Tuesday, June 7th, 2005

Davey D: Guess It Is A Game

Davey D on The Game’s latest stupidity below. Original report from Allhiphop’s Jayson Rodriguez is here.

Somethings to Ponder…Hey Game-When is Enough, Enough?
By Davey D

Before I began, I wanna let everyone know I been writing up my final four picks for Greatest All-Time Hip Hop albums. I’m trying to really mash this out and offer up some good history and keen insight. Trust me you will not be disappointed, but it takes time… In the meantime, I had to comment on the following situation…

So this past weekend radio station Hot 97 in New York held its annual Summer jam Concert which was packed with the ultimate Hip Hop line up. Everyone was on board including; Common, Talib Kweli, Kanye West, Ludacris, Lil Jon, Snoop Dogg, and Ice Cube just to name a few. They even had a surprise visit from Jay-Z.

However, it was Game who overshadowed the proceedings with his first New York appearance since his infamous altercation with 50 Cent resulting in a shooting outside the radio station. This as we all know, was followed up with a public burying of the hatchet with 50 and Game donating a ton of money to the Harlem Boy’s Choir.

The public peace making suggested to everyone that the pair saw themselves as key figures in the public and wanted to set a positive example for all to follow. It seemed like a good end to what was a tumultuous situation. A lot of people were hopeful that the Game vs. 50 cent beef would not go the way that the Biggie vs. Pac beef went.

Lurking in the backdrop of all this, was Reverend Al Sharpton who exploded onto the scene a few weeks back demanding that warring artists and the radio stations that play them clean up their act and stop being the facilitators of their conflicts. He held a town hall meeting. He went on all the news talk shows and he wrote a scathing letter to the FCC asking them to pay close attention and to put pressure on the radio stations that providing platforms for artists to promote their conflicts with one another.

In addition to all this, Game found himself in hot water when he got hit with a 280 million dollar lawsuit because of an altercation he had with a DJ Xzulu who was formerly with Radio One’s WYKS in Washington DC. The DJ accused Game’s entourage of the unprovoked beating resulting him getting his ribs busted and him having to spend a couple of days in the hospital.

For those who don’t know what allegedly prompted the beating was DJ Xzulu remarking that the Blue Tooth headset worn by one of Game’s people looked like something a Vulcan wears. Dude apparently didn’t like the Vulcan reference and the rest is history. According to Xzulu, he wasn’t going to sue until Game went and re-recorded vocals to his hit song ‘Hate It or Love It’ and made reference to the DC incident in the hook.

So all this is happening in Game’s world, but as of late he seemed intent on trying to overcome all these past dramas and move to higher and hopefully more positive ground. For example, he recently donated a lot of money to local Compton community organizations. He participated in the recently held West Coast peace Summit which was organized by Snoop Dogg and resulted in the Dogg Pound reuniting and Snoop squashing his troubles with Suge Knight. Game also came together with Snoop to do a West Coast Unity Tour which was significant because Game is affiliated with the Bloods in Compton and Snoop with the Crips in Long Beach which are rival gangs and rival cities in Southern Cali.

Ok-so now you have the full picture…Now let’s get back to the Hot 97 Summer Jam in New York. According to reports from sources like Allhiphop, Game took to the stage and threatened to knock out G-Unit members Lloyd banks and Tony Yayo. He called 50 Cent a rat and then proceeded to beat down a rat mascot that appeared on stage. This was followed up with Game throwing his G-Unit medallion into the crowd, him yelling G-G-G-Unit Not throughout his set and him telling folks that 50 cent is not the King of New York because dude had relocated to Connecticut.

Upon hearing about this all one can do is ask, “Why Game why?” and “When is enough, enough?” With all these things going on, why was it necessary for Game to get on stage and start up the beef again with 50 Cent and the G-Unit posse?

I’m hoping that this is all just a staged situation and that all this was done to generate controversy and press. But even if that was the case, these beefs, staged or not, are getting old. Even if 50 and Game never come to blows you best believe there is likely to be drama amongst the fans that have love and passion for these artists. Have we not forgotten the huge brawl that took place in Long Beach shortly after the initial altercation between 50 and Game?. Furthermore since all eyes are on them, all this talk about peace goes out the window and sends a strong message to folks who look up to artists like Game-that all this talk about shaking hands and moving past the drama is pure bullshit.

Adding to all this, are the lack of steps that corporate radio giants like Hot 97 have taken. One would think this embattled media outlet would be the first to pull the plug and call it a day. One would think that Hot 97 would be the first to say to Game; you can have beef, but not on our stage and turn off his sound. We should also note that the station did cut the sound on Snoop and the D-Block camp when their sets went too long, so it wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities and was within their jurisdiction.

Lastly it will be interesting to see how Reverend Al Sharpton who as I mentioned earlier, publicly called for a 90 day ban by radio stations on any artists promoting beef. So here we have Game in New York City kicking up dust and promoting beef-now what? Will there be ban? I doubt it…is hot 97 really gonna pull an artists who is blowing up the charts?

I will say this for the record, several years ago when Too Short provoked an altercation with the Luniz he was banned from the local radio station His records did not get airplay for quite some time… so such things can happen if there’s a real commitment to bring about peace. Unfortunately, I guess asking for an end to drama is a bit too much especially since the marketing, fueling and maintaining of beef is a multi-million dollar industry. Even more disturbing is that this culture of beef has gone on to the point that people are addicted to it, so much so that you actually come across strange and may be accused of being weak for asking for peace. Imagine that?

Anyway, before I bounce I have a couple of questions… With the recent arrests of actors Russell Crowe who is accused of throwing a phone at a hotel employee during an argument, and Christian Slater who is accused of groping a woman, do we now refer to these guys as ‘gangsta actors’ After all, both Crowe and Slater have been arrested numerous times and some of their transgressions rival if not surpass those that are often attributed to some rappers. Yet the media still treats them as icons. Thus far there has been no Bill O’Reilly calling for a boycott on any of their films and DVDs or anything like anything like that. I’m just wondering why the special treatment? Anyway let me not digress…

It’s Something to Ponder

posted by @ 9:32 am | 1 Comment

Friday, June 3rd, 2005

Mark Anthony Neal on the (New) Death of Rhythm & Blues

Two killer pieces in one week? Yup. Here’s Mark on The Slow Decline of R&B:

“Black music has always had a complicated relationship with big business. That this relationship has typically had little to do with actual music perhaps explains the often unbalanced quality of this thing we’ve come to call R&B. This complicated relationship also partly explains what exactly R&B is. “

What I love about this piece is how easily Mark moves between historical narrative, political economy analysis, and especially, critical aesthetic chops.

These days most hip-hop criticism is only about the latter. The best of it usually only has two of the above, and an understanding of political economy is not part of it. We can talk about the reasons for that–starting with the fact that a paycheck tends to be a great mystifier.

In any case, here’s yet another plug for yall writers, students, and folks who care–please cop Norman Kelley’s Rhythm and Business when it’s reissued in an updated paperback version this August.

And by all means, read (or re-read) Nelson George’s classic The Death of Rhythm and Blues. George ends his book with the rise of hip-hop in the mid-80s, but the way he talks about R & B has some eerie and fascinating parallels that make the book seem prophetic at this point in time…

posted by @ 7:50 am | 1 Comment

Friday, June 3rd, 2005

MTV and BET to Air Special ‘Hip-Hop Is Dead’ Week

From here:

(June 3, New York City) Viacom’s main music channels-MTV Networks and BET-will coordinate an unprecedented multi-channel promotion for an upcoming “Hip-Hop Is Dead” Week. “It’s finally dead,” said Viacom executive Tom Freston, “and for this we are grateful.” He added, “An event of this magnitude demands that we leverage Viacom’s assets into a spectacular funeral for a culture we’ve all tolerated for far too long.”

The week will begin with a gala three-hour presentation entitled “Audi 5000: So Long to Hip-Hop”, hosted by Flava Flav and C. Delores Tucker, featuring performances by Jack White, Nellie McKay, James Mtume, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and an hour-long speech delivered in grammatically proper English by noted anti-Ebonicist John McWhorter. “I will argue that ‘Yo! MTV Raps!’ caused test scores among rich white schoolchildren to decline,” McWhorter told Playahata.com. “It is an American tragedy.”

MTV Networks-including MTV2, MTVu, and VH1-will also air a half-hour documentary called “This Is How We Roll”, a documentary about the Reverend Calvin Butts’ attempts to stamp out hip-hop in Harlem during the early 90s, and a 4-part series, “And It Did Stop”, tracing the rise of hip-hop culture from the streets of the Bronx to its demise in the ivory towers of the Ivy League, the planned communities of Outer Exurbia, the set of “Strange Love”, and the offices of Bad Boy Records.

Programmers expect the death of hip-hop will allow MTV to return to its early 80s roots-before the channel played Michael Jackson or any black artists. “White rock is so back,” said MTV program director Perry Noxus.

Sources say MTV2 and MTVu expect to increase their rotation of Italian techno bands and anything by They Might Be Giants. BET is replacing its “Rap City” and “106th and Park” shows with reruns of “The Old Negro Spiritual Hour” and infomercials. BET vice president Harrington Rentfield said, “It fits with our programming policy of never doing original shows where a cheap or paid syndicated program will do.”

Civil rights leaders applauded Viacom’s decision. “I’m glad my daughter doesn’t have to watch or listen to this crap anymore,” said Franklin Mooch, president of the Denver chapter of the I Marched With Dr. King Club, which claims a national membership of over 875,000. “Now my son can go back to listening to wholesome family artists like R. Kelly.”

High-placed Viacom executives said the idea for “Hip-Hop Is Dead” Week began with a January 2005 cover story article in the Village Voice. “They started writing about it in the 80s so they should know”, said Viacom head of urban marketing Prescott Vanderbilt. “We checked with our street teams in Idaho, and they confirmed it: hip-hop is dead.” The article was written by Greg Tate, who told Playahata.com, “That’s not what I said!”

In related news, rumors are flying that BET will be shut down shortly after “Hip-Hop Is Dead” week. “I mean all they play is hip-hop videos and movies with dead hip-hop guys in them,” says an unnamed Viacom executive. “Who’s gonna watch that now?” Regarding the rumors, BET founder and president Robert Johnson, vacationing in Aruba at his fourteenth home, could not be reached, but issued this statement through a representative: “Shit, I’m rich, biaatch!”

posted by @ 7:11 am | 1 Comment

Wednesday, June 1st, 2005

Thangs To Do, Books To Read

I was honored to blurb the following two books because they both bring the topic of whiteness and hip-hop together in provocative ways.

Bakari Kitwana’s Why White Kids Love Hip-Hop came out yesterday. After focusing on the issues of post-civil rights African Americans in his classic book, The Hip-Hop Generation, he moves to hip-hop’s multiracial appeal here, and specifically its draw for exurban and suburban whites. He argues that hip-hop offers a space for real talk about race to occur. You get his read on Eminem, updates and analysis on the ongoing hip-hop political project, and most intriguing to me, his deconstruction of the idea that “70% of all hip-hop buyers are white”. This latter section is especially sharp–Bakari unpacks the racial implications of that claim, then debunks it as a myth. Even if you disagree with Bakari, you have to take him seriously. Great reading.

Adam Mansbach’s novel, Angry Black White Boy, takes the same topic from a different point of view. It’s an absurd comedy, in the tradition of Percival Everett, taking the idea of one white guy’s blackface-activist experiment to the anti-Vanilla Ice extreme. I can’t describe the plot without giving it away, but I can say that Adam takes you where you want to go, where you don’t want to go, and then he keeps on going. Read it, then get one for the wigga in your life.

We’re doing an event at Cody’s later this month, with the original Tricia Rose and the brilliant Dave Stovall. Check here for the info.

Last, if you’re in the City tomorrow, check out the special DVD release party for Freestyle being sponsored by our friends at Future Primitive and the Giant Peach. Kevin Fitzgerald will be there to sign DVDs. I got to see the whole thing in Minneapolis when Intermedia Arts screened it after my talk there. It captures all the vitality and power of a crucial moment in the hip-hop underground in the mid-to-late 90s.

FREESTYLE: The Art of Rhyme
Directed by Kevin Fitzgerald

JUNE 2

Meet & Greet / Signing with Director and Guests – 6:00pm
Future Primitive Sound HQ
597 Haight Street
San Francisco, CA 94117

Special Screening and Afterparty at Money$hot – 9:00pm
with special guest MCs
Milk
1840 Haight Street
San Francisco, CA 94117

posted by @ 7:11 am | 2 Comments

Tuesday, May 31st, 2005

The Minutemen Vs. Anti-Racists

This is from Aura Bogado of Free Speech Radio News:

“for anyone who doesn’t know, one of the minutemen (euphemism for white supremacist) ran over 4 compañeros at a counter-protest last week: the man was eventually arrested but released a few hours later and will not be charged.

meanwhile, felony cases against demonstrators continue after someone threw a water bottle towards the cop’s direction. one of them, kurt isobe, an 18-year-old activist, was held on $50,000 bail- which was finally released to $25,000. he was ordered not to attend any protests or demonstrations while awaiting felony trial- clearly violation of his first amendment “rights”.

so what we’ve got is a white supremacist who runs over demonstrators and walks away scot-free, while some youth of color may serve years of hard time for holding signs and standing against fascism. only in orange county, right? right…

this shit is really unlikely to happen in los angeles, but only because there’s a greater number of us coming out for years now. i was talking it up with a friend last night about orange county is just another border we need to transcend… i urge you to please show solidarity with these folks any way you can- either by spreading the word, showing up, raising money for the defense- get creative.

the people awaiting trial are you, they’re me, they‚re not in méxico or south africa or guantanamo–they’re on the other side of a man-made curtain that it’s time to cross…

somos más,

ab.”

posted by @ 1:34 pm | 0 Comments

Tuesday, May 31st, 2005

Dan Charnas on Blacks and Jews

Inspired by the non-starter Foxman vs. Russell bout over Farrakhan, Dan Charnas finally unloads on Blacks and Jews:

“Frankly, who the hell are the Jewish leaders of today to demand anything of Black folks? In the last 30 years, has the Jewish community thrown its weight behind any issue of real meaning to Black people?”

Peep the parallels and differences to the convo below on Blacks, Asians and Latinos…

posted by @ 11:16 am | 2 Comments

Tuesday, May 31st, 2005

Mark Anthony Neal on Common

Check it here. Great writing. All I can add for now is that it’s a great record, but I think Blackalicious’ (coming in September) is better. Yes, I’m not kidding.

posted by @ 11:00 am | 4 Comments

Thursday, May 26th, 2005

The Latest in Mac Dre’s Murder

From Ballerstatus.net and the SF Chronicle, a Kasas City rapper who was questioned in Mac Dre’s murder was shot to death in Las Vegas.

posted by @ 7:31 am | 1 Comment

Thursday, May 26th, 2005

A Long Bad Summer

Even the ever optimistic, die-hard Athletics fans like me are losing faith. But then again, it just gives us more reason to hate the Bosux.

posted by @ 7:12 am | 7 Comments

Thursday, May 26th, 2005

Me and Lizz On The Source Petition

Check it out at Pop and Politics…

posted by @ 6:43 am | 0 Comments



Previous Posts

Feed Me!

Revolutions

Word

Fiyahlinks


twitter_logo

@zentronix

Come follow me now...

Archives

We work with the Creative Commons license and exercise a "Some Rights Reserved" policy. Feel free to link, distribute, and share written material from cantstopwontstop.com for non-commercial uses.

Requests for commercial uses of any content here are welcome: come correct.

Creative Commons License