Yes, Jay-Z is a role model, too.

You can't dictate who another race's role models should be.  I know it's hard for some white conservatives to understand, but you can't tell black people that their role models need to meet your approval.  Well, you can, but we're going to ignore you.  No matter how much you think Condoleezza Rice would be better for black youth than Jay-Z, you don't get to make that decision.  If it were up to you, do you really think Superfly would have taken hold in the 70s like it did? 

Pretty random topic, right?  Well, I had a conversation with a lady on Twitter today about this exact thing.  I should have been focused on my work, but this was way more interesting.  Because what kind of person tells me (as an example, just to make this sentence work) that my role model isn't good enough for them?  You've got to have some big balls, lady. 

Why shouldn't a kid look up to Jay-Z?  The man is rich and famous, and since kids are stupid and shallow these days, that's really all they need to know.  But he was a drug dealer, that lady said, and drug dealing rappers who glorify drug dealing are not worthy of role modelhood.  I'm paraphrasing, because she was way more long-winded.  Also, in my mind, she was wagging her finger at me.  "Tut, tut," I think she said.

On the surface, she might be right.  After all, these are the things that they say about Jay-Z on Fox News, and we all know they're never wrong.  At least they picked someone who has rapped about the drug game, unlike the time they went after Common.   But yes, Jay-Z did sell drugs - almost 20 years ago.  And if the crux of your argument against rappers being role models is something one used to do 20 years ago, you've lost the argument before it even started.  I mean, if you picked Nicki Minaj for this debate, I would have agreed with you, unless the goal was for your kids to become clowns.  It would have nothing to do with her drug history, because I don't know if she did or didn't.  I just wouldn't want my kids to act like that.

Also, let's not start digging into the past of some of these conservative heroes, because I won't even need to leave the decade before I get a hit.  But we're talking about Jay-Z.

Anyway, he's changed his life since those days.  Yeah, he got a little stabby there at one point, but all in all, he's turned things around.  You don't see him getting into fights or arrested for marijuana or gun possession.  He built companies, bought others, run other companies, sold those companies, and built more.  He's produced movies.  He was a minority owner of a sports team, and now, he's a sports agent.  A guy that was a drug dealer from Brooklyn.  Now, he's got an art film out on HBO and had Samsung buy his album to give away for free.  He's married to the biggest singer on the planet.  He can call the President.  What about his life doesn't make him a role model? 

What, the music?  You can disagree with the music all you like, but the life story shows people that no matter where you are, no matter what your circumstances, you can change them, and you can get out.  However, since you brought up the music, well, for one, I know you haven't listened to any of it.  Jay-Z had exactly two albums about drug dealing, and one of those was actually about a movie.  The other one was about why you shouldn't become a drug dealer.  All of his other albums were about being rich, famous, and sex with women.  Money, cash, hoes, in essence.  And the time he shot his brother.  And that one song about his mom.

So ever since that first album, Jay-Z has rapped about his life after he stopped being a drug dealer.  If you're going to accuse him of something, at least know what you're talking about.  Now, if you want to get on him for misogyny?  Fine, he probably wasn't the best on gender relations.  Cussing too much?  You got me there.  Defending the use of the n-word?  We'd be on the same side.  I think he's got a lot to be proud of, though.  He has a creative mind, a hard-working individual, and knows his business.  So if anyone is going to get through to some of these kids, it would be him.  They can't say he hasn't been where they've been.  

That's not to knock Condoleezza Rice, because she's a role model as well.  She's a positive woman who came up during segregation, played all kinds of musical instruments, taught at Stanford, advised two Presidents, and was appointed to the Cabinet; fields that are almost always dominated by men.  No shade on Condi at all, even if she does have Bush's stink on her.  But to cast Jay-Z aside because of the decisions he made in his past is really discounting his value.  Not only that, I guess black people just accept flawed individuals more easily than white conservatives do.  One of the benefits of so many of us going to jail, I guess.

The fact that he sold drugs, grew up in a fatherless home, shot his brother, and still managed to become what he is today is what makes him a role model.  His life is the life that a lot of kids of all colors see every day.  He's not pushing the drug life on kids, he's shining the light of redemption.  And if you can't see that, then I don't have anything else for you.

Yes, I'm lazy, but seriously, music sucks.

There's always someone out there claiming that music is still good, you just have to go out there and find it.  No, music is shit.  Here's why.

Usually, when someone is complaining about that, they're talking about a time when they could turn on the radio or videos and not be completely repulsed by the gyrations of some tattooed 19 year old, or the repetitive house music beats that are passed off as music today.  Maybe the subject matter of these kids is what does it, since everyone who is signed today is lauded as some voice of a generation and everyone is impressed because they write their own songs.  But this is stupid, because what teenager has anything of worth to say?  Think back to when you were 19 and those same idiot thoughts that you had are the same ones that these kids have, except theirs involve an iPhone.

The point is, radio acted as a gatekeeper to what was good.  True, not everything good made it onto the radio, but you could trust the radio to play good stuff.  You could listen to the radio have still have good taste in music.  That isn't true today.  After all, Kanye West is considered a deep lyricist.  This foolishness has to stop.

And that's when that person from before would say that you have to find the good music.  Therein lies the problem.

Finding the good music requires listening to all of the bad stuff to find the good stuff.  And that shit is for suckers.  Maybe you'll get to some through word of mouth, maybe you'll read about someone on the internet.  But word of mouth and internet articles aren't dependable, because they are the same ones telling me that Beyonce makes good music and I know in my soul that this is a lie.  And without radio play, you'll have to actually risk your mental state playing a bunch of artists that you don't know in a vain attempt to find something you like.  That means I'm invariably going to wind up listening to a 2 Chainz song, and I don't think that's right.

I'm a 34 year old man.  I no longer have the energy to give everyone a chance.  I could do that when I was 24, and that's why I own a Memphis Bleek CD.  And when you don't know an artist, that means you don't know what the single is, so you can't just jump right to the good stuff.  The way my mind works, you have to start and the beginning and just listen until something grabs your attention.  I like to give people a fair shot and I understand that not everyone is going to grab you right at the top.  For instance, I'm a Jay-Z fan.  Except for "Reasonable Doubt," I never play the first two songs on any of his CDs.

So unless you have infinite time and patience (I have neither), or you're into today's musical trends (I am not), you can't afford to get eight songs into a Big Sean mixtape before accepting that this kid is terrible.  The last time I went into something cold and it worked out was when my friend Robert dropped Little Brother's "The Minstrel Show" onto my desk.  That was 2006. And even that, it wasn't until "We Got Now" that they clicked with me.  That's the last song on the CD.  They were my favorite group and I devoured their entire catalog after that.  But at the time, I had to go through 17 songs before they made an impression.  

Now, maybe it's me, because I'm sure it didn't take 17 songs before people decided that they liked Little Brother.  It didn't take me 17 songs to realize they were good.  I knew that right off the top.  But for that CD to get into me, where I had to hear it again and again?  17 songs.  But that's what I'm looking for, something that I want to hear again and again.  Anyone can do competent, non-offensive music, but I need for the music to leave an impression.  I'm not the kind of person who plays music just to have sound in the room.  I want to feel the music.

Since I can't invest in everything the way I want to and I can't trust the radio to play something that's good, I'm just kinda lost out there, occasionally discovering something new by accident.  When I heard Murs or Hollyweerd for the first time, it was just dumb luck.  That same dumb luck is what made me download Lil' Wayne's "Dedication 4," and that's a decision I regret every day.  The best I can hope for is people around me who listen to good shit, and here lately, their record isn't looking very good. 

Finally Famous Vol. 3 Micro Review

I got about eight songs in on Big Sean's Finally Famous Vol. 3 mixtape before I had to stop. This is all I heard:

"I'm so clean, I'm so clean. BITCHES. I slept with your girlfriend. MONEY. I'm from Detroit, I'm from Detroit. DETROIT."

I have no hope for the future.

Did Hip-Hop Ruin the NBA?

"Did hip-hop ruin the NBA?"

Well, it's a valid question in the same way that "How many dildos does it take to rupture the anal wall?" is a valid question. Sure, it has a question mark on the end, but it was an in-depth mystery only those with low IQs needed to know the answer to. After all, you're never going to need to know how sturdy your anal wall is...unless you're stupid enough to try to jam multiple objects in there.

That's kind of how I view the theory that hip-hop somehow damaged the NBA: It's pretty stupid to assume that a genre of music destroyed a form of sport. It makes about as much sense as saying that breakfast cereal caused the South to lose the Civil War. The blockade, manufacturing base, and general ass-kickery of the Union had nothing to do with it. It had to be Cap'n Crunch's fault.

Still, some people insist that hip-hop had some kind of effect on the NBA. After all, when you go back and watch recordings of 80's basketball games, there were almost no tattoos, no one wore baggy clothes in any setting, and guns weren't as prevalent among pro athletes. Also, players could beat on each other all day and still not fight each other. Nowadays, all it takes is one hard foul to touch off a riot. It's all hip-hop's fault.

But down here on Earth (actually maybe not Earth; the stupid outnumber the intelligent down here. "In reality?" We'll try that.), we realize that part of the problem is cultural change, unless evolving fashion trends is proof of the downfall of society. "The Greeks knew that the end was near when people started wearing shorter and shorter togas." No, sometimes things just get popular, like tattoos and baggy clothes.

No one ever considers, though, that the world has changed since the 1980's. People have changed. They're not like they used to be, because they're quicker to rob, shoot, and kill folks these days. I'd blame Reaganomics before I'd blame hip-hop, but that's too well thought-out, and as Americans, we've always gotta jump on the bullshit answer. So yeah, let's blame hip-hop. Because tattoos, baggy shorts, and senseless violence didn't exist before rap music.

Personally, I always thought that Michael Jordan was to blame for baggy shorts, just like he was to blame for bald heads, and $160 sneakers being part of a viable business model. As for tattoos, I blame pirates.

And that whole "nigga" mentality that seems to have infected the league, well...that's just a lack of strong male guidance. Hip-hop is a reflection of the changing world, not the cause of it. I personally grew up listening to hip-hop and I've never shot anyone that wasn't a zombie or Nazi inside the television. I don't call women "bitches," and I don't have numerous "baby mamas" to be rotated throughout the week. If it made sense for me to be like my musical influences, then why do country music fans buy cars when there are perfectly good horses out there? They wouldn't even have to put the whiskey away before mounting up.

If that line of thinking made sense, we'd have drive-bys at the stadiums, Ron Artest would have been busted for selling coke at his house, and someone would have tried to play through a game with gold fronts. It's really not as bad as people think. Yeah, the tattoos are a bit much, but that's what happens when a trend takes hold: People wear it the fuck out.

Even the NBA has overreacted, by trying to remove all of the physicality from the game, because a fight broke out between two teams that HATED each other. In the 80's, there were times when fights would happen during the game and people wouldn't even get ejected. Now, players can get ejected if the foul just looks like it could have hurt, and they can't leave the bench without signed permission slips.

True, players now react differently to physical play, but wouldn't you if you were used to playing in a non-physical game? If football suddenly said, "quarterbacks can't be touched under any circumstances," and one got hit, don't you think he'd be ready to fight, too? Yeah, in LeBron's generation, they've probably got thinner skin, but the league's not even giving the players a chance to prove that they're not mindless thugs.

People just need to accept that things change. Players aren't gonna look the same as they did in the 80's, and thank God for that, because personal grooming has come such a long way since then, and our government is finally seeing the results of hormone treatments in our food. For better or for worse, the game has changed. The environment around the game has changed. If folks don't like the pace of the game or tendencies of the players; they don't play as hard or they're too flashy, then so be it. But don't blame music because you don't recognize the face of the game any more.

If anything, blame David Stern for some of those stupid rules.

Can we get some new stars?

Just hours before he was scheduled to perform at the BET Hip-Hop Awards, T.I., real name Clifford Harris, was arrested for possession of unlicensed machine guns. Who the hell gets arrested for this? Who do you think you are, Ordell Robbie?

(Google it, if you don't know who that is.)

Somebody help me understand this. You are T.I. You are one of the top rap acts in the country. You are a platinum selling artist. You appear in movies. You appear in mainstream advertising. You recently appeared on a open-panel discussion on hip-hop and its effects on our community. You have skated through your music career on minimal talent. You are rich. You have bodyguards. What the hell do you need with machine guns and silencers?

What, are you trying to be the Punisher for Halloween, and you want your costume to be extra authentic? Are you trying to defend the hood from terrorists? Next time I see some terrorism going down in East Point, I know who to call, because as we all know, the hood is a hotbed of terrorist activity.

Last week, I saw a guy planting a car bomb in a beat-up Chevy Celebrity, but when I got closer, it turned out he was really just duck-taping his muffler so it wouldn't drag the ground. My mistake.

Clifford's (because I don't know or care what "T.I." means) defenders would probably say that this was a set-up or something, but no one except the Bush Administration is spreading anything good through the use of machine guns. I seriously doubt he was planning to use them to bring whimsy and wonder to our childrens' lives.

Unless the revolution is about to start and no one told me, I can't think of a good reason for Clifford to need machine guns. If he needs protection, that's what the bodyguard was for. The bodyguard's job is to take bullets for you, not go buy more guns so your dumb ass can shoot back.

So thanks, Clifford, for being a good example. You're only one of the most visible music stars in the world, with millions of young black kids looking up to you. Yeah, no one's gonna notice this. Not on the eve of the BET Hip-Hop awards, where you were to perform AND nominated for nine awards. Hell, there was only a TON of press there just in case something illegal happened. Good thing you were there to keep the press from a slow news day.

Then, at the awards show, some of his fellow artists performed his songs for him and tried to make him out to be a victim, by saying things like "Free T.I." Listen, Clifford is not a political prisoner. You're not gonna see Clifford on a t-shirt with Malcolm and Martin. Clifford's troubles have nothing to do with "the struggle," unless it's struggling with his handcuffs, or struggling to find new ways to get arrested, because he won't be struggling to make bail or struggling to find a good lawyer.

Don't get it twisted, Clifford is not one of the Black Panthers.

If we are trying to hold up Clifford here as some sort of pariah or victim, then we are truly in trouble. Why do our stars have to be knuckleheads? Not that white folks don't have their own embarrassments, but for one, whites aren't all identified as one group, and two, I'm not embarrassed by the latest Britney Spears scandal. I don't really care how many cocks the paparazzi caught Paris Hilton sucking.

The real question here is, can we get some new stars? Maybe some who are allergic to jail time. Maybe some who won't brag about going to jail on a song (Clifford rapped on Young Buck's "Stomp" that he "caught some cases, but that's just a minor setback," before getting eaten alive by Ludacris). Maybe some stars who aren't so concerned with hood acceptance and "keepin' it real." I've never understood why you'd want acceptance from the hood, anyway. There's good people in the hood, but that's also where the people live who are plotting to rob you every time you go down there, regardless of their "acceptance" of you.

Can't we bring back Bill Cosby? Someone needs to get crackin' on that time machine.