Peace On That

Tomorrow is the first radio show and we’ll discuss four issues:


The Nature of Black Music
Barry Bonds as Scapegoat
Dating: Men defining how they are unique
Strange / Crazy names for drinks

Topic 1: Rap Music

I have discussed this topic on my blog many times before [past post]. There have been no significant developments in the music industry thus far that warrants a change of heart. Although there are few bright spots with Kanye West and Common, hip hop in general is a creative wasteland. BET had a series of town hall discussions concerning this matter and the artist, T.I. and Nelly regurgitated the same excuses: we’re just talking about what’s going on in the hood. T.I. made one good point in that if he were to rap about social matters and didn’t put half naked women in his video, BET wouldn’t play it.

Rap artist are making that music that kids are buying. By any measure, these kids are buying beats and hooks. An examination of the lyrics will show that there really is no artistry behind the music. Below are the lyrics to Gorilla Zoe’s Hood Nigga:

and i dont need a scale for the work
i can eyeball purp, i am not you jerk
hatin on me will make your situation worse
you dont wanna take a ride in that long black hearse
all eyes on me, shawty im a bomb first
im the truth and they say the truth hurts
Hustle mean hard work, hard work
if you scared go to church
man this rap shit is easy, every beat i get i murk

It would not be fair to compare Gorilla Zoe with BDP or Grand Master Flash so I’ll compare him to some of the gangsta music from the 80’s.

They say I'm violent,they should watch their T.V.
They say I'm brutal,they should check their P.D.
You made me,now your kids rave me
I rap about the life that the city streets gave me
Murder,intrigue,somebody must bleed
Miami Vice is small time,L.A's the big league
From the rollin' 60's to the nickerson "G"
Pueblos,grape street,this is what I see
The jungle,the 30's,the V.N.G.
Life in L.A. ain't no cup of tea

This is from Ice-T “Squeeze the Trigger”. Both songs come from a thug/gangsta mentality but there is a distinct difference in what they deliver.
We’ll also get into the role that women play in hip hop in comparison to what their roles were in the early stages of rap music.


Topic 2: Blame Game

This is a real simple topic: Barry Bonds is the scapegoat. Baseball had a serious crisis before the homerun race between Mark Maguire and Sammy Sosa. We now know that Mark Maguire used steroids or some performance enhancement drug. Personally, for a sport like baseball I don’t see how it makes that much of a difference. Hitting a baseball is very difficult and maybe Barry’s added strength got a few over the fence that may not have gone, but c’mon… the man was headed to the Hall of Fame anyway. And I don’t even want to hear about Babe Ruth. He played in an era where he wasn’t competing against the best athletes.


I'll be reading comments on the air so leave your thoughts and check out the show.

MASS APPEAL RADIO