The Art of Hating

How many times have you had a conversation like this one:

You: You know, I really can't stand Puffy.

Them: He's getting his money. Stop hating on him.

You: You know, I think I'm gonna kick you in the nuts.

Since when did any form of criticism become hating? It's almost as if thinking anything negative brands you as a communist. I can almost see Rumfeld on TV right now saying that "America should stop hating, because when you hate, it means the terrorists are winning." Now isn't that a scary thought that YOU have something in common with the Bush Regime?

Listen, it's okay to dislike some stuff. It really is. I know it's a difficult concept to wrap your brain around, but we aren't going to like the same stuff. Especially in the world of art, where everything is subjective. Except for Puffy. I think the general consensus agrees that he sucks.

See, what people need to understand is, Puffy is not hated because he's rich, at least not by me. I don't like Puffy because he puts out wack music. I think it's nice that he fools people into buying his cow-turd-smeared-on-a-playing-card quality music. If I could, I would do the same. The real question is, who's paying for all those Puffy CDs, because I don't think I know a single person who owns one.

Same with Master P. I respect his ability as a businessman (well, I did when No Limit was on top). His music sounding like the special ed class during a freakout didn't take anything away from that. But when P wanted to rub elbows with Louisiana's elite and they wouldn't have anything to do with him, his fans claimed that they were hating on him because he was a rich black man. And if white people were listening (and caring), they would have thought to themselves, "No, we didn't want anything to do with him, because he looked like a fucking clown."

The lesson here is, you can't go around rich, white folks with a mouthful of gold teeth and a red, leather suit that you bought at the flea market. They're not going to be impressed. Hell, I'm po' black, and I wouldn't want to have anything to do with him. You could probably use that for the reason why he didn't make it in the NBA, too, if it wasn't for the fact that he wasn't very good. "But, he's better than all the other rappers," you cry. And that's why those rappers are rappers, I reply.

No, hating is more like, you don't like someone who's clearly talented, in the face of all reason. Like, say...Kobe Bryant. You want someone who gets hated on? This man gets hated on. People screaming that Kobe is garbage when he's clearly the best player in the NBA. You don't have to like him personally. Just respect his game. You can't deny that the man can play ball. It's not like anyone asked you to be his gimp or anything. The man gets hated on so much, you'd think he was Michael Jordan.

The thing is, when we all get so damn sensitive? Who really cares if I don't like your favorite rapper or singer or director? Is that singular piece of information going to cause you to throw yourself from a building or make the stock market crash? And do you really think that 50 Cent even cares that I don't like his "music?" No, he's too busy swimming in his money vault with naked supermodels and buying sections of the cosmos to remake in his own G-Image.