that has attained global renown in recent months. For the uninitiated, it’s hard to put into words the frenzied excitement this seemingly anodyne toy—Labubus—has heralded in recent months. The internet is flush with videos of people, grown adults, going bonkers over them. Watching a Labubu unboxing video—a veritable genre on the app—is a sublime experience. You see their face, as they prize open the package, morph in nervous excitement, then light up excitedly or deflate disappointedly, depending on whether they get their preferred toy.
Given the craze around these dolls, it makes sense that Travis is tapping them for a collab. The sneaker maintains the silhouette of the Jordan 1Low, and the brown and cream of the OG Cactus Jack sneakers. Instead of leather, however, the material has a soft woolly texture and the rear of the shoes is outfitted with an embroidered illustration of the Labubu doll. Reactions to the design run the gamut from excitement to exasperation. I think they’re cool but it would be more exciting if they had played around with a new, custom silhouette, instead of the cookie-cutter Jordan 1 silhouette.
