bet they wanna be rappers

It is apparent for me that we have some serious problems in our community. I mean serious, for any time a young man walking home from school can be beaten to death, in day light, while folks watch and think nothing of it, and even video it without considering that said person may need help, or what they are watching is not right, is a true indication that something is amiss in our beliefs and world view.

I have noticed that there is a difference in general behavior when I look and my parents, myself and the present generation. As a father with a 17 year old son, I am proud to have been a part in raising a fine and responsible young man. An honor student, an athlete and a gentlemen is what best describes my son, yet although he has made it to the 12th grade, I still worry and pray that he continues on his path of success with the next pointy of entry being graduation.

Often we fail to see the difference between blame and problem solving in such matters. Fo9r we get defensive and tend to see ourselves in the problems that we are confronted with. Whether it is that we are single parents, or our environments, we forget that the issue is not blame or deflecting blame but solving the problem. It is not difficult for me to discern what the differences are. I can reduce them to one simple area – media influences. My folks didn’t have to deal with television at all and the music, well let us say it was not as graphic and vivid as it was in my day. In contrast, I grew up with 4 channels on television and they went off before midnight, and the music, albeit it was the beginning of hip hop – the lyrical content was mild compared to today.

It is no wonder that we have folks feeling and displaying penchants that evince appropriate behavior as beating someone to death or watching someone getting beat to death without the consideration of helping. I won’t blame this all on parents, for objectively; I know they can’t control the media influences that bombard their children each day of their formative years. And I know folk will say media, or movies or music cannot make a person do something – I agree, but they can impact the way folks think and define personal standards of behavior. For example, I would assert that most African American males currently would have desires to be professional athletes, producers, Dj’s and rappers because of what they see. Not the jobs per say, but rather the fame and avarice and wealth associated with the aforementioned. Especially the music. I bet if I went down the playlist of any top urban radio station – I will see the likes of idiots inclusive of Gucci Mane, Jeezy, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z and Plies. Songs that contain lyrics espousing staying strapped, shooting folk, fucking ever girl in the world, and having pockets full of money and following ones owns rules.

So understand where I am coming from, and feel my pain as a parent for although Derrion Albert was not my blood, he was my son and I have no problem pointing fingers at the folks above for five to one, the folks who did the beating probably know all the lyrics to your songs more than the formula for slope/intercept and even worse, want to be rappers. The new KKK strikes again so let us bow our head in silence for we still dont know that we are both the hunted and the prey.

bling 4 a king

I am not ashamed to say it but to me, most folk who seek fame over character have little or no integrity and low self-esteem. This is particularly true by my speculation for entertainers and athletes.

Many of us know that we are in a very different era in America. For the first time, a man that looked like me is being honored via a memorial in Washington, DC and his name is Martin King Jr. I look very highly at Dr. King, not only for his astuteness as a scholar, or the fact that he is like myself, an alumnus of Morehouse College, or even his letter from a Birmingham jail, but because with all of is faults, he was a man of character and integrity.

People say that we need to support the memorial to Dr. King and I agree. They are holding concerts and asking for loot left and right. I just don’t know why it is so hard for us to get the loot we need with all of this so-called new money in our community. So I just say this as a challenge. I Mean, I would like for folks to show me they aint fuck boys and want to be gangsters. So this is to you, TI, Lil Wayne, 50 cents, Nelly, Young Joc and Young Jeezy – represent like men do for what is great and what is right. Give up your chains and bracelets or at least one for the King. What’s the matter, are you to selfish to give up some bling for the king? So represent, or continue to risk nobody’s like me calling yawl fuck boys. And that’s what yawl are, if you don’t stand for the betterment of our historical legacy as opposed to being greedy and selfish.

the kind of guy u take home to momma

I do not know what to make of our incessant acts of violence and disrespect towards one another. This past week was no different. One would figure with all of the festive activities and parties and evens going on around the country.

Around a week ago, Jeezy had a party for the platinum success of his new Album at this swank ATL nightclub. From what my folks tell me, there was little incidence in which a man beat down a young woman. The alleged man is Rodney Hill and he is the boyfriend of soulstress Monica. According to reports, the altercation occurred the night of Young Jeezy’s platinum party in Atlanta, GA at the Velvet Room. They say the party was packed and everybody, especially the women, were pushing and trying to get as close to the gangster rapper Jeezy. Even in the VIP, it was reported that the party area was extremely crowded. It was at this time it is reported that a diminutive woman was said to be standing in front of Monica’s fiancé “Rodney Hill”.

After which, it is said that his glasses were caught in the young woman’s hair and he went into a raging triad while all the time the young woman was apologizing to him. Onlookers who saw the event first hand alleged that Mr. Hill then grabbed her by her hair, pushed her to the floor and started to pound on little momma. It is stated after he beat her up and when the young woman stood up, her eye had been beat shut. It is even said that he wanted or threatened to beat up a friend of the young woman with a bottle. Need I not say that Mr. Hill was not arrested for this act of manliness?

I don’t see how any woman first of all would want to marry a man that beats on women. I do not want to say this is the woman’s fault, for I feel that no man should hit any woman (unless they are giving their daughter a spanking). However, I wonder what was it that lead this woman to be so caught up to see a rapper. One could suspect she was even intrigued by his self-proclaimed thug and gangerstism, which again, I do not see what a woman would find so appealing about a man that purports a propensity and enjoyment for hurting people in his community by killing and selling drugs. I will say that It does not surprise me.

Many of these men have no home training and couldn’t even spell or use the words gentleman or responsible in a sentence. Where were the men at? I mean they so hard and stuff, they should have whipped his ass. Oh, they likely beat on women too. However, women flock to these events I guess in hope of being choose and used by a fool. Even if they know this person via their lifestyle, running back and forth to jail (maybe even prison)will likely always lie, and cheat and be unfaithful and uncaring to his significant other. I would like to think that we can all make the tiny steps to stop this nonsense. However, it seems as if we never will as long as folks like Rodney Hill and Jeezy are the kind of men women want to take home to meet their parents and our little boys want to grow up to be.

Hey Rodney, find a man to beat up on. You can step this way, but I apologize, I don't beat up on women.

Wild, Wild Mess

On the previous episodes of the ASMFAFBI, we discussed a shooting with some of Jeezy folks in Miami that resulted in an arrest, Corporate Thug member Slick Pulla getting popped at Slice in the ATL, and a Beef between Busta Rhymes' producer Swizz Beatz and G-Unit rap-group members Tony Yayo and Lloyd Banks that resulted in the shooting death of a Body Guard. Today, we have two more incidents, unproductive that have resulted in two more unnecessary Deaths.

Last night in Cin – OH-Ten (Cincinnati, Oh), a member of T.I.’s entourage was killed and three others were wounded in a gun battle at a night club. Before the shooting, it is alleged according to eye-witnesses that it started as a fight in an after-hours club during a party for T.I. (Clifford Harris) and fellow College Park rapper Yung Joc after a show by the University of Cincinnati.

At Club Ritz, a group of men confronted T.I. and his entourage. Belive it or not I have been to the Club before back in the day when I did some consulting for a clinic up that camp. My boys, one of which was a mortgage broker and the other a Sports Management head, would take me there to get some relief outside of the Vernon Manor and its happy hours. It was wild back then as I recall with folks fighting and all. And I a certain that this has not changed and is likely not the first time someone has been shot or killed there nor will it be the last. From what I have heard so far, T.I.'s folk started making it rain money and some of then OH-10 wanna be gangasters tookit as an insult when the money landed on them, thus starting a fight. Twelve (police) say that T.I.’s folk were followed by men in two sport utility vehicles. They say T.I. and his folk tried to leave (good for them) but were followed onto the highway when their vans were shot –up, leaving his personal assistant and spokesman for T.I.'s Grand Hustle record label, Philant Johnson, dead.

Meanwhile in Houston, a few days before on May 1, 2006, rapper Big Hawk (born John Edward Hawkins) was shot multiple times and died. According to reports, he had gone to one of his folk’s house play dominos. They also think that he was shot by more than one person. Big Hawk was the brother of legendary Houston MC Fat Pat (born Patrick Hawkins) who was also shot and killed back in 1998. He was a member of the Screwed Up Click. DJ Screw died in 2000 and folks still have not resolved the cause of his death.

Somebody needs to get the message across that something is wrong. How many folks have to die because of greed, jealousy and personal insecurity? This is truly a wild, wild, mess.