Gothamist: Blipster? Really?

Jay Wilson

Sun, 04 Feb 2007 17:25:32 -0500

People act as though “Blipsters” are something new. I remember growing up in Flatbush during the mid 80s and everyone Black I knew either skateboarded or listened to rock - hell I remember digging Springsteen and Phil Collins as much as we did RUN-DMC and Slick Rick, Frankly, I’m sick of the labels.

I am not Star Jones

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 20:36:55 -0500

The very first concert that I attended was Joan Jett, REM and The Police at Shea Stadium. No one called me a blipster, but a random concertgoer told me that I looked like Tootie from The Facts of Life. Later, one of my friends said that he said Tootie because that was only the other black person he has seen in his life. Unfortunately, I was so traumatized by this comparison that I never attended another rock concert again. I couldn't handle the possibility of being seen by someone who didn't look like me while listening to music being performed by people who, alas, didn't look like me. The pressure to conform to their sitcom expectations was entirely too much for me. I've passed on so many concerts due to this crippling fear: The Scissor Sisters, Faith No More, Metallica, Bruce Springsteen, OK Go, Psychedelic Furs, Antony and the Johnsons, The Bangles, James Taylor, Dave Edmunds Band, Gavin DeGraw, Squeeze (to name a few. I'm working on getting over my phobia in therapy.

Joy

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 22:34:26 -0500

What would you call an Asian hipster? I'm Filipino. Does that make me a Flipster?

lt

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 16:46:54 -0500

As a black person listening to mostly rock music, I find blipster to be a very strange word that doesn't really encompass the experience of being black and being immersed in a rock music subculture. It doesn't really do anything except create another label that people will be confused by and will use incorrectly. The last crazy term like this was blerd, a slang term for a black nerd (of which I am also).

Ron Mwangaguhunga

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 16:40:16 -0500

More pathetic than the Observer piece by a whisker.

less paulie

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 15:16:18 -0500

holy krap, that's a guy? guess I'm not a hipster. it's quite an optical illusion because the guy behind him melds into a nice booty.

Fubu

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 14:56:14 -0500

What new oppressed segment of the African American community will the NYT focus on next? Black Proctologysts: Are They Sent the Sh**iest Patients? Black Abstract Expressionists: Looks Like a Zulu Mask to Us. Yup, Definitely a Zulu Mask. Oh, He Hasn't Started Painting Yet? Interesting. Black Roofers: Shingles Are Racist.

stw

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 14:22:55 -0500

les paulie walnuts "who's the chick in the pic? She's kinda cute." are you referring to the dude who is the guitarist for tv on the radio? hah. personally, i think the word 'blipster' is pretty deck.

les paulie walnuts

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 14:11:25 -0500

who's the chick in the pic? She's kinda cute.

em

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 13:40:48 -0500

Don't even pay attention to it. NOBODY with half a brain is actually going to go around using this word, unless it's as a complete joke.

jared

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 12:50:57 -0500

So... black people who listen to rock can't just be black people who listen to rock?? We have to have a separate f-cking name? WTF?

r

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 12:11:43 -0500

the times didn't coin the phrase. if you read the article, you would've seen it was attributed to a different source. urban dictionary, i think, though i don't remember.

Kevin Walsh

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 11:50:03 -0500

Jeez, and I've been listening to r&b, jazz and soul all these years. www.forgotten-ny.com