Artist Harold Smith has a lot to say about today's musical "talents" Above, Weezy is depicted with horns and an unidentified black man wears nothing but a Crown Royal bag on his sack and a grinning example of blackface minstrelsy serves as the backdrop? The file for the image of Weezy is named Coonery.
There’s also an image depicting Rihanna, alongside “Venus Hottentot” Saartjie Bartman (a South African woman who was exploited by French and English people who had her display her “abnormally large” buttocks in public exhibitions from 1810-1815. After she died her skeleton, preserved genitals and brain were put on display in a French museum) with the slavery reminder For Sale signs as a backdrop. That image file is called Modern Hottentot
Another piece of Harold Smith’s artwork depicts Weezy alongside images of blackface with penises pointing into Jessica Simpson’s mouth. I ain't gonna post that one but you can look at it here
These images speak directly to the coonery and self-exploitation that some people feel runs rampant in the music business today. Is Rihanna a Modern Hottentot– ready to display her female parts to the highest bidder?
Is Wayne a devil obsessed modern minstrel, whose black man swagger is spreading the myth of the Mandingo further than ever?
You can check out the rest of Harolds art at:
http://www.haroldsmithart.com/
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