At the end of the day, it's just music

Alicia Keys apparently has given some kind of an interview where she says gangsta rap doesn't exist and that it was made up to get Black people to kill each other. I kind of get what she is saying but it seems kind of hypocritical to comment on violence in our communities when she was in the extremely violent (and god awfully bad) movie, Smokin Aces. Young impressionable black kids are just as likely to emulate her bounty hunter character as they are NWA or Tupac or Biggie. It's not about a vast government conspiracy, it's about idol worship.

Rappers like Tupac fed off of their own hype as gangsta rappers and that is why they are no longer with us. As far as them being Black leaders...eh, that might be stretching it a bit. Icons certainly, I don't know about leaders. Keys should know better than anyone that music is a business and when something is hot, record execs will take it and run with it.That's not just the government's fault, it's the entertainment industry. Violence and the way our country perpetuates it is the root of the problem, not music. Case in point, this unfortunate occurrence back in the early nineties: (don't act like you don't remember when MC Hammer went gangsta for like a week...)











link via AP
image via tbn networks

What is happening to the World? Oh yeah...for a minute I thought things were getting better.

I am not particularly surprised just annoyed, that in less than a week, we have had two "insightful" viewpoints (and by insightful, I mean completely ridiculous, racist and unnecessary) from two of the foremost experts on race, Bill O' Reilly aka "Douche" and Adrienne Curry aka, "The girl who won the first Top Model, who married the least cute one from the Brady Bunch, who talks like she had way too many Jello shots at that party."

Oh, and let's not forget that wack-a doo Amenanjalalabad or whatever his name is....spouting all sorts of dangerous crazy blocks from where I work. Scary.

So O'Reilly is amazed (and you can hear it in his voice) that dining in a Black restaurant like Sylvia's is no different from dining in a white establishment. Well, this must be the most newsworthy story he has come out with since he started attacking rappers a while ago. He also goes on to marvel at all the "respectable, well- dressed" Black people at an Anita Baker concert. Blacks entertaining in tuxedos...just like the good old days. Get a clue, Bill. The more you open your bigoted mouth, the more you add to the problem. Does this guy have children? God, I hope not...imagine growing up in the O'Reilly household:

"Bill Jr., are you listening to that negro music again?"
"But dad, all the affluent, sheltered white kids at my school are listening to Ludacris!"
"Son, don't you know that rap music is the downfall of human civilization? Now let's go, we have reservations at Sylvia's...great place, I'm just puzzled as to why they don't have watermelon and malt liquor on the menu..."

What's even funnier (and not in a good way) is that he is actually mad that websites have him spewing this garbage on tape... he claims that it was taken out of context...of course! Silly me! Um, hello, it is your voice, on tape. You would think that this guy would learn about people recording his voice based on past indiscretions...oh well. Lesson to Bill that he is probably too old and out of touch to care about learning: It is not what you say, but how you say it. And who you say it to, like thousands of people on the radio. (idiot)

Now, in Adrienne Curry's defense, she is probably not that bright....seriously, what is up with the slurred speech? Head trauma as a child? A little too much huffing in high school? Whatever the reason, I actually got her intentions in posting this blog on myspace, but wonder of wonders, amidst all the uninformed, racist remarks her intentions like her modeling career, got lost. Yes model, we all get that in an ideal world, race should not be an issue and Black History is American history and blabbity blabbity blah....now once again, let's step into a little something I like to call reality. People of color way back when were basically robbed of any choice, any true freedoms so to hold on to what little identity we had left, to regain our pride, we had to find ways to show that yes, we are here and yes, it is a truly f***ed up situation but we have to do something to rise above it. Hence, BET (which should really be boycotted because it is garbage now...where is Donnie Simpson when you need him?) and Black History Month, AND Telemundo AND the Country Music Channel....everyone needs to identify with something, honey. Curry clearly does not understand that when you go off on rants like this and then say you are not racist, it makes you look (lean in closer) LIKE AN ASS. And of course days after, she issues the mandatory: "white guilt, half assed apology" (which she can pretty much keep) and continues to play the "I grew up like the family on Roseanne, I dated a Black guy so I understand" card. Give me a Break. Or better yet, read a book. I recommend The Invisible Man, The Autobiography of Malcolm X and the Bluest Eye. Then maybe she can really say that she is beginning to understand instead of claiming to already know.

As for this guy Ahmadinejad (yes, I really do know how to spell his name), what is there to say? He came to New York, he was predictably loony and our reaction to it might have made things even worse as far as American/ Middle East relations go, not that we didn't have the right to react. There's the conundrum of being an American. Can't we all just get along? I keep imagining all the Iranian gays in the audience when he spoke at Columbia after that ridiculous statement he made...how do you say "Oh no he didn't!!!" in Iranian?

This will most likely be the first and last biblical quote i put on here but isn't it so appropriate?

"Out of the Abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh."

-Matthew 12:34

image via Tim's Wine
links via Media Matters, Wikipedia, Myspace, Ifilm, NPR