Good God, why is Ari Melber asking Bill Gates to comment on rapper lyrics?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

I don't understand Melber's fascination with rap and especially why he applies it to every. damn. thing. If he likes the style, fine, but jeez... I like Beethoven but I don't try to find a relationship between his string quartets and universal health care, FFS. Although, come to think of it, if Beethoven had had access to better health care maybe he wouldn't have gone deaf and his last string quartets would have been very different. OK, maybe Beethoven does have to do with everything, just like rap. Or whatever. Anyhow. Melber sometimes annoys the hell out of me. Why do I watch him, you might ask? Because sometimes he has interesting guests. The ones that aren't rappers.

[StarfishSaver]

1. Doesn't he ask EVERYONE to comment on rapper lyrics?

He thinks everyone is as impressed with his hip-hoppidiness as he is

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. I think he's trying to impress people with how cool he is.

He's like the lame middle-aged dad who tries to hang out with his teenaged son's garage band and show off his knowledge of current slang and pop music, which he actually doesn't get at all and just embarrasses his kid.

[StarfishSaver]

15. Exactly

It's just annoying.

[Bev54]

41. He is an idiot

I had to turn it. Imagine you get a coveted interview with Bill Gates and all you can do is ask him what he thinks about rap lyrics that has his name in them. I am sure Gates has not heard them nor does he give one shit about them. Ari has to go, he is embarrassing and I feel embarrassed for the guests.

[3Hotdogs]

2. I've always been a fan of tubers.

[servermsh]

3. The solution is no one should watch that show. It's not a good show.

Soledad O'Brien or many others would make for a far better host. If no one watches, he'll be replaced.

[Chiyo-chichi]

27. Give it to Malcolm Nance and Joyce Vance. Call it "Nance & Vance."

THAT'S the show I want to see!

[bullimiami]

4. thats aris schtick. he named his show to reflect it.

[Midnight Writer]

5. Ari tries to be clever at the expense of being informative.

[regnaD kciN]

6. But, why not...?

I like Beethoven but I don't try to find a relationship between his string quartets and universal health care, FFS.

Don't you see the obvious parallels between Medicare For All and the "Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, in der Lydischen Tonart" movement of String Quartet No. 15???

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. But he got better anyhow, and wrote a string quartet about it.

[lostnfound]

8. I know, that was really weird.

I don’t mind occasional references or guests in that industry, but to spring it on a guest who is unfamiliar with it is just super weird, and a waste of time.

[SharonClark]

9. After watching Melber embarrass himself in front of Bill Gates today

I decided I'll flip to CNN during his too-cute-by-half-rap-music-quotes hour. Melber should stick with legal issues.

[Bongo Prophet]

10. I was hoping someone would switch him off and back on again to see if that fixed the problem

[onetexan]

11. What was the context of the question?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. There didn't seem to be any.

[lunatica]

18. The context was that two rappers sang about Bill Gates

That one or both of them sang that Bill Gates doesn’t dress in the gold bling and that he doesn’t need it. Bill Gates answered that he didn’t know anything about rap and was obviously puzzled, but not embarrassed. It was just irritating because Ari does it all the time now and it’s almost as if he’s doing a gotcha thing. This is my opinion only.

[Mike Nelson]

14. Agree...

... that was lame. I think it's fun when he has Eleanor Clift and a rapper on together - but he goes overboard. Stop, I say...

[Paladin]

16. Ari walked over the pathetic line for me, some time ago.

I don't want my political commentary filtered through rap music---any more than I do with country-western music. Ari went overboard on the rap stuff a long time ago. His show is a waste of time. Not as awful as Chuck Todd, but a waste of time, nonetheless. I wish MSNBC would do something about all this---these are damn serious times, and our side deserves damn serious journalists, not wannabe poseurs.

[dem4decades]

17. Gates wanted nothing to do with it Ari looked stupid. But the other day he had a rapper on

Who's lyrics were incredible concerning today's society. That one was well worth it.

[CountMyVote4Reality]

19. It's embarrassing.

I can’t watch his show anymore. I respect his knowledge of the law, but his smug culture props are cringe worthy. It’s no wonder that Joy won’t take a live throw from him.

[msongs]

20. do rappers comment on bill gates? nt

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

22. Apparently one of them did, but Gates wasn't aware of it.

He seemed kind of puzzled by the whole routine.

[lunatica]

23. See response #18

[Celerity]

33. Rappers Really Love Bill Gates: 50 Songs That Mention Hip-Hop's Favourite Billionaire

and this was 5 years ago, so I am sure there are more now

https://howlandechoes.com/2016/04/rappers-really-love-bill-gates/

When Beyonce sang, “I might just be a black Bill Gates in the making” on her recent single Formation, Gates himself responded to the shout-out, saying that he was surprised that the pop superstar would reference the Microsoft billionaire. Speaking to Wired, he said, “Yeah, I hadn’t realised that she did that until somebody in the office actually sent me a copy of the lyrics and I said, ‘Are you serious? This is kind of a strange set of words here.'” He continued, “I’m not sure she said those words at the Super Bowl, though, did she?… I guess it’s nice that people consider me successful. I actually haven’t met Beyoncé. I guess I should do a Bing search and see if there are more uses of my name that I don’t know about.”

The truth is that it’s not really that strange or surprising at all, and if Gates did search his name on Bing, he might be quite surprised. In fact, Beyonce is far from the first artist to name drop the billionaire. After hearing his name pop up once more in ScHoolboy Q‘s new track Groovy Tony, it came to mind that he gets referenced fairly often. Wealth and success are obviously a core theme for a great deal of hip-hop tracks, and while it’s no secret that Lil Wayne and Rick Ross both have songs actually called Bill Gates, it turns out that this is just the tip of a gargantuan iceberg – there are a LOT of hip-hop tracks which specifically reference Gates, typically as a symbol of money and success, or something to aspire to.

It’s really interesting and genuinely quite baffling, although Nas‘ 1999 track New World perhaps explains it best: “we respect his cake, and cake mean his stock, net gross.” While other billionaires and entrepreneurs are occasionally mentioned, they don’t receive even slightly the amount of the overwhelming recognition that Gates has.

This discovery was too amazing to keep to myself. Some of the references make a lot less sense than others, but for better or for worse, here is a chronologically ordered list of fifty hip-hop tracks which name drop Bill Gates – and there’s plenty, plenty more where these came from. To note, it’s not just US rappers who’ve name dropped Gates – this list also includes Australian rappers Briggs, 360, Seth Sentry and Allday. Interestingly, a number of these also reference Donald Trump and Oprah Winfrey, perhaps the second and third most referenced billionaires in hip-hop.

snip

[lunatica]

21. It's not the first time I've thought that Ari

is trying to ambush people with a gotcha question about rap. To be honest I don’t know what he’s trying to do.

Other than that I think he’s a good host.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

26. I think he's trying to show off that he feels the pulse of contemporary culture

more than all the other cable news hosts, who are just old and stuffy and probably listen to Barry Manilow songs on their cassette tape players when they aren't grooving to their Lawrence Welk LPs.

[lunatica]

31. LOL!

I’m so old that I remember all of your references!

[XanaDUer2]

24. I know

[doc03]

25. I have wanted to bring that up for a long time but thought someone

would say it was racist. He calls his show "The Beat". He interviews Bill Gates and somehow ends up
asking him about rap lyrics. Every single night he has to quote some rap lyrics, I don't know is he trying to
impress us with his knowledge of rap or how cool he is. If he gets to interview President Biden I am sure he will somehow
find a way to quote rap lyrics. If there was a host that was a country music fan it would be
just as weird. I usually turn him off but I wanted to hear the Bill Gates interview. At least he shaved today.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

28. "At least he shaved today"!

I don't think questioning Melber's weird fascination with rap is racist. He might genuinely like the style, which is fine; but the fact that he brings it up all the time regardless of the context makes it seem more like he's trying to show off how woke he is for a white guy - but to me it just seems forced and phony. I don't know that I'd go so far as to call it cultural appropriation, but it's awkward and weird.

[doc03]

32. I picture him driving around in his Beemer slumped down in the seat with his amp

cranked up so loud your windows rattle.

[XanaDUer2]

36. I've posted here about it and

how awkward it is when he'll make a joke or quote rap and his guests have no idea what he's talking about. Awkward silence.

[jcgoldie]

29. Its his schtick

He thinks it makes him hip with the kids. Whatever, hes a pretty good interviewer most of the time but I agree that stuff seems forced and trying too hard.

[Celerity]

30. I liked it, and just turn it off if you do not care for him. I think he is really good.

Because sometimes he has interesting guests. The ones that aren't rappers.

Problematic comment. It really is.

Especially as many of the rappers he has one are really working hard for racial and economic justice via using their platforms of influence.

I de rec this 'off my lawn' style (and shady at the end) OP

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

34. The rapper guests' work for racial justice is great, but that work

doesn't often seem to be elicited in Melber's interviews with them - they spend more time trading quips and making jokes and confusing the other guests, which detracts considerably from the interviews. He had a guy on the other day who actually was serious, but that seems to be the exception. What seems forced and weird is Melber's bringing up rap lyrics in all kinds of contexts when the guests don't even know what he's talking about. I'd feel the same way if he was obsessed with opera and kept throwing out opera references to guests who don't share that interest.

[Celerity]

39. that is flat out untrue, they talk about it almost every time he has one on who is engaged in those

struggles. I have seen dozens of these interviews over the years with hip hop artists that have had a socially conscious aspect. and again, that ending comment of yours is racially problematic, it really is, as it broad brushes and demeans a group that is, by a huge majority, PoC.

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[The Velveteen Ocelot]

42. I have no issues with rap or rappers.

But if Melber has had substantive interviews I guess I've missed them, since I don't watch every show. I have, however, seen several that were basically just uninteresting show business trivia but I'll take your word for it. My complaint is with Melber's lame attempts to seem cool by bringing rap lyrics into conversations with guests who have no idea what he's talking about.

[nuxvomica]

35. I think he makes rap music look bad

I suspect your annoyance is not so much about the music genre but that he is so awkward at talking about it. Forced cool is annoying but also funny. Try to laugh when he gets down with it.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

37. I have no problem with the genre itself. It's not my favorite -

I'm a classical music fan and I don't really care for many popular music styles - but I accept that people have different tastes in music and it's all fine with me. You are exactly right that it's the lame, forced cool that's annoying.

[Dagstead Bumwood]

38. When he does that he makes me feel so uncomfortable

I want to turn the channel. I can't imagine how his guests feel, even when they know it's coming at some point in the conversation.

[Dem2]

40. That's his thing

I find that rather humorous whereas he's otherwise rather unexciting to watch.

[rickford66]

43. Sometimes there's no rap reference until six or seven seconds into the show.

Unfortunately, every rap reference causes a loss of a couple minutes of show time and interviews are always stopped short because of running out of time. Joy Reid has a similar problem with her joking interruptions. Chris Hayes has the habit of repeating verbatim everything the guest just told him, which eats into his time. Stop me now. They all have great guests so I'll keep watching, except for Chuck Toad.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

44. The best MSNBC hosts are Maddow, O'Donnell and Williams - the later lineup.

The reason these three are good is because they don't interrupt their guests (at least Matthews is gone!) or make time-consuming jokes and wisecracks. Williams occasionally makes wry and very funny asides but he and the other two don't eat into their interview time with irrelevant jokes or other comments that draw attention to themselves.

[rickford66]

46. Agree

Williams has the least interruptions since he's been a pro for so long. His asides, which have to be prepared well beforehand are clever and at least seem appropriate and don't eat into the tile allowed. They also have adapted to the delays better than the rest.

[FreepFryer]

45. Peak whiteness. It's played out and embarrassing, Ari. (Nt)