Migos blames ‘Noisey Atlanta’ rapsploitation for arrest

It seems Noisey Atlanta just won’t die quietly. Have you heard the latest fallout from the Vice-helmed docuseries? Turns out a member of the rap group Migos is blaming its arrest last month for alleged gun-and-drug possession — after a show at Georgia Southern University — on Noisey Atlanta’s trap-rap-gone-wild exploits.

In a phone call from jail to Hot 107.9’s Dirty Boyz radio show, Migos’ member Offset called Noisey “the police” while insinuating the creators of the documentary tricked them into playing themselves on camera. The episode featuring the Migos showcases the rappers and their clique brandishing semi-automatic weapons for protection and jumbo Ziplocs of weed in front of camera crews at their gated suburban outpost in Stockbridge.

Indeed, this is all types of absurd. From rappers dry snitching and flexing guns as a form of self-promotion to media offering up such an exploitative platform under the guise of news. But it’s also having real-life consequences. The prosecutor apparently showed footage from the Migos episode in court during Offset’s bond hearing to get his bond denied.

There’s plenty of criticism for both sides. 

I’ve already offered a somewhat nuanced critique of Noisey’s “hipster safari” through Atlanta. So I’ll try not to rehash all that. In response to this latest news, Gawker’s media blog TKTK also offers a thorough breakdown of the latest goings-on — h/t Christina Lee — in which it calls Noisey Atlanta host Thomas Morton’s approach “zoological.” 

In “Noisey: Atlanta,” Morton does intermittently talk with rappers about their art. But he spends as much, if not more, of the time gazing awkwardly at his subjects as they roll up weed, tool around with guns and throw money at strippers. Morton, in a break from how he usually handles himself on HBO, sheds his role as journalist so that he can fully represent the “viewer,” if the viewer is a suburban teen, pulled through his computer and dumped into a kitchen where a guy is cooking crack. At their worst, the videos feel zoological.

But no one’s quick to give Migos a pass, either. YouTube commentator DJ Akademiks takes them to task for dumping responsibility on the documentary’s creators as if they were oblivious to the cameras in their kitchen. In audio included from the Migos interview on Hot 107.9, you can hear Offset agreeing with the Dirty Boyz show hosts who also say, “Fuck Noisey.” 

“I’m with you on that ‘Fuck Noisey’ shit,” Offset responded. “They were trippin’ on that shit man. They tricked me. They the police.”

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They aren’t the only Atlanta rappers who’ve cried foul over Vice’s documentary. Jarren Benton went on record with Vibe that he was pissed about the simplistic portrayal early on. Even Waka Flocka Flame shot them the critical side eye. 

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In some ways this whole thing is another example of the complex triangular relationship between rap, media, and criminal justice. Remember when Pitchfork took Chicago rapper Chief Keef to the gun range? The video from that little field trip created serious backlash against the music site for trivializing gun violence. Pitchfork eventually agreed with that assessment in a statement it posted upon taking the video down. But it didn’t stop the other unintended consequence: Chicago police used the video to charge Keef with parole violation.

There’s the whole history of rappers’ lyrics being used in court to prosecute them, which I won’t go into here. And it could be argued — regardless how foolhardy the music or the media might seem — that these exploits are an extension of an artist’s onstage image. An act or performance, if you will. That’s sure to spark debate. And it has.

But the artists in question also have a case.

Basically, rappers want to be judged not merely by the content of their lyrics but by the context of their character — which Noisey conveniently overlooks despite its role in the perpetual cycle. For instance, there is backstory worth considering in regard to Migos’ willingness to be filmed with guns. The group’s former beef with Chicago’s Chief Keef, which spilled out into the streets when one of the members got his chain snatched and Keef Instagrammed a pic holding it, was still in effect when the docuseries was filmed. Perhaps they saw Noisey Atlanta as a way to communicate to Keef that they, too, were armed to the teeth — just as Keef was in Noisey Chiraq, Vice’s previous rapsloitation series.

As Meek Mill would say, there are levels to this shit. But where’s the line between personal accountability and industry culpability when the same acts you’re celebrated for on camera can be held against you in court?

Both Migos and Vice are remaining mum on the topic now, according to TKTK, which reportedly wanted to ask “about the mechanical details of producing” Noisey Atlanta. But I had a pretty extensive conversation with host Thomas Morton when we talked when we talked for a resulting feature about halfway through the series. So I dug through my transcript and found a decent exchange in relation to all of the above and how cameras impact the reality being documented. I paraphrase my original question below:

How much are people acting for the camera? Do you think about whether or not cats are playing up the guns and drugs? Do you factor in how much bringing in cameras affects or changes what it is you’re actually documenting? 

Thomas Morton: Oh sure, yeah. That’s always kind of like in the back of my mind. We were joking the other night about how they probably have to go and, like, borrow all their friends guns. laughs It’s something you’re always gonna have to consider. Especially now. You’re not going to run into anybody who hasn’t considered what they would look like on TV. Everybody’s automatically gonna act for the camera. The longer you spend with people and the more casual you are, peope tend to — some people don’t act for the camera. Some people act crazy for the camera but everybody after awhile tends to chill out. It also helps, we try to do stuff with a really small crew. And I think that helps people, like, get used to us, get relaxed.… Everybody’s really good at just hanging. That’s one of the most undersold but like most important qualities of a documentary crew is being able to like chill out with people.
 
I’m not sure how to end this post, but did you know Q-Tip digs Migos? Yes, Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest. He endorsed them on Twitter last November. It got ugly for awhile, but he refused to back down. “Them boys got bars,” he tweeted. The pun, at the time, was not intended.