Archive for the 'Rap/Hip-Hop Music' category

O.J and Oh, Britney. The Week In Celebrity Shame

Sep 17 2007 Published by under Cable, Celebrities, Craziness, Crime, Miscellany, Music, Pop Culture, Pop Music, Programming, Rap/Hip-Hop Music, Self-Promotion, Sex, Society, Stuff That Sucks, Television

It’s been a bad week to be sick. With so much celebrity embarrassment on parade, not having the energy to trash them is really troubling.

Let’s set the wayback machine for the VMAs last week. This show had it all – award winners trashing the network that hosts the awards, has-been rockers duking it out over whored out former TV stars, single moms trying to whore themselves out (but nobody was buying), and militant rappers getting peeved that the awards weren’t rigged for them to win. Your entertainment dollar was simply not going to go farther than the 2007 VMAs

Britney was supposed to warm up the audience, but left everyone feeling cold. Blame it on the hair, the lip-synching, the magic act that wasn’t, the drinking, the allergic reaction to eye drops (what?), or any of another 100 oft-repeated excuses for the train wreck we witnessed, the sad reality is we want to see a nubile 20 year-old in skin tight leather dancing like a tramp or tongue kissing Madonna (actually, skip that last part). The fact is, Brit is now a single mom who, with every public appearance, reminds us of the line from Sweet Home Alabama.

Look at you! You have a baby! In a bar!

Here’s some advice Brit. Put on some clothes, write/sing a grown-up song, and stop trying to convince us that you’re the hot little vixen of Baby One More Time. That ship has sailed. You were used up by a douchebag, and the only guy that still wants you is this loser.

Next up… Kid Rock and Tommy Lee. Even with Britney and Kanye melting down at the VMAs, this is probably the most pathetic story of the night. These two guys get into a brawl over a woman who, by her own admission, paid off a poker debt with sex. Yup. That girl is a class act that is worth fighting for. Go get her, guys.

Speaking of Kanye, I don’t think I could sum this one up any better than Joel McHale (host of The Soup). After recapping Kanye’s choice words about his perceived snub at the hands of MTV, McHale said, “Geez. 50 Cent didn’t whine that much when he got shot.” True dat!

In our last glimpse backward at the VMAs, perhaps the one shining moment in the telecast came when Justin Timberlake (surrounded by the vapid cast of The Hills) excoriated MTV for filling its programming with non-stop reality TV and begged them to actually play music occasionally. It seems Timberlake may be one of the few people who owes his soul to MTV, and at the same time feels bad because he’s old enough to remember that MTV used to stand for Music Television.

Finally, back in the present, let’s dip into the overflowing cup of comedy gold that is O.J. Simpson. The same week that his book (If I Did It) comes out, and the world may read his claim that he’s not a criminal (at least not a murderous one), he gets arrested for storming into a sports memorabilia show with armed accomplices and trying to steal pieces of his life. It’s not clear whether he actually owns any of what he tried to steal. And it’s not clear if he was armed, but a tape of the incident clearly demonstrates his anger and rage as he barks out instructions that no one is to be allowed to leave.

Wow, O.J., armed robbery and taking hostages. That’s a hell of a good way to prove you’re not a killer. Maybe next time you could sacrifice a small puppy on national TV and tell people your killing is limited only to the animal kingdom. By the way, aren’t you supposed to be out there trying to catch the real killer?

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I’m Normally A Fan, But….

Mar 08 2006 Published by under Movies, Oscar Worthy Movies, Pop Culture, Rap/Hip-Hop Music, Society

MoviesI like to read The Corner from time to time so it’s hard for me to say this, but Tim Graham really missed the boat on something. The lefty blogs have been beating him up about it, and to make the chorus less partisan, let me jump in.

I’ve seen Crash, but not Hustle and Flow, but doesn’t it seem there’s great disagreement between Terence Howard’s roles? In one, he’s a slick Hollywood producer, disappointed that white boss Tony Danza makes him dumb down the black character in his sitcom. And in the other, he’s a pimp trying to become a rapper trying to rhyme about “hos” instead of exploiting them. And is Hollywood really saying this is the “best” in film music today?

If you had seen Hustle & Flow, you’d know that the premise of your statement is wrong. Howard spends most of the film exploiting “hos”. He has a stable of three, one of whom he seems to be in love with, one he seems to be a father figure for, and one who is so atrocious as a human he eventually throws her out.

The movie isn’t really about “pimping” as a story line. The movie is about the struggles of a guy who wants to be more than what he has become. He has a brief opening to do that, so he pours everything he has into it. The song, had Graham seen the movie, reflects that. It’s Hard Out Here For a Pimp means it’s a hard lifestyle having to live that way. It’s hard being broke, having few options in life, and having to turn to an abhorrent lifestyle just to survive.

In Crash, which I still maintain is the worst movie ever, he actually plays a very similar role. Howard plays the director of a TV sitcom who is trying to keep his “big life” in the face of white bosses who want him to ghetto out his characters, white cops that finger bang his wife while he watches helplessly, and his black wife who is constantly riding his ass about not doing more. Think of that character as being the next stage in the evolution of the pimp character. Once you get the fame, and have options, how do you hold onto that life. How much would you sell out to keep from falling back down.

Graham’s point seems to be that Howard is a potential role model for black America. He is striking a blow in one film, and reinforcing a stereotype in the other. That sends mixed messages to the African American community. Unfortunately, had he seen both films, he’d know he is wrong. Howard was striking a blow in both films.

Graham tries to reinforce his point by citing Courtland Milloy’s WaPo piece about the real world of pimping versus the Hollywood version and the realm of rap music that accompanies black culture.

African Americans have emerged as the only people on Earth who immortalize their mothers and sisters in the worst derogatory ways.

Actually, that’s a rap culture thing, not black or white. Look at Eminem. Unless you’re going to argue that he’s black, any look at denigration of mothers should start with him. This is a guy who fought his mother in court over the lyrics about her. This is a guy who includes a big “FU” to his mom on just about every album. That resonates with a lot of people for a simple reason.

It may not have occurred to Milloy, but these moms and sisters may not be the ideal role model for parents and siblings. In many cases, mom is absent because she is the breadwinner in homes with no father. The child holds resentment for that absence. Dad left, but mom wasn’t there. Adults who grew up in that environment may even blame their mothers for their position in life. The sisters, who may or may not have been very adept at care giving, also become the object of scorn. This, again, is not a black/white thing. This is symptomatic of the culture of poverty.

It appears Graham and Milloy may have fallen into the same trap. Graham admits his problem – he doesn’t actually have first-hand knowledge of that upon which he expounds.

Milloy comes across the same way. He has the vibe of an elitist DC journalist writing about African American issues simply because he is African American, not because he relates to them. I don’t know his story, and WaPo’s bio is a broken link. He may well have come from humble beginnings, but he doesn’t come across that way. I suspect he knows as much about life in poverty as Graham knows about Hustle & Flow – he’s heard about it, but can’t be bothered to actually experience it before he writes about it.

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