Cryme Tyme? Cryme Tyme?!?! Okay, I know I've been asking for a greater prevalence of tag teams and tag team action in WWE, but damn! If you've ever wondered if racism exists in the world of professional wrestling, the impending introduction of the new tag team, Cryme Tyme (formerly OVW's Gangstars) is your loud and clear answer: YES!!Needless to say, their name itself is lame...completely uncreative and just plain stupid. But more importantly, of course, is the implication of having two young, black, braided-up wrestlers debut as thugs.
Practicing for their debut on "Raw" by robbing a convenience store and beating up the clerk?! Forgetting your objective and pausing to give your boy a "shout out" in the surveillance camera?! I'm all for comedy, but this angle is straight up insulting.
Not that I needed to be a Mass Communications major at York University to know this, but blacks continue to face stereotyping in the media and likely always will. In studying media, I learned more about what I already knew: HOW blacks are portrayed weighs heavily on how the public view them...view us!!
Criminal. Savage. Dangerous. Barbaric.
For example, Paul Bernardo is a child rapist. But his images in the newspapers and on television were those of his wedding and him hanging out with friends at home. He is the white boy gone wrong...but not the norm among white society.
O.J. Simpson, however, will have his image darkened on the cover of TIME magazine
(as admitted by this publication) in an effort to make him appear more 'sinister'. The blacker you are, the scarier you must be. Not to mention, his image was not that of a former football player or actor. It was not of him being a father or husband. It was his mugshot. Presenting blacks as captives of the law (mugshots, in handcuffs or in a police cruiser) is the most popular choice to portray stories of crimes committed by blacks in the mass media. This is fact. Research it yourself if you'd like.Am I looking too much into this? I don't think so. It's a personal issue especially as a hip-hop artist. I am now also an educator...currently a Hip-Hop Songwriting Facilitator at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. I've been teaching youth aged 9 - 18 how to write raps for the past several months. Each time I begin a new workshop, I always ask the class what are the first things that come to their minds when they hear the term "hip-hop".
Take a wild guess as to what some of the most popular answers are.
Crime. Drugs. Gangs. Bitches. Hoes. Money. You get the point.
Do rappers bring this on themselves? A lot of the new ones do, yeah. I'm not into that kinda shit and half of my job, I feel, is to educate the youth as to the true nature of hip-hop culture and its origins. Getting OFF the street, away from the violence and utilizing your talents for partying and having a good time...to put it plainly.
Why is this such a big deal? Because the IMAGE of hip-hop represents the IMAGE of black youth. Black culture. Black people. It's no wonder 50 Cent is so popular. He has a "character"...no different than a wrestler. It doesn't matter that is raps are below mediocre and his content deplorable...he's been shot nine times! That's his gimmick! This is what sells records. This is also what helps to strengthen the stereotype that black people are prone to violence and crime.
The advent of this new tag team, Cryme Tyme in WWE is no different. It may have less of an impact as a famous rapper or former pro football player turned murderer but its implications are no less vicious. Racism is alive and well in WWE. Let's hope Cryme Tyme can provide some laughs and MAYBE play up their characters as stereotypes ...you know, in a way to speak OUT against the very idea that they are thugs as opposed to accomplished young athletes.
Yeah right. In my dreams.
14 comments: on "Cryme Tyme - A Black Tragedy"
Why didn't they just go ahead and steal another ECW tag team name and go ahead and call them The Gangstas. I mean it worked when they put Kid Kash and Jamie Noble together and decided to call them the Pitbulls.
For the first few moments though, I thought I was watching some damn commercial on MTV until it clicked in my head that I hadn't changed the channel cause I was in the other room when the commercials started.
Let me preempt my statements: I am not black, nor am I racist. I am in fact, down with the Brown and at times have even backed the Mack. (And as an odd coincidence, also a mass communications major who attends University in a predominantly black area.)
I have to agree with you Dan-e-o, that this gimmick will likely be laden with racist stereotypes and overtones, but I dont think it's time to condemn the entire WWE for racism.
Sure, you have plenty of examples to draw from: Kerwin White, The Mexicools, Muhammad Hassan (despite his gimmick being very ironic and nuanced), all the way back to Virgils stint with the Million Dollar federation. I remember cringing in fear at the possibility of King Booker having to be Edge's man-servent if he lost the title, or when Kurt Angle threatened to make him tap faster than Mr. Bojangles.
But the WWE's gimmicks are more taken from popular culture than they are overtly racist. More often than not they are exaggerations of prevalent imagery or reflections of larger-than-life nonwrestling characters brought to the mat. And in a business thriving on violence, it only makes sense to make an individual or group represent this violent black youth character like 50 Cent. Is that right? Maybe not, but it's no indication that the WWE is racist.
I mean think about it, on smackdown who has been the champion lately? A black man with a gimmick not typical to black characters. (All Hail King Booker Btw)
I think the discerning wrestling fan will be able to understand that not all young black men are violent thugs, just like how we know that real Scotsmen understand how to work a urinal and that most Irishmen don't have midget leprachauns helping them out and most Samoans don't have face paint and jab their thumbs into men's necks.
These are merely reflections of over-the-top characters outside of the business. Mr. McMahon is a corrupt white business owner like Ken Lay, JBL is a brash xenophobic redneck like... well... our president, Trevor Murdoch and Lance Cade are under-educated hicks like... well... the people who vote for him.
Are all white guys like Murdoch and Cade? No, just the ones who like Tobey Keith, watch Redneck Kings of Comedy, and who thinks that the ACLU is the only thing which can ruin our nation.
Is this any more racist than Harlem Heat having a wealthy lookin, Southern white manager?
Probably.
But does it get us another tag team?
Yes.
Is wrestling just that - a giant media where one man can get down on his knees and kiss another man's ass and get away with it?
Yes.
So, with that in mind, should Cryme Tyme be viewed as being a serious editorial on that black youth culture in America>
No. Relax, it's not Time Magazine or Dateline. It's Vince McMahon, who left Tom Green out of GTV because he didn't know who Tom Green was. With our luck, Cryme Tyme will get over as faces and add to what seems to be a resurggence in tag team wrestling.
I found the Cryme Time vignette to be insulting and pedestrian.
Hell if you're going to do a thug gimmick - then at least do it well. This just looked ridiculous. Two young black makes embarassing themselves by acting like idiots.
Does this mean the entire company is racist? No. It does mean that very little has changed in the last 25 years. That's sad.
Eddie Guerrero once said to me in an interview: 'I hate being asked to do the typical latino gimmick. Anytime your character is based on your race, it's generally going to insult a huge percentage of the people".
True say Eddie.
Baron,
good points...all of them.
But the main difference between the racial gimmicks you mentioned and Cryme Tyme is that the gimmick given this new black tag team is one that is a threat to society.
This "threat" is the constant in the way blacks are viewed by society...as presented by the media. Michael Moore does an awesome job of discussing this in "Bowling For Columbine". In the same movie, he interviews Robert M. Entman whose works I've studied.
Among the other things I mentioned in the article, Entman (a white guy) has written about the "myth" of racism being dead. Like, say for example, having black newscasters present the news so that it appears to be objective. Ever see a black newscaster? They are a particular version of 'black'...as in non-threatening...as in, as white as a black guy can be.
How does WWE present this type of racism? You mentioned him...your and my king...Booker T. I think it's absolutely incredible...as everyone knows...that Booker is both king and world champion currently. I love the guy. But he is a talented veteran and he deserves his spot.
Let's not forget that when Booker was challenging for that very title a few years ago (against Triple H at WrestleMania) all WWE could talk about was Booker's past troubles with the law. Triple H would often chastize Booker by highlighting his 'criminal ways'. They even showed his mugshot as a teenager!! Yep, Booker T was just another crime-prone black guy.
It was one of the worst pushes for a number one contender I had ever seen. Triple H, a heel at the time, should have been worried for his title. You know, like how most heels are when they have to defend their belt? Like how Edge wants Cena out of his life right now. Triple H not only didn't fear Booker...he beat him...and made him look like a chump.
Is WWE completely racist? No, not necessarily. It would be unfair of me to make that statement. But there is enough proof to know that the stereotypes about black people in WWE...as in the rest of the world...are the worst.
Baron,
good points...all of them.
But the main difference between the racial gimmicks you mentioned and Cryme Tyme is that the gimmick given this new black tag team is one that is a threat to society.
This "threat" is the constant in the way blacks are viewed by society...as presented by the media. Michael Moore does an awesome job of discussing this in "Bowling For Columbine". In the same movie, he interviews Robert M. Entman whose works I've studied.
Among the other things I mentioned in the article, Entman (a white guy) has written about the "myth" of racism being dead. Like, say for example, having black newscasters present the news so that it appears to be objective. Ever see a black newscaster? They are a particular version of 'black'...as in non-threatening...as in, as white as a black guy can be.
How does WWE present this type of racism? You mentioned him...your and my king...Booker T. I think it's absolutely incredible...as everyone knows...that Booker is both king and world champion currently. I love the guy. But he is a talented veteran and he deserves his spot.
Let's not forget that when Booker was challenging for that very title a few years ago (against Triple H at WrestleMania) all WWE could talk about was Booker's past troubles with the law. Triple H would often chastize Booker by highlighting his 'criminal ways'. They even showed his mugshot as a teenager!! Yep, Booker T was just another crime-prone black guy.
It was one of the worst pushes for a number one contender I had ever seen. Triple H, a heel at the time, should have been worried for his title. You know, like how most heels are when they have to defend their belt? Like how Edge wants Cena out of his life right now. Triple H not only didn't fear Booker...he beat him...and made him look like a chump.
Is WWE completely racist? No, not necessarily. It would be unfair of me to make that statement. But there is enough proof to know that the stereotypes about black people in WWE...as in the rest of the world...are the worst.
whoops...didn't mean to post the same thing twice guys...thanks for all your comments.
No problem about the double comments, we all do it from time to time. While I can't really understand where you're coming from dan-e-o (being about as white as a man could be) I do hear what you're saying.
Now Im going to say something that will sound just awful on the face of it -- but please bare with me because I think it explains a bit of the WWE mindset when dolling out gimmicks.
I don't think this would be as big of an issue if black people either had a larger variety of stereotypes or was given some slack with certain gimmicks. (good lord that sounded terrible)
But like you said theres about two types of popular representations of black men: Whitish black men, or black men with a history of violence. (There are more but theyre either closely tied to one of those or done well in recent memory)
But take white people, you can get a million popular stereotypes from us: The rich corrupt businessman, the aristocrat, a dozen kinds of hillbillies, the hippie, the rocker, the overly conservative white man, and each of our nationalities are distinct and rife with stereotypes: British, Irish, Scotish, all from one small island chain alone. Theres been stereotypical Aussie wrestlers, German wrestlers, Russian wrestlers, and French wrestlers and none of that is seen as racist against crackers.
But the WWE has less to work with when it comes to 'typical' black wrestlers, and very few gimmicks given WOULDNT be met with some fear of racism.
For instance take some popular white gimmicks and give them to a black man.
Imagine for a moment what would happen if the WWE made a black hillbilly wrestler. Theyve made countless white ones, but you can probably imagine how harmful an african american hick would be.
Or imagine if RVD was black. No one gets higher than RVD? RVD 4:20 means I just smoked your ass? We all know the kind of white guy RVD's stereotype fits and none of us care, but on a black man we'd all be complaining about it.
Same goes with Stone Cold. A black Stone Cold would mean having a black man flip the bird and drink a ton of booze --- alright for whitey but a bit touchier for a black man.
African Al Snow? We'd see it as insulting having a black man carry on conversations with a manequinne head.
A Black Mic Foley? Imagine the horror we'd all have the first match with barb wire that his opponent lashes him. Mic Foley can be cut to ribbons, but a black Foley being brutalized would be seen as racist.
And you think its tough being a black wrestler. Other minorities have it even worse! Try getting a gimmick other than Tatanka's if youre a native american wrestler.
Try being allowed to be a wrestling police officer if you're muslim.
Try being an asian wrestler in America "So you dont know martial arts huh, well you can fake it... now go out there and job to Batista"
Truth is a group of criminal wrestlers like Cryme Tyme wouldnt be seen as abnormal in the least on nearly any other group of wrestlers and could still fit in stereotypes. Cryme Tyme with Italians you have the FBI, Cryme Tyme with Latinos--- well pretty soon you'll be lyin' cheatin' and stealin' your way to the hall of fame, Cryme Tyme with Asians and you'd have Tajiri, Sakoda, and Akio's Yakuza group. Sure their are differences but why is a criminal group only offensive if it fits black stereotypes as opposed to Italian or Asian?
Oh man, are you guys serious?
Look at Samuel L. Jackson in pretty much any movie. Loud, cussing.... Stereotype?
Look at the image that rappers have portrayed of 20-something black men in the american media.
Try to tell me that 13-19 year old black guys aren't emulating it.
There are black guys and white guys of all types and interests. However to completely ignore the "gangsta" black man isn't a good reflection of what we are dealing with right now.
The NWA came straight out compton almost 20 years ago, and since, it's become mainstream to be a thug.
I went to a wrestling show this week where on black wrestler came out dressed as flava flav and another came out wearing an angry black man shirt. That was their own personal decision to use those gimmicks. After their match they joined together and threw up the black power symbol. I started singing the Nation of Domination theme. There are also Puerto Ricans that do the you are holding us down because we are Puerto Rican gimmick. They choose to be identified by their race.
A lot of men both black and white are embracing this thug mentality. John Cena got his big push essentially acting as though he was black.
Why do we say though that a white man who raps and speaks that slang is trying to act black? Rappers have been selling records to white kids for years. Hip Hop is a part of all of our cultures, however there is still that division.
WWE has come out to state that Cryme Tyme is a parody of these stereotypes. They said something similar for Hassan.
Facts are, while not all muslims are terrorist, not all black people are drug dealing rappers, and not all asians know karate, there are people from those backgrounds that do. It would be nice if WWE pushed a muslim wrestler the way that they are doing the whole Shawn Michaels is a Christian deal, to counteract the angry arab-american they had a few years ago.
Not all Irish men carry around shillalleghs and have leprechauns. Not all latinos ride low riders.
Gimmicks however, are always going to be based on stereotypes. Movies are always going to cast actors into stereotypes.
If you are frustrated, tell me what you'd rather see Cryme Tyme doing:
Wrestling Librarians?
Acrobats who ran from the circus?
West Virginia Coal Miners?
Software Developers?
What doesn't fit any stereotype that everyone can agree doesn't make them "Uncle Tom" black characters, while stopping them from being violent angry black men?
First off, I appreciate all of the responses to this article. You guys are dope.
Secondly, I think some of you may be missing the point slightly when it comes to black stereotypes. While YES, most wrestling gimmicks are based on stereotypes, none are more damaging to the image of one's race than those that are given to blacks.
Just consider the magnitude of what it means to be a slave and have your ancestors experience this hell for hundreds of years...only for modern day society to still generally view you as inferior. Or even sub-human and animalistic.
Consider this gimmick, as Baron said, with Latinos (Los Guerreros were jokers...not really threatening or villainous), whites (hillbillies are seen as happy go lucky dufuses)...the point...be aware of black people...they're the worst of them all. THIS is the stereotype that is MOST damaging.
I never intended to say that blacks are the only characters in pro wrestling subject to stereotypes. Just consider the message such gimmicks are sending.
If Cryme Tyme really is a "parody" of the stereotype of black youth as thugs, then I'm interested in seeing where WWE goes with this. If not, I don't see anything positive about the gimmick.
To answer The 0nslaught's question: How about comedians? I'd love to see someone in a Chris Rock/Eddie Murphy/Martin Lawrence gimmick. It's shooting pretty high to try to be nearly as funny as any of the above mentioned comics...but get a comedy writer to give a charismatic brother some jokes...and I think you'd have a character everyone would cheer for.
SORRY ABOUT ALL THE NOVELS; I promise Ill go back to short posts soon enough!
Im with Onslaught and Dan-e-O about the comedic black character -- it would take a very special person to pull it off, but I guarentee a man of any race who can seem witty and spontaneous while still athletic is going to go far. The Rock comes to mind.
I also appreciate we're all mature enough to discuss and even debate something like racism as it relates to professional wrestling and still have it be tasteful. We can say at least one stereotype is wrong: the ignorant wrestling fan.
Also I think watchwrestling makes an excellent point about the other black stereotype of the "uber athelete" which, feel free to disagree guys, doesn't seem to be a negative stereotype.
Until very recently when uber stars got uber salaries and many were caught in scandal, most black superstars were seen as role models not just to people of their own race, but to others as well. (Jackie Robinson, Jesse Owens, Joe Louis ect. ect.)
For example take the Magic/Bird rivalry of the 80's. Both were amazing atheletes, but you didnt have just black guys routing for Magic just like you didnt have only white guys routing for Bird. Take me for instance, I was a Isiah Thomas/Joe Dumars fan so I hated both of them!
I could see Benjamin's uber-athelete gimmick take a face-turn after he establishes himself to a greater degree in the business, and really sell his persona as an admirable one, much like Angle.
If I was a promoter Id give him some time off to reintroduce himself as THE pure athelete of the WWE. Have him cut some promos similar in content to shoe/gatorade commercials showcasing his abilities. Let him say; I dont need any clever catchphrases, I dont need pyrotechnics, ect ect ect.
But im sure you guys are NOT interested in the never-will-be promotions of a net smark. (Though I have thought this push through for like a whole year!)
3 things:
1) I am terribly offended by the Repo Man...
2) A black comedian in the WWE will make me think one thing. ROCK RIPOFF. I guess they are telling Carlito to be Dwayne Johnson V.2
3) Oh, and Baron, Shelton is my favorite, and a face turn and a push would be sweetness in my book.
Only one Hogan?
Hmm... no. There was a cat before him by the name of Superstar Billy Graham who the Hulkster basically ripped off!
Only one Ric Flair?
Well maybe. But Ric Flair is a Buddy Rogers tribute / rip off.
Only one Rock? Hell I can name a few! Don "The Rock" Murraco. How about the Flyboy, Rocco Rock? R.I.P. The Ultimate Warrior's ring name was "Rock" when he broke in as a member of the Bladerunners tag team with Sting as his partner... Hell even Rock's daddy was known as 'The Rock'.
Ok, I'm just being a dick...
is the big guy the guy who should have won tough enough4 "the one puder walked away from" justice i think his name was ~kc starr~
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