business
it's easy to be down when you're up
by dyson bezel
may 30, 2003, 03:00
isn't it funny how urban celebrities and wannabe heroes have these pre-packaged and convenient rags to riches stories? you know the ones about when they were down and hey, they're still down. whether it be 'in tha hood' or a diamond cockney geezer it's the de-facto passport visa to being the peoples celebrity.
who's the man?
but of course we all know that the reality is not quite what the press release said and our respect to the pr bunnies for the creativity of their flow. we all know that westwood was really a nice young man from peterborough. brooklyn's guru the boston son of a circuit judge. damon dash has a lovely story about the days when he and jay-z used to run crack and sell cds out of the boot (that's trunk if you're the other side of the atlantic) of his car. it was probably a lexus, if the truth be known. even p diddly has a hustler background and yet, supported by a wealthy family, dropped out of u.s. ivy league howard university.
t.w.a.t.
we're not playa hating really, good luck to them in their reality distortion field of ambivalence. but why this romanticism of being down, from the streets, bad bwoy made good nursery tales? in a recent interview with martina topley bird she told me that the myth of 'urban' had been romanticised but was just another club. herself someone who has enjoyed a relatively privileged upbringing in the english countryside complete with pony. she, refreshingly, feels no reason to pretend any differently. "yes" she tells me "i had a spell on an inner city estate when my parents separated but that didn't make up my life".
alright geezer
the ruffneck making it good is such a compelling story that whole eco-systems of consumers are addicted to hearing it again and again. in different yet identical forms, aided and abetted by the media who gladly grease the wheels for the pr's slide. all for the chance to bask in the reflected glory and topping up on name dropping mileage. column inches run into miles in the gossip and style press, all of them pretty much argos catalogues for opinion formers. 'journo's' cue up to ask 'the difficult questions' but enjoying the sunshine too much simply dissolve into groupies. perhaps the tough question was whether to have a latte or cappuccino.
oops!
yet sometimes it doesn't quite go to plan even when it's based on, pretty much, a true story. take, barmaid who won the lottery, catherine zeta jones who grew up near cardiff in a mining family, did a bit of acting and then hooked micky d who fancied a walk in her valleys. she was pretty much butchered by the heated gossip darlings for venturing into posh and becks territory while being too snobby about who they give interviews to.
i once received an email from a well-known marketing and advertising agency that claimed they created culture. there it was, as part of their mission statement. they meant that they manufacture cultures in which to market products and services. woah! scary stuff but, when you think about it, pretty much how things are.
although our tony might say that the third way is based on a meritocracy, the old class systems are still in place, not that i'm a marxist it's just good to know your place in society. in reality i'm not convinced that we really have the media friendly story of the 'for the people by the people' ethic. it's just another merry go round. it's not just celebrityville, it happens across the board, wealthy kids exploiting loopholes like affirmative action legislation which was intended to enable the truly impoverished and yet adds to the family fortunes of comfortably upper middle class families. all the while protesting their street credentials and high fiving it with the rest of the bro's.
who's the man?
when you know what you're looking for, it's easy to detect the good family ivy leaguer leaving the stuffy world of mba consulting for a sexy media manufactured fantasy trip downtown. it's a total recall virtual reality ride like pretending you're blind by closing your eyes. there's always that little trip to look forward to at the weekend. unless, of course, you're actually down. then you can look forward to figuring out how you're going to make this months rent. fuck being down. it's right up there with 'karma' which is some middle class hippy shit for 'please don't hit me' and i'm with malcolm on that one.
the irony is that we probably work for one of these knobs but you've got to love them haven't you? if only to reflect off their already reflected glory. maybe they'll invite you to one of those pop star parties when you can rub shoulders with david b or invite you to the caribbean to have group sex with supermodels. perhaps the d to their c list status.
it's easy to be down when you're up and we all have our stories of those that have been keeping it real by keeping it all. here's to up and now back to anoushka's tits.
