Snitch of the Week: 7/22 - 7/28 (Everyone)

I'm doing a list because there is no way I can pick just one.
Snitching has enveloped the zeitgeist.

• Aquafina is tap water. No wonder Aquafina tastes so damn good. Don't front, NYC tap juice is that real deal.
  
  
• Guiliani chills with pedophile priests.
  
  
• Dubya's grandpa attempted a fascist coup of America in 1933. Talk about a grandson holding down the family business...
  
  
• LA Times columnist writes an intriguing column saying that Prince's free CD giveaway should be tried in the U.S. and gets his column buried.
  
  
• Swizz Beatz has a change of heart. He really likes snitches.
  
  In his current single, "It's Me Snitches," Swizz raps: "Freeze, you know who it is/ It's me, snitches" and "I ain't gonna shoot ya/ I could just choke ya."
  
  
• Obama calls Hillary's foreign policy "Bush Cheney Lite."
  Oh snizzap, Obama wants the drama with Chelsea's momma and it's not even 2008 yet.
  
  
• Republicans hate black people and technology which is why they refuse to do the NAACP and YouTube debates that the Democrats took part in.
  
  "When I was in high school, I may not have gone to the prom with the girl I wanted, but with the girl I could get," Sharpton said, suggesting Republicans leave black voters little choice but to vote for a Democrat.
  
  
• Best of all is Lindsay Lohan, who blamed her failure to stay sober and drive in a straight line on ... wait for it ... BLACK PEOPLE!!!
  

I'm partial on giving the Snitch of the Week crown to Lindsay Lohan but the comp is so tight that any of these people could take it home.

Black People Lose

(Roy Pearson Jr., making Clarence Thomas look like Thurgood Marshall)

If white people win then it's clear that someone else has to take the short.

I'm going to point out two quick cases where black people by no fault other than their own went out of the way to ensure their loss and make things worse for everyone else.

The first case is worth all the ridicule you can throw upon it.
Y'all should know the name Roy. L Pearson Jr.
This joke of a Negro is/was an administrative judge who sued an Asian dry-cleaning company for $67 million initially and settled on a $54 million for losing a pair of his pants. Yea, a $50+ million lawsuit for a $10.50 cleaning job on a pair of pants. God Bless America.

This dumb bastard then rejected $12,000 to settle the case before it went to trial.

From the trial page on Wikipedia,

• Among his requests were $500,000 in attorney's fees, $2 million for "discomfort, inconvenience, and mental distress", and $15,000, which he claimed would be the cost to rent a car every weekend to drive to another dry cleaning service. The remaining $51.5 million would be used to help similarly dissatisfied D.C. consumers sue businesses. Pearson also re-focused his lawsuit from the missing pants to window signs for "Satisfaction Guaranteed" and "Same Day Service" that have since been removed. Pearson claimed the signs represented fraud on the part of the Chungs. The Chungs' lawyer, Christopher Manning, alleged that the signs could only be considered fraud if a reasonable person would be misled by them, and that a reasonable person would not see the signs as an unconditional promise.
  

  On June 12, 2007, the trial began. Pearson broke down in tears during an explanation about his frustration after losing his pants, and a short recess had to be declared.

  On June 25, 2007, the trial ended with District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Judith Bartnoff ruling in favor of the dry cleaners, and awarding them court costs of about $1,000. A motion to recover the Chungs' tens of thousands of dollars in attorney fees will be considered later. Pearson has stated that he will appeal.
  

This Negro was crying in court over a Goddamn pair of pants.
Clarence Thomas and Roy Pearson, shitting on the black male in law.

________________________________________________




This next case is a little less amusing. It involves Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark and the pathetic slavery-era understanding of race black people still cling to.

Quick rundown.

In 2006 light-skinned Negro Cory Booker replaced dark-skinned Negro Sharpe James, a crooked ass Wire style politician as Newark's mayor after losing to him in 2002.

The 2002 race between them was as ugly as it gets and Sharpe James used every ugly racial trick he could think of to herd the black sheep to get his 53% victory.

Peep some of Sharpe James tactics,

• Sharpe James ran on a platform emphasizing his experience relative to the youthful Booker, utilizing the slogan "the Real Deal." He also used racially divisive rhetoric, saying to the Star Ledger of his opponent (who is black) "You have to learn to be African American and we don't have time to train you." James was also shown in Street Fight insinuating that Mr. Booker is Jewish (Mr. Booker is a devout Christian), a Republican (Mr. Booker is a lifelong Democrat), and allegedly a homosexual.

So Sharpe played off of black anti-Semitism, homophobia and light-skinned resentment. The black trifecta.

And guess what else?
After Booker took office, he found out the books were all fucked up from Sharpe and then in September 2006, The Star-Ledger reported that James is being investigated for spending city money on personal entertainment, including trips to Brazil and Florida.
In June 2007, The Star-Ledger and other newspapers reported that James had received a target letter from the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, informing James that he is the target of a federal investigation and inviting him to testify before a grand jury prior to their vote on whether or not to issue an indictment against him.


Now the vultures from Sharpe's administration are trying to create as toxic as an environment as possible to undermine Booker's term as mayor (NYTimes article here) because he is hiring people who aren't black and aren't from Newark. You know, because the black people from Newark were doing such a great job under the last mayor.

They are even building up a petition for a recall election. Mind you, there was no word of a recall when Sharpe was taking city-funded trips to Brazil.

I don't know shit about Jersey and it's history but I'm riding with Booker on this one

A) Because I'm light-skinned
and
B) Because this same shit happened in Detroit when the Negro zombies re-elected Kwame Kilpatrick over the light-skinned challenger in 2005.

Apparently Cory Booker is friends with Oprah and her wifey Gayle. Maybe she get the Black Crusaders to take out Pearson and Sharpe's old supporters at the same time.

White Folk Done Lost It!

I could barely keep up with their madness this week.


- First off,

Although I'll believe it when I see it, Paris Hilton is going to jail.


(That's hot)

Her mother, who should be proud of what she raised, had this to say,

• As a city prosecutor said during closing arguments that Hilton deserved jail time, Hilton’s mother, Kathy, laughed. When the judge ruled, Kathy Hilton, then blurted out: “May I have your autograph?”
  
  

Sickening. That's the type of shit that starts a class war.
Who else but a privileged white woman would yell that shit out in a courtroom.


- How scary was the MSNBC Republican debate last night?

I know that shit didn't matter because more than half of these fuckers have no chance to be President, but it's scary to observe the symbolic and political aesthetic of the modern Republican party.

Ten old white men.
Anti-science, anti-gay, anti-abortion, pro-war and trying to get back to 1980 to perform fellatio on Ronald Reagan.
I don't think I've ever heard the words "God" and "Reagan" so much in one night.
Maybe Reagan is God? Or vice versa?

Dude really wasn't that great of a president.

The Democratic Party isn't exactly a rainbow but at least they have a few sprinkles here and there. I mean damn.

I'm starting to miss George Bush The First.


- Also, the NBA hates black people.

Also, Las Vegas says NBA, keep your niggas at home.



- White folks are trying to kill Obama.


- The NRA thinks that people on the terrorism watch list should be able to buy guns.
How gully are they to even say that shit in a post-Virginia Tech / post-post-9/11 world.

- The Sopranos snitched on the whole post-war disease of suburban consumption better than I've ever seen and Joey breaks it down for you all.



When are the other races going to step up to the plate and get their negative media shine back?!

Hispanics, Asians and Blacks, step it up please.

I like diversity in my hating.

Responsibility? Nigga Please.

I saw this banner on Davey D's website. Supposedly he is a big hip-hop blogger or something.
This banner is provocative and seems witty enough but if you examine it with any honesty you realize that this is pure coonery.

Look at each of these images. Who do these men protect by not snitching?

• Dick Cheney: Other crooked rich white Republicans who are fucking you in the ass.
  
  
• Generic Police Officer: Other crooked cops who are fucking you in the ass. Sometimes literally.
  
  
• Karl Rove: Other crooked rich white Republicans such as Dick Cheney, who as I mentioned before, are fucking you in the ass.
  
  
• Lyor Cohen: Rick Rubin and other Jewish music executives? I really don't get that one to be honest.
  

Now let's look at snitching in the inner city.
Who does the generic crime witness in the hood protect by not snitching?

• A rapper, who would call the local precinct he has on speed dial if he saw you sauntering into his gated community?
  
  
• A drug dealer, that decimates your neighborhood while dropping innocents with stray gunfire?
  

Criminals have gotten gen. pop. to embrace prison values and help their business. Rap is the best thing to happen to the drug game in a minute.

The argument that white people don't snitch argument is weak and intellectually dishonest.
Don't defend the indefensible.

Anyway, this post-Imus/60 Minutes climate has got rappers running scared.

Apparently Cam'ron apologized for his coonery on 60 Minutes. Is this real?
T.I. believes we should take our moral example from George Bush.

• "I honestly feel it's a lot more important things [to worry about]," T.I. said last week in his Grand Hustle Studio in Atlanta. "If you want to fix America, you have to start at George Bush and work your way down — you can't start at hip-hop and work your way up."
  
  

I ain't talking to no police until Inauguration Day, January 20th, 2009 son!!!
Obama holla at me!

Didn't TI get his friend murdered because he was making it rain?

Seriously, has anyone seen a rapper intelligently discuss this issue?
Pass a link on if you did.

P.S. - I found one. Underground rapper Paris handled the issue well.

Peep more spineless evasion from Hu$tle $immon$ on CNN,




Why does it sound like Anderson Cooper knows and cares more about black people than Hu$tle?

Run DMC would NOT get signed today.
That is a fact.

And peep Hu$tle Simmon$ cleaning Bill O'Reilly's shoes.
Iza sowwee Massa O'Reilly,




Does Hu$tle really think O'Reilly gives a fuck about poor black people? Or is his entire media frenzy an attempt to get people to purchase his new bullshit self-help book called "Do You" that is currently #34 on Amazon?

I see your game Hu$tle. Nice try though.

Wu-Tang Archive

(Get it...)

Y'all should be messing with Spine Magazine, one of the few hip-hop news sites that finds shit worth your time.

Recently they posted a link to a 215 song list of FREE MP3's from the Wu-Tang clan.

I don't even know what to do with all that or when I'll be able to listen to it.
But that's what external hard drives are for.


- Also, Spine Mag also put me onto Brooklyn Radio Dot Net, which hosts all types of hot radio shows. It's all worth checking out, but the shit that caught my eye was one radio show called The Rub which recently finished making mixtapes for every year of hip-hop from 1979 - 1989. Some years are obviously better than others but the sheer anthropology of it alone makes it worth some of your time.

Let me know what y'all think of this.

Someone should do this for 1990 - 2000. I'd kill for that.


What hidden podcasts and radio stations are worth checking out?
I know y'all are holding out on me...

Have Y'All Ever Watched Korean Horror Movies? It's Starting To Make Sense...

Apparently this kid was a lot more insane than anyone realized.

Have y'all seen this Korean movie "Old Boy" that he apparently based his killing on?

• The film centers on a seemingly ordinary businessman, Dae-su (the terrific Choi Min-sik), who, after being mysteriously imprisoned, goes on an extensive, exhausting rampage, seeking answers and all manner of bloody revenge.

It was probably one the most gruesome and disturbing mind-fucks recorded to film. Up there with "Irreversible" and "I Spit on Your Grave."

If all your shit wasn't together upstairs, I could definitely see "Oldboy" becoming the basis of some sort of revenge fantasy.

The other loser here?
The group Collective Soul who will have their 90's hit "Shine Down" forever associated with a mass murder. Apparently he played the song on repeat for hours.





Like the grunge era doesn't have a bad enough legacy (Nickelback, ahem) as it is...

This whole thing feels like the first intersection of today's YouTube/MySpace culture and mass violence. Kind of like the 2007 social networking sequel to 1999 Columbine.

Mass murderers have always been delusional and self-absorbed. Cho Seung-Hui was a senior at VT and his sister graduated from Princeton, yet he was complaining about rich kids? Talk about disconnection from reality.

Talk about "Get Rich or Die Trying."

Looking at the photos and the video he left, I can't help but see it as someones demented MySpace page and the twisted YouTube video blog that would go along with it.
The self-portrait posing, the solipsism, the bad pseudo-poetry, the martyr complex.

Pretty common shit.


Side Notes:

• Virginia Tech is going to get fucked the fuck up in law suits.
  
  Peep it,
  
  "Ms. Norris, who taught Mr. Cho in a 10-student creative writing workshop last fall, was disturbed enough by his writings that she contacted the associate dean of students, Mary Ann Lewis. Ms. Norris said the faculty was instructed to report problem students to Ms. Lewis.
  
  “You go to her to find out if there are any other complaints about a student,” Ms. Norris said, adding that Ms. Lewis had said she had no record of any problem with Mr. Cho despite his long and troubled history at the university."
  
  Whoops.
  
  


• Michael Vick's cheap ass donated $10,000. Less than it cost him in legal fees to shake the charge of weed smuggling charge.
  
  


• John McCain has climbed the ranks and locked down the 1st, 2nd and 3rd spots of most hated politician by saying he believes in "no gun control."
  
  Smooth timing there McCain.
  

Oh, by the way, nearly 200 Iraqis (which equals 3 American lives) got blown away in Baghdad today. For the record, they have no faces and no names.

Peep this tale from the blast,

• “The blast threw me to the ground and shattered a window over my body,” said Salar Kamal Zari, a 37-year-old teacher visiting from Kurdistan, who had just stepped into a nearby store when the bomb exploded. “I saw a human head in front of the store and many cars burning and smoke everywhere.”
  

  “I will never stay in Baghdad anymore,” he vowed.

Who the fuck visits Iraq on vacation?
Dude, fire your travel agent and get a crazy Asian kid involved if you want anyone to give a damn.

Virginia Tech: Almost as Gully as Iraq

I know it's early in the tragedy and Americans aren't really willing to step out of their bubble and what not, and I'm definitely not trying to make light of this situation, but anyone with the smallest amount of perspective must realize that this is what Iraqis see on the news everyday.

Sometimes 2 or 3 times a day.

Their own fellow countrymen blowing the shit each other without any possible justification.

On some real shit, if a day passed in Iraq and the Virginia Tech shooting was the only thing that happened, that would be considered a good day in Iraq.
30 dead people don't even make the news in Iraq. I barely heard about the 34 people that died in Baghdad yesterday that beat out today's 33 at VT.

Sadly this event will become a funhouse mirror where every opportunist will try to advance whatever cause they believe in.

Not enough guns, too many guns, not enough Don Imus, too much Don Imus or whatever else they can associate with it.

It's already started. Peep this quote from the White House Press Conference (which is always a fucking joke,)

• "As far as policy, the President believes that there is a right for people to bear arms, but that all laws must be followed. And certainly bringing a gun into a school dormitory and shooting -- I don't want to say numbers because I know that they're still trying to figure out many people were wounded and possibly killed, but obviously that would be against the law and something that someone should be held accountable for."

Well Hallelujah, George Bush thinks school shootings should be illegal!
Close call.

Soon-to-be extinct dinosaur John McCain had this to say,

• "I do believe in the constitutional right that everyone has, in the Second Amendment to the Constitution, to carry a weapon," he said. "Obviously we have to keep guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens."

Surely this moron realizes that most of the people who snap have no prior records? Why is he still around?


And as always with this type of situation, everyone wonders what they would have done. As a black person, seeing how we have fared in past school shootings, such as Columbine, please believe I would have been snitched from a SAFE distance.

Apparently Virginia Tech, who had a school shooting last year, fucked the fuck up in their handling of the whole situation. The first shooting was earlier in the day and absolutely nothing was done until it reached the point below.



Damn, America has some serious issues.

Don Imus Vs. The Duke LaCrosse Ho

(Who set black women back more?)


I am absolutely stunned by the fact that Don Imus was fired. This entire story is fascinating and relevant on so many different levels. It actually got crazier because Imus may have killed the New Jersey Governor in a car crash. Corzine was on his way to broker a meeting between the Rutgers women and Imus.

• Corzine broke his leg, sternum, collarbone, six ribs on each side and a lower vertebra, state police and other government officials said.

Ouch.

A lot of people thought the two-week suspension by CBS was the only doggy bone that would be put out there and that after two weeks Imus would be back on the air and back to the status quo.

After all, the NY Times reported that he brought in $50, yes $50 million in advertising between his TV and radio show.

• His program generates in excess of $20 million in annual revenue for CBS Radio, his primary employer, and his flagship New York station, WFAN, according to two people apprised of the show’s finances who spoke on condition of anonymity. When advertising revenue for affiliates and MSNBC, which simulcasts the program, is included, the figure exceeds $50 million.

America was supposed to be all about the buck. If you bring in those ad dollars, then you will always win right?

And the craziest shit is that after the Rutgers story broke, his ratings actually went up.

Peep it,




But apparently it wasn't enough. Imus even let Al Sharpton take a verbal tinkle on him on Sharpton's radio show and that couldn't stop the rage.

Then Obama said Imus should get fired. I have to give Obama credit for being the only presidential candidate with the goddamn sense to call for his ouster. Only an ass would think his history of degradation of black women wouldn't come out.

• “Isn’t The Times wonderful,” Mr. Nelson quoted Mr. Imus as saying on the radio. “It lets the cleaning lady cover the White House.”

When bitch-ass closet racists like Guiliani and McCain try to say that shit is gravy because Imus apologized, it makes me wonder what else these fools would do if they even got close to be elected.

And then Oprah booked the Rutgers team on her show.
A Presidential candidate on your side is nice and all, but when Oprah steps on your team, it is a wrap.

The fact that Don Imus was fired for this, after decades of racism, was a sea change for Black representation in the media. If an old guard white man can get taken down by some young basketball playing Negro whippersnappers, then maybe there is some hope for representational justice out there.

But as positive of a statement as it was, it was equally negative because of the ugly spectre of black hypocrisy?

Throughout all of this people started asking, "Why do Black people refuse to criticize themselves?"

The most sickening thing to come out of this was of course from the King Nigger, Snoop Dogg who claimed that the disgusting shit that rappers say is completely different from what Imus said.

• "It's a completely different scenario," said Snoop, barking over the phone from a hotel room in L.A. "[Rappers] are not talking about no collegiate basketball girls who have made it to the next level in education and sports. We're talking about ho's that's in the 'hood that ain't doing sh--, that's trying to get a n---a for his money. These are two separate things. First of all, we ain't no old-ass white men that sit up on MSNBC [which announced Wednesday it would drop its simulcast of Imus' radio show] going hard on black girls. We are rappers that have these songs coming from our minds and our souls that are relevant to what we feel. I will not let them mutha----as say we in the same league as him."

This is coming from the nigger who showed up to an award show with two black "women" chained to him.





Remember that shit?

Or this shit,

• Media watchdogs are barking over an MTV cartoon that portrays a Snoop Dogg-like character leading two women around on leashes - before scooping up their poop.

  The new MTV2 animated series "Where My Dogs At?" satirizes such Hollywood stars as Michael Jackson, Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan.

He also added,

• "Kick him off the air forever," he said. "Ban him like they did [Adam] 'Pacman' Jones. They kicked him out the [National Football] League for the whole season [for numerous violations of the NFL's personal-conduct policy, including multiple arrests], but this punk gets to get on the air and call black women 'nappy-headed ho's.' "

Isn't this what I said yesterday? Pacman Jones, a fucking criminal who plays football in his spare time has somehow become a freedom fighter.

People need to step up and call this shit out for what it is. Rap and its "culture" is the disease.

• Where are the calls to prosecute the Duke LaCrosse whore who had 5 different men's semen in her and shitted on Black people and everyone else who supported her?
  
  
• Where are the boycotts of "Flavor of Love?"
  
  
• Or "I Love New York."
  
  
• Of Snoop Dogg's CDs?
  
  
• Of Busta Rhymes and all "Stop Snitching" rappers?
  

It disgusts me to agree with Bill O'Reilly, (about some of the shit he says here) but he's right about Snoop.



When will Black people get the courage to say what White people get accused of being racist for?

Kill (C)Rap Music!

(Giving weed carriers a bad name)

By now everyone's seen Karl Rove's little jig rap.


Now keep that Rove video in mind in context of this Coup song from '94, Pimps (Freestyling at the Fortune 500 Club) about CEO's rapping about their corporate conquests.

• "Motherfuckers like me got stocks bonds and securites
  No impurities, straight anglo saxon
  when my family got their sex on
  Don't let me get my flex on, do some gangster shit
  Make the army go to war for Exxon
  Long as the money flow, I be making dough."

The Coup spit that truth.

Anyway, people have been getting up in arms about his MC Rove shtick as being racist and/or offensive. What's the big deal? That shit is less offensive than Ms. Peachez and is no worse than anything on the Billboard Rap Singles Chart.

Listen to the #1 rap song in the country, "This Is Why I'm Hot" if your stomach can take it.



Goddamn that is ignorant. The Village Voice breakdown of the "song" is classic.

Considering that last week was one where 28-year old Tony Yayo struck a 14-year old boy for wearing a Game shirt and Snoop and Puffy had to cancel a tour because Britain wouldn't let Snoop in, it's clear that (c)rap music is damn near indefensible.

While folks like Marbury and Ben Wallace try to fight the disease of materialism that rap music so gleefully spreads amongst the youth, it's getting damn near impossible to proudly ride with hip-hop.

Start Snitching readers, what hip-hop are you proud to be caught listening to in April 2007? (Besides Jesus Price Superstar, which is all types of great.)

I'm about a half step away from buying some tight jeans, a blazer and Bjork's back catalogue and calling it a wrap.

LeBron James and Warren Buffett, Best Friends Forever?

(These Negroes sure jump high...)


Warren Buffett, who could buy the whole damn NBA, fuck the Cavs, was chilling at the Cavs game against the Nuggets to cheer on his main nigga, LeBron James.

Yea, you read that right,Warren Buffett was cheerleading for LeBron James.

• "He wanted a few tips on basketball and I wanted a little advice on money," joked Buffett, estimated by Forbes Magazine to be worth $52 billion. "We switch. He tells me what socks to buy and I tell him what stocks to pick."

Yuk, yuk, yuk.

How in the hell does LeBron James know Warren Buffett you ask? It wasn't just a ploy by David Stern to get old white men to watch basketball.

• "Though an unlikely pair, Cleveland's All-Star forward and Buffett are friends and mutual admirers. They first met a few months ago over a lunch of cheeseburgers in Omaha, Neb."

That's how you meet billionaires? Eat some fucking cheeseburgers? Man, I got this shit all twisted. I thought you twist out their daughters and force yourself into the will...

All jokes aside, I respect LeBron using his ability to put a ball into a net to climb that social ladder. So many NBA players and athletes in general never grow out of the state of niggerdom they enter the professional sports world with.

Cough... Artest, Owens, Pacman Jones, Ray Carruth, Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson, Mike Tyson... Cough.

Instead of using their riches to try and open the new doors in front of them, they throw bags of dollars bills in the air and strip clubs and cause shoot-outs.

Tis a damn shame.

If you have to model yourself after a wealthy white man, it would be hard to do better than Buffett. As the second wealthiest man in the world, Buffett is ridiculously modest, he still lives in Nebraska and he's going to give away most of his money to Bill Gates' charity.

Kudos to you LeBron.


- I'm not going to pretend to be up on the NBA in general, especially this year. But Kobe even has a hater like he standing up and applauding. He even has people calling him MVP, better than MJ and more gully than Jesus Christ on Easter morning.

And this is coming from a guy who spent many years losing his voice cheering against the Lakers in the playoffs. Don't get it twisted, I'm no front-runner, I still don't want the Lakers to do shit in the playoffs. But this dude is single-handedly doing what LeBron and all them other new cats were supposed to be doing. Keep the NBA interesting and getting people talking.

Can we let Kobe out of fake rape/Duke LaCrosse purgatory?
How many more 50 point games does he need until he gets his endorsements back?

Obama wants the Duke LaCrosse players let off, can he get Kobe off too?

NYC Dodged a Bullet Sean Bell Didn't Get To

(Still making it rain for Sean...)

New York just dodged a big ass riot by indicting 3 of the officers involved in the Sean Bell shooting.

Shit was already getting hot for the NYPD, 2 cops were shot by a pizzeria (video of the shooting here is pretty crazy) a few days ago and another one caught a bullet up in Harlem.

The Grand Jury tried some shady shit by bringing in a "mystery witness" who claimed to have seen a fourth man jump out of the car and shoot at the police, but Bloomberg shut all that down with the quickness. With black male joblessness around 50% in NYC, there a lot of Negroes with the free time to share their unpleasant feelings about a grand jury ruling they weren't feeling.

Y'all thought those poor Africans who rioted in the French suburbs two years ago were gully?

U.S. Negroes export ignorance overseas through (c)rap music, so rest assured the French got their rioting strategies from us. A NYC area riot would put the East Coast back on the map. With NYC's crime rate dropping like the black population in Harlem, ghetto New Yorkers have been waiting for the opportunity to prove their gulliness.

Luckily, they didn't get their chance and blacks remain placated. Nothing to see here colored folk. Please get back to "throwing some D's on that bitch."

Thanks

- Management


Meanwhile, as NYC gets safer and more Disneyfied the rest of the country has lost their damn minds.

You know shit is real in the field when a little girl's dog got Godfathered (meaning her dog's head was cut off and sent to her.)

Are New Yorkers actually safer staying home?

Cuuurtis Jackson and Obama: Brothers In Arms?

(See this shit ASAP)

I tried to stay away from the Negro Circus that is 50 Cent's and Cam'ron beef but then last week I was told something that got me thinking.

"Hip-hop has destroyed the black community."

Hearing that statement in the context of seeing the above PBS doc last night and reading about all the fights that broke out at every rap related party during the NBA All-Star Game got me thinking about how that statement would have been heresy to me 10 years ago and how I completely agree with it now.

And then I saw Cam'ron's diss track "Curtis" on the YouTubes (I really was trying to avoid the beef.)




Watching the 50 Cent / Cam'ron "beef" take place in the hyper speed world of Internet time (From radio beef to music video in 24 hours? Can you say staged?) was interesting in its own sick way but the shit that really caught my ear was Cam'ron's attacks on 50.

Cam was basically was checking 50's hood status because 50 has a house in the suburbs.
Cam'ron has a house out in the suburbs too.
Who is he fooling? Do black people really believe this shit?

Anyone think Cam is really eating General Tso's Chicken on the stoop of some project where the feces odor from the stairwell and urine smell from the elevator lingers over his meal?

The NY Times recently pointed out that rappers are flocking to Alpine, NJ for mansions like it's the new Section 8 and Cam's mortgage dealer was interviewed in the article.

From the article,

• But what about lyrical content? Can a rapper really stay true to his street roots when his neighbors are horseback-riding hedge-fund managers and wild deer are scampering across his dew-covered front lawn?

  “First of all, when you talk about New Jersey, you’re not talking about Beverly Hills,” Mr. Harrell said. “The influence of the urban experience is 30 minutes away, but you don’t have to be in the noise all the time.” He added, “You have to have quiet as an artist to hear your inner voice.”

  And Fabolous said he had not entirely isolated himself. “I still go back to Brooklyn all the time,” he said, “just to remind myself how far I’ve come and get inspiration from that. And I don’t think if I see a deer on my lawn, it will shake me too much.” He added, laughing, “If I do see a deer, it might be something funny I can put in a rhyme.”

Even if Cam did stay in the "hood" would that claim even still be relevant?
Most hip-hop today sounds like a commercial for a hedge fund managers weekend vacation.
The shit is so out of touch with modern black life and American life as a whole that it really doesn't speak to most black people. And the people who are selling these pre-packaged urban Happy Meals are frolicking with dear out in the fucking woods somewhere.

The hood is not a place anyone should come back to once they leave, but don't pretend you're authentic because you film your street DVDs in the projects. C'mon.

I'm not breaking any news by saying that rap glorifies the most destructive aspects of the African-American experience. A recent article about DJ Drama in the NY Times (good read) ended with this sad little blurb,

• In fact, Julia Beverly, the editor of Ozone, a Southern hip-hop magazine, suggested that it was more likely to improve his image and album sales. “Really, this takes him to a gangsta level,” she said. “It gives him a little something extra. It’s messed up, but if someone goes to jail or dies, it elevates his status and just makes him more of a star than he was before. That’s the way the entertainment industry works in general. So, having cops at your door with M-16’s at your head, and MTV News reporting on the raid, calling you the biggest D.J. in the world? You can’t pay for that type of look.”

Most black people ain't making it rain. If they could there wouldn't be a riot every time some dumb jig rapper through money in the air.

This beef and the whole Obama controversy all traces back to the question of "What is Black?" and who controls that blackness.

Peep this dumb bitch Debra Dickerson on the Colbert Report,




I'm starting to get really tight over this whole issue of who is allowed to be black and hatred old guard blacks are throwing at Obama.
Last week Robert Ford said about Obama,

• "Every Democrat running on that ticket next year would lose — because he's black and he's top of the ticket. We'd lose the House and the Senate and the governors and everything.

He later apologized.

From the same article,

• Darcel Lancaster, an 18-year-old Claflin freshman, spent nearly two hours waiting in the morning's chill to be the first in line to see Obama. The biology major said she wouldn't commit to Obama's campaign.
  "I'm going to look more into others," she said. She doesn't expect him to win every black vote — including hers. "Some people think he's not black enough," Lancaster said. If she picked Obama, it wouldn't be because of his race, she said. "He's not full black," Lancaster said.

Full black.
Wow.
What the flying fuck does that mean? Who is full black? Who is full anything?

I would like some American Negroes to show me the DNA tests that prove their great-great-great grandmother didn't get raped on the plantation somewhere down the line. Show me that and I'll stop riding with Obama.

That should be the new black card. Official DNA composition results.
I've 99% West African fool, my 7X great uncle hung out with Nat Turner and I was the secret fourth man in the Sean Bell car.
And what fool?!
Beat that.

Condi Rice Ain't Gots No Kids... The Truth Hurts

Besides researching the drug war, the other thing that has been keeping me busy is the three ring circus of American politics. With the Democrats taking charge last week and the new Iraqi escalation things are about to go crazy in 2007.

Things got a little heated when a California Senator Barbara Boxer told Condi Rice she will pay no personal price for Iraq because she has no kids.

Boxer said,

• “Who pays the price? I’m not going to pay a personal price. My kids are too old and my grandchild is too young. You’re not going to pay a particular price, as I understand it, with an immediate family. So who pays the price? The American military and their families. And I just want to bring us back to that fact.”

Personally I saw nothing wrong with what Boxer said. People with kids in military will probably make better military decisions than people whose children are Jenna and Barbara Bush.

And is anyone supposed to feel sorry for Rice? She will go down as a legendary sell-out on the level of Clarence Thomas and Ward Connerly.

Boxer was spitting the truth but I realized the Bush administration doesn't react well to that noxious substance. Especially when it's told directly to them. Like when Jim Webb told Bush not to ask about his son in Iraq, or when someone noted that Cheney's daughter was gay in a debate.

But apparently it has become a big deal.
Drug-addict/professional retard Rush Limbaugh had this to add,

• “Here you have a rich white chick with a huge, big mouth, trying to lynch this, an African-American woman, right before Martin Luther King Day, hitting below the ovaries here.”
  

And others in the White House called her remarks an attack on feminism. Because you know, the Bush administration really cares about feminism and the plight of the African-American woman.

I hope no one loses focus on the 20,000+ troops that are now IED bait by focusing on this bullshit distraction.


While I'm at it, let me just get this all out.


- Cheney says U.S. must show stomach in Iraq and calls out Iraq and Iran.
If the military consisted of 200,000 cloned versions of shotgun-bearing drunken Cheney I'd say invade away.

Otherwise I'd say lets not talk shit to Syria and Iran now...
We ain't exactly dominating on the military front.


-Lieberman is still the biggest bitch ass mother-fucker in the entire U.S. Congress.

How did Ned Lamont lose to this fucking rat?
Don't let me see this fool on this street.


- Bush was an utter embarrassment on 60 Minutes tonight. I'd post YouTube video of it but I like y'all more than that.

After 6 years of his presidency I cannot add anything new about how disrespectful Bush's smirky, frat-boy attitude is, especially in response to questions about mistakes that killed hundreds of thousands of humans and horribly injured hundreds of thousands more.

The shit that really made me shake my head more than normal was when this dumb motherfucker said he was currently reading a book about France's horrible disaster in Algeria.
I pray he wasn't just finding out about Algeria because I knew about that shit going into college. That fool is 60.

He also said that Iraqis owe America a thank you for what the U.S. has done for them.
Yea, you read that right. Iraqis owe us a thank you.
Saddam was a tyrant but he kept Iraq in check and less people died a month with him than they do now. I hate to say it, but life under Saddam was ballin' in comparison to what is popping off now.

My mommy went to the market to buy vegetables and was killed by an Sunni insurgent.

My father took a job as a garbageman and was kidnapped and executed.

I don't know about y'all but I don't want the thanks a lot of Iraqis probably want to give us now.

- Not enough time has passed for Germans to make a movie about Hitler being an incompetent yet lovable oaf.
When German soccer savages are throwing banana peels at black players, Germany ain't ready.


- When Mexicans are killing Negroes in broad daylight maybe pizza chains shouldn't be excepting pesos as a form of payment.
Bad timing Pizza Patron. No wonder they got death threats. (The Shield tried to teach y'all about Mexican-Black tensions spilling out onto civilians. The Wire ain't the only showing dropping knowledge.)

Top Ten Albums of 2006 and Other Shit

(Bringing blacks and whites together, the MLK Jr. of this rap shit.)

Music is becoming so fragmented and niche-oriented that it's increasingly harder music critics, let alone the average listener (and where is the line between those two?) to agree on anything.

This year's collection of Top Albums lists shows exactly how random shit has become. You could pretty much make an argument for whatever album you liked as the best of 2006. Looking at Pitchfork's list, it seemed like that's exactly what they did.
There are only three albums on here I can co-sign and I can't stand "Silent Shout."

Pitchfork's Top Ten of 2006

10. Scott Walker - The Drift
9. Boris - Pink
8. Grizzly Bear - Yellow House
7. Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury
6. Liars - Drum's Not Dead
5. The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
4. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale
3. Joanna Newsom - Ys
2. TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
1. The Knife - Silent Shout


Pitchfork's Out of Wedlock Brother, Stylus Magazine posted their list, which was a step-up from Pitchfork with 5 good albums.

Stylus Mag's Top 10 of 2006

10. Joanna Newsom -Ys
9. Junior Boys- So This Is Goodbye
8. Lil Wayne/DJ Drama - Dedication 2
7. The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
6. Ellen Allien & Apparat - Orchestra of Bubbles
5. Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury
4. TV On the Radio
3. The Knife - The Silent Shout
2. Hot Chip - The Warning
1. Ghostface - Fishscale


Blah to them both.


Start Snitching's Musical Observations of 2006

• It seems like the white hipster obsession with the Clipse and Lil Wayne could not be stopped. Sadly with more albums coming from them in 2007, it seems like this fetish will continue well into 2007.
• Glitchy, unlistenable electronic art-rock is en vogue. If you can listen to someone scratching a chalkboard and looping sounds of plane crashing backwards for 47 minutes you are deep.
• Mixtapes are now on equal footing with albums.
• Reggaeton is dead. Thank the lord.
• Grime is dead. Thank the lord.
• Everyone has seemingly turned against the Arctic Monkeys. Thank the lord yet again.
• Thom Yorke needs Radiohead.
• If your album flopped, you should blame it on the market and not your wack-ass album.
• Kool Keith is over.
• Get shot ain't what it used to be. Ask Proof, Obie Trice, Cam'ron and Beanie Sigel, who all got shot. Forgot already? So did everyone else.
• Ghostface needs to start getting put on those greatest rappers of all-time lists.
  

Here's the Start Snitching guide to Top 10 Albums of 2006.

10. Cat Power - The Greatest

Chan Marshall is the hottest recovering alcoholic in all of indie-rock. Leaving behind her baggage and typical sound, Ms. Power got some soul and recorded her album in Memphis with Al Green's old backing band while exorcising some old demons.
If she's needs a sponsor, I can help.


9. The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls In America



The lead singer has the voice of a bleated goat. If you can get over that, then you'll be able to appreciate lyrics that chronicle the drug-fueled self-destruction of small-town America with the same passion that Bruce Springsteen chronicled hope and small-town escape 30 years ago. Overdosing has never been more fun.


8. Hot Chip - The Warning



Now here's an electronic record that actually deserved the praise it got. Rather than slamming a bunch of keys on their laptop, this band actually made fully structured songs that a human could vibe to, with enough atmosphere and subtle influences to keep you dissecting the album, even after repeated listens.


7. Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped



In a parallel universe, Sonic Youth gets their own iPod instead of U2 and the entire 80 GB hard drive is filled with John Cage's 639 year long piece, "As Slow as Possible."
Shitty modern rock bands would pay tribute to them on MTV Icons, instead of honoring Aerosmith and Metallica, and Kim Gordon would stare down from her throne with bored disdain.

But back here in reality, Sonic Youth is still grinding away in its 3rd decade of existence, doing their best to keep the guitar relevant with their most melody-focused album, in a year when shitty unfocused electronic music won all the accolades.


6. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere



Yea I picked Gnarls Barkley as my number 2.
And what?
I've heard people call this album a gimmick record and then praise MF Doom in the same breath.
That is called hypocrisy.

Gnarls is just catching backlash for getting (way too much) radio play, selling a million and getting that platinum plaque.
The production is some of the best of the year and most artists wish they could have pop melodies this strong.


5. TV on the Radio



A black indie rock band!
Huzzah!!!
Dense, intensely lyrical, rhythmic art-rock by a band that's 80% Negro.
If they could just get on BET somehow, I'd be a happy man.


4. Lily Allen - Alright, Still



You wouldn't be wrong for thinking "pikey/chav" when you hear the name Lily Allen.
She is a white girl who makes songs about getting into fights on the line of night clubs.
Social distnctions aside, anyone who digs this deep into the crates to find the classic reggae, ska, blues and dub samples on display here and then overlays them with pop music this subversive is going to make the list.


2 & 3. Ghostface - Fishscale/More Fish



His album scraps are killing most people in the game.
A thrown together project that his label pitched to him ended up being fire and he sounds hungrier than most new cats in the game.
What more is there to say?

No one raps with the intensity, urgency or the creativity of Ghostface.
If you would have told anyone in 1994 that Ghostface would be the most relevant, respected and commercially viable rapper from the Wu-Tang clan you would have quite possibly been slapped.
It's not that he wasn't good. He just wasn't in the forefront like that.

But more than 10 odd years later he put together an MVP performance and people still sit up to hear that new Ghostface.
Remember who started that coke rap kiddies.
A kilo is a thousand grams.


1. M. Ward- Post-War



M. Ward's dusty lo-fi record is based on what he claims is an examination of how a society obsessed with and destroyed by war moves on.
Fortunately there isn't one whiny ass protest song on this record to undermine M. Ward's trademark hazy sound or intimate vocals.
Post War takes the slacker aesthetic of Pavement and gives it enough political context to sneak right under the ambivalence of our lazy ass generation.

______________________________________________________

10 Songs I Played Too Damn Much in 2006

10. Scissor Sisters - Don't Feel Like Dancing
9. Nelly Furtado - No Hay Igual
8. Cham - Ghetto Story
7. Cat Power - The Greatest
6. The Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars - Soda Soap
5. T.I. - What You Know
4. Johnny Cash - God's Gonna Cut You Down
3. Be Your Own Pet- Bicycle, Bicycle, You're My Bicycle
2. Easy Dub All Stars - Lucky (Radiohead Cover)
1. M. Ward- Right in the Head




Top Ten Albums of 2007 (I'm Psychic Like That)

10. Raekwon - Built For Cuban Linx 2
9. Bloc Party
8. The Shins
7. Radiohead
6. MIA
5. Madvillain 2
4. Modest Mouse
3. The Go! Team
2. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
1. MF Doom/Ghostface - Swift and Changeable


That's it for music in 2006.
Stay tuned for the Top Coons of the year.

The Top Five Tech Things of 2006

(I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that...")

I don't blog about technology often because that is what Engadget and Digg are for.

But not everyone has the time or interest to get find the worthwhile shit out there and appreciate the power that technology has on their lives, so here's the shit you should have been rocking in 2006.


5. Google Earth 4

Link

I don't think people realize how real in the field Google is with their shit and the level they will be on by the end of the decade. I also afraid as to how much more detailed this program can get in 2007.
Tinfoil-hat conspiracies aside, Google Earth is exactly what a country who loves Borat but isn't quite sure if his country is real needs.
Get global fools, before Chinese robots are banging your wife.


4. USB Cell

Link



Batteries that charge through USB.
Quite simple, quite brilliant.


3. TVU Player

Link

Internet TV is some next level shit that won't take off until Verizon DSL and friends stop selling those bullshit "high-speed" Internet connections.
This software lets you rock free TV, Cable and Global Television over the Internet.
Illegal? Probably.
Free cable? Definitely.


2. FairUse 4 WM

Link

Sign up for a two-week free trial with a music subscription service.
MTV Urge, Yahoo! Music Unlimited and Napster are a few of the more popular ones. Urge doesn't ask for a credit card.
Download thousands of protected WMA files to your computer for free and then cry as they expire when your trial ends.
Or use this program to rip off the DRM protection and enjoy them well after your trial is up.

I'm not encouraging you to do that. I'm just saying that it's a possibility.

Shit, you might actually like one of the services enough to sign up after the trial ends.
That's what I did with Yahoo Music Unlimited.
You get tired of shitty quality SoulSeek tracks after a while.


1. Skype 3.0



Link

VOIP is scaring the shit out of the telecommunication companies. How do you run your business when you know that one day all calls will be free?
I don't know and I don't care.
Skype isn't new, it lets you call anyone, anywhere in the world for free as long as they have Skype.
The noteworthy step is the fact that Skype is starting to get common on cellphones with Wi-Fi, which means soon you'll be making free calls everywhere.
I love it.

_____________________________

My 2007 calls.

1) I know y'all are all in love with your iPods but don't sleep on that Microsoft Zune.
No one thought Microsoft would steal the crown from the Sony PlayStation and look what happened. XBox 360 is running the table and I am better than you at Madden.
The next Zune should be fire.

2) Cellphones will get gullier, meaning built-in hard drives, better cameras and such.
Not to mention Apple will release some sort of Apple Phone. Everyone will step their game up after the Apple Phone drops. Competition gets that ass moving.

3) I will acquire some sort of HDTV.
Standard TV is not cutting it for Start Snitching.

The Redemption of Justin Timberlake

No, this is not another hipster apologist defense of Justin Timberlake.
It's just him being in the right Saturday Night Live sketch at the right time.

Is this as funny as Lazy Sunday was before it was killed off by its own greatness?



Maybe.

But all I know is that I'm now looking for that special lady to share my Christmas gift with.

Snitch of the Week: 12/3 - 12/9 (Hip-Hop Is Dead)

(I'm not talking about Nas' album)

The Grammys are the worst award show of all the major award shows.
If you watch the Emmys or the Oscars or even the Tonys, the shit that wins or gets nominated is usually worth your time.

The vast majority of what receives recognition from the Grammy people is usually trash and the 2007 Grammy Awards are no different.
But the trash they nominate usually consists of a wide range of genres including rap.

Not this year.
The Grammy Awards are the Snitch of the Week for their snub of rap that calls out and confirms what everyone has largely known, that hip-hop is dead.

The L.A. Times explains...

• In the three decades since rap music grabbed the microphone and swaggered toward pop culture's center stage, it's been hotly debated whether it's the essential sound of youth and urban culture or just ugly noise masquerading as music. But nobody could argue that it was yesterday's news.
  That changes today.
  Nominations were announced Thursday for the 49th annual Grammy Awards and, for the first time in six years, no rap stars made it into any of the marquee categories such as album of the year or best new artist. Instead, the glory went to soulful singer Mary J. Blige (who led with eight nominations), the scarred rock survivors of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, British newcomer James Blunt and the Dixie Chicks, the latter nominated for album, record and song of the year.

Ouch.

Commercially, critically, spiritually, intellectually, hip-hop/rap whatever you want to call, it's a wrap.

Let's start with the most important aspect of hip-hop.

Money:

General music sales have decreased for the last few years and this year is no different, 2006 records sales are about 5% off 2005.
The kicker is that hip-hop's share of the pie is decreasing.
It's down to a little over 10% for 2006 from 12.2% in 2004 (PDF Link.)

In three of the last five years, a rapper finished No. 1 in the Nielsen SoundScan tally of the year's bestsellers. This year they didn't even come close.

And In 2007 rap's market share may drop to under 10%.

I couldn't be happier.

Who is taking the share?

First it's the singles and the ringtones business and secondly country music.
Even the white kids and the Tom Breihans of the world grow up, get tired of rap and move on.

From the LA Times again,

• Sixteen-year-old rapper Jibbs is an example. His debut album has sold a humble 126,000 copies since its release in October. But one sing-song track on the CD, "Chain Hang Low," an ode to diamond necklaces, has sold 1.4 million ringtones. Those sound clips, used to personalize cellphones, usually cost about $2 each.
  "I don't know how it's doing now," Jibbs said of his CD sales total. "The game changed and it's something that everybody in the industry gotta deal with. Period. So why not be a part of the best thing happening now: ringtones."
  

Even Jibbs knows his album is trash. He just wants to sing for 30 seconds when your grandmother calls.

How seriously can rap be taken when more and more artists move away from making respectable, coherent albums and into making 30 seconds clips of Bubba Sparxxx type "Booty Booty Booty Rocking Everywhere" nonsense.

And as I said country music holds 3 of the top 10 as of 12/2/06.

1 HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL SOUNDTRACK 3,351,672
2 ME & MY GANG RASCAL FLATTS 2,892,780
3 SOME HEARTS CARRIE UNDERWOOD 2,248,095
4 ALL THE RIGHT REASONS NICKELBACK 2,160,766
5 BACK TO BEDLAM JAMES BLUNT 2,011,924
6 FUTURESEX/LOVESOUNDS JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE 1,808,255
7 TAKING THE LONG WAY DIXIE CHICKS 1,731,756
8 THE BREAKTHROUGH MARY J BLIGE 1,731,626
9 NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL MUSIC! 21 VARIOUS ARTISTS 1,609,769
10 KING T.I. 1,552,839

The next rap artist after T.I. is the Black Eyed Peas, (if you consider that rap) 27 slots down the chart, whose album was released in 2005.
37 MONKEY BUSINESS BLACK EYED PEAS 963,077


Peep the Billboard Top Ten Hot Rap Tracks

1. Bow Wow - Shortie Like Mine
2. Jim Jones -Ballin'
3. Unk -Walk It Out
4. Ludacris - Moneymaker
5. Lil Scrappy - Money In the Bank
6. Lil Wayne/Birdman - Stunting Like My Daddy
7. Snoop Dogg- That's That Shit
8. Ludacris - Runaway Love
9. Fat Joe - Make it Rain
10. Young Jeezy - I Luv It


How many of those could you say are good rap songs?
1?
Maybe 2?

Culture:
Hip-hop always took pride in the fact that it exported "black culture" to the world and that it gave people a chance to rise above their surroundings who otherwise would not have that chance.

But peep this quote from Snoop,

• The 35-year-old father of three says he has no problem about his children getting involved with firearms and illegal substances too.
  He added: "I have no worries about my kids. They have my money if they want it but I want them to face their own world.
  "If drugs and guns are a part of that world, I know they can handle it. They get that from me. Every month or so I take them down to the hood, where I came from. They see what it's like."

This nigger, yes nigger, made it out of the hood and is trying to get his kids in the drug game?
Did he not see the season finale of the Wire last night?

Rap artists seem content to be wallowing more in their ignorance and stereotypes than examining them and trying to transcend.

Politics:

Where is the relevant politcal rap?
Why do DJ's have to play KRS-One's 13 year-old "Black Cop" in response to the Sean Bell shooting?



Why is this Rakim video about the first Iraq War a more relevant statement about the 2nd Iraq than anything put out today?



What the fuck are rappers talking about today?

I'm not sitting here wishing for every rapper to talk about the Electoral College and the Iraq Study Group Report.

There are more than enough shitty underground rappers to remind anyone how boring ultra-political rap can be.
But not one of the Billboard Top Ten Rap Tracks is about a god damn thing and the rest aren't even entertaining in their ignorance.

Today's rappers have such a juvenile understanding of the world and live in such an isolated bubble that whenever they speak in public I cringe before they open their mouths. I remember when I was a foolish teenage Negro that was actually into hip-hop culture and being utterly embarrassed every single time a rapper appeared on Bill Maher's old ABC show "Politically Incorrect."

The rappers always went out of their way to seem like the little kid allowed to sit at the grown-ups dinner table.
And things haven't changed.

Peep Nas,

• Pitchfork: What's your take on the state of the country and the current elections? Do you vote?

  Nas: Not until [Barack] Obama runs…or even maybe when Ms. Clinton runs. Obama is an exciting cat.

Um, right Nas likes Hilary or something... Thanks for the nugget of wisdom.

Even the white rappers who carpetbagged their way to success on the back of rap music are leaving that shit behind.
Crap-Rockers Linkin Park are talking about making a prog-rock album.

And with all the name brand rapping blowing their loads (No Cash Money) in 4Q of 2006, 2007 will only get worse.

Until then, we can try to understand exactly how Pharell's "In My Mind' was nominated for Best Rap Album.

Rap Grammy Nominee List

Full Grammy Nominee List

Yahoo's Official Grammy List w/ Videos