%20Madonna%20on%20106%20and%20Park.gif "Flashback Friday: Madonna on BET’s 106 & Park | 🖭 Random J Pop")
For those who are too young to remember 106 & Park or didn’t really watch it — it was basically MTV’s TRL for Black people. So 99% of the artists who showed up were Black. And 99% of the artists they played in their chart countdowns were Black. That 1% being Justin Timberlake, *NSync when they released “Girlfriend”, Lady Gaga and Fat Joe. So, Madonna appearing on the show wasn’t a complete anomaly. But it did feel at slight odds with how and where she had done promo and interviews for the past 10 years. And there was a greater distance that Madonna had from Black audiences at this point of her career compared to the aforementioned music acts.
Madonna’s 106 & Park visit was a bit of mess. Madonna sat there looking like she was about to murder 101 Dalmatians. The hosts being awkward as hell. The audience being a mix of fans of the show who seemed confused as to why Madonna was there and some of Madonna’s RGB (255, 255, 255) fans. It really was a struggle to watch. And to this day it’s something wild to witness. But, Madonna promoting Hard Candy on BET didn’t just feel like oh-so-obvious pandering to a particular market because an album of hers was produced by Pharrell Williams and Timbaland. It reflected a disconnect by everybody involved. Because the very audience Madonna was trying to court with this album on 106 & Park once made up a pretty large part of her audience, but [turns and looks into the camera] ✨everybody✨ seemed to have forgotten that. Madonna had also worked with several ‘hot in the moment’ Black producers throughout her career to, but everybody seemed to have forgotten that too.
When you think of Madonna’s fanbase and audience now, you probably think of RGB (255, 255, 255) men who are part of the LGBTMDNA+. But a sizable chunk of Madonna’s audience during the early years of her career were Black. Black radio stations supported Madonna at the start of her career and played a huge role in her crossing over and breaking through. And whilst it is easy to drag Madonna for working with Pharrell Williams and Timbaland in order to be ‘hip’ and appease Black radio in a way she hadn’t cared about for a decade (and I can’t say she didn’t deserve it a little bit) — Madonna had worked with Black producers on all of her albums through the 80s and 90s, bar one. Madonna’s debut album was produced by Reggie Lucas. Black. Like a Virgin was produced by Nile Rodgers. Black. And many of the songs on Like a Virgin were co-written by Stephen Bray. Black. And Stephen’s name also features up and down the credits of True Blue and in a couple of songs on Like a Prayer. Prince co-wrote and produced a song on Like a Prayer. Black. Several songs on Erotica were co-written and co-produced by André Betts. Black. Bedtime Stories features production from Dave Hall, Dallas Austin and Babyface. Black³.
And the reception to Hard Candy is also an interesting one which shows a further disconnect. Because a lot of Madonna’s
HENNYWAY.
What made Madonna’s 106 & Park appearance feel so off is that there was no real attempt from the hosts to help bridge the gap and make the core / predominantly Black viewership of 106 & Park see that Madonna has a long history of working with Black musicians and producers which goes beyond just “4 Minutes” being produced by Timbaland and featuring a white guy who Black audiences had accepted. The reason that she was there in that moment was obviously a choice rooted in ‘appease the negroes’. But when you look past that, a moment could have been created to help educate people on Madonna’s connection to Black music and Black musicians, and tie it to Hard Candy. But even when it came to the Hard Candy of it all, there were no questions about what it was like working with Pharrell Williams and Timbaland. Why Madonna wanted to work with them. What that creative process was like. How her approach to singing and producing was challenged by their signature unorthodox sounds. And whilst Madonna can seem dicey about discussing her older music, there was an avenue which could have been taken to ask Madonna about her earlier years when she was played on urban radio. What it was like coming up at a time when pop and R&B was intersecting and if she thought much about those days when working on Hard Candy. We got none of that.
Madonna on 106 & Park was a shambles. You have Madonna on your show, and yet you are asking her about giving Justin Timberlake injections in his ass, instead of what it was like writing a third of the album with him? See. Shit like this is why nobody wants to do televised interviews any more. It was really unfortunate. Because you can see Madonna shifting between seeming very relaxed at the light hearteness and thinking ‘What the fuck am I doing here?’.
A real chance to connect the 106 & Park viewers to Madonna and the music they love and tune in for every week and provide something which could also educate her RGB (255, 255, 255) fans was squandered on asking foolishness. And if 106 & Park had done a better job, then maybe Madonna and her team would have re-thought their approach of promoting her music for future albums and realised that perhaps they should factor in Black audiences and outlets. But of course that isn’t what happened, because Madonna didn’t pull up to The Breakfast Club to promote her next album, MDNA.
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