Where the beef should lie

Where the Beef Should Lie

Rappers, misdirection, media

Rappers constantly beef with each other, of all the other musical genres, hip-hop music has to have the most animosity amongst its artists. Rappers have gained a career (a la 50 cent) by dissing and feuding with other rappers and their respective camps, and of course, some rappers have also perished of beef (R.I.P. Tupac & Biggie). The causes and reasons for beefing are self-serving at best; it can be looked at an attempt for one rapper to gain notoriety for dissing another or it can stem from a real personal beef that began before the music. Lately, it has been the former, as many rappers will diss others so that they can get heavy rotation in the rumor mill and spill cycle - this usually happens just around the time when they are releasing an album. At times though, the reason for beefing can seem silly at best, some of these beefs include:

- DFB beefing with D4L over who created the 'Lean with it rock with it' dance
* note: both groups are irrelevant

- Ice-T dissing Soulja Boy because he thinks he is corny

- 50 Cent dissing Ja Rule for singing on the tracks, but then 50 Cent makes a career of singing on tracks ('21 Questions', 'candy shop', 'ayo technology')

- The rise of local/up and coming rappers jacking somewhat-established rappers (like Yung Berg), taking their jewellery, and showing such jewellery on YouTube
* note: YouTube jackings of rappers is a growing and alarming trend, rappers need to get their insurance game up!

Not one to condone beefing or dissing, but I think that rappers need to step up their game and take their dissing/beef to the next plateau; I mean verbally attacking a fellow rapper, saying that you are going to kill him, rob him, et cetera, is not that realistic - rappers should really be beefing with people that are detrimenting their community and society. Hip-Hop, in its childhood was heralded as a genre to address social issues and injustices, the classic song 'The Message', had a real message of how politics, media, and the government had left many inner city New York communities in perils.

Somewhere, along hip-hop's progression, the pursuit of using music for 'social messages' subsided for the pursuit of material wealth. Well, if a rapper is going to 'clap' at anyone, it should not be his fellow brethren, it should maybe be somebody like:

Bill O'Reilly
The popular Fox News pundit has a successful show called the O'Reilly Factor, where the tagline is 'No Spin Zone', this guy has been described as a neo, fascist, racist, biased reporter - everything from calling Michelle Obama Barrack's "Baby Mama", to actually challenging rappers; O'Reilly made Ludacris lose a sponsorship deal with PepsiCo over O'Reilly's rant of Ludacris and his questionable misogynistic lyrics.

Lou Dobbs
If I see another report on illegal immigrants from this guy, I will go crazy. Dobbs complains how jobs are being taken from Americans by migrant workers, but what he fails to realize most times that the jobs that are being 'taken' are the ones that average Americans will not do.

GWB
I think Kanye said it best in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but I have to give rappers credit - they have took jabs and shots at GWB, while more underground rappers have dedicated whole songs to his legacy.

Besides this list, I am sure that rappers can find other sources for beef than another rapper that may or may not have stole their dance, swag, or jewellery.

.:: d.b ::.

White Jewish NYC rapper disses Obama, Luda

E-Shy disses Obama, Ludacris

This is an interesting video, or a collage of images/videos with an audio track layed over it from a NYC based white Jewish rapper, E-Shy goes in on Obama's policies, Obama's deflection from the issues, and makes a strong argument to why he shouldn't be president. Of course, like all rappers, E-Shy attacks Obama's manhood, and even goes after Michelle Obama. Its good to see hip-hop getting political again.

.:: d.b ::.

Super D's & Bill Clinton

Super Delegates & Bill Clinton
The Power, and the Questions the Super D's must ask

This Democratic race between Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hilary Clinton is a nasty contest; as both candidates are fighting to secure the democratic nomination. In an election year, where the general public wanted to see a change from the Bush regime, that is to say to avoid another 4 years of Bush style politics in a John McCain, the Democratic party is so divided that they may have hurt their chances to win the general election. At the beginning of 2008, heck even 2007, the democratic party expected to win the '08 election because of the many ills the current administration has administered on the American people and the world.

Mathematically, Obama has the nomination locked - but not all math is equal; meaning all values are not treated the same. We all have been introduced to the term 'Super Delegates', and it is the super delegates that ultimately have the power to decide and can override what the delegates decide. And it appears that Clinton will have more Super Delegates than Obama.

Thus, the Super Delegates have some tough questions to ask of themselves:
1. What will be the social cost of selecting Clinton over Obama, even though Obama had more votes than Clinton.
Answer: This will send a message (direct/indirect) that even if a Black Man can win, ultimately he will lose. Furthermore, this can cause social upheaval as the cost of this decision is not just Obama vs. Clinton, but will also regress the progress that black people have accomplished.



2. How much loyalty do I have to Bill?
Answer: To the Democrats, Bill Clinton is the best thing since slice bread - on a whole, the Clinton presidency was one of the best eras in U.S. history in terms of economic and social progress; the economy was soaring, jobs were booming, and the healthcare industry was improving. Thus, a lot of the Super Delegates owe their status to Bill Clinton - meaning that Bill still has a lot of pull within the upper echelons of the Democratic Party, and if it comes to the Democratic nomination being decided by a bunch of Super D's in a back room, then Bill Clinton will be a power to be acknowledged.

In all, whoever the democratic nominee will be, they will have the daunting challenge to reunite a dilapidated party that is divided by gender, racial, and ideological differences, and will have to mount a tight campaign in a short period of time.

...... Looks like the Bush Regime will die another day, McCain can't be any worse, right?

.:: d.b

Al Sharpton schools FOX News

Al Sharpton schools FOX News

FOX News is taken to school once again, this time by Al Sharpton as he is asked his take on the whole Obama and his pastor issue.

Take notes .

Snoop and the Gangsta Party of America

Gangsta Party of America

Snoop Dogg on Larry King Live talking about politics, Obama, and Hilary Clinton. The Big dogg has stepped his game up after he's getting that T.V. money.

.:: d.b

Obama this, Obama that

Obama This, and Obama That



I'm all for the notion that it would be 'nice' to finally have a black U.S. President. To even be talking about a black U.S. president shows that society has grown enormously in the past 50 years; because not so long ago, blacks were still being lynched and according to funnyman Kramer "stuck with pitch forks up their asses". It is quite amazing actually when you really think about it. However, Obama seems to have a very legitimate chance of getting the U.S. Democratic nomination for the 2008 election, and then, he may have a chance to get into the White House.

No more rudimentary jokes about a black president can be made, however, I feel that one must ask the question, what will really change if there is a black president? Really? Will all the ghetto black youths suddenly move to the suburbs, causing the white kids to move to farm lands? Will there be more social programs? Social welfare assistance? I hear a lot of talk that if elected, a black president will 'look' out for black people, but I find a fallacy in such logic. If Obama gets in, doesn't mean that the current socio-economic status of black americans will change; one thing that we gotta understand is that even if the president is Black, the Senate still is predominately white - correlating that the senate actually passes any bills and/or spending. Further, any president has to 'play' to his party and their ideals; thus if one's party is still predominately white, the likelihood that a dramatic bill will be passed that will 'magically' elevate the socio-economic status of blacks is bleak.

So unfortunately, I remain pessimistic that a black president will have any strong effect - except for the symbolism aspect that society has changed dramatically, but as the saying says:
"The more things change, the more they stay the same"

... but it would be nice if he got in office

-- Peace

The 'GOOD' of Bush

The 'Good' of Bush
Virtues: Legacy, record, recollection

I simply want to pose a simple question: In his 7 years in office, what GOOD things/acts have George W Bush done? I don't claim to be a 'left' or a 'right' wing dude at all, but I have to wonder what good (if any) has GWB done in his term? And the only blogs/articles that you see about GWB portray him in a negative light (which at times is really, really warranted). I can only think of complete f*ck-ups: ignoring warnings to 9/11, Iraq invasion, Iraq rebuilding, hunt for Osama (still on-going), stem cell research, the environment, Katrina, and the list goes on.

Growing up as an 80's baby, and living next to the U.S. giant, the only real U.S. president that has affected me was Clinton. And besides getting some brain in the office, I don't really recall Clinton f*cking up so much.

So I really got to ask what good has he done? It seems like every day there is a report that describes a folly, scandal, or blunder. But with winning a successful re-election, and maintaining a high approval rating (for the majority of his term), there must be something that he is doing that is right ... right?

Let me know, because I am baffled.

Peace.