Hello O',
The first thing I would like to say to you is THANK YOU! Thank you for giving me and many other people hope that there is a new African-American leader that has our most important interests at heart and has a vision for himself, his people, and his country. Even if people
But while I applaud your successes as one Black man speaking to another, I must say that I have a great fear for you as well. Fear that the accolades and expectations being thrown your way are a bit sensationalized and premature, respectively. You're the 5th African-American in Senate history; you've been applauded for your humility, intelligence, and sincerity; you've helped kids get more Pell Grant money to attend college; you've given a riveting speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention; and you've done so much more, already. But the Presidency? This soon? Are you really ready? Is America ready? While having a Black President typically rings bells throughout the African-American community in general as something almost miraculous, if it were to happen what would it really mean? What expectations would it generate?
Would you be expected to be the Messiah for Black people? For some, I'm sure you would. Would you be expected to tilt all of your politics toward African-American interests? Probably so. How much pressure would there be from the Black community for you to serve their interests first? I could see people lobbying for reparations (even moreso than some organizations/groups already do) already. Above all, how dangerous would it be for you as a Black man, to be the President of the United States of America? I'm not sure that would blow over too well in those old-school southern states. Let's be real here. Remember Malcolm? Remember Martin? Remember Huey? Hell, remember John F. and Robert? Kennedy that is.
I'll be the first to admit that I am not very politically inclined or learned. I tend to shy away from reading too much about national politics because the politicians seem less sincere and the results seem less tangible than those of local politics. Sometimes though, standing back from a situation - in this case, national politics - can give you a better view. So while I'll be doing my political research as I grow motivated because of politicians like yourself, I hope that you will be motivated to think about the impact that your potential Presidential run could have on you, your family, and the people who will undoubtedly crown you as their savior.
I'm with you. I support you. But we may need you around in the Senate for a few more years so we can get some more like-
This is real talk bruh', from the heart. Please keep doing what you're doing and let the chips fall where they may. But keep reminding everyone that it's not about YOU and it's not solely up to YOU. It's about ALL OF US!
Concerned but confident,
mcarroll4716
Which one would you keep? I was posed this question today by a co-worker that I often go back-and-forth about the content of rap music with. He says that rappers are more concerned with themselves and their possessions than they are with contributing to the genre as a whole. I can only argue with him in that regard when it comes to certain artists who don't fall into that category (Lupe, Common, Talib, etc.). Otherwise, I believe that he's right. But he doesn't listen to the music at all because of his feelings, whereas, I will still listen. 
Anyway, he posed that question to me and I had to think about it seriously because if you confine it to hip-hop it's probably not as tough a decision as you would think. But if you take your entire collection of music into consideration (meaning all genres of music, including rap), then it becomes a MUCH tougher question. 
Since the civil trial in which O.J. was forced to fork over millions of dollars to the families of his wife (Nicole) and her friend (Ronald Goldman), O.J. Simpson has been quite a mysterious figure. That was years ago (late 90s) and O.J. has since had time to disappear from the public eye, and perhaps create a new persona for himself in the eyes of the public. Instead, he has become a quiet, mysterious, and often confused man whom we all (most of us, at least) have come to believe - whether we felt this way during his criminal trial or not - that he killed his wife and Mr. Goldman. 
It's good to see 
Let's cut to the chase. The album is a good album. Not a CLASSIC! Not the best Jay-Z CD I've ever heard. But it's a good album and I'd say it's worth buying whether you're a Jay-Z fan or just a fan of hip-hop.
Remember back in like 1997 when you first heard Jay-Z say, "I was poppin that Cristal when ya'll nikkas thought it was beer and shyt. Wearing that platinum shyt when ya'll chicks thought it was silver"?
These three artists (along with Fergie Ferg) were noted in the article. After reading the article it makes me wonder how GAME is actually going to move the 1,000,000 units he's predicting this week. Not only because of the information above, but because he leaked his album on purpose this past week so I figure that knocks about 100,000 people off the "going to cop that new GAME" list. 
