High Art.

WORDS.

"I’d also be willing to bet that at least part of this interest in the art world is rooted in the idea of kicking down the door of the establishment, an idea that suffuses both Magna Carta Holy Grail and Yeezus. (Take these lyrics from “Somewhereinamerica,” for instance, wherein Jay-Z recounts his glee at setting up camp next to rich people who are clearly horrified by him: “New money, they looking down on me/ Blue bloods, they trying to clown on me/ You can turn up your nose, high society/ Never gone turn down the homie/ Knock, knock, I’m at your neighbor house/ Straight cash I bought your neighbor out.”)

Both Jay-Z and West are at the stage of their careers where doors that have always been closed to them have been thrown wide open, something that’s no doubt both edifying for both of them. But it’s not like this is any sort of hostile takeover of the art world. It’s more a case of wanting to walk in the front door and be treated as equals. Whereas in the past pop culture has taken pleasure in plundering the aesthetics of high art, now it wants to be high art. Or, more accurately, perhaps, there’s a blurring of the boundaries of what used to be considered high and low art.

...Instead of demanding that art lower itself into the world of pop music, though, the Great Cashed-Up Overlords of Hip Hop seem to be demanding that they be taken seriously as part of the Serious Art establishment. Again, this makes sense, considering that it’s another manifestation of both gatecrashing areas of culture previously closed to musicians, rappers, and black men, and also of the idea that hip hop success really involves becoming part of the elite, not removing them or changing the system that breeds them..."

FLAVORWIRE: Jay-Z and Marina Abramovic: Pop Music Stops Ripping Off High Art, Starts Trying to Become High Art

EARLIER:

Somewhereinamerica.