Sanitizing Waka Flocka Flame

I’ve noted before that Waka Flocka Flame travels a careful orbit between violent drug rhymes and friendly celebrity.  It reminds me of Snoop Dogg and Sean Price — they both sort of make visible the double-consciousness of famous black men. Simultaneously expressing fictional violent anti-social expressions (which are consumed for people’s pleasure) and at the same time in different venues re-representing themselves with a friendly comedic persona (which is consumed for people’s pleasure).

Here is Waka telling a story from his childhood about his grandmother punishing him stylized like a Charles Schultz Peanuts holiday special.

Let’s remember that only the voice is Waka’s the representation is the work of a whole team of experts (sound editors, animators, directors, artists).  And a company makes money on the whole thing.

It would be very interesting to map the choices of animated representations of the recent Trae and Waka videos.