It seems like the war on terror….um, excuse me, the war on hip hop yields yet another victory to the “Responsibles” - the group of people that feel like hip hop artists should be responsible for their actions. In this episode of “Saying All the Wrong Things” Anderson Cooper interviews hip hopper Cam’ron and asks him about the Hip Hop Code of Ethics.
I never grew up in a situation that enforced this mentality, but I can understand the logic and the foundation from which Cam speaks (not saying that I agree with it). Cam speaks about snitching as alienating his core fan base and creating an atmosphere for him that makes him susceptible to being the target of more crime. All of this makes me feel like being a hip hop artist is a life long image commitment - whatever you come in as, you have to maintain that image even after you’re no longer an artist. It’s just strange to me that people can become very successful and have no problem potentially throwing all of their hard work away with a few misjudgments. Cam speaks about being a business man, but a true businessman knows how to handle himself in every situation. Maybe that’s why he issued an apology for his statements shortly after this aired. Read the rest of this entry »
Hey I ran across some pics on the internet. I just thought I’d post them here.
I like MTV’s Run’s House. It’s like the new cool, hip Cosby Show. What I like most is the fact that even though they have a crap load of money, the parents still teach the kids to be responsible, good natured people and entrepreneurs. So check out the Simmons girls and their new shoe venture called “Pastries”:
This other pic was purely for my own amusement. 3000 and Kelis. I don’t know the history behind this pic, but check it out:
Short and simple… They mean so much, and they can change the hearts of so many people, but I’m not talking about “I Love You”. I’m talking about “Bitch”, “Ho” and “Nigger”. According to hip hop’s Ghandi, Russell Simmons, these words should be voluntarily banned from hip hop music because they are misogynistic and racially offensive. He also took the time to say that nothing should ever be implemented that takes away the first amendment right of free speech, but that free speech includes responsibility. With all of that in mind, this sets us up for another episode of the Emmy nominated series “Make Black People Respect Themselves”. Some “leader” has to step up and make Blacks respect themselves.
The argument of the rap community has been that use of these words were instrumental to artistic expression and that this was one of the reasons why they had the right to use the words while others didn’t. To me this form of censorship was just an easy response to public criticism of the culture of today’s rap lyrics. Censorship has never been a solution to a problem of inappropriate utterances. The true solution has been and will always be to change the hearts of the people that use these words. Censorship is nothing but a mere cover up while the artists continue to live a life of what’s true to their hearts and personalities. Blocking or beeping these words to an rap artist is just like saying to Hugh Hefner “Women are constantly treated like sex objects and because of the role your magazine plays in society we would like for you to voluntarily photograph all of your women fully clothed.” Do you think that’s going to happen? No! Why? Because the first amendment wasn’t written with provisions that made sure no one was offended or allowed that nothing detrimental to society could ever be done. Read the rest of this entry »
See, now I’m upset. You guys went and got Imus and his homeboy fired. I have found proof that it’s okay to call people Nappy….
There is a chain of Salons (even here in Atlanta) called “Oh My Nappy Hair“. No one seems to be upset or offended but me. Can someone please send me Don’s number so we can sue for political incorrectness! If anyone’s going to be pissed with me on this one, I’m sure he is. We’re gonna be rich!!! Look for ya boy on the news this week. Hawks season just ended and I need the money!
If you need some money, get at me! We can make this a class action type thing. Ha Ha!!
And please, please go to the site. The girl on the Logo is hilarious!!! Nothing says nappy better than her.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned it on the blog before, but for the past 5-6 months I’ve played with a band called Crowd Control as the house band for the Atlanta Hawks.
It’s kind of funny because most people wouldn’t even know we were there, or they couldn’t tell if we were playing. Our job was to keep the energy flowing through Phillips Arena by playing music that prompted offensive and defensive chants and top 40 R&B, Hip Hop and Rock Music. We played throughout the entire game and would easily go through 20 - 30 songs a night. This gig has continuously shown me how music affects a person’s mood, whether they realize it or not. It’s crazy that one super low bass note can rumble through the arena and excite the crowd. Read the rest of this entry »
Lincoln Center and The American Music Abroad Program has selected us to go on tour again!!! So we’ll be leaving some time towards the end of the year. The tour will probably be in either Latin America, Northern Africa or South East Asia. We can only take four people, so DoronJazz switched out with Dinero to make it happen. Don’t we look like we’re ready to go?
I purposely had not commented on the whole Don Imus thing up until this point because to me all of it is a bunch of crap. The same people that fight for freedom of expression are the same people that are executing someone that freely expressed himself. It’s so crazy that we live in such a hypocritical world that allows the over zealous efforts of a few opportunists to overpower one of the most important principles that this country has been founded on. A distinction must be made between free speech and the issues of morality that are attached to what has been said. By law, Don Imus was free to say what he wanted to, but there were so many people offended that he was fired because of executing his right. I don’t agree that he should have lost his job because I don’t think that this will truly affect the morals and principles that guide his everyday interactions. More of a solution would have been to work with him through his thoughts and actions to show him a better way of approaching life… showing him why women shouldn’t be called B’s and Ho’s and showing him the reason why people were offended by his comments. Don Imus can always get another job, but he’ll potentially make the same kind of comments. I just think that we really missed the point on this one. Read the rest of this entry »
You know, I don’t know what it is I like about Smoothies so much. If you think about it, it’s kind of a lazy meal. Whenever you don’t feel like chewing, just blend up some fruits. I guess it’s healthy for you or something, right? Anything full of fruit has to be healthy right??…lol. Read the rest of this entry »
Sorry I haven’t been writing on the blog regularly. Between AFAR gigs and Easter events that I’ve had to prepare and play for, my time has been limited. But I’m back!… and there’s nothing better to bring me back than the good ol’ N Word!!! A lot has been said in the last couple of Days about Imus’ comments on the Rutgers University team, which I’ll speak my own comments in a later post, but something is slowly creeping through the cracks and no one is saying anything about it:
I’ve heard people joke about the fact that they should create a site like this, but I had no idea that someone would actually implement. The only thing I could find online was a petition, a few blog entries and a myspace page urging people to work towards getting the site taken down. Where’s Al Sharpton? Is he too busy dealing with a white man calling our women “nappy headed hoes” to help us solve a issue that blacks themselves have bought into?? Why doesn’t Big Al quit jumping on the opportunistic, media rich “colored folks” issues and deal with the “colored folks” themselves. We really have to resolve this within our own communities before we expect other communities to respect us in the same way.
It’s also interesting to see that advertisers such as The General spend money supporting the site:
What does this say about how they view current and potential customers???
The word Nigga or Nigger (the only difference in those words is that one has proper spelling and one has a adapted spelling) from it’s inception has never been meant to be used as a term of endearment. I don’t understand why we get so upset when other races use these words but could care less if our own brothers or sisters use these words. The truth is that no one should tolerate use of these words. If everyone altogether stopped using the words, I’m sure that about 7% of America’s Race issues would be eradicated.
April 27th, 2007 by 
demonterious 
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