You Think You Know...

“Everybody wants to be a nigger, but nobody wants to be a nigger” – Paul Mooney

Recently, there has been a buzz in the hip-hop community regarding the White Girl Mob, Kreayshawn and V-Nasty, and their use of the word “nigga.” At first, I just dismissed it as ignorance and let these women make it, but its just going viral between their continued exploitation and the responses to this topic increasing daily, I just had to say my own piece regarding this because its starting to bother me.

Yes, I do use the word “nigga” on a daily basis, and unlike most people in modern American society, I refuse to put the blame on the hip-hop culture for my usage of that word as part of my everyday vernacular. I guess I can blame my parents for teaching me the lost art of accountability, but I digress. I can’t tell you when or why the word “nigger” became offensive because from researching the term it’s actually a derivative for words associated with the color black. However, I do know that from slavery times up to recent years, the word has become offensive to Black culture. (I don’t really like to use the word African-American because I’ve never been to Africa and other races besides black people, can be African-American.) Since this word is offensive to me when spoken by a white person, any time that I hear it being used by one of those persons, I instantly become enraged. At the same time, I have a similar feeling when a black person uses the word to describe a white person. Why, you may ask? Because my use of the word as either “nigger” or “nigga” is my way of making it my own and destroying the negative connotation associated with it. I think that’s why it was originally used in the hip-hop community to make a word originally used to degrade us as a source of empowerment, but I could be fishing. And even though the word has lost its luster when spoken among other blacks, any white person that I consider a friend, would lose that status if they ever told me about “real nigga shit,” or said “nigga please,” hell they might even be greeted with a fist to the face, but that’s just me, take it how you want.

Then there’s this V-Nasty character, whom I had never heard of until she got on World Star freestyling with heavy usage of “nigga,” like most rappers. From a lyrical standpoint, the chick is trash, seriously. Her whole flow is garbage, I’m not even a rapper and I would eat her alive. So I initially though that her usage of nigga was her way of gaining notoriety, or trying to be “different,” in a world where everyone is trying to do something new. But since she had me lost, I just shook my head and wished I could have my 2 minutes or so of my life back. But I guess I was one of the less vocal viewers of the video because within a week, there were a few videos up on Youtube and World Star criticizing V-Nasty with a resounding “how dare she?” So much so, that Andy Milonakas (who in the hell remembers him), released a video stating that the freestyle was done at his home and that people need to stop prejudging V-Nasty because she’s down for the “hood” and would step up if anybody infiltrated it and used “nigga” in a derogatory manner to any of its residents. Really, Andy, really?! Let me ask you this then, if something went down in the “hood,” and the police in Oakland were called in, I seriously doubt that V-Nasty would be first among those questioned. Maybe the police was a bad example because given the fact that V-Nasty has a criminal record, so I’ll just go with the general public. This question is coming from an attorney who has dreadlocks that go down his back, the same one that has been repeatedly prejudiced in the courtroom being told that “offense reports can only be requested by attorneys” or “are you looking for your lawyer?” All this when I’m dressed to kill, smelling nice, and speaking proper English as best I can with my New Orleans accent, lol. I know what its like to be prejudged, and the Lower 9 is about as hood as it gets, so please miss me with that bullshit.

Another video I saw by someone who’s name I forget places the blame on Black America for the existence of V-Nasty and the White Girl Mob. They discussed how its stupid for Blacks to be okay with the White emulation of the hip-hop culture as far as the music and style of dress, but not the vocabulary. Another white friend of mine, who proudly maintains that she is white and chooses not to forget it posed the question of how I would feel if encountered daily with a forbidden word. I don’t have an answer to that, but I blame V-Nasty’s “friends” for not slapping her in the mouth when she first uttered that phrase. In attending a majority white high school I dreaded the idea of ever being called a “nigger” or being one of my white friend’s “nigga,” because my reaction would have gotten me expelled from school. Thankfully, I’ve never had to deal with that to my face, I don’t really care too much about what people do in their own homes. But the video went on further to discuss how white women such as V-Nasty and Kreayshawn (is that her government name, seriously?) fool many black men into thinking that they are down for the cause but will become turncoats or turn into “Beckys” when things get hot and will prolly leave that black man for the next one they can sink their claws into if he goes to jail.

Does any member of the White Girl Mob truly know what its like to be Black in America? Do they realize that we have to be exceptional just to be considered normal? And to further hinder us we got idiots like Mr. Fab stating that V-Nasty is one of us and she’s real because she “mobs” harder than most “niggas” and she has just served time for armed robbery. Let’s get this straight, so serving time makes you a “nigga” and gives you the right to use that word in everyday conversation? You sound stupid, *Ed Lover voice* “C’mon Son!” That’s about as bad as the white historian who said on BBC that the London riots were caused by white people seeking to emulate hip-hop culture. Ise Lyfe even went on to counter Mr. Fab’s statements and the White Girl Mob by making the obvious connections to a lynch mob and the KKK. But I know his words prolly fell on def ears especially in society where we name our children hoping that they won’t fall into the trap of being stereotyped as being black when their resume is reviewed but have white girls named Kreayshawn. That’s about as bad as all the –ishas –nettas and –quans put together.

I for one have always said that desegregation killed the HBCU and that it hindered us in many ways, but I do agree that it is something that needed to be done when “separate but equal” was only true in word not deed. But then again, I am the same one who has a problem with white members of the Divine 9 greek organizations because of the conditions that led a number of these organizations to be founded. I think that one has an apparent advantage being born white in America, but it seems like some don’t see it that way and want to be black. Can’t we have anything to ourselves these days? I think Nas said it best when he said. “They like to strangle niggers, blaming niggers, shooting niggers, hanging niggers, still you wanna be a nigger too?.” Yall think yall know, but you truly have NO IDEA…

To The Love of My Life

To The Love of My Life:

I’ve written other letters address to the “love of my life,” not being truthful to them, you, or myself and for that, I’m sorry. I tend to feel like I’m not worth the air that I breathe so frequently that I just laugh, drink, and smoke more frequently to forget. I’m not sure what kind of man I’ll become, but I’m damn sure not proud of the man that I am. Yet and still, that’s just me being complicated. You are my world, the reason why I grind, the reason why I hustle, the reason why I hope and pray for better days. While part of me thinks that the world would be better without me, I know that you wouldn’t, and that keeps me here. You don’t judge me based upon my failures, love me without limitation, and l hang on to my every word with adoring eyes. That’s the joy I get from fatherhood…

The Last Straw Pt. 2

Some time ago, I wrote a note that emphasized how I felt about the proposed SUNO/UNO merger that didn’t really get into too many details but just provided a brief synopsis of what I read in the media coupled with my own thoughts. Since that posting, the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education has responded to that proposed merger echoing many of my same sentiments. I wont bother posting the entire response, but you can read it here; http://www.scribd.com/doc/49543283/NAFEO-Responds-to-Proposed-SUNO-UNO-Merger. Now what I didn’t know is that Jindal has been exploring the option of this merger since 2009 when he first convened his Higher Education committee. According to the NAFEO letter, the original proposal for that merger was rejected because of the large differences in the enrollment, admissions standards, classroom size, and student bodies of the two institutions. But I guess Bobby Jindal is hardheaded and had to continue pressing for this.

As of May 4th, the House Committee has voted 10-5 to move forward with the merger of SUNO and UNO and SUNO has released a statement about its commencement exercises. This Saturday, SUNO will graduate 442 students, but according to the graduation rate guideline outlined by Jindal’s committee, only 14 of those count toward the graduation rate. So I’m wondering how can you say that an institution is failing if its boasting of 442 graduates? SUNO’s Chancellor, Victor Ukpolo, Ph.D., issued the following statement; “In keeping with our previous open-access mission, many of our students take longer to graduate, in some cases seven, eight years or more. Most of our student body is comprised of working adults, ages 25 and older, and many of them pursue their studies on a part-time basis. Prior to Fall 2010 we were still an open admissions institution, a designation which mandated us to admit practically anyone who wanted to pursue a college education,” Most of this I detailed in the first note about this merger as to why I don’t believe that Jindal has the right rhetoric to detail why SUNO is “failing.” Now UNO is a completely different story and I don’t have the facts on that one, I only talk what I know.

But all this may be for naught, because now that the House has voted to move forward, who knows where/when/how this will end. But I do know that SUBR has reason to fear and that worries me...

Fee Fie Fo Figga...

…Boy, I hate a nigga.

DISCLAIMER: For those of you who are upset with the usage of “nigger,” “nigga,” and anyother derivative of the “n-bomb” please stop reading now, this isn’t really one of my posts for commentary or to foster discussion, it’s more of a rant. While your feedback is always appreciated, this is just to let me get this off my chest.

Earlier today I was in the barbershop with my father and was just listening to standard barbershop dialect and then the awesome feat that is niggardry arose out of the conversation. I know there are many definitions of the word “nigga,” but for the purposes of this posting we’ll just go with a lazy and shiftless negro. Well the first piece of the conversation that bothered me arose out of discussions on the BP settlement. One of the customers in the shop was talking about his attempts to become a plaintiff in the legal matters with BP but the frustration that he was having because of the requirements. His first point was why should this law firm require him to provide proof of income? He then compounded that point with stating that his income fluctuates so why should his income of last year be measured as his loss point. I just shook my head and chuckled inside. After Katrina, niggas fell under the belief that the government and these multi-million dollar corporations just have money to give out for nothing. First of all, I’m under the belief that unless your profession is actually in the gulf (i.e. fishermen), or you operate a hotel, resort, or something that is directly in the tourism industry, you didn’t really suffer a loss. Like, I’ll be the first to blow the “bullshit whistle” when it comes down to people trying to get over, on anyone, so with that being said, how can you justify your rental property as being tourism related when the minimum lease you’ll allow someone to sign is 3 months? Secondly, if these people are giving you money, don’t you think you should have to justify this to them and what other way than by your income? And because your income fluctuates nothing says that absent the Deep Water Horizon explosion, you would make more money, you could actually make less. Please, miss me with all that…

The second thing that pissed me off was a discussion about child support and how ALL (not many, but as the barber said “all them heauxs”) women manipulate the system for child support and its all a plan designed to “keep the black man down.” (the #1 nigga catch phrase) How can you say this as a man, and even moreso as a father. Now in some instances, I will admit that child support of such an astronomical amount is not needed, but its kind of like a double edged sword because I see the point of the law, YOUR children are YOUR responsibility, and if you were still with the mother, the child would probably get much more than 20% of your check. Which shows the ignorance of that statement, I know of a few mothers who have shot themselves in the foot by putting their child’s father on child support out of spite, and now they get only what the court requires be given unless it’s a holiday, birthday, or the beginning of school. But then again, niggas don’t read or learn so they probably wouldn’t know that. Miss me with that too…\

Finally, the last commentary that the niggardry arose on was Obama. These jackasses said that Obama aint doing his job because he’s not catering to Black America. Well, hello?! I said for the longest how white people should be happy that Obama is the president because he is half white, and half African, two groups that stereotypically don’t like blacks. Also, keep in mind that Black Americans no longer make up the majority minority in the nation so catering to Black America wont get you reelected, that’s for damn sure. To compare Obama with Bush is totally redundant because Bush is white and his daddy was President. I just cant fathom how niggas come up with the kind of shit that comes out of their mouth. Chris Rock said it best; “fee fi fo figga…boy I hate a nigga.”

The Last Straw

Everyone who knows me knows that I am a full-blown supporter of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, hell I am an alumnus of two at both the undergraduate and graduate level, but Bobby Jindal is really making my nerves bad. For those of you unfamiliar with the situation, allow me to offer a brief synopsis. Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana, in an attempt to save some money within the State’s budget, proposed a merger of the University of New Orleans and Southern University at New Orleans and formed a board to write a report on the feasibility of this merger. Jindal cited the close proximity of the two campuses and their low graduation rates as the reason behind this, but I, like most products of the Southern University system, see the disaster that such a merger would create.

First of all, we, the products of THE Southern Univeristy SYSTEM (the only HBCU with its own system with 3 campuses and a law school), would attempt to cause hell to freeze over before we let someone take one of our campuses away from us. I guess Mr. Jindal is not well versed in the writings of Booker T. Washington, who said that the fundamental purpose of Tuskegee University is to give those who would be unable to earn a degree from most other schools a CHANCE to get said degree from their own efforts. Washington later went on to say that if only one of these cast-away students out of an entire freshman class earned a degree then the University would be a success. Hence the lower admission standard for most HBCUs as compared to Predominately White Institutions. But I guess that’s the trend in society these days, people don’t read or find out why things are the way the way they are before they make their commentary. And the funny thing is that with Jindal being an Indian-American, I would expect him to be more sympathetic to minorities, but I guess you forget who you are when you’re a Republican.

I know that the argument that I’m making does not take into accord how the UNO family may feel, but I’m not concerned with them at this point. The report that was compiled by a Colorado group states that the only two viable options are to assemble the two schools into a “University of Greater New Orleans” under the University of Louisiana System or to maintain two separate schools one as a “Metropolitan University” and the other as an “Urban Research University” but would call for new leadership at both schools and would do away with SUNO’s historically black mission, similar to that of Tuskegee. The second option would call for these two schools as well as Delgado Community College to fall under the umbrella of an entirely new system.

Am I the only one who’s lost here??? So now the governor can suggest outlandish proposals and these are immediately brought into action? The governor can remove schools from systems and place them into other systems or just move them into a brand new system all together? This is totally wrong and I think Jindal just bought himself a 12 round legal battle, hope he’s ready for all that. Maybe somebody can explain this madness to me so I don’t look at it as racist or make a bunch of derogatory remarks about Governor Jindal, but until someone can, he’s on my “Fuck You” list, right along with Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, George Bush, Bill White, Tom Joyner and a few others. This proposal could open up the flood gates for other states and probably get some other PWI’s to get law schools on the campuses of HBCUs in their respective systems. I have said for the longest that black folks and their desire to assimilate into Caucasian culture is what killed the HBCU, but if Jindal succeeds in this outlandish proposal and eliminates SUNO from the Southern University System, mark my words, the days of the HBCU are numbered, pray for us!

I Support 2-Cent...Crabs in a Barrel Part 2

I would first like to apologize for my lack of posting lately. For those of yall who don't know, I have moved back to New Orleans and am in the process of getting settled and accustomed to being back home. Anyone who knows me knows that I love any and all things New Orleans, and have devoted my life to removing any and all negative stereotypes associated with my great city. With that being said, when my homie, Malik, posted on twitter that we should retweet our support for 2-cent, so I just posted #Isupport2cent without hesitation and without knowing what was going on. But after today, I found out about the media beef between B-Mike Odums and Tom Joyner, and boy was I appalled. For those of yall who are unfamiliar with 2-cent, please go to http://www.2-cent.com/ and educate yourself about who 2-cent is and what they do. I probably shouldn't get into my opinion on the creative works of 2-cent and all because of my tweets, postings, and favoriting of their videos, one would be inclined to think that I have a biased opinion, but at the end of the day, 2-cent is a bunch of 20-somethings who are doing their part to eliminate those same negative stereotypes of New Orleans youth, and do their part to make the city a better place.

Anyways, last week, Tom Joyner decided to "go in" on 2-cent and B-Mike of which the most pertinent parts can be heard here; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5EnhSlLrEA. Now, let me "go in" on Mr. Joyner, cause I swear he DON'T want my stress trouble! Mr. Joyner brings nation-wide notice and attention to the book drive sponsored by 2-cent and showcased in their video "Every Book" which can be seen here; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HBbTlRz9ZQ. But Mr. Joyner seems to do one of the most ignorant things that any person (black, white, hispanic, asian, male, or female) can do in an argument, and that's not know all the facts. He proceeds to state that while he supports the actions of those who are trying to uplift and educate America's youth, that he cannot pass on such support to B-Mike because he needs to go back to the drawing board as Young Money's "Every Girl" is not the right vessel to propel such a movement, and then plays a sample of "Every Girl" to show why he disagrees with the song. Now Mr. Joyner and I do agree on the point that the youth do not need to be hearing words like that song's infamous hook "I wish I could fuck every girl in the world," but that's about as far as our agreement goes. Tom even goes further in saying that Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff's "Parents Just Don't Understand" would be a better song to use in this plight, and I can only shake my head at his ignorance.

Apparently, Mr. Joyner never watched "Every Book" or he would have listened to the lyrics, the hook of "I wish I could read every book in the world," or the bridge of "we read that...we read that too." Or maybe Tom Joyner needs to do like Lil John suggested and "read a muhfukkin book," possibly one that would teach him the meaning of the word parody, which is prominently displayed in video's title on YouTube. In addition, most educators would agree that the best way to educate children is by associating unfamiliar information with familiar works, so why wouldn't Young Money's song be a good look? You'd be surprised at the things children pick up on these days, and I'd much rather my 4 year old telling me about his desire to read book in the world, as opposed to smashing every girl (before yall start, YES I WOULD). What's even funnier or more ironic is how Tom Joyner suggests "Parents Just Don't Understand" from 1988. Keep in mind that it is now 2011, the last of the 80's babies, those born in 1989, will be 22 this year, and I honestly think that those with a memory of said song would probably be those born in 1985 or before meaning those 25+ which is far beyond what society would consider as the youth. Children these days probably couldn't think back to a time when Will Smith was the Fresh Prince, and not an actor, or just simply Willow's daddy. They probably couldn't even remember songs such as "Gettin Jiggy With It," one of Smith's latter (and lamer) hits.

Now even after reading, listening to, and thinking all that, I was upset but not necessarily pissed off, but what really got to me was the response Tom sent to one of 2-cent's high school ambassadors after she decided to share her thoughts and experiences with 2-cent with Mr. Joyner. Mr. Joyner tells her;

"My office has been flooded with emails and phone calls about this, and if there is an opportunity to address this I'll definitely let you and the folks at 2-cent know. For now, let everyone know I'm getting your messages but there are a whole lot of other things we're focused on right now on the TJMS and I can't make any promises that we'll get back to this right away. I appreciate your reaching out."

REALLY, TOM?! REALLY?! You have other things to focus on, but you didn't have those other things to focus on when u decided to fire shots at 2-cent. Be the bigger man and give them a medium to explain their side of the story instead of the coward who throws a sneak punch for the first attack and then runs away from the repercussions. I'm putting Tom Joyner in the category with Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, in saying that while I appreciate all that you have done for Black America, you're getting dumber in your old age! I think Tom should actually watch the video, have a talk with Michael Eric Dyson, who comments at the end of "Every Book," issue an apology to 2-cent, and bring them in for guests on his show.

B-Mike and 2-cent, I support you! If you feel the same, please re-post this, comment, tell a friend, and write Tom Joyner at tom@blackamericaweb.com, and let him know that he who lives in a glass house should not throw stones, and that NEW ORLEANS SUPPORTS 2-CENT and has the intelligence to know that we should have all the facts before passing judgment.

I can't wait to see the 2-cent parody of "Tom Joyner Just Don't Understand."

Double Standards in Music?

Keri Hilson and Raheem Devaughn recently released new music videos for their songs "The Way You Love Me" and "She's Single" both of which I've recently watched after my timeline was abuzz from people talking about both videos. If you haven't seen either of the videos, I've embedded them below.





Now I liked both of the videos, but I was kinda upset at the female commentary I saw for the video by Ms. Keri bay-be (I just like saying that). It seems that most of the discussion regarding Keri's video cast her in a negative light and call her "whorish." But Raheem's video, although explicit and maybe even borderline HBO, Cinemax, or Showtime late night softcore porn was met with rave reviews. I just wanna get my two cents out...Why is it that America seems to criticize a woman when she displays her sexual prowess and is celebrating getting what we refer to in New Orleans as "good joog?" Ladies, please don't be coy and act like you don't have a "special outfit" for that special guy and never did anything out of character, for him. Maybe not a video or a picture cause that's prolly whorish in your opinion also, but I'm talking a "for his eyes only" show. Oh, you haven't? Well that's why your basic ass is still single and can't keep a man, lol. But on the real, Raheem can blatantly talk about taking another man's woman and romancing her for the night, making her act as tho she's single for the night and that's okay?

Why?

Because he ate her out and they used protection?

I'm curious as to why this is anybody care to enlighten me?