*There are people who check the site often for great content, then there are those who only check when there’s a controversial topic that they disagree with and can use to their advantage to get more clicks and interactions on the Instagram pages which is rather hilarious and usually proves the point of the post in the first place. This particular post on the double meaning of gatekeeping will surely trigger those who complain about others who are supposedly gatekeepers instead of realizing that not everyone is supposed to have access to everything at every given moment. The only people who ever complain about gatekeeping are those the gate was intended to keep out in the first place. People are passionate about things, and it is entirely natural for passionate people to dislike it when others use their passion as a fashion statement or for social clout. Don’t the fashion statement person in the first place!
Yesterday while out hunting around the streets of Tokyo, I met up with good friend, Japanese pop culture historian, writer and collector Matt Alt for lunch, to dig and of course catch up on all things cool. With temperatures reaching 99 degrees (with a real feel of 113), we quickly moved through the streets to find shelter in much cooler places while hunting for vintage books and collectibles which yielded some great scores. Amongst many topics on the day including the history of Sony and the Walkman, Tsubaraya Productions and photography books, one topic that came up during our travels was the topic of gatekeeping in different circles and industries. Matt who is very connected in the world of anime and popular culture understands the balance between an older generation and younger generation especially in Japan that practice the same crafts yet come in from two different points of entry. There are similarities in appreciation, yet differences in values which can either connect the dots or separate them which all depends on the individuals at hand. Over the years, the term gatekeeping has changed meaning especially as newer generations come into play or people become more entitled and feel that everything is free. A prime example would be the usage in Hip Hop during the 1990’s. The term gatekeeping meant, keeping a balance of quality and lineage which kept a healthy and creative scene, a scene where iron sharpened iron and made everyone put their best food forward and upping standards. The term was never looked at in a negative way and people seemed to be more honest with themselves back then if they weren’t up to a certain standard. Gatekeeping was a way of preservation of an art or culture which had value especially to those who practiced that art. Gatekeepers where applauded for them holding on something before it became easy for everyone to do which also brought an over saturation and lower standards. The term also wasn’t used as much as it is today as with every term that suddenly becomes popular like the term “woke” for example which was only used in Black culture and suddenly has become gentrified and used mainly by non Black people and in the wrong way.
Original Meaning:
“Woke” originated in the Black community, signifying a heightened awareness of racial prejudice and discrimination, and a commitment to social justice. It was a call to action, urging people to “stay woke” to the realities of systemic inequalities.
Contested Meaning:
In recent years, “woke” has become a politically charged term, often used as a pejorative by those on the right to criticize what they see as excessive political correctness or liberal agendas.
Cultural Appropriation:
Some argue that the term’s original meaning has been diluted and even weaponized by those who oppose the social justice movements with which it was associated.
In a nutshell, that’s what the term gatekeeping (or gatekeeper) has become, a gentrified version used by people who aren’t instantly accepted, don’t fit in or aren’t given a handout to an easier route to get in or climb the social ladder. Which in the world of social media where it’s easier now more than ever to create your own social circle, people still want to fit in with the “cool kids” or people that they want to align with because of their popularity. We’ve seen this in all aspects but a great analogy would be during family holiday gatherings where you would have the kids table and the adults table and they didn’t mix. Or if there were adult conversations going on, as a kid you were told to go to your room or outside to play. Not everyone was invited to the table and that’s ok! There’s a sense of entitlement that has happened with the rise of social media and the easy access to people that you wouldn’t have otherwise. Artists that you may have idolized for years who never would’ve given you the time of day, suddenly now you can comment on their post and most likely get a response. My OG that really schooled me to the game of DJ’ing, digging and collecting didn’t just give me the knowledge. We built a relationship, he saw something in me, he took me under his wing and in return, I carry on tradition and lineage which is what you see in the Kung Fu films as a master passes the secret scroll down to one of the students in the class while others become upset at the choice. The old forum Soul Strut is another great example of how information felt guarded and preserved, yet flowed freely with contributions from members that helped to build a healthy record and digging culture community. There were still debates on topics as with any social platform but felt more structured and balanced and less of a wild west of cry babies who were easily offended. If you were around during the “tough skin” era of the 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s you either sank or swam but in present day, feelings are easily hurt when someone doesn’t agree with you which is obvious with my last post about the over saturation of the 45 edit. 70% of the people which included record labels, artist, online stores, DJ’s and those who do quality edits, all agreed that there is an over saturation problem. The 30% who disagreed seemed to be people who do uninspiring, unoriginal edits as their source of income (and could care less about the quality factor), DJ’s whose entire sets are built on edits, and DJ’s that rarely buy original pressings or new music to play in their sets. There were no names mentioned yet quite a few took offense which definitely shows some sort of guilt or truth to the over saturation whether they want to admit it or not.
Legendary wrestler Ric Flair once said, “the word legend gets thrown around way too loosely” and the same can be said about the word gatekeeping. As someone in different collectors circles (records, comics, vintage toys etc.), I’ve seen quite a few times where someone will share a story or post a photo of a digging spot that they are at without any caption and someone will ask, where is that at? If the person responds with I don’t want to blow up the spot, the other person becomes annoyed and often times responds with, “why are you gatekeeping”? My question to that is, how is that gatekeeping when you haven’t done your homework or aren’t out in the field finding those spots? The entitlement and access of information seems to have become something people want given and not earned where everyone gets a participation award because they like something too. The days of going somewhere and finding a phone book to look for what you’re into is over. We now have Google yet some people would rather not use it and ask where they should go instead. There’s no personal story attached to your journey if you’re following someone else’s path, no new discoveries or things that you’ve stumbled onto that might be a hidden gem. Why would someone expose a location with great inventory before they’ve had a chance to cop everything that they wanted?
One aspect of what could be considered gatekeeping that most outsiders would never know of is the changing of hands or rare goods, art, records and other vintage items. Many times when high end collections are being sold, there are only a select few within the scene that are notified which usually consist of the older, more serious collectors who aren’t there to haggle or waste time. These items don’t go to auction, they change hands within the circle of known collectors who have spent years building stellar collections. A great example of recent times would be an amazing collection of both rare and not so rare funk & soul 45’s owned by a collector who passed away were recently up for sale. Very few people knew of the collection and those few were given first dibs at going through it. It wasn’t until several weeks after that word got out about the collection and it was made slowly available to general public. Some might say, you should make it available for everyone to buy, but that’s not how this works and you don’t get instant access. Is it right or is it wrong? It all depends on what side of the table you’re on but only one side of the table will complain about it.
“The game is to be sold, not told”
At the end of the day, every situation is unique to that particular individual. No two scenarios are the same and not everyone has read or written the same books. Life is about experiences, discoveries, journeys and most importantly, memories of all that you’ve seen or done. Relationships built are part of those journeys and those lineages are special and should be valued as such. Sometimes we take the ease of gaining information via technology for granted and would rather take the easy route of getting that access without doing the legwork or research. If that works in your favor then great, but when it doesn’t, don’t scream foul ball and call others gatekeepers who have actually put the time into what they were passionate about early on and during a time where it was actually difficult to get information.