Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Reverend Wright: This Focking Guy

"That ni99er crazy girl! Don't say nothing to him!"


Ok, he probably isn't crazy. But he doesn't seem all that bright at this point either.

When the shenanagins surrounding Reverend Wright (now known as Obama's former pastor) first started, I remember having several conversations with friends asking: "Why didn't he just come out and immediately say that his statements are just that, HIS statements. And that they may or may not be a reflection of the beliefs, principles, or politics of Barack Obama." That's like giving Barack an alley-oop for what most people think was a slam dunk (his speech). Opportunity squandered I guess.

When asked, most people responded along the lines of: "He and Barack probably talked about it when it first hit the fan and Barack probably asked him not to say anything." Reading between the lines, I think people meant this to say that Barack didn't want him to say anything so he could seize the opportunity to give his speech on race. I didn't so much buy that idea and I still don't. I don't think they spoke about the comments Reverend Wright made when they were first aired to the American public and I definitely don't think Barack asked him to not say anything.

What I do think is that there is tension between the two that probably existed from the moment those videos first hit the airwaves and the tension increased exponentially after Barack straight-up denounced Reverend Wright's comments (which didn't seem all that crazy to me anyway). I'm sure Reverend Wright didn't appreciate that considering he's known Barack for quite a long time.

But Reverend Wright could have spoken up a long time ago and separated his sermons from Obama but he did not do that. Instead he sat in the background for a month and a half and probably contacted Obama after the speech (in which Obama denounced his statements) and I assume Barack said something like:
"Look Rev, I respect your opinions and I understand why someone might have those thoughts and suspicions. But you have to understand that you are focking up my run for the presidency so I had to say something. There's no way I can do what I want to do for this country if I am associated with statements that I don't believe in or feel are conducive to bringing this country together rather than dividing it. So I'd appreciate it if you just do you and Imma do me."
I'm sure this conversation might have hurt the Reverend's pride a bit considering he is the man up in Trinity and Barack is really just a church member (not even a deacon for that matter).

So perhaps, after some time to think about it, the reverend decided he needed to speak up for himself and tell people how he really felt.

"M*therf*cker for WHAT!?!"

He waits a month and a half to reintroduce himself (and more importantly, his controversial speeches) back into the spotlight. And seemingly just so you can try to assuage your own ego while saving a little face? I don't get it! Reverend Wright gets the media all worked up (again) about an issue that was losing steam and in the midst makes himself look like the lead character in a minstrel show to those who don't understand the nuances of how Black preachers preach. Once you take that style of preaching out of the pulpit and to the American masses, someone's going to NOT understand. A lot of us Blacks know that in a lot of Black churches the pastors are almost like entertainers. Charismatic and humorous but at the same time poignant and uplifting. But the rest of America doesn't necessarily know this. They haven't sat through those sermons. Reverend Wright has to realize this or he's an idiot, which I don't think is the case at all.

But let's be real here. I'm not naïve enough to think that the media isn't manipulating these videos and how they are presented to the mainstream American public. And the man has a right to say what he wants and also a right to defend himself if he feels it's necessary. But why wait so long? Why do things during your (post-controversy) speeches that could be completely re-purposed and misrepresented? Why not just turn the volume down a little in hopes of not undermining Obama's run at the White House?

It seems like Barack is wondering the same thing and also trying to separate himself even farther from the Reverend. I don't blame him!


(Props to Notes from a Different Kitchen for posting this video.)

I think what we have here is a case where Reverend Wright felt like Barack betrayed him, which is not something I completely disagree with. But there's a time and a place for everything. I'm not so sure this was the right time for him to come back into the spotlight. At least not this way. Barack just lost Pennsylvania and needs to re-gain some momentum and the heat had died down a bit from those Reverend Wright's videos that were brought to light. But it seems to be more about Jeremiah Wright and his selfish pride than about the larger goal of getting a man in office who may be able to do great things that change the American landscape to the point where Reverend Wright won't have to make those "God d@mn America" comments ever again. But the Reverend seems a bit short-sighted and self-centered if you ask me. Not that you did, but still.

Put yourself ahead of the greater good. Serve your own personal agenda and potentially undermine Barack's run at the White House just to save some face fairly long after the fact? I don't get it. As religious leader I'd think that Reverend Wright would want to serve the greater good rather than himself and his ego. Or maybe I've got this entire situation confused.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

"It goes Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama..."

gotcha....



And you thought this post was gonna be on some ole' politrix ish. Didn't you?

Needless to say, this is one of my favorite songs right now. Aiiiiiii! A-a-aiiiii!

I would have never heard this if it wasn't for G-Unit re-doing it on the Elephant in the Sand Mixtape. G-Unit's version is wild. But funny. LOL.

Friday, April 25, 2008

DUDE!

I meant to post my favorite television commercials right now about 4 weeks ago when I saw the first one. But better late than never, right?


Funny part about this one is that I remember once when Woo and I were out and I ordered a Kir Royal, he basically had the same reaction. LOL. I know what you're wondering so let me go ahead and answer. I don't remember why I ordered that shyt.




And in keeping with the involuntary theme of the week...


Funny thing about this one is that as soon as I pressed play I was thinking: "I know they ain't gonna be saying 'dude' on this joint. I bet they say 'ni99er'". Low-and-behold, that's exactly what happened, LOL. I'm not sure whether I should be laughing at this or smh. I wonder how NaS would feel about this.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Be A Ni99er Too...What the Fock is NaS Talking About?


Maybe I'm just slow and I need to think more like NaS is suggesting in the picture above

After listening to NaS's new track, "Be A Ni99er Too" a couple times I couldn't help but find myself trying to figure out exactly what the hell is his point. What is he attempting to say in this song? Is there some sort of cohesive, sensible message that he's trying to convey? I swear I can't tell.

So I figured the best way to attempt to figure out what he's saying would be to transcrib the song and read the lyrics. And that's just what I did...

NaS - Be a Ni88er Too

Turn your radios up. You are now allowed to listen to the radio. The real ni99ers are back, on the radio.

No slacking, no beggin, no asking, no fasting/
No disrespect to Islam no Imam or pastor/
No answer to questions the media's asking/
Why we fight each other in public/
In front of these arrogant fascists/
They love it/
Putting old ni99ers verse the youngest/
Most of our elders failed us/
How can they judge us, ni99ers/
There's verbal books published by ni99ers/
Produced by ni99ers genuine ni99ers/
So I salute my, ni99ers/
Not mad cuz Eminem said ni99er/
Cuz he my ni99er, wi99er, cracker friend/
We all Black within, ok/
We all African, ok/
Some Africans don't like us no way/
A killing happened in Johannesburg(?) yesterday/
Slain artist name Lucky Dubai(?)/
Hijacked, some say NAACP keep us sidetracked/
But I don't buy that, I buy Aston Martins/
Faster cars than, NASA causing, sparking while riding/
Critics, eat a d*ck! Journalists see I'm rich/
With this N-Word jargon I'm just starting, b*tch!/

[Hook]
I'm a ni99er, he's a ni99er/
She's a ni99er, we some ni99ers/
Wouldn't you like to be a ni99er too/
To all my k*ke ni99ers, sp*ck ni99ers/
Guinea ni99ers, Ch*nk ni99ers/
That's right, ya'll my ni99ers too/
I'm a ni99er, he's a ni99er/
She's a ni99er, we some ni99ers/
Wouldn't you like to be a ni99er too/
They like to strangle ni99ers, blaming ni99ers/
Shooting ni99ers, hanging ni99ers/
Still you wanna be a ni99er too/
True

Wake up in the morning/
Shake my third leg in the toilet/
Uzi on the nightstand/
I'm the man you go to war with/
Not the man you go to war against/
Patience, I get you/
If that means I can't sleep a whole year/
Imma get you/
I'm official not a tisket or a tasket/
I put you in the casket, with biscuit or the ratchet/
The smoke of biscuits that plants your trees/
Advance shyt weed (?), don't forsake us/
Ya'll all are fake bloods like movie make-up/
I flow tight as Tootie braces, who he hating us/
I'll be on the state bus in shackles if my 8 bust/
Cause ya'll some tellers, opposite of bankers/
I'm the shyt for ages, my clique still real cubie gangstas/
Clique still moving like Free Masons/
So if I'm on the flow from the law/
It's lodges all across the nation/
NaS is bred for the plan/
To hold a Grand Dragon's head in my hand/
Come and get me here I am/

As can sometimes be the case with NaSiR, he seems to be all over the effing place with his content. But giving him some credit, there are other times when he can be pretty on-point (ie - American Way). But in this song, there are only a couple places where he seems to make some points that are cohesive: the hook and a couple bars in the first verse. Which is to say that overall, this song has no real cohesive theme other than exposing his desire to say ni99er as many times as possible. Now that's some ni99er shyt.

In the first verse, NaS goes from asking why we (by we does he mean ni99ers or Blacks or both...WTF?) embarrass ourselves by fighting each other in public and how the older and younger generations of Black people have difficulty understanding one-another. He even goes so far as to ask how can our Black elders judge us when they're ni99ers (in the eyes of whoever NaS wants the oppressor to be, he's not very clear on that either by the way) just like us. I interpreted this as a direct diss of Bill Cosby. But hey, that's just me. But after making those semi-thought provoking set of statements he goes on to make a couple statements that I'm not sure how to interpret.

When he says, "there's verbal books published by ni99ers, produced by ni99ers, genuine ni99ers" and then salutes his "ni99ers", is this something I'm supposed to embrace and be proud of? Or is it some form of verbal satire that NaS is entertaining himself with? I can't tell. After that, he goes on to let us all know that he's not mad at Marshall for saying "ni99er" which no one (myself included) ever really cared about years ago when it was dug up from some recording Em made when he was 16. But for some reason NaS needs to address it 4 years later but also call Em a wi99er and cracker in the same sense. Which I interpreted as a sort of ghey way of dissing Eminem. And last but not least, NaS stops to give the NAACP an indirect shot-out before talking about how he buys fast cars and is rich (again, is this part supposed to be satire or what?).

As I mentioned before, the hook is the only place where NaS seems to have all his thoughts together. Unfortunately, it comes with the price of listening to him run through a littany of racial slurs before poking fun at those who want to ridicule ni99ers while simultaneously wanting to be a ni99er (too). This is a point that has some validity to it but it would have been nice if he expounded upon it a bit in the last verse. But of course, he starts off the final verse with a description of some ni99er-esque shyt that he (and TIPPORD) would do followed by his plan to hold a Grand Dragon's head in his hand. So maybe that whole verse was about tooling up to battle the KKK and/or other white supremacy groups? Maybe. Or maybe it was just NaS prevaricating indirectly about a means toward Black supremacy/equality the same way he's prevaricated about being gangster-ish when everyone knows he watched all that shyt from his "Project Window". Ha, made you look!

I'll admit that I thought NaS was crazy for calling this album "Ni99er". I figure it's mostly a publicity stunt. But I don't mind that so much if he brings attention to some serious issues and suggest ideas for moving forward (not like dumb-azz Damon Wayans trying to trademark the N-word and use it to sell clothes). Bringing attention to racial issues and suggesting ways to move forward is what people were calling O'Drama courageous for when he made his speech on race (which by the way, has seemingly been all but forgotten about a little over a month later), right? Maybe NaS is gonna go off on some more Black Republican Democrat type ish.

But I'm starting to become fearful (after hearing this song) that NaS is going to have his heart in the right place but end up doing a horrendous job of conveying the points he's trying to make and thereby turning this opportunity into a fantastic debacle.

Think about it, NaS does have a history of building up momentum and then not living up to expectations.

But, time will tell.
UPDATE: It sounds like NYOIL and (gasp) Peter Rosenberg agree with me. Specifically in NaS not using this whole N-word album title to really drop some knowledge. I gotta admit that I'm not a fan of Rosenberg's interviews because he tries too hard. And NYOIL is of "Ya'll Should Get Lynched" *fame* so it's not tough to see why he might feel the way he feels.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Quite possibly the single most interesting and intriguing thing on the InterWeb

No, not this! I'm talking about Censusscope.org. I'm pretty sure I'm late as hell on this, but my buddy L sent me a link to this site earlier and it's got my mind going at 100 mph thinking of all the possible statistics you could mash-up with this map...

Where are the Blacks?

Seriously, I'm sure there are a billion things that could be deduced from the picture above, but this really makes me want to do some legitimate research. Maybe that JHU degree will come in-handy after-all.

Just think about how cross-referencing this map with this map with this map with this map might make your head spin.

And if you thought the map of where Black people reside in the U.S. is thought-provoking, then this map of nuclear families across the country might interest you too. And to think if only the census bureau cared enough to cross-reference some of this data and present it. I'm sure some organization/person out there has taken the time to do this, right?

Needless to say at this point (but Imma still say it), I strongly recommend taking a look at censusscope.org.

Since the N-Word seems to be the theme of the day...

Here's some footage of a beating two white kids took after allegedly making some racial slurs toward a group of Black folks.
"This happened about 3 days ago in downtown Montreal, Canada. 2 young white boys were hurling racist insults at a group of black people. Now you know whats gonna happen to you when you say racist shit. Just watch the video and find out."

OUCH!

I'm not really sure of how all this really played out from the beginning (hence "allegedly" above), but it looks like these kids took a serious azz-whooping. Kinda like that kid who tried to battle Eli Porter.

NaS - Be a Ni99er Too

Listen! Nas - Be a Ni99er Too

Props to Eskay for posting this.

Bonus Coverage:

Game ft. Keyshia Cole - Pain

Monday, April 14, 2008

Jazz in the Diamond District

This joint got me feeling all nostalgic about go-go and those days when me and my friends used to go to the Black Hole and Club U to see Rare Essence.



DC, the "Diamond District"? Not a bad nickname at all.

More info:

Jazz in the Diamond District official website

Behind the scenes

UCB - Sexy Lady (cranks)

Friday, April 11, 2008

It's time for a REMIX!!!


LOL!

R Kelly: Human Enigma

We all know that R. Kelly is a man of many talents and one of the snazziest dressing, and most ghetto-fabUlous celebs (the bold U is for the kids who think it's spelled with an "o"), but now he's taken his eccentricity to a Sisqo-ish level.

I really hope this picture is from a movie shoot or something. But, I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't...


I assume his "Hairbraider" did this.

I've been telling people for years that this guy has some serious issues but he has a permanent Ghetto Pass that will neVaR be revoked. If he can still keep churning out songs that seem to resonate so well with Black folks (???) then we'll eventually forget that he made pRoN with an under-aged chick several years back and done God knows what else. Imagine what he was like when he and Aaliyah were allegedly an "item".

Ten years from now when people look at him as a psycho just like they do Mike Tyson and O-Jizzle, don't forget who called it (moi).

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Ya'll gonna be mad at me...

...but I can't resist. AND I can't control whether YOU laugh or not. HA!


Go ahead, let me know I'm going to hell and my kids are going to have mental disabilities. Just make sure you've stopped laughing before you say it.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

A Woman's Right to Choose...


...Or Planned Parenthood's right to chooose?



Messed up!

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

So Siced I had to Embed it Twice...

I'm no longer afraid to admit that this is my shyt...

SEXY CAN I - Yung "Booger" Berg and Ray Jizzle

Version #1 (explicit lyrics)

Version #2

LOL @ Ray J...I can't help but laugh every time I see Ray Jizzle stuntin' in these videos but this song is pretty d@mn infectious. Hell, Ray J probably is too, literally. The first time I heard this I was at a Happy Hour and I was like "D@mn this is ROCKING!" Then about 3 weeks later I found out it was Yung Berg and Ray J and I laughed out loud at myself for liking it. Guilty pleasure???

I'm pretty sure I like the first video better (as if you care, LOL). It's hilarious to me how all these Black rappers, celebrities, and athletes seem to give Ray J his props for having sex with Kim Kardashian and the Kim K Superstar video but they probably still don't respect him as much as they do his sister. "Isn't that Brandy's brother?"

This joint is definitely going on my party playlist along with the radio-friendly-shyt-sandwich single from Lil Weeziana, "Lollipop" and my latest favorite hood anthem, "F*ck the Other Side" by the Dunk Ryders (Dane, J, Kacey, Vinny, and Woo I wonder if you remember hearing this in Miami at DREAM?). I realize that I am pretty late on the Dunk Ryders track and I know you probably think I'm hating on Lil Wayne but the song is just underwhelming for all the hoopla that's been surround this whole Carter 3 album for like a year now. Leak Drop the album already so we can get it over with and move on to the REAL President Carter's next LP (because we all know one is coming).