Kelefa Sanneh
Kelefa Sanneh is an English-American journalist and music critic. From 2000 until 2009, he wrote for
the New York Times where he mainly covered hip-hop and pop music genres. This is where Sanneh
wrote arguably his most well-known piece titled, ‘The Rap Against Rockism’ (2004). This article
looked at critics and how they attacked anything that didn’t conform to the ‘ideal’ standards of rock
and roll music. “Rock 'n' roll doesn't rule the world anymore, but lots of writers still act as if it does.”
The word ‘rockism’ was coined in 1981 by Pete Wylie an English rock musician.
Rockism came about in the 80’s, just after the increase in population of punk and rock music in the
early 70’s. Rock music became very popular during this time, stealing the spotlight from other genres
like disco, funk and soul; these genres may have been seen as ‘gay’ or not masculine enough which
could have been why the idea of rebelliousness became popular, particularly in the UK, which led to
music critics considering this the ‘ideal’ way music should be. “Punk rock spread from a sophisticated
politico/art vanguard into a mass pop movement” (Jon Savage, 1981). Jon Savage had written this
piece to review in a way, what punk was like and to compare it to the current music at that time. His
article had some negative connotations of punk, ending with the line, “I wouldn’t do it again.”
Many criticisms new pop music faced included the use of electronic instruments and sounds, “Rock
is 4 guys in a room creating music with instruments. It is a craft and it takes talent,” this quote comes
from a forum member on DigitalSpy (2011) who wrote a piece called ‘13 Reasons Why Rock Music is
the Best Music’. This is still an argument many people today use. A document created by the BBC
looked into the use of computers for music production (Are Computers Ruining Music? 2014)
“Thanks to automatic tuning, we no longer have to be able to sing to record a flawless song.” This is
what critics are talking about when they say pop music artists lack talent, however, Sanneh believes
that this is just ignorant people, “The problem with rockism is that it seems increasingly far removed
from the way most people actually listen to music.”
The article published in the New York Times attracted a lot of attention and created many debates
surrounding Wylie’s new found term. Paul Morley (The Guardian, 2006) stated, “Suddenly, you had a
word that you could use to swiftly and yet fairly dismiss Phil Collins. Music journalists like Morley
believed that this new found term would improve music writing and allow journalists more freedom
to write about what they enjoyed without facing criticism from other writers.
Sanneh’s New York Times piece highlighted the comeback rockism made in the early 2000’s.
Contemporary R&B and pop music became more popular around this time, starting at the late 90’s
with artists like R. Kelly, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce reaching high in the charts
(Official Charts, 2003). Due to this recent increase in population, music journalists began to criticise
R&B music, even people on online forums were asking whether it was just them, or does today’s
R&B ‘suck’ (DVD Talk, 2006). This was the reason Kelefa Sanneh wrote ‘The Rap Against Rockism’,
“when did we all agree that Nirvana's neo-punk was more respectable than Ms. Carey's neo-disco?”
The seemingly angry piece of writing mentioned the cruel backlash Ashley Simpson received after
her lip-synching fail on Saturday Night Live (2004). He gave a definition of the word ‘Rockism’ and
gave a detailed explanation as to why he didn’t like the way people known as ‘Rockists’ would write.
“Countless critics assail pop stars for not being rock 'n' roll enough, without stopping to wonder why
that should be everybody's goal.”
Rock bands like Greenday were still around during this time also, leaving journalists not so fond of
the ‘rockism’ term writing things like, “These bands are all part of a general resistance to the
paralysing pop-culture irony that's undone rock as we used to know it” (The Guardian, 2000).
Sanneh wrote his piece to argue that pop songs that are seen as ‘disposable’ aren’t bad songs, and
people should accept that the behaviour coming from rock musicians is no longer how music artists
act (2004).
This article was directed to more upper-class people, the stereotypical white, middle-aged male
journalists, “could it really be a coincidence that rockist complaints often pit straight white men
against the rest of the world?” According to Bauer Media’s ‘Absolute Radio’ station, the main
audience do fit into this description. Absolute Radio claims that their audience are “intelligent,
irreverent people who want a content-rich and challenging radio station where “Real Music Matters”
(Bauer Media, 2017). The use of ‘real music’ implies that pop music and anything they don’t play on
their radio station isn’t real music. This could count as proof that rockism is still around even today.
Kelefa Sanneh’s article about rockism influenced the birth of another word, ‘Poptimism’. Poptimism
is a word with almost the opposite definition of rockism, the word is used to describe the writers
who are more open to new music and genres other than rock. Jody Rosen wrote a piece titled, “The
Perils of Poptimism” (2006) which described Sanneh’s ‘Rap Against Rockism’ as “the most-discussed
piece of popular music criticism of the past several years.” She also claimed Sasha Frere-Jones along
with Sanneh and herself are ‘poptimists’, supporting pop music and opposing music journalists from
the 60’s and 70’s, “Beyoncé is as worthy of serious consideration as Bruce Springsteen, and ascribing
shame to pop pleasure is itself a shameful act.”
There are many written articles about poptimism, Tom Hawking (2014) believes poptimism is a good
thing and that criticism should embrace it. He says that it’s fine to react against poptimism, but he
doesn’t think that people should return to a ‘mythical golden age’ where people argued over
“whether John Bonham was a better drummer than Keith Moon.”
Another article based on the new found term, titled ‘Do you want Poptimism? Or do you want the
truth?’ (Chris Richards, 2015) argues that when a popstar reaches high levels of fame, they stop
getting bad reviews from critics. “Stars become superstars, critics become cheerleaders and the
discussion froths into a consensus of uncritical excitement.” Accusing the word of granting
“immunity to a lot of dim music.”
He labelled Sanneh’s “influential” ‘Rap Against Rockism’ the “poptimist Magna Carta”. Implying he
was wrong saying; just as rockism says “music isn’t as good as it used to be”, poptimism
‘overcorrects’ by stating “todays music is better than ever”. The main point to Richards’ argument
was that, nobody is disagreeing when it comes to popular music artists, insisting that, “A clash of
opinions will only help us better understand our own.” Which is also, the message Kelefa Sanneh
was attempting to deliver. “That doesn't mean we should stop arguing about Ms. Simpson… But it
does mean we should stop taking it for granted that music isn't as good as it used to be”
In an interview with Mr. Sanneh, he stated, “Part of what I was trying to say is that rockism actually
does a disservice to rock, as well as pop,” (Kelefa Sanneh, 2015). In this interview, he also hinted that
poptimism was becoming the new rockism, as people were taking it too far, saying that any
tendency in music taste can become “super annoying”.
Brian Toups replied to an essay written on a forum analysing ‘The Rap Against Rockism’ saying,
“Being a “rockist” is just another way of being a stick in the mud and resisting change” (2012). This
statement implies that Toups doesn’t believe he is a rockist, however an article found in the Seattle
Weekly archive called, ‘Thinking About Rockism’ (Douglas Wolk, 2006) claims that nobody is really
free of rockism, “The basic DNA of popular-music criticism came from the people who wrote for
Rolling Stone and Creem in the '60s and '70s.” Douglas Wolk states that even people who have never
read these journalists’ writing, have learnt from their language, perspective and taste. Calling the
writing from these eras “the foundation” for popular music criticism, “Note, for instance, that
anybody who writes about popular music is a "rock critic."
Interestingly, this article is one of the many attempting to define rockism. Many writers can’t quite
work out what the term means. There is no dictionary definition, and despite there being a vague
definition, people misunderstand this a lot.
Popular music will always be looked at negatively, particularly by the press. Even in the 70’s when
punk music achieved popularity, it received negative criticisms; as did rock n’ roll music in the 50’s,
claiming that the music was “too sexual” etc. The cycle of criticism is what brings rockism back into
conversation, which is why Sanneh brought the word up after 15 years. Rock music writers, would
criticise the new Hip-Hop and R&B music in particular, which is exactly what Kelefa Sanneh would
specialise in when writing his music journalism pieces.
Another article people talk about today, was about Beyonce, just after she had left Destiny’s Child.
‘The Solo Beyonce: She’s No Ashanti’ (Kelefa Sanneh, 2003) was actually written before ‘The Rap
Against Rockism’. He claims that Beyonce isn’t as good as Ashanti, despite being the most popular
member of famous girl group, Destiny’s Child. Stating Ashanti doesn’t even need guests on her
albums, she “does fine without them”.
This piece of journalism received a lot of negative responses, one being from SLTA writer, Rafi
D’Angelo (2013). He wrote a humorous review on Sanneh’s work starting with, “If ever in history
there was a reviewer who needed to make a public apology, it’s this Kelefa T. Sanneh dude.” He
went on to say that anybody with “half a brain” should’ve been able to tell that Ashanti and Beyonce
weren’t even comparable, “just from watching Beyonce perform”.
After Sanneh moved to writing for the New Yorker, his writing went from musical, to focusing on
more political and cultural matters. He wrote many argumentative pieces on racism, the president of
the USA and feminism. Before he left the New York Times magazine, he wrote an article titled ‘Don’t
Blame Hip-Hop’ (2007) which fit in well with his writing in ‘The Rap Against Rockism’ and showed his
slow transition into more social and political writing.
Sanneh focused on how people jump to conclusions, blaming Hip-Hop music for “glorifying crime
and sexism and greed and Ebonics,” when in reality, it may not even be Hip-Hop’s fault. He pointed
out that Hip-Hop music isn’t as crude as it once was, and many of the expletives like ‘ho’ and ‘bitch’
were censored out when aired most times. This was one of many essays written by Sanneh
defending Hip-Hop in many ways. This genre received a lot of grief from music critics, especially
during the late 90’s moving into the 00’s; which would also be the reason for his ‘Rap Against
Rockism’ piece, and why he brought the term back into conversation.
Sanneh’s journalism is very honest and opinionated, influencing other journalists to express their
opinions and be more technical in their writing, talking about music lyrics and facing social and
political issues.
Bill DeGenaro, wrote about this piece from his “favourite music writer” on his blog (2007). He looks
into the police brutality in America, race and class; asking the question ‘why does hip-hop sell?’
Especially with the profane words found in lyrics and the negative press this music receives.
Moving on from his employment at The New York Times, he wrote many articles and opinion pieces
at the New Yorker, one titled, ‘Discriminating Tastes’ (2009) where he addresses the term ‘reverse
racism’ and gives his views. He defended Obama in this informative article, against the critics who
were portraying him negatively, accusing him of having a hatred towards white people. Despite his
many political and social pieces, Sanneh still has music related writing in his New Yorker portfolio.
Differently to his work in the New York Times, Kelefa Sanneh wrote about many more different
genres, including rock, country as well as hip-hop and R&B while he was writing for the New Yorker.
He also featured on podcasts for the New Yorker Out Loud, where he would talk about music. He
starred on one podcast called ‘Kelefa Sanneh on the music of Brad Paisley’(2016), where he calls his
newest music video “corny” however, also tells the interviewer that Paisley was very “conceptual”
writing his lyrics, knowing that summer is related to water and using that idea to make a hit country
song.
Over the years, Sanneh’s music writing has become less harsh, possibly due to the amount of
criticism he had received; or maybe because he is more focused on political journalism, with less
interest in music. On a podcast from the New Yorker, titled ‘What is R&B Now?’ Carrie Battan, Kelefa
Sanneh and Amelia Lester discussed R&B music and what it could become. Sanneh described old
R&B as ‘polished’, ‘approachable’ and ‘clean’, then compared artists like Frank Ocean as “a little
strange” (2016). The group also addressed how the genre is becoming more open to different
sexuality, and how more women are becoming popular R&B artists. For example, the increase in
popularity with Nicki Minaj.
Even people today refer to Sanneh’s work. One article published on Mic Network’s website called,
‘The Debate everyone should Be Having About Kendrick Lamar’s New Album’ used an essay written
by Kelefa Sanneh to make a point about W.E.B. Du Bois, “Du Bois, according to New
Yorker contributor Kelefa Sanneh, helped shape the field of sociology.” (Tom Barnes, 2015)
This article made a few references to the police shootings in America, which Sanneh has covered a
lot since he started writing for the New Yorker.
Kelefa Sanneh continues to write for The New Yorker today, expressing his political opinions and
creating discussions across the journalist community.
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