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Dr. Jelani Cobb calls Ludacris, 50 and Ice Cube SNITCHES.

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I am on my blog gully today blog fam.

Rafi, I gotchu on the Stop Shooting post. I had to get these out the way. Babygirl been backed up. I promised Gotty this one first. You up next fam:)

Dr. Cobb aint really call ’em snitches. I just wanted to get yall attention:0

But what he did do was point out how they can go after Oprah, but not after Bill O’Reilly (at least with the same vigor) or after Jerry Heller, who gaffled Cube for HELLA paper in the 80’s.

This post started out from a forward from Gotty. I been sittin on the train marinating on how I was gonna go at it. Please enjoy.
*****My response’s to Dr. Cob’s essay are in blue.

________________________
________________________

We Still Wear The Mask

By Dr. William Jelani Cobb

Part I. 50 Cent and the Mask
We could have known that it would come to this way back in 1896. That was the year that Paul Lawrence Dunbar dropped a jewel for the ages, telling the world that “we wear the mask that grins and lies.”

The poet’s point was that beneath the camouflage of subservient smiles, black folks of the Jim Crow era were hiding a powder keg of other emotions, waiting patiently for the chance to detonate. The thing is, Dunbar never got the chance to spit bars with 50 Cent or throw in a guest collabo on a Mobb Deep album. If he had, then he would’ve known that grins and lies were only half the story.

These days, camouflage is the new black. Glance at hip hop for less than a second and it becomes clear that the music operates on a

single hope: that if the world mistakes kindness for weakness it can also be led to confuse meanness with strength. That principle explains why there is a permanent reverence for the thug within the music; it is why there is a murderer’s grit and a jailhouse tat peering back at you from the cover of damn near any CD you picked up in the last five years. But what hip hop can’t tell you, the secret that it would just as soon take to its deathbed is that it this urban bravado

is a guise, a mask, a head-fake to shake the reality of fear and powerlessness in America. Hip hop will never admit that our assorted thugs and gangstas are not the unbowed symbol of resistance to marginalization, but the most complacent and passive products of it.

[ The Thug Mentality cannot be discussed with out mentioning American Pop culture and its reverence for the bad guys. John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Scarface. The list goes on and on. My intent isn’t to let any of these cats off the hook. My intent is to ensure that it is being properly contexualized. I would make the same argument about Lil’ Kim and sexual lyrics.]

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We wear the mask that scowls and lies.

Part II. Dr. Dre Fist and Dee Barnes Face
You could see which way the wind was blowing way in the early 90s when Dr. Dre was being ripped off by white Ruthless Records CEO

Jerry Heller, and nonetheless got his street cred up by punching and kicking Dee Barnes, a black woman journalist, down a flight of stairs. In this light, hip hop’s obsessive misogyny makes a whole lot more sense. It is literally the logic of domestic violence. A man is abused by a larger society, but there are consequences to striking back at the source of his problems. So he transfers his anger to an acceptable outlet ? the women and children in his own household, and by extension, all the black people who constitute his own

community.

Nothing better illustrates that point than the recent Oprah Debacle. Prior to last month, if you’d heard that a group of rappers had teamed up to attack a billionaire media mogul you would think that hip hop had finally produced a moment of collective pride on par with the black power fists of the 1968 Olympics. But nay, just more blackface.

[ Well Duh. Then the question becomes, if being a thug is not anti

society , then what exactly does being Thug Mean? How can you be an unbowed symbol of resistance when your only language is violence, would be my follow up question. Ask Eskay. He will tell you that I am a firm believer in violence. In a way, waking up every day and trying to be contrsuctive in the face of unsurmountable odds will make you wanna be violent ock. Sometimes VIOLENCE is necessary to get the attention of your adversary. Why you think we at war? However, it can be only ONE of the tools in your tool box.

Not the only one.]

Part III. Oprah and Hip Hop

In the past two months, artists as diverse as Ludacris, 50 Cent and Ice Cube have attacked Oprah Winfrey for her alleged disdain for hiphop. It’s is a sad but entirely predictable irony that the one instance in which hip hop’s reigning alpha males summon the testicular fortitude to challenge someone more powerful and wealthy than they are, they choose to go after a black woman.

[ Female Model Minorities are easy targets ock. And you know the media loved that sh*t too. Ohhh, two black stars talkin’ sh*t about each other, breaking news].

The whole set up was an echo of some bad history. Two centuries ago, professional boxing got its start in America with white slaveholders who pitted their largest slaves against those from competing plantations. Tom Molineaux. First black heavyweight

champion came up through the ranks breaking the bones of other slaves and making white men rich. After he’d broken enough of them, he was given his freedom. The underlying ethic was clear: an attack on the system that has made a slave of you will cost you your life, but an attack on another black person might just be the road to emancipation.
The basis for this latest bout of black-on-black pugilism was Oprah’s purported stiff-arming of Ludacris during an appearance on

her show with the cast of the film Crash.

Ludacris later complained that the host had made an issue of lyrics she saw as misogynistic. Cube jumped into the act whining that Oprah has had all manner of racist flotsam on her show but has never invited him to appear ? proof, in his mind, that she has an irrational contempt for hip hop. Then 50 threw in his two cen

ts with a claim that Oprah’s criticism of hip hop was an attempt to win points with her largely white, middle class audience. All told, she was charged her with that most heinous of hip hop’s felonies: hateration.

Part IV. 50’s Love and respect for the President
But before we press charges, isn’t 50 the same character who openly expressed his love for GW Bush as a fellow “gangsta”

and demanded that the black community stop criticizing how he handled Hurricane Katrina?

Compare that to multiple millions that Oprah has disseminated to our communities (including building homes for the Katrina families, financing HIV prevention in South Africa and that $5 million she dropped on Morehouse College alone) and the idea of an ex-crack

dealer challenging her commitment to black folk becomes even more surreal.

In spite of ? or, actually, as a result of — his impeccable gangsta credentials, 50 basically curtsied before a President who stayed on vacation for three days while black bodies floated down the New Orleans streets. No wonder it took a middle-class preppie with an African name and no criminal record to man-up and te

ll the whole world that “George Bush don’t care about black folks.” No wonder David Banner ? a rapper who is just a few credits short of a Master’s Degree in social work — spearheaded hip hop’s Katrina relief concerts, not any of his thug counterparts who are eternally shouting out the hoods they allegedly love.

[50 love the Hood though. Right ock.]

The 50 Cent, whose music is a panoramic vision on black-on-black homicide, and who went after crosstown rival Ja Rule with the vengeance of a dictator killing off a hated ethnic minority did

everything but tap dance when Reebok told him to dismantle his porn production company or lose his lucrative sneaker endorsement deal.

[ Say word. I wasn’t even knowing about the back yard boogie

negotiations].

But why single out 50? Hip hop at-large was conspicuously silent when Bush press secretary Tony Snow (a rapper’s alias if ever there was one) assaulted hip hop in terms way more inflammatory than Oprah’s mild request: “Take a look at the idiotic culture of hip-hop and whaddya have? You have people glorifying failure. You have a bunch of gold-toothed hotdogs become millionaires by

running around and telling everybody else that they oughtta be

miserable failures and if they’re really lucky maybe they can get gunned down in a diner sometime, like Eminem’s old running mate.”

[The buck stops here. This is inaccurate, untrue and a mistatement. There are as many flavors in Hip Hop as there a varieties of people

in this country. Some glorify failure. Others glorify they hood, they trees, they cars, they mommas, they baby momma’s, they drive by’s

, the list goes on and on. While the point is understood, when talking about art it is very important to resist being didactic otherwise you come across as not respecting the form.]

(We’re still awaiting an outraged response from the thug community for that one.) Rush Limbaugh has blamed hip hop for everything short ofthe Avian flu but I can’t recall a single hip hop artist who has

gone after him lyrically, publicly or physically. Are we seeing
a theme yet?

Part V. Ludacris, Bill O’Reilly and Oprah
It’s worth noting that Ludacris did not devote as much energy to Bill O’Reilly –who attacked his music on his show regularly and causedhim to lose a multi-million dollar Pepsi endorsement ? as he

did to criticizing Oprah who simply stated that she was tired of hip hop’s misogyny.

Luda was content to diss O’Reilly on his next record and go about his business. Anyone who heard the interview that Oprah gave on Power 105.1 in New York knew she was speaking for a whole generation of hip hop heads when she said that she loved the music, but she wanted the artists to exercise some responsibility.

But this response is not really about Oprah, or ultimately about hip hop, either. It is about black men once again choosing a black woman as the safest target for their aggression and even one with a billion dollars is still fair game.

Of all their claims, the charge that Oprah sold out to win points with her white audience is the most tragically laughable. The truth is that her audience’s white middle-class kids exert waaay more influence over 50 and Cube than their parents do over Oprah. I long ago tired of Cube, a thirty-something successful director, entrepreneur and married father of three children making records about his aged recollections of a thug’s life. The gangsta theme went clich? eons

ago, but Cube, 50 and a whole array of their musical peers lack either the freedom or the vision to talk about any broader element of our lives. The reality is that the major labels and their majority white fan base will not accept anything else from them.

[I made this same connection when we discussing this over at Nah Right.]

And there we have it again: more masks, more lies.

Part VI. Hip Hop and N*ggas
It is not coincidental that hip hop has made Ni@$a the most common noun in popular music but you have almost never heard any certified thug utter the word cracker, ofay, honky, peckerwood, wop, dago, guinea, kike or any other white-oriented epithet. The reason for thatis simple: Massa ain’t havin’ it. The word fag, once a commonplace derisive in the music has all but disappeared from

hip hop’s vocabulary. (Yes, these thugs fear the backlash from white gays too.) And bitch is still allowed with the common understanding that the term is referring to black women. The point is this: debasement of black communities is entirely acceptable ? required even ? by hip hop’s predominantly white consumer base.

We have lived enough history to know better by now ? to know that

gangsta is Sonny Liston, the thug icon of his era, threatening to kill Cassius Clay but completely impotent when it came to demanding that his white handlers stop stealing his money. Gangsta is the black men at the Parchman Farm prison in Mississippi who beat the civil rights workers Fannie Lou Hamer and Annell Ponder into bloody unconsciousness because their white wardens told them to. Gangsta is Michael Ervin, NFL bad boy remaining conspicuously mute on Monday Night Football while Limbaugh dissed Donovan McNabb as an Affirmative Action athlete. Gangsta is Bigger Thomas

with dilated pupils and every other sweaty-palmed black boy who saw method acting and an attitude as his ticket out of the ghetto.

Surely our ancestors’ struggles were about more than creating millionaires who could care less about us and then tolerating their violent disrespect out of a hunger for black success stories. Surely we are not so desperate for heroes that we uphold cardboard icons because they throw good glare. There’s more required than that. The weight of history demands more than simply this. Surely we understand that these men are acting out an age-old script. Taking the Tom Molineaux route. Spitting in the wind and breaking black bones. Hoping to become free.

Or, at least a well-paid slave.

__________________________
J, TPW, Gotty, Vik, where yall at? Watch’all think? That post was a few days in the making.
Now imma take me a nap or get me some more Zen Tea so I can write this stipulation letter for my boss. And where inna h*ll did the sun go. The Sky is gray again. I tell you, July weather got more personalities than a gemini (hi gotty:).
~m dot.
__________________________

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Comments

  1. the prisoner's wife says

    here.

    too much to talk about now (headed to a meeting), but WOW…that last part about “gangasta” has me sitting here with my mouth open (wow). will definitely come back to this…lots i agree with, lots i think could have been included. but i shall return.

  2. Gotty? says

    You know me…I think he had some valid points but at the same time some of it was generalized bs…

    and you just made my eyes hurt lol, thanks fucker.

  3. Big Walt says

    ” isn’t 50 the same character who openly
    expressed his love for GW Bush as a fellow “gangsta”

    Whoa, when the hell did he say that?

  4. Busola says

    this is a very good post. I like the arguments you’ve made. Now I wish my 18 year old cousin would read and understand this because he still thinks rappers like 50 ‘speak the truth’ (his words not mine) I have hope though that he’ll get over this stupid idea in a couple of years……….hopefully

  5. Hummingbyrd says

    @ TPW,

    Don’t you hate when you see a good @ssed post but you cant respond to it.

    It felt good to get that out too.

    Come back soon.

    I wanna know what I didn’t mention.

    That gangsta sh*t is TRILLLLLL!

  6. Hummingbyrd says

    @

    I made your eyes hurt.

    You the one who forwarded it to me.

    Generalized BS.

    What the Dee Barnes part.

    The Oprah part.

    The Ludacris part.

    What?

  8. Hummingbyrd says

    @ Busola

    Glad you came through.

    The young bucks only know what we teach ’em.

    Period point blank.

    keep at ’em, even he don’t respond to your comments about 50, that you are engaging him is a begining.

    I wasn’t introduced to being analytical till I was 13. Imma beast now.

    Word.

  9. Big Walt says

    Yeah I know, I’ve been kind of absent from the nets lately.

    I graduated from high school, then I had to take care of a bunch of shit, then I was in Washington D.C. for a while. I’m back though, expect a post today.

  10. Hummingbyrd says

    Congrats Walt.

    Don’t tell me you were working w/ Gonzalez and ‘nem in DC. Har har har.

    Walt like the rap cointelpro. j/k:)

  12. Jason Pollard says

    A very interesting article-I agree with Dr. Cobb on a lot of points. His tone was mos def didactic, but necessary. But you know me I’m putting everything through my “black masculinity” theory and then apply everything under this theory and presto. I need to copyright that shit son.

    But anyway the great and always on point bell hooks pretty much raised the same point in one of her books(dont remember which one), but she used it to explain the deterioration of the urban black family in the mid-late 70’s (including her own I believe).

    For the record I at first thought Oprah at first was off base for criticizing Luda, but then after her Power 105 explanation- I saw where she was coming from and understood her position. Ludacris has built his way up from radio DJ in the ATL (Chris Luda Luda and Poon Daddy) to one of Def Jam’s flagship artists and an emerging actor who was in an Oscar-winning film. Luda’s story is amazing to me because I remember him as a DJ in 96 when I was down in Atl and in 99-00 when he was peddling his 1st independent album. He has proven to be an astute businessman who has guided and shaped his career through careul planning and business savvy. Which means that he has sense enough to realize the damage of such songs as Pussy Poppin, You’re a Ho and other misogynistic classics. Which means he’s systematically promoting ignorance to black youth period. And Oprah called him on it. I’m not saying that Oprah doesn’t have her faults (she obviously plays to her middle aged white female constituency, but sadly her philantropic efforts to Katrina, Morehouse, etc.. are more revolutionary than anything Luda, 50, and Cube (yeah and I’m including Death Certificate and Amerikkka’s Most) have ever done. As the article points out these artists only look for comfort in the white power establishment, instead of attempting to reform and/or overthrow it.

    I disagree with your theory that American Pop Culture rewards/favors the “bad guys”. Or to put it better I disagree with the examples you listed:

    John Wayne wasnt a bad guy until the Searchers, he was the ultimate good guy on and off screen, he was a conservative who woked with HUAC to get the real bad guys Commies out of Hollywood.

    Clint Eastwood was also not a bad guy until Unforgiven and even then he wasn’t as bad as Gene Hackman. His character in Westerns was quiet and kicked ass and Dirty Harry was a cop, a renegade cop, but a cop.

    Scarface – are u talkin about Pacino? I’ll assume you are. Scarface is a remake of an older film made in the 30’s, which means that the gangster/bad guy figure has been around for awhile. But I think that the love for the bad guy stems from the fact that these characters are rebelling against the system, working outside and underneath it, but (in Scarfaces’ case) they’re still making their paper. But more importantly the bad guy who has attained this postion of power must eventually integrate/conform to the system or face death/incarceration. In the case of 50, Luda, Cube the first option applies as these artists have shown an aptitude at intergrating with Madison Ave.

    Good post – R.

  13. Hummingbyrd says

    These N*gga done went and posted a Ph.d thesis summary:)

    Damn. I though I was smart. I shoulda been cheatin off your homework fam:)

    As per your disagreement with me, I still stand by my citation of Scarface..et al as representatives of America’s love affair with thugs. Regardless of what they evolved from, they are THUG ICONS in the canon of American pop culture. That is what is symbolic in the minds of folks especially young bucks.

    How you been.
    I had hella fun last Thursday.
    Lets link up, I need to get Biz Markie and a couple other CD’s from you to reload back onto the pod. At your convenience of course”)

  14. Jason Pollard says

    I think I agreeed with your point in general, but I think its interesting that these thug icons (Scarface, etc.) are in actuality figures to keep the yong buck population living in a fantansy world preventing them from changing their reality.

    I know you had fun last Thursday-you were tearing it up on the dance floor, giving homeboy a workout. Just give me a call whenever for that music and lets work something out.

  17. vik says

    Why you think we at war? However, it can be only ONE of the tools in your tool box.

    Not the only one.

    GREAT insight m dot.

    damn, there’s a lot to marinate on in this post. i think it all comes down to responsibility. taking responsibility for your music, its messages, its possible outcomes.

    i hate when hip hop is the scapegoat. when gangsta is a scapegoat. damn. bush, ken lay are gangstas. they’re just able to hide it under their status-quo american upper-class white rug. it’s a huge rug.

    nice post.

    starfoods? haven’t been there in ages. good times. today is chill at the apt day. starfoods or belmont lounge next fri.
    peace.

  18. dp says

    Fuck a StarFoods! I don’t promote that spot no more.

    Jelani Cobb x M Dot = fiyah

    “these niggas are cowards because they allow it” a direct quote from my barber

    we as a consuming public have to be more revolutionary as well, when sisters stop nodding their head to tales of their gang bang we will be on the road to recovery

  19. Hummingbyrd says

    @ Vik,

    What I intended to say was that YOU HAVE TO HAVE MORE THAN VIOLENCE AS A TOOL IN YOUR TOOLBOX. Trill tawk.

    Glad You like the post.

    When we going to la marina.

    Them uptown sunsets are BE-U-TI-FULL!

  20. Hummingbyrd says

    @ DP

    You hatin cuz we ain’t come to Belmont.

    But we CAN make that the jumpoff on friday.

    Trill talk.

    Er. Glad you liked the post!

    However, placing the fate of Black people or any people on its women is misguided, didactic and narrow minded.

    You and I have went toe to toe over this before with the Duke Rape Case.

    Every member of the family has a position to play.
    I think all members should be held accountable for the consequences of their behavior. By placing women in the “matriachal” position, you let the other people in the family, the lovers, the children, sisters, brothers and grands off the hook.

    It WILL not work that way.

  21. J says

    whats up???

    I been around, ive been so busy lately. i got a job in NYC, so im out there 5 days a week, and on the other 2 im working on songs cause i got a little studio set up in my room. so ive immersed myself in that.

    anyway…

    The article was very very tight. im not a big rapper or anything yet, but when i was like 19 i wrote a whole bunch of rhymes dissing rush limbaugh and bill oreilly. and your so on point when you basically said, rappers wont go after whitey but will go after a powerful black woman to show their testicular fortitude . this post was Gangsta!!!!

    haha, on a side note, im currently reading, “Ice Man”. the book about richard “ice man” kuklinski. and to be honest i dont think there is anyone in america or in the world, as gangsta in the world. for anyone really wanting to know what really being a gangsta is about, Read this book. i recommend it to you too evil fairy.

    but on to the important shit….

    how has life with you been???

  22. Hummingbyrd says

    J what it do?

    I knew you would like this post!

    Wachu doing in NYC?

    You a-emcee?

    I ain’t know that.

    I’ll check out this Ice Man Cometh.

  24. Anonymous says

    Let’s not forget Dead Prez has never been afraid to use the word “Cracker” but then again how would anyone know when all you here is BS on the radio,MTV,BET & “in the club”. Everything boils down to money. I wonder how the new owner of BET (A BLACK WOMAN) feels when she watches her network and all of our brothers and sisters are being degraded. Matter of fact she probably don’t even watch BET. She’s too busy counting that money. Sure BET uncut has been canceled but soft core porn still remains in the videos of today.

  25. neo says

    50 out of the bunch certainly had me lol-i-gagging!!!!

    But yo..I been tired of the hypocrisy..the “slave-massa” re-runs..

    how you been ma?

  26. Anonymous says

    I’m pretty sure about half of you missed the point of 50% of the whole article by Dr. Cobb. But thanks for reposting an intelligent article, adding shiny pictures and niggin’ it all up, “ock”.

    For future reference:

    didactic (adj): intended to teach, particularly in having moral instruction as an ulterior motive : a didactic novel that set out to expose social injustice.

  27. Hummingbyrd says

    @ Neo.

    Where you Been fam?

    Lifes good, Si?

    Im just husslin’ doin’ me enjoying my july in the city:)

  28. Hummingbyrd says

    @ anonymous,

    a.Why the derision & hostility?

    b.Thats cute that you feel the need to post definitions of words.

    c.So your offended by the pictures and the comments. Well. It is a blog and Blogs have pictures and comments:)

    d. You think I have niggafied Dr. Cobb’s article. Well return later this week, where I have some fun with the History of Blackface. Yippie!

  29. J says

    Hello Hello Evil fairy. haha

    Yeah that Ice man book is realllll serious. I cant put it down. i guess because, like you said in your most recent post, of my “reverence for the bad guys”.

    Im actually working in the empire state building for a law firm.

    Yes I am an MC. I actually went to school in NYC for audio engineering when i was 18, so i could learn how to record myself better. Now im working on mixtape if you will, so i can showcase my skills. ill have to send you some of my stuff sometime. id actually be interested to see what you think

    and word to what you said you neo up there. July in the city is a beautiful thing.

  30. Hummingbyrd says

    @ J

    Its okay to like the bad guys.

    I got homies who insist on dating said bad boys which is another post alltogether, es verdad?

    So you midtown bound. I see you. I ain’t mad.

    Let me hol’ 5 dollas, seenin’ as you all employed and rapping and what not:)

  31. Hummingbyrd says

    A anonymous.

    BET is owned by Viacom, the parent company of CBS, VH1, MTV, etc, not by a Black Woman.

    However you do have a point that this is not a moral issue, it is an ecomonic issue.

    Cash rules, es verdad!

  32. Big Walt says

    “Don’t tell me you were working w/ Gonzalez and ‘nem in DC. Har har har.”

    Haha nah, that’s not my steez.

    However, 2 dudes got shot to death like a block away from me in Northwest, if that counts for anything.

  33. J says

    Ill let you hold ten, its minor to a major.

    and whats up with sayin “es verdad”??

    and yeah you need to make a post about girls who date bad boys. that would be interesting. whats gonna be your next post? my mouths watering over here. im hungry for new posts… ha

  34. Hummingbyrd says

    @ Walt.

    DC and Baltimore is HELLLLLLA TRILL.

    I would have me a 2pac on.

    Speaking of B’more, where is the Wire?

  35. Hummingbyrd says

    @ J

    Cool. Meet me at 34th and 8th at 6 so I can pick up the cash, MR. Major:)

    my mouths watering over here. im hungry for new posts…..
    ————————-
    Don’t gas me up. Wait. gon’ head and gas it. You know I luv’s the blogga!

    I don’t know what to say about the bad boys. Essence has an article about women who have affairs with their pastors. It reminds of my theory of why women date unavailable men. Why they are attracted to them, etc.

    What do you think about the topic?

  36. J says

    Hey

    i was just reading your last post “you need more people” and i do kinda like hipster t’s. some of those shits are fresh. i went to the site of the one that said, crack sells, and i actuaLLY people more than few shirts on my wish list. some of the shirts are crazy hot.

    its funny i was actually talking to someone who was talking about the whole wedding pages, and why people have to say, so and so is marrying so and so, and the groom does this, and the bride does that. its so weird. as soon as your get married, immediatly your classified by your job status.

    and the bride went to mount holyoke. haha. thats funny, its an all girls school. i got kicked out of there one morning, after spending all night dancing with this model from prague, for smoking weed out in the open in the court yard. hahaha. supposedly i cant go back there (sandlot voice)FOR-EV-ER.

    ANYWAY

    just read that post and wanted to talk about it. be easy on this hot ass day

    oh yeah, whats up with you saying es verdad?

  37. J says

    oh and i think if you wrote a post about why women date un available men, it would be hot. im actually really interested in the womens psyche. so that post would be appreciated. i would more specifically like to know why they would date someone who is un available, even tho most women dont wanna be known as “home wreckers” or “hoes”

    (Paul wall voice) Holla at me baby!

  38. Hummingbyrd says

    J

    Man. I think I might have to blog like 5 days inna row cuz IM BACK UP and I working on some school shit right now, that requires some Star Wars meets Jesus kinda focus.

    I say es verdad, as in its true, homie.
    Es verdad is its true in espanol. But you spanish though right.

    Dude. I love the wedding pages. They give me A LOT of material.

    In fact, I am gonna compare the Jet Wedding pages to the NY times pages. That will be a hoot.

    ITs HEEEEEELLLLA HOT OUTSIDE.

    Straight oven bakege.

    And Rich Medina gon’ be at ft greene park tonight. ITS TOOO DAMN HOT OCK!

    Women and unavailable men.
    My theory is that it goes back to poppi. If poppi wasn’t there, then you are conditioned at a young age to “love” men that are unavailable.

    As someone who has had and not had her dad, I can vouch as anecdotal evidence.

    J. My theory is that most the sh*t we are, goes back to childhood.

  39. J says

    Evil fairy.

    haha, when you gonna get a new name. i dont wanna call you evil cause your so heavenly. hahahaha. that was corny.

    No im not spanish, what made you think that. im half jamaican, half trinidadian.

    didnt know who rich medina is, but now i do, thanx to rich medina.com. talib kweli and jean grae are gonna be doing a free show today in the apple store in soho.ill most likely check that out cause its FREE!!! Im a firm believer in reciprication.

    so in the nature vs nurture argument. youd say nurture beats out nature. i agree with you probably mmmm about 93%. the other 7% is just a buffer incase nature is found in fact, to make up who we ultimately become. in theory, you cant lose if you dont put all your eggs in one basket.

    and im gonna start using es verdad from now on. actually, im gonna make up a permission slip first tho for you to sign, so you can officially authorize me swagger jackin your stello.HAHA,

    iight its time to go sit sideways in my thumper, holla at me

  41. Hummingbyrd says

    @ Walt…

    Nothing gets past you ock.

    That would be a BPV.

    I was wonderin’ if somebody was gone pick up on that.

  42. Hummingbyrd says

    J,

    Paz hombre.

    Thank you for the permission slip. I received it in my mailbox. I’ll fax it over momentarily.

    Nature/ nurture. A whole lotta sh*t is nature. And whole lot is nuture.

    However, when it comes to human relations, and the fact that our first interactions are with our primary caregivers, our parents, then being abandoned at a YOUNG age, and not resolving the resulting anger, will have you f*cked off in the dating world. For trill. Es verdad?

    Ie women, hearting unavailable s.o.’s.

    You don’t know nothing about no sideways.

    I heard about that Jean Grae to at nahright, I think.

    But they be trippin’ at the apple store, so imma have youtube it like erry body else tomorrow.

    -uno

  43. J says

    UNO!!! word i used to play that at day camp!!! CHEYEAHH`

    How do you know i dont know anything about sittin sideways.Dont ASSume fairy.haha

    ditto on your nature vs nurture comment.

    yeah i guess jean grae was performing there too with talib. but the line was around the block. i walked to soho and was like fuck it, im not gonna take precious time out of my life to just see talib kweli. homies cool on the lyric tip, but his flow sometime be corny, and his voice isnt to captivating. same with jean, theyre all cool, nothing i would go through hell and high water to see. T.I. on the other hand puts on a great show, i probably would have waited in line to see homie.thats just my opinion tho.

    I GOT THE FAX!!!

    -ein (thats german for one)

  44. eskay says

    I know I’m a week late and a couple of bucks short, but…

    Cobb had some reasonable points but by and large his theory is flawed.

    Cube never challenged the white power structure? Come on, how could anybody say that with a straight face?

    This whole Oprah shit is played out. The people criticizing her had good points, as does she. Black people with power and infuence have a responsibility to criticize each other and encourage dialouge. If Luda wouldn’t have said anything, Cobb would have never made the few good points he made and this post wouldn’t exist, that’s the way I look at it.

  45. Hummingbyrd says

    >>>Nah Right in the Building Ya’ll< << Eskay, dude. I do concede that we all have the duty to criticize each other and encourage dialogue. However, Dr. Cobb’s point that famous Black women and mommas/sisters/babymomma’s that get they @ss beat or suffer from violence at the hands of men that LOOK LIKE THEM is an excellent point. Do you NOT rock with me on that point? Dr. Dre could have knocked the sh*t out of the producer/executive producer, who are presumably NOT black, of Dee Barnes show. Dre went for the easy target. Dee. Its the Suge Night syndrome. He has messed up hella dudes in the game, pertaining to biz w/ death row. However, they tended to be brown/black and less powerfull than he. He WAS NOT KIDNAPPING and shaking down major players in the industry that were white. (my facts come from Ronin Ro’s, “have gun will travel”).

  46. Hummingbyrd says

    J,

    I ain’t go lie.

    I was not feeling TI or what all the buzz was about.

    Dude got swag fa years. And that sh*t oooozes sexy. Feel me!?!?!

    Then I peeped Why You Wanna, and was like heeeeeey!

    Them Apple shows be doing too much.

    ~uno

  48. J says

    why you wanna is definetly raw.

    i used to tell people from when i first him on trp muzik. if i could buy stock in this guy i would right now. it would have paid off right about now.

    -koool aid

  49. Hummingbyrd says

    How did you know though.

    I mean I remember when I saw Talib @ 59 Franklin in ’98 for the first time and thought, DAAAMMMN this N*gga can Rap.

    Like he is really rhyming inna art gallery.

    But what is it about TI that stood out.

    Its like the Lil wayne phenom.

    I JUUSSSST peeeped him.
    I allways knew juvie was fresh but wayne.

    I was allways on some. Er maybe.

    Then I heard some shit off a mix tape and was like oh, he like the New Orleans version of mob deep:(

  50. J says

    I dont know, im a rapper myself, so it takes one to know one i guess. i remember seeing that video 24’s and was like this shit is hot, i liked his swagger alot, off top i knew he was a star, just not yet. like capable of being huge!!! which he sort of is now, but eventually at this rate will be within the next few years. if you listen to all his albums, none of them are bad, and you really cant say that about to many rappers. all his albums are mad gritty with a commericial feel. i mean, look how commericial why you wanna is, but the first thing homie says, “gonna tell a nigga no with an ass so fat…” and then on his last verse he says, “how you keep sayin no when your panty’s so wet?” for him to say that, and it be mainstream is straight crazy to me. there is no way jay-z could ever be as blunt and brash as T.I. and make it sound like nothing as he does. right now as far as i see, T.I. is the complete package in all aspects, i dont know to many other rappers that are. let me know if you do, id be interested to know.

    Talibs cool, but at the same time, i heard some rhymes of his back in the day and he was straight butt, next to mos def, he just cant shine. i mean when talib and mos did “whats beef” on chappelle, i was rockin with talib, but then mos came on and he killed it. i just feel like talib has no style, well i wont say he doesnt have any style, but hes just lacking style. and his voice isnt always something i wanna listen to for long periods of time. i iknow everyones different, and does it different, but at the end of the day, its about who does it the best to me, who keep sme captivated, and even tho i know alot about the behind the scene os the music industry, i still wanna be capitivated by superstar persona’s, and talib doesnt have that. mos def, definitly does.

    yeah i think lil wayne is kinda raw, i kinda like the carter 2. but i mean he sounds like hes on his own dick to much. and that nigga isnt even that good at rappin. every rapper to me from every region, pretty much sounds like every other rapper, theyre just from a different area from a different sound. no ones really changing the game, they just keeping shit on top of shit. i mean it satisfy’s the masses cause the masses pretty much take whatever they get, and then classify it as hot. and people just fell into a certain pattern and now you get the same thing because rappers think they know what the public wants, but in reality the public never really knows what they want. so there is a big miscommunication going on, on both sides. but back to lil wayne, that nigga isnt really that hot, he has some cool lines here and there, but he just SOUNDS like hes hot. he comes off like hes hot to the point where if you dont think homies hot, then you dont know what your talking about. he kinda corners your subconscious with out you even knowing it.

    sorry im a rapper, and i think im a pretty damn good one at that, and i really study and i really, hip hop needs change. just cause your talking about shit people dont normally talk about doesnt mean your gonna change the game, as in talib kweli’s case. and even if you have hot rhymes, but you look and have a swagger like any other nigga that can wake up this morning and start rhyming, then your not really gonna be that huge, as in lil waynes case. but if you have that complete package, and your consistent, with hot rhymes that are easy to digest, and you set yourself apart, from your regions counterparts, then your eventually gonna be a superstar, as in t.i.’s case.

    also the voice is very important, aint no nigga with even a little bit of a high voice ever been huge, i mean listen to talib and lil waynes voice, thats one thing thats holding them back from crossing over.only nigga that really did it with a high voice is q-tip and even tho they act like they dont wanna cross over, they definetly do. i mean if you dont want your music to get to as many people as possible, build a studio in your closet and make music for yourself. i mean underground cats are cool to an extent, but i only really care about cats that make a ripple in this vast ocean we call music, and niggaz like talib kweli and wayne might influence future rhyme says, but i mean, they really dont set any kind of standard that hasnt already been set, in my opinion.

    but at the end of the day, those cats are doing it better than most, they have a fairly large fan base, which i dont have at the moment, so i really cant hate. more power too em.

    sorry i wrote all that, im just very passionate about my trade. hahaha

    -Hi-c