If you want Afrocentric Party Music, ‘White Men Are Black Men Too’ (WMABMT) Isn’t The Album. Sorry to mention ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ in another review, but trust me, this is necessary. In ‘The Blacker The Berry’, Kendrick’s most hard hitting lines were when he suggests that it’s hypocritical to start celebrating your blackness, when what you had done to a black person (such as, murder) is no different from a white person. The reason I mention this is because ‘White Men Are Black Men Too’ feels like the album that seeks to shut down the nonsense of racial exclusion. It acknowledges the wrongs done to black people, but the last thing the album seeks to do is point the finger at any specific party, which is the smartest answer given in the situation.
By Lightning Pill, AFROPUNK Contributor
.
.
Before we get into the music, let’s look at the title: White Men Are Black Men Too. It’s not everyday that an artist or a band can make a whole comment section debate the meaning or the level of cleverness of its album title, including one that claims directly that it is just a stupid name, but that’s exactly what happened on Stereogum. Since their inception, avant-garde underdogs Young Fathers have become one of those bands that go beyond simply just brewing a new sound. There is obviously plenty of emotional substance underneath them. On ‘Dead’, they discussed depression (‘Am I Not Your Boy’), the empty hunger to party away the trauma and sadness (‘Get Up’) or murder (‘No Way’). Young Fathers use their sound as a way to do the crying out for those that don’t feel like their voice is loud enough to do so. So, what do we get from ‘WMABMT’, other than perhaps racially incited nutcases backing away from such sentiment? I could say this is the kind of album that demands world peace through rejection of racial favoritism, but admittedly, that would be cheapening the album, just because of the title. Each song contains a war of its own, ad its not telling as to who will win and how.
.
.
The war being chronicled mostly is that of race: not just black vs. white, but also black vs. black, too. “Shame” sounds like a sweet sneer, as the chorus goes, “‘nothing but a bare-faced lie’ is all you cunts can hold on to/I suggest you downgrade fast, before it’s a shame on you”. Where that song was a warning, ’27’ feels like a confessional connected with the age that artists like Amy Winehouse, Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain died. The whole police/murder thing doesn’t stop there. “Sirens” paints a grim picture beginning with “Our leading light, you walk upright/such a vision in morning light” and ending with “the police are on cocaine/and they wanna know my name/Said they love me all the same”. It doesn’t stop there.
.
.
As bells ring, wonky strings pluck, and the word “nigga” gets chanted, “Old Rock N’ Roll” highlights a black frustration that I’m sure hasn’t gone unexpressed. They are tired of “playing the good black”, tired of “blaming the white men” and certainly shared no interest in “wearing this hallmark or some evils that happened way back”. They even go so far as to suggest that where there is a “good black” and a “bad black”, there is indeed the same kind of person within the Caucasian community. (This song could have been a really formidable single/release statement.) Outside of this theme, Young Fathers also takes on the war of love gone astray and religion. En route, they visit a sound that sounds like a lo-fi/garage rock version of Motown. Where the Motown-esque ‘Nest’ suggests a love-conquering-all attitude towards the women, “Liberated” abandons love for his own freedom.
.
,
Connected to the themes is, of course, matching sounds, which despite it’s orthodox approach, fits the themes perfectly. For example, ‘Feasting’ grinds and stomps with a sense of danger, the soulful ‘Get Started’ stomps with a piano in the background sounding less like a gospel and more like the sound of a hard resolve. Even the dissonant organ of “Rain or Shine” has the sound of urgency and danger to a tee. If ‘Dead’ sounds like a chronicle of a war within, ‘White Men are Black Men Too’ extroverts a bit, topic-wise. But if we all agree that this album is a winner, then the following piece of advice would just be a bonus: Young Fathers aren’t interested in taking sides. Their music is more humanistic than anything specific like race, religion, sex or anything of that nature. So, if you are looking for something to add to the recently-created afro-centric party tape next to Kendrick, Young Fathers isn’t the band to add.
.
