I Watched the VMAs With My 10 Year Old and THIS Happened! đŽ
Why watching award shows with your kids is so important
Your kids like todayâs music.
It doesnât matter if wish they wouldnât. It doesnât matter how much you prefer the music from when YOU were a kid. They like todayâs music.
And if weâre being totally honest, despite our older person perspectives, not everything today is horrible. But regardless, itâs not like weâre gonna voluntarily sit down and watch the VMAs, amirite??
Well, you should.
Like I said last year in a video about watching the GRAMMYs with my then-9-year-old-daughter, itâs actually really important that we sit and watch these shows â with our children.
The World Famous #BabyGirlFaces is now 10, and she has a really cool, eclectic taste in music. From Sabrina Carpenterâs pop to Tyler The Creatorâs Hip Hop to Katseyeâs K-Pop to Le Tigreâs punk, thereâs no telling what genre or style she might be checking for at any given moment â which I LOVE. She is very much like the rest of her family in terms of absolutly not being close-minded to any kind of music, from any era.
But, popular music is popular music, and so sheâs going to be into â or at least know a lot more about what weâll be watching. But, as youâll read, as much as she can teach me who some of these folks are, and more importantly, who she likes and why â I also get the opportunity to teach her.
Both reasons are why itâs so important to watch these things with our kids.
Iâll stop the preaching, and just give you 8 moments from watching the VMAs last night with my lilâ twin that I think stregnthend our bond, taught her things, and gave her the chance to teach me back.
You can take from them what you will.
Sabrina Carpenter
When you come from a world with Dianas, Whitneys, Mariahs, and Janets, itâs hard to place anyone not named Beyonce atop the pop throne today, but like Dua Lipa and a couple other recent standouts, Sabrina Carpenter has emerged as a perfectly adequate pop star. Nothing I would necessarily fawn over, but she certainly rides her lane well, and BabyGirlFaces likes her well enough.
It might be easy for parents to just look past just another song from just another pop princess, but there were so many teachable moments in this performance! I actually thought it hearkened back to Janet in a way â the musical vibes, the throwback set design, and moments of striking choreography â to me, it all felt JJ-influenced, and so, it gave me the opportunity to tell BGF more about Janet and her dominance back in the day, how she managed to create her own vibe even in the enormous shadow of her brother, and told her that if she liked âTears,â she might want to go listen to âAlright.â
Another interesting thing was the overt activism she was displaying on Americaâs TV screens, with a cohort of drag queens and messages supporting Trans rights throughout the performance (on Paramount-owned CBS no less!)
In a day and time when we so often hear folks talk about how little our celebrities do to speak out on politically-charged issues of the day, it was very refreshing to see. It allowed me to remind BGF that because these performers have such a platform, they can use their voices to advocate for things â but that also, what can happen if it backfires on them. We didnât get too deep of course, but it was an opportunity to plant a great seed for later discussion.
Busta Rhymes
Of course BGF knows who Busta is, but I doubt she ever actually sat and watched him perform. As he ran through a medly of his hits in acceptance of a VMA Vanguard award, BGF certainly seemed impressed with his wordplay and energy. She enjoyed learning he was from Long (Strong) Island, where weâre from⌠I took a minute to explain who Spliff Star was, and how he is such an intregal part of Bustaâs stage show, truly amplifying his ability to perform at such a high level. Thereâs not a lot of âhype menâ in todayâs music, so I wanted to make sure she understood his relevance.
She didnât know Joyner Lucas or Papoose, so I was able to give her a bit of quick background on them, and we all like Glorilla so that was a moment we all were like âyay!â together đ
Overall, I thought is was dope she got exposed to such a fun, energetic performance from a seasoned rap vet, when it would be something sheâd likely scroll right past if it came up on her FYP or in her feed.
Katseye
I actually really like Katseye! âşď¸ BGFâs been a big fan for a minute, and you know how it is when you have a kid playing stuff over and over, it can grow on you! A ways back, something she played caught my ear and so I had her play me several songs from their burgeoning catalog â super fun, catchy, K-Pop earworms.
I also love that she was âearlyâ on them. As a DJ, itâs always dope to see someone I was following for a long time jump to the next level. Itâs fun and validating, and I think thatâs how she felt to see them prominantly on American TV â like HER group was getting some love.
(I also definitely felt like the cool dad because I know who they are âşď¸)
The big teachable moment however, isnât just that she taught me about a ascending K-Pop group⌠Itâs the fact that I had asked about them and took the time to listen to their songs. Itâs me seeing something my daughter likes, and asking her about it. Showing interest, and willing to hear her perspective. For a kid, thatâs pricesless, and stregnthens our bond and the amount of trust she has that I can be someone she can talk to, and wonât just dismiss.
It doesnât matter if I like Katseye, the lesson is whatâs important.
I do kinda like them though, so, win win. âşď¸
Post Malone
We both have a bit of disain for Post Malone, though for different reasons đ She âdoes not like himâ at all â even though we all loved âSunflower.â It doesnât matter, BGF made it clear she does not care much at all for the new/current/whatever Post Malone. Of course, my disdain revolves more around the argument that, like many other white artists before him who cut their teeth on Hip Hop culture only to later abandon it to focus more on whatever it is they want to do next. Valid argument, especially when you know about his 2017 comments when he suggested people not listen to Hip Hop if they want âmeaningful music about real life.â So yea. F that!
Teachable moment though, as I was able to talk to her a bit about cultural appropriation and culture vulturing â which weâve definitely discussed before â but it was a great real world example to point to. So, for that, thanks Post Malone!
Lady Gaga
Iâm fairly indifferent to Lady Gaga as an artist â I know she can sing, has genuine hit records, etc., so I get it. I waffle a bit on her creativity. Itâs off the chain of course, but it is a case of unbridled I donât give a f*ckness, or just overdoing the most? Anyway, like I said, whatever you or me think about her in this context, doesnât matter. BGF generally enjoys her and she enjoyed this performance, so that was that.
I must, however, absolutely give props because Lady Gagaâs dancers/performers are so ON POINT â every time â like on some Michael Jackson type precision, so at least that was something we both were able to appreciate. And an MJ shoutout never hurts.
Ozzy Osbourne
Mrs. Faces was a bit more of a metal fan growing up than I was, but of course we all knew Ozzy Osbourne. I thought the Ozzy tribute was pretty solid, but seeing Steven Tyler opened up the opportunity to talk about Aerosmith with BabyGirlFaces, and of course, the iconic mashup with Run DMC. Any opportunity to talk about Hip Hop history with BGF is a good one, and this, again, is why watching these award shows is so helpful. Like weâve learned from our brilliant friends who merge Hip Hop and mental health, when you meet kids where they are, itâs so much easier to get them to have open ears and minds for what it is youâre trying to share. When I hear so many grown folk complain that these young artists donât know their history, or that itâs so hard to just reach our kids these days, I have to wonder how much of that is because the adults in their lives just arenât doing this work.
Mariah Carey
Anyway, BGF knows Mariah. I laughed when, in the middle of the medley, BGF said âShe should tease the Christmas song at the end.â Funny kid! I got to share some Mariah fun facts: She learned she was also from Long Island, that she didnât always move so stiff đ, and that she was truly a musical powerhouse for many, many years. Again, very cool for BGF to watch, with interest, an iconic performer get their flowers, especially while they can still show us why they deserve them.
Ricky Martin
She had a bit less interest in Rickyâs montage, but it gave Mrs. Faces a chance to talk about his roots in Menudo (she was a big fan) and let BGF how influential the group, and Martin later as a solo artist, had been in her life, and for music in general. Itâs interesting, multicultural and multilingual music is so much a part of the pop music mix today, I think young people take it for granted that it wasnât always like that, and that artists like Ricky Martin were definitely one of the influences that helped make that happen.
Itâs like when I said once, âLetâs go to International House of Pancakes!â and BGF was like, âTHATâS WHAT IT STANDS FOR???â
It helps to keep in mind that some things WE take for granted as grownups, are completly foreign to our kids. Cool little reminder, thanks to âLa Vida Loca.â
Anyway, there were a bunch more, but I just wanted to reinforce my point from last yearâs GRAMMY video â take the time to share in these moments with your kids. Youâll get to teach them all kinds of stuff, and if theyâre lucky, youâll let them do the same to you.
Back soon with more Hip Hop Can Save America! content, Hip Hop news that isnât about dumb sh*t, upcoming conferences and other interdisciplinary event updates, and more.
đ My upcoming appearances (TEDx in ATL, UNC Charlotte, Howard U)
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