On February 17th 2018, Måneskin performed at the Afterlife Live Club in Ponte San Giovanni. They played a medley of "Prisoner" by James Arthur and "Watch Me" by Jaden Smith. Måneskin performed the first minute and 42 seconds of "Watch Me." That section of the song includes the n-word twice and Damiano said it both times.
“Watch Me” starts at 2:26. The n-word is said at 2:43 and 3:44.
Below are the lyrics from the section Måneskin performed. Since Damiano defers from them, I’ve put all the lyrics he recites as they were written in bold.
Watch me (x3) do this / Watch me (x3) do this
Can't find me up up and away / I give a fuck bout your wave / My n@#$% I surf everyday / Drownin' my soul in the basement, aye / I ain't got much in the bank / I got a lot I could say / Tied up with goddesses, hey / I hope you forgive my mistakes
Yeah, ride around with a renegade / You should take a seat, save your energy / I try to heal the gods with a band-aid / And in time of need, you call your enemies
I landed in Ibiza and I need a visa / I ain't playin' with you this no Mamma Mia / Need a Hottie Tottie with a body, yeah / I just spit the knowledge then I'm out of here
That's what they yell when we come around / (Yeah!) This is your town? Well we run it now / (Yeah!) How big is your army, a hunnit thou? / (Yeah!) If you want the rain then we comin' down
I stumbled it cool / I'm awesome, kick flip in the Carsons / We should run for the pool / I got the fire flow, the department exhausted / I owe nothing to you / I'm in the Tahoe, man you making me nauseous / Pullin up with the crew / You such a hypebeast, man you making me vomit
Look / Watch me (x3) do this / It's always been more than the music / You riding waves in the back of my cruise ship
Look, watch me / Watch me (x2) do this / Since 2012 I've been the coolest / If you do not get it, my n@#$% you foolish
That's what they yell when we come around / (Yeah!) This is your town? Well we run it now / (Yeah!) How big is your army, a hunnit thou? / (Yeah!) If you want the rain then we comin' down
The Context:
This video was filmed during the first concert of Måneskin’s first tour. Creatively named Tour 2018, it ran from February to June. It's also been referred to as the "covers tour" or "X factor tour." For the sake of this post, I'm ignoring TV and radio gigs because those performances only have one or two songs. The only relevant dates are actual concerts (because the entire setlist was performed).
I found this image of the Tour 2018 setlist on Twitter. I can't locate its source, but I assume it was posted by Maneskin then deleted because of spelling errors. "Watch Me" is misspelled "Eatch Me," (hence the typo in the video title.) This spelling error is why theres conveniently no record of "Watch Me" being in a Maneskin setlist.
The setlist from the Afterlife Live Club 2/17/18 falsely credits "Catch Me" by Yellow Claw instead of "Watch Me" by Jaden Smith. As we can see in the video, Damiano clearly isn't singing the lyrics to "Catch Me." Because this was a relatively small tour, there are only setlists available for four other dates. Casa della Musica 2/24/18, The Cage Theatre 3/8/18, Vox Club 3/11/18, Santeria Toscana 31 4/20/18. Since the subsequent setlists were based on the first one, each make the same mistake of crediting "Catch Me" by Yellow Claw instead of "Watch Me" by Jaden Smith.
With so little evidence, I can't definitively say how many times Damiano used the n-word, but I can make an educated guess. I estimate Maneskin performed “Watch Me” about 22 times from February to April of 2018 on the following dates: Ponte San Giovanni 2/17/18, Naples 2/24/18, Modugno 2/25/18, Palermo 3/2/18, Catania 3/3/18, Livorno 3/8/18, Florence 3/9/18, Nonantola 3/11/18, Bologna 3/15/18 & 3/17/18, Parma 3/18/18, Milan 3/21/18 & 3/23/18 & 3/25/18 & 4/20/18, Roncade 3/24/18, Bassano Del Grappa 3/26/18, Turin 3/30/18, Genoa 3/31/18, Rome 4/6/18 & 4/7/18 & 4/22/18. Unless he got educated, that'd mean Damiano said the n-word 44 times in about two months.
Remember that Maneskin profited off this tour where the n-word was sang twice a night. They made their first album and started their career with that money.
Four Years Later:
"Watch Me" wasn't the end of Maneskin using racial slurs in their covers. Damiano sings the c-slur twice in Manskin's cover of "Black Skinhead" by Kanye West, but avoids the n-word. This means Maneskin are aware that "Watch Me" was a mistake, but can't be fucking bothered to didn't google a list of racial slurs when covering another Black artist.
The c-slur is said at 1:05 and 1:21.
Maneskin performed "Black Skinhead" from 2019 to 2021. Above is the final rendition on June 16th during a TikTok livestream from Berlin. Damiano received minor backlash for using the c-slur on that occasion and issued an apology on Twitter. Notably, Maneskin have never acknowledged using the n-word in "Watch Me." Hypothetically, that could lead a person to believe that Damiano's primary motivation for apologizing for using the c-slur was that he got called out. Considering his support for Black Lives Matter, the perception that Damiano prioritizes marketability over genuine remorse looks like some lazy ass, token allyship that only a white dude would get congratulated for hypocritical.
Maneskin performed an abridged version of "Black Skinhead," from beginning to 2:16 on the original track. Let's take a close look at which lyrics Damiano censored.
For my theme song / My leather black jeans on / My by any means on🔎Reference to Malcolm X’s speech at the OAAU’s founding, where he repeats that Afro-Americans will find equality in the following sectors: 1. Establishment 2. Self-defense 3. Education 4. Politics & Economics 5. Social “by any means necessary.”
Pardon, I'm getting my scream on / Enter the kingdom / But watch who you bring home / They see a black man with a white woman / At the top floor they gone come to kill King Kong🔎 Originating with slave traders, there is a long history of Black Americans being characterized as apes. The dehumanization is used to justify Black suffering. Notice the initials KKK, as in Klu Klux Klan, which are also present in the titles alternative spelling, "BLKKK SKKKNHEAD."
Middle America packed in / Came to see me in my Black skin 🔎In this version Damiano avoids the phrase "in my Black skin," but in past performances he sang the lyric.
Number one question they asking / Fuck every question you asking / If I don't get ran out by Catholics / Here come some conservative Baptists / Claiming I'm overreacting / Like them black kids in Chiraq bitch 🔎 “Chiraq” is a reference to the extremely high homicide rate in Chicago. According to BBC, more Americans have been killed in Chicago than in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. Most victims are young Black men.
Four in the morning, and I'm zoning / They say / I'm possessed, it's an omen / I keep it 300, like the Romans / 300 bitches, where's the Trojans? / Baby we living in the moment / I've been a menace for the longest / But I ain't finished, I'm devoted / And you know it, and you know it
So follow me up cause this shit's about to go / I'm doing 500, I'm outta control / But there's nowhere to go / And there's no way to slow / If I knew what I knew in the past / I would've been blacked out on your ass 🔎In this case, "blacked out" isn't necessarily a racialized term. It refers to a dramatic moment of anger so intense that the speaker doesn't remember their actions.
Stop all that c*%& shit 🔎This term comes from C*%& Songs, which were played at minstrel shows. Kanye is telling someone to stop acting out a caricature of blackness for the consumption of white people.
Early morning cartoon shit / This is that goon shit / Fuck up your whole afternoon shit / I'm aware I'm a wolf / Soon as the moon hit / I'm aware I'm a king / Back out the tomb bitch / Black out the room, bitch 🔎 Damiano repeats the line above to avoid singing this lyric, which actually isn't offensive. In this case, "black out" refers to making a room completely dark by closing curtains etc.
Stop all that c*%& shit / These n@#$%* ain't doin' shit (x2) / Come on homie what happened / You n@#$%* ain't breathing you gasping / These n@#$%* ain't ready for action / (Ready) Ready for action (Action)
In Conclusion:
Damiano censored each lyric with the word "black" to avoid being offensive. In addition to those three instances, the world "black" is repeated in the background 14 times. If Damiano thinks it's offensive to say the word "black" in a song that contains it 17 times, is titled "Black Skinhead," and is about the Black experience, he shouldn't be singing it at all. He censored lyrics that don't reference race because he doesn't know what the song is about. That ignorance is the same reason he didn't know that c*%& is a slur.
Yes, Maneskin should have educated themselves about a song they didn't understand with words they didn't recognize before performing it in front of thousands. Yes, they should have learned their lesson since racism is literally the consequence. Yes, this mistake is inexcusable from BLM allies. However, in reality, Maneskin shouldn't have performed "Black Skinhead" at all. The fact that this song wasn't made for white people's consumption is obvious from the inflammatory title. Lyrically, Kanye is describing his nuanced and complex lived experience as a Black American surviving the intersection of oppressive colonialist forces. "Watch Me" may not have substantive lyrics, but "Black Skinhead" and its subject matter is not to be repackaged into a catchy little rock song by four white Europeans for their mostly white fanbase. It's not our cultural experience and it's not intended to be adopted it as such. I don't know how else to explain it.
"we have artists who are geniuses...When you and I begin to support the black artists, then the black artists can play that black role...when he can sing and dance to please black men, he sings a different song and he dances a different step. When we get together, we’ve got a step all our own. We have a step that nobody can do but us, because we have a reason for doing it that nobody can understand but us."
Also don’t forget to reach out to the Jewish people in your life. Plenty of people are really on edge right now, and knowing there are people thinking of them does help.
btw Jewish charity organizations in the USA don’t exist to convert you like Christian charity organizations, they are specifically Jewish because they were likely founded by Jews who were being turned away from other organizations. several Jewish hospitals exist in the US because many Jewish immigrants had degrees but were turned away from other hospitals for being Jewish. so we made our own, lmao. these days most of these organizations are no longer specifically Jewish because job and care discrimination is not as common for us as it used to be. i’m saying this just in case anybody is wary of accepting aid (many Jewish charities set up free food kitchens, for example) from a Jewish charity because of mistreatment by Christian ones, and i think it’s important to understand the difference
Your local Jewish Community Center? Anyone can join.
Jewish Family and Children’s Society? They’ll still help you if you reach out for their services and aren’t Jewish.
Ask the Hebrew Free Loan Association for a loan and have no connection to Judaism? Yup, they’ll work with you.
A Jewish food bank? Will feed you, no matter who you are.
And HIAS? My synagogue is working with the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society to support a refugee family that is new to our area (we furnished their house, do social stuff with them, and make the phone calls that are hard for ESL folks). The father in the family is literally a pastor.
You laugh, but one time I was ringing up a bottle of coke for this really cute lesbian at work and since it’s the Mexican coke with an old-fashioned cap, I meant to ask if she wanted me to take it off w/ the bottle opener.
What actually came out of my mouth was “Um, do you want me to take that top off? Uhh your bottle. The bottle cap. Removed?”
Transcript : Oh and- and can i top you- can i- and would you- and- can i get your top- wa- could i top- *breathes in* can i- uh- *breathes in* and would you li- and can i give dr- k- drink- and- *about to cry* thirsty?
tangentwithtanner
andulkaphoto
areudirty
2087
stormborns
