Call a Spade a Spade. The Descent of Maurice Clarett.

I have been following Maurice Claretts situation for a hot minute.

He was arrested earlier this week with hella guns. In a car. Wearing a bp vest. Ouch!

Clarett's recent arrest reminds me of the greater issue of how institution's decide how and to what extent they will invest in their members.

His situation reminds me of the fact that Model Minorities HAVE to constantly be aware of the fact that being talented/athletic/brilliant is not enough. They also have to:

• Have a way of managing stress, anger and depression.
  
• Learn how to manage relationships with the institutions that they are a member of.
• Learn how manage relationships with people whose salaries depend on their success.

I personally experienced the wrath of tangling with an institution this year. Trust. It's war.

Now Clarett clearly had a troubled life from jump street, Did anyone intervene? What resources were available to him? On its face, it appears as if Clarett is clearly on the DMX action plan.

However, I think there are some other issues operating here.

Clarett's situation reflects not only his poor decisions, but also the fact that institutions will only invest in an individual, in the short term, if they are guarenteed, a HUGE return on investment.

If Not. Tough sh*t.

In The Post, Michael Sabon says,

Perhaps football might have saved Clarett at one point. Even as someone who was not in favor of the NFL changing its rules to allow Clarett in early, I sit at the keyboard now wondering what might have become of Clarett had he spent the last three years within the structure of a football team, which is probably the only structure he had ever known -- certainly the only one he ever appreciated. It's impossible to not wonder what might have happened had Clarett been good enough to stick with the Denver Broncos, who brought him to camp last summer.

Don't ever be desperate. Black. And an aspiring Ball player.


Nothing but poor decisions will come of this.
Desperation compromises ones ability to consider the long term effect of their current actions.
Peep.

Problem was, Clarett played the wrong sport for that kind of individual cash-in. The NBA sells its stars; the NFL sells its teams. Clarett wasn't sophisticated enough to see the difference. He wanted what he felt was coming to him, so he left Ohio State. He listened to the fools who told him it was his birthright to play in the NFL, even though labor laws and smart labor lawyers knew otherwise. Instead of getting tens of thousands of dollars up front to sign with the Broncos, which at least would have given him a little financial cushion (which more than 99 percent of kids coming out of college get), some knucklehead negotiated a back-loaded deal that presumed Clarett would make the team, which he didn't.

Clarett is troubled. He has clearly impolded. Every institution he interacted with is contributorily neglegent.

I hold Clarett accountable.

I hold Ohio State and the Broncos accountable too.

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Yall think im wrong. Narrow minded. Cynical. Naive.
Prolly a little bit of all of them. The bottom line is that what went down with this cat is symbolic and it is worthy of being analyzed.

I can hear crickets in this daggone blog. I guess erry body on vacy 'cept for me.
Thats cool. Imma go to see the penguins tomorrow. So, that kinda, makes it a mini vacay. Right!?!?!?!!?

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Hip Hop Culture is NOT Youth Culture.

DMX do be putting his heart and soul into his performances. I have long felt that X is one of the dudes I could pretty much take to any hood and feel comfortable. He rocks like that. Kalefa from the Times says,

X has built a hugely successful career (all five of his albums have made their debut at No. 1) by highlighting the kind of turmoil that rappers more often hide. Even more than Eminem (who balances his paranoia with a mischievous sense of humor) or Tupac Shakur (who balanced his laments with smooth, swaggering boasts), DMX makes it impossible for listeners to ignore his suffering and desperation.

X has been charged with possession of crack cocaine pipes and, on another occasion, cocaine. (Plenty of rappers brag about selling it, but smoking it remains absolutely taboo.) He has also been charged with animal cruelty, reckless driving and, strangest of all, impersonating a federal agent

I will co-sign on the fact that X is transparent with his emotions in a ride or die way that is severly endearing.
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A couple weeks ago, in the Sunday Times,
Benjamin Bridwell, of the "Band of Horses", had an insightful review of Ghostface.
He says,

I am a big fan of all the Wu Tang stuff, so I was anticipating “Fishscale” (Def Jam) for a while. I bought it the first day, and we’ve been listening to it constantly for the past month. The guy is just murdering the game, in the lingo. The whole album is so hungry, it has some of the best hooks on it. The lyrics are out of control and hilarious. “Be Easy” is an awesome song: it’s all about New York. There’s also the song “Kilo” featuring Raekwon, which has great female backing; the lyrics just grab you. I can’t quote the lyrics because it’s a family paper, but on the sixth song he comes out and he says, “Ya’ll be nice to the crackheads.” You really should be nice to the crackheads, they’re struggling.

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Davey D makes some very important points in his article that ask's whether hip hops main audience is white.
He points out that:

• The statistic started in 1991 when Newsweek Magazine did a cover story on Gangsta Rap and in their article they put out an un-researched statistic that said 80% of Hip Hop's audience is white and that its reflected in record sales.

• "Granted if one goes to a Mos Def show or even a Wu-Tang concert you will see a majority white audience in many cities, but does that translate to that 80% white [hip hop] audience?

• The article is informative in that it offers a chronology of how, when and where Hip Hop was played on the radio.

• Radio remains segregated, but not nearly was much as it was in the past. Davey points out how Top 20 rock/pop stations started playin Hip Hop. As a result they retained the amenities of being top 20, w/o having the stigma of being a nigga station.
  

What difference does it make if hip hops major audience is White or Latino or Black?

Historically, a variety of ethnicities have enjoyed Black Music. White folks rocked with Motown. Japanese folks lovingly patronized 1950's jazz and currently shows mad love to underground AND mainstream hip hop acts.

Hip Hops audience is not the major problem.
The major problem is that Black Culture is Equivicated with Hip Hop Culture. Which is dead wrong.

A people are NOT DEFINED by a music.

Music can be influential.
Music can play a major role in our lives.

Music can motivate you.

But to equivicate a genre of music with the definition of a people. Not cool fam.

We are more than Hip Hop.
That, by and large is the Problem that Bill and O has with Hip hop.
Where is the self awarness?

Where is the hood accountability?

Why inna f*ck ain't Damon Dash invested in real estate IN MARCY. IN Harlem. In Bushwick?
Why aren't their 15 Magic Johnson's? Its a war out here fam, and trust, between Ratner and Columbia, n*ggas gon' be in Philly, Maine.

That is For True.

And Trust fam. This housing/education/work situation is Huge. It makes me wanna say that THE situation is bigger than hip hop. What I will say is that Hip Hop's potential is amazing. Our current situation is BIGGER than Hip Hops current status. I think that is a a more accurate statement.

It is fatal to base ones culture on a movement that is driven by youth. Young people that that are largely hyper-undereducated and are so influenced by the dominant cultures message that they yet spend, spend, spend. They buy Akademics this and BAPE that 'till the cows come home. Hyper consumers and producers of little.

I am not turning on HH. HH was there for me when my family wasn't. What I am saying is that complex situation, requires a multilayered analysis.

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Wow. That was a late summer rant.

On to more , ahem, lighter topics.
So Gravy really did get shot, AND STILL GO UP to Hot 97. Peep this expose from the New Yorker Magazine by Ben McGrath.

For moral support, Gravy had assembled a sizable entourage—three or four dozen men—and outfitted them with extra-large blue T-shirts that read “Gravy” on the front and, on the back, “Brooklyn ‘Get Up,’ ” a reference to the first single from his forthcoming album. Punctuality is unusual in the rap world, but Gravy and his crew arrived early for his session, and when he presented himself at the Hot 97 studio, on Hudson Street in the West Village, at a quarter to seven, Flex sent him away and told him not to return until ten. Gravy went around the corner to get something to eat.

A couple of hours passed. “Then, after I got a sandwich and came out of the store—da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da! ” Gravy told me later, mimicking the sound of gunfire. “The only thing I remember is falling, and knowing that I’m shot—just don’t know where. It’s not like, when you get shot, ‘Oh, I got shot here.’ Nah. You know you hit, so your mind frame is—you pumped, your adrenaline is going. I reach my hand over, and I see I’m bleeding. I didn’t see the hole. I can’t see behind my ass.”

Gravy is an enormous man—well over six feet, and more than three hundred pounds—with a caboose to match. The bullet, it turned out, had struck him in his left buttock. “Straight clean shot— through the ass, through the thigh,” he said, gently rubbing the front of his pants leg.

I nominate Gravey for the Gully MC of 2006 award.
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That was a big 'ol August Hip Hop post.
Isn' this weather lovely?

I "found" that Mary song, Sincerity, I have been on the hunt for it for a hot minute.

All I knew was the beat. But. Sh*t. Sometimes that is all you need.

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M-dot_ Laser Shots_News +Tidbits

>>>>>>LASERSHOTS<<<<<<<

news + tidbits

• Is it legal for his @ss to move like this?

• You might wanna invest in a scooter.

• Fired via text message. That's hella scandless.

• Kevin Powell Quit his run for seat in the 10th Congressional District. Peep the article from the Amsterdam news.

Powell admits,that when he began to focus "all of my attention on this Congressional race, it quickly became very clear to me that I simply did not have the time and energy needed to put together a machine-like infrastructure, nor to tap into the massive national network I've developed over two decades in the worlds of politics, entertainment, finance, the arts, hip hop America, and elsewhere."

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It was fun putting those together. Wacha'll think?

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I got 'cho back, You Best Getcha Front!

I have one of those brains that will think about something. Plan on doing it. Get distracted, file it away. Search for it again when I have more time.

For example a few months ago I remembered seeing someone use Amazon wish lists are used to fetter out “subversives”.

Peep how Lars Toomre explains how works. He says,

While subconsciously I had been aware of how much personal data is freely distributed as we go about our daily lives, this post was an eye-opener for how “an individual with access to the internet can still develop a fairly sophisticated profile of hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens using free and publicly available resources.” The author, Tom Owad, then develops an example of how possible subversives can be identified using public baby names data, key phrases and books titles/subjects, the Amazon book wish list functionality, and the free Google Maps API. This example is truly impressive just for what Tom created as a demonstration.

Tonight, I found myself blogging and editing my book list so I decided to search the amazon list.

I cannot BELIVE WHAT I FOUND.

This dude searched and downloaded 15 thousand amazon wish lists.

He choose some right leaning books, some left leaning, and the bible.

He then:

-Sorted 10 of them using their ip addresses.

-Located their lat/alt coordinates.

-Then he yahoo mapped him.

The process is called datamining. Which is fitting.

I felt intrusive reading it.

One day you could be reading Orwell, next day you could wind up in Guantanamo.

But the truth is that all this info out and available to the public

Why didn’t I become an computer engineer again?

p.s.
In looking for a photo on spy's I came across. This. This company, which shall remain nameless because I want to keep my blog, is really protective about their brand. I can't believe these photos are up. Privacy is Officially deaded.

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See yall didn't know m.dot could flip it on the techology side. That must be the silicon valley in me coming out, har har har.

This weekend was so dope. BL's family had a jump off at Bear Mountain, which is about 1 hour from NYC. Then he ran me around like a slave at Ikea and BJ's.

Long live the weekend warriors right. Oh. Please believe, renting a Ford Exlplorer rental for the weekend, is THAT SH-t. Who KNEW cars/suv's could be that much fun!?!?!?!

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10 Ways Crack Changed the Hood.

In honor of OhWords crack week, I have decided to contribute 10 ways Crack Changed the Hood.

10 Ways Crack Changed the Hood.

1. Aiesha's, from next doors, cute brother, went from being a scrawny 8th grader with a crooked smile to an aspiring d-boy who was ready willing and able to pop a fool for grinding on his turf.

2. There was an explosion of Crack Zombies in the Hood. In every neighborhood, there were allways your garden variety of wino's, crazy ladies, and bad boys that steal cars. But crack changed the game so dramatically, because of the explosion of Crack Zombies.

3. Crack made funeral homes in Detroit, Oakland, LA, New Orleans, Philly, D.C. hundred thousandares.

4. Crack made getting a decent education in a public school in a major city impossible. For instance, if the teacher is spending 6 percent of her time, discipling children born addicted to crack, or children wilding out because their families wild out at home because some one is smoking crack, then it is going to be hard for a teacher to convey his 5th grade lesson plan.

5. Crack gave rappers something to talk about. What would Jay-Z, 50, Mobb Depp, NAS, Snoop, E-40, Scarface or TI talk about if it wasn't for crack?

6. Crack contributed to sneakermania. Who other than D-Boys could afford $150 Jordans in '91.

7. Crack meant a whole new Genre of flicks. Boyz in the Hood. Menance to Society. Sugar Hill. Colors. Straight Outta Brooklyn. The list goes on and on.

8. Crack ensured that the New York Cities real esate industry would remained depressed until Guilani jumped off his quality of life initiative.

9. Crack is responsible for the comfortable middle class lifestyle that many police officers enjoy. In NYC you start at 35k. But, if you put in work, and manage not to get murked, then you can earn upwards of $80k. Think about it. If you have murder murder murder, kill kill kill, po po has to patrol extra. If they patrolling around the clock or on some crazy 20 hour shifts, the financial result can make a $60K/year job into a $95K/year job.

10. Crack meant the task force. They were super police. Those black jackets and the yellow writing. They were not to be f-cked with.

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Did I miss anything blog fam? If so, lemme know?
I think I am going to do 10 crack related books next.
The heat wave is over tomorrow. Thank my angels:)

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M.Dot does Sex (ual_ Politics)

Nothing like vintage Pam Grier to set off a post about sexual politics.


I was just thinking that for a blog about hip hop real estate and sex, I sure am skimpy on the latter. Consider this post an effort to address that wrong.

Last months article in Essence magazine about women that date their pastors stood out to me. I have allways been interested in how the relationship women have, or don't have, with their fathers, affects how they select men to date.

The article pointed out why a woman is interested in dating her pastor. It said that the church is,

"... the one place in this country where the often demonized and disillusioned Black man can still reign supreme. Add to that the fact that the leader who occupies the Big Chair is usually charismatic, articulate, charming and emotive, and you have a presence that�s near-irresistible. For some sisters, the pastor is nothing short of a messenger sent by God to deliver the heavenly hope and healing that too often elude us in our earthly existence."

"It's not unusual for women to become attracted to a pastor who is counseling them simply because they are receiving validation from him,� he observes. That attention is something they wish they were getting from their husbands or the men in their lives�"

I wager that something bigger is going on here. Women and men for that matter like the rush of going after something that they, perceivably cannot have.

• The Bad Boy. Can't have him, his first love is his baby momma or the streets or both.

• The Married Cat. Can't have him. He's married.

• The Nice Guy. Can't have him. He's too nice. And we all know that if he is nice, then there is something wrong with him.

In NYC, I have witnessed an interesting phenomenom. A woman will date your man. Not in the conventional sense, but in the soft sense.

For example, BBC was messing with this woman, "mean witch", who openly referred to her male friend as "work husband", I kid you not. Now a grown @ssed woman should NOT be referring to ANOTHER WOMANS HUSBAND as her "work husband". It's tacky, disrespectful and not very pro woman. Here is a woman, dating BBC, and talking about her "work husband". Clearly they did not work out. But what part of the game is a work husband? You know we travel in language here.

Calling A MAN your work husband is pretty loaded language. Women will date him, right under your nose. For instance,

• They will invite your man to their work christmas party.
• They will try and go on vacation with your man b/c he is her "best friend".
• They will try and have long assed conversations with him when the three of you are out.
• They will never bring around their s.o's or potential s.o's out of a desire to never have the shoe on the other foot.
• They will not necessarily be attracted to, or want your s.o., but they will enjoy the attention that HE gives her. That becomes a slippery slope because you don't want your s.o. looking are your homie side ways.
  

Now granted yall, I am possessive. But I am also reasonable. Depending on the dynamic between my s.o. and another woman, I ain't gon' trip. We all grown. But let me feel like she ain't respecting. Please believe it. Because the dynamic between said woman and my s.o. will be rendered null and void and the behavior will be addressed with the quickness. I have learned the hardway about keeping quiet about 'ish.

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Apparently the porn industry is mad segregated. Women are encouraged to and it is considered permissable, to be freaky, wild for the night, to rock with men, to rock with women, and pretty much anyone else inbetween.

However, when a DUDE, does the same thing, he gets boycotted by certain folks in the porn industry.

Here is the article from the Village Voice.
Below I have pasted and excerpt,

When women f-ck men and women, or do gang bangs, bukkakes, and other "non-traditional" acts on film, they're usually applauded as super-sluts. They are encouraged to push their limits, do freaky things, indulge their wild child. But men are held to a different standard. There are no such rewards for fucking outside the box.

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The double standard lives. Who knew that I would pick the hottest day of the summer to sit down and espouse sexual politics. Perhaps it IS the weather. How are you all keeping cool. I just walk really slow. I drink lots of Vitamin Water, and I continue to eat tacos.

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Thank you.

I knew I wanted to write.
More importantly, I knew I wanted to write about women and hip hop and men, and sex, and primo beats, and mobb deep and 40 slang and ebonics.

A year later, I say thank you to you all.

Thank you to danyel, jase, james, for telling me to just pick a title and write.

Thank you to Santood for letting me steal the title from one of our many margarita laden conversations.

Thank you to gotty, hashim, big walt, rafi &dp and eskay for blogging and for the big ups and inspiration 'yall have given this year.

Thank you to all the regular readers ms. tpw, j, chidi, duane & ms. ahmad. When I write I know yall be peepin' and there is very few things in this word like reciprocity.
Peace to Mac J.
Can't wait to see you back fam!

We just gotta rock the archives for a hot minute.

Thank you to the lurkers. I know 'yall be trollin'. Its okay to make yourself know. We don't bite here at mm. At least not initially:)

1 year and 150 post down.
150 more to go:)

Coney Island is Trill!

I went to Coney Island on Monday July 3rd . It was deep. I never saw so many, Eastern Europeans, Brazilian soccer dudes, Puerto Rican homies and Deep Brooklyn Jewish cats in the same place at the same time in my life.

Coney Island is a Grand experiment in Democracy. Real Talk.

On the way to the train, I was rocking my Stop Shooting T-shirt (gett'em at Oh Word.com) I got the most interesting looks from po-po, left leaning white liberals, gully brooklyn thugs and old grandmommas. Some people, smirked, others smiled. It was really interesting to observe how people react to the message on my shirt.

In terms of the train ride. First. I got on the B. Then I got on the D. Blog family, the D is express in Manhattan, but local in BK. The train stopped on every stop. I finally gets there and it was cool. Laid out the blanket and what not. Reading my scandless summer sizzler by Donna Hill. Oh, there were mad mexicanos selling them, coronas, umbrellas and budweisers and mangoes on a stick with cayanne pepper. Them sh*ts look gully. I couldn't believe that the police let them rock like that. But I guess they were down by the water, and po po can't be every where at the same time. I swear, blog family, there were three couples, that were puerto rican, and they set up a DOMINO TABLE AT THE BEACH. THAT was so hood. I Loved it!

So I am there backing for a couple of hours, and this little rug rat came over with his parent. This dude, threw sand on me. I kid you not. Now yall know I got anger issues. I DO NOT NEED some bad @ss 2 year old throwing sand on me. His momma let me do it. His dad apologized. So now I got my eye on his lil' a$. These dude turned around and did it agin. Thats it. Sand in the hair, can of whup @$ gets opened!


I told the momma, "You better get your son!" For real! Soon after they took him down the beach to terrorize someone else. After I left the beach, I wound up in Prospect Heights at my girl T's house. We sat in frente de her building, drinking some beverages y mas watermelon right on St. John's off Washington. Somebody opened their car door and started playing Biggie Hella loud, and I thought to myself, this is So Brooklyn. Wow. That was a lot of typing for one sitting. Its july, and I intend on enjoying every weekend of it.
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Can it be a stayed away too long.....?

Dear blog readers. I am here. I am working on posts and life is Crazy like a July summer should be.
Here are some tidbits I have come across and the last few.
Let me know what 'chall thaink?


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N*gga trippin off Jay Z Cristal comments. Well a writer from the Washington Post tells Jay to take it easy. GTFOHWBS.

Luxury brands -- and mid-priced ones, as well -- have had a variety of responses to hip-hop's embrace. Timberland was famously not thrilled with the popularity of its boots among rappers and their fans. Other brands, such as Prada, have simply kept silent about their prominence in rap songs. Other companies have been proactive in choosing the performers with whom they'll form close relationships. In 1996, Louis Vuitton featured Grandmaster Flash in one of its advertisements. Just recently, Pharrell Williams collaborated on a line of Louis Vuitton sunglasses and created the soundtrack for one of its runway shows. Giorgio Armani hosted 50 Cent at a recent ready-to-wear show. Dolce & Gabbana outfitted Mary J. Blige for a concert tour. And brands from Gucci to Chanel have been inspired by hip-hop performers.

Whats wrong? Black man cain't use his voice to speak out on what he believes right. Prolly thinks Jay should shut up and sell raps.

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Hold Up. So this dude is in Thailand, selling boot leg Deisel jeans to pay for Sex. Talk about a new jack hustle.

Aaron's is the basic business model for all e-bootleggers. Each week, he visits the Mah Boon Krong mall, known as MBK -- one of Bangkok's most popular shopping centers, complete with multiplex and bowling alley. In his favorite store on the sixth floor, the jeans, shirts and accessories are stacked 8 feet high. Styles are current, stitches are tight and the counterfeit labels will pass casual inspection.

After some tough negotiating, one pair of "Diesels" costs 550 baht, or about $14.30; it will sell for between $45 and $100, plus shipping. Without breaking a sweat, Aaron can run 20 auctions per week and clear upward of $1,000. In 2005, one of his more ambitious friends pulled in an estimated $100,000 -- tax-free, risk-free.

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Ex-Bush Aide Fatally Shoots Son, Himself
Gunfire at McLean Home Followed Fight With Wife
Dude is Black. Deep right?!?!?!

A former Bush administration official, after arguing violently with his wife Thursday night, shot and killed his 12-year-old son inside their McLean home, then turned a shotgun on himself and committed suicide, Fairfax County police said.

William H. Lash III, 45, was an assistant secretary of commerce from 2001 until last year, then returned to teach at George Mason University Law School in Arlington, where he had begun as a professor in 1994. His wife, Sharon K. Zackula, fled the house before the shootings, and police said yesterday they were not sure what ignited the murder-suicide in a first-floor bedroom.

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They trynna take away our you tube happiness yall.

Spine mag .com swipey.

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M.C. Hammer's catalog got sold for 2.7 Million.

I put my soul on 2 inch reels that I don't even own.- Pharcyde

We anticipate that many songs in the MC Hammer catalog will emerge as a perfect fit for licensing in movies, television shows, and corporate advertising," Schulhof added.

MC Hammer filed for bankruptcy protection in 1996, with debts in excess of $14 million, despite raking in over $33 million in 1991.

Some of the rapper's assets included a luxurious mansion valued between $12 and $20 million dollars, 17 race cars, a Boeing 727, a Kentucky Derby race horse and a monthly payroll of over $500,000.

Evergreen also acquired producer/publisher Jerry Crutchfield's Crutchfield/Glitterfish catalog, which includes hits from Tim McGraw, Martina McBride, George Straight and others.

I wonder what Hammer would be doing today if he did not go bankrupt?
I wonder who could have prevented him from going bankrupt.
I wonder what he regrets.
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This article is like a two pac song. Beautiful and Heartbreaking and angry all at the same time.
The Power to break up a family should be used judiciously. Excerpt below is from an article on social workers and how they weigh the decision of removing children from their home and placing them in foster care.

The staff is made up of investigators and treatment workers, with investigators handling the initial unannounced knock on the door after a report of abuse or neglect comes into the state’s hot line. Investigators have up to 45 days to decide whether to take a kid into D.C.F. custody, or to leave him at home but compel the family to accept the department’s long-term help, or to deem a report unsubstantiated and let the case go. During this time they can enter the house again and again and interview school nurses and neighbors, anyone who might know how well or terribly a child is being cared for. To take control of a child for longer than four days, the department needs a judge’s approval, but if a social worker senses that a child is at immediate risk, a supervisor’s signature on a form known as a “96-hour hold” will let her walk away with that boy, that girl or all the children in the house.

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So I am on my blog greasy. Putting finishing touches on my, "Why women love bad boys" post, "The Coney Island, Stop Shooting" post, (Hi Rafi) and my .2 cents on the "Phonte/Noz/Bol/Gotty" bloggy fun. Oh, Davey D got a post up on the role of the White fan in Hip Hop.
All I know is that it is hot, and M.dot, is happy she don't stay in Queens. How you gon' live inna tri-state and not have electricity for 6+ days. We ain't at camp!


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

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.

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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.]

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 cliché 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.

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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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