I remember the first time I saw George Carlin. I was maybe eight years old, and was flipping though channels at my father’s house. I came across this bearded man speaking to a large crowd of young people. In my mind he was a professor and those were his students… my father being a professor at Hunter College at the time was my only point of reference for that dynamic. He seemed almost too smart to be a comic. I remember watching him & being fascinated by the way he used words and thinking what school is this? Clearly he is teaching but what is the subject? And how fun it must be to be one of his students.

He will be remembered.

He left so much good stuff to for us to marvel at.

I would’ve loved to have been able to tell him to his face how much what he had to say and how he said it meant to me.

He is one of the greats.

Cody Chesnutt – one of the most eclectic artists of the past 10 years – has peeked his head above ground once again to give us an audio jewel for the campaign season. please know that you’ll be hearing this in a future DJ set…stay tuned.

What if I told you that i saw a game that involved a character that had dark skin with big red lips and was wearing only a grass skirt? What if I told that he also had a bone through his nose and the goal of the game was to out run a rhino? What year would you think these images from? Perhaps the turn of the century, perhaps early 40’s or 50’s.

Well folks you’d be wrong those images where from the year 2007 and the place those images were seen was on a banner ad on MYSPACE!

There’s more than one – in another, a similar character stands opposite a gorilla, with the goal of the game to push a coconut out of a tree.

If the ad were on a smaller site perhaps I could manage to be less concerned. But this site has captured the imagination of millions of people around the world and whether consciously or not they influence the perception of those people depicted. I know that these are concerns of myspace as indicated by their very detailed process of screening and the ability to report if some one is lewd, crass, offensive or otherwise insensitive. So imagine my shock when I didn’t get so much as a “we’ll look into it’ and got pretty much the same reaction when I sent the complaint to other sites whom I thought could help make my point.

The silence was deafening. Was I crazy?

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In all the hubbub of the past few months, there was something very warm and familiar looking about Mr. Obama that I couldn’t quite put my finger on… till now. check it out.

Until a couple of weeks ago i was living in blissful ignorance that a show like “flavor or love” even existed. I managed to sit through like 3 episodes and it really kinda bent me up inside. I was mad, astonished, sad, embarrassed and a whole bunch or other things all at once. I wont go into the details of the show but its on VH1 watch it if you dare but i will use no more of this blog space describing the misogynistic coonery that passes for entertainment.

Needless to say i was a bit worried about the future and the current state of how black people (in particular) are imagined in the public mythology. Then i saw 2 things that made my heart open back up. the first was an extra on the DVD for Spike Lee’s “Inside man” the extra is called “4″ and basically it’s Spike and Denzel talking to each other about film. It was like watching 2 old men talking over a game of chess.

The second thing I saw was on the “media that matters” website(http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/). There are several great entries but the one that made me jump around the room was one called “a girl like me” by Kiri Davis…this is the link to her short http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/6/index.php?id=2

it felt good to see people that young take an interest in what’s going on around them and actively create alternatives.

make the world you want to live in.

5/2/06

My jaw is still on the floor after seeing this on C-SPAN the other day.

The speech Steve Colbert gave at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner was awesome if for no other reason that people he was satirizing were all in the room. Here is a link to thankyoustephencolbert.org, a site with links to the performance, transcripts, etc.

4/17/06

Over the past few months I’ve been watching several historical films that deal with race in America (a solders story, crazy in Alabama, glory, in the heat of the night) and at the same time have been mulling over in my head the use by both public figures, my friends and myself of the word “nigga”

What is it about that word that’s so attractive?

Why is it ok to say it on TV and you cant say “shit?”

It’s supposed to be such an ugly word but it feels like it’s becoming increasingly common in our pop culture. My mind instantly flashes to a club that my friend took me to that was populated primarily with white people who where all dancing and having a good time and then the DJ spun the #1 song in America at the time which was “gold digger” by Kanye West. Everyone went crazy, as was the tradition at the time and started singing the song VERY LOUD! Tension built as the hook approached and to every ones credit no one said “nigger” but Kanye.

Which brings me to the question why? Why is ok for any one to use it? I mean, sure we can say whatever we want I’m not challenging that. I’m challenging the hypocrisy of it being called an ugly word but still being used casually. I don’t know how many interviews and talk show appearances I have heard people/artists say “when you use it enough it takes the power out of it” or “we use it for a term of endearment”

2 thoughts run through my mind
#1 we still got a lot of healing to do(not just black but this entire country)
#2 we are not being creative enough.

There were several words besides “nigger” that were used to denigrate and demean us that I feel should be used more often until the power is taken out of them, as well. Here’s a short list
- spade
- jigga bo
- tar baby
- egg plant
- spook
- sambo
- chimp
- ape
- snow flake
- spear chucker
- booty scratcher
- coon

Really try substituting those words in your mind for how you’ve herd the word nigga used.
“yo, that’s my Jigga bo”
“where my tar babies at?”
“all the real fly coons throw your hands up”
“ I ain’t sayin’ she’s a gold digger be she ain’t messing wit’ no broke spear chuckers”
See. Its got a little sting to it that I think “nigger” has lost…and if all else fails emphasize the “ER” that was at the end of “nigga” before it was dropped for the “A”

hey true believers. there is alot going on in the world as you well know and i hope you are out there doing your part to build or destroy. everytime i see or hear this MC and i can let some one know about him, i try to do so. this is Immortal Technique speaking in California recently, the second link is him answering questions.
i would love to hear your thoughts on what he’s talking about.
Statement to the press
Q&A

thanks Davey D

An oscar, apparently.

Before I rant, let me just say that 90% of everything is bullshit. I forgot who told me that but it holds true. Test it if you don’t believe me. It’s probably why I have such a small circle of friends. That thought rang thought my head along with the last note to the Oscar award winning song as performed that night. “It’s hard out here for a pimp.” As she held that note my heart shattered like a wine glass.

Yall, I didn’t plan to watch the award show. The house was a mess and we decided
to put on the TV as background noise as we cleaned up. We happened to pass the tv at the same time as the performance began, complete with choreographed pimps whores and Johns. We both watched in AWE as they won an award. And then, QUEEN Latifah – your name cant get more black than that – the author of ladies first, and UNITY) followed them to present an award and said nothing to acknowledge the sickness that preceeded.

Now the Oscars are not my show so they can award whom ever they please, however it was crazy to see that mythology affirmed in such a global public way.

Quick query. Why don’t “conscious” rappers get in to battles with corporate sponsored “gangsta” rappers? Oh and just so no one says I didn’t offer an alternative…if you still listen to hip-hop and want to hear some thing gangsta, check out Immortal Technique.

Bush (and all of the corporate sponsored politicians) knew about Katrina. It’s on video tape. So stay focused… an Oscar pales in comparison to the crimes that are being committed in this country daily. We must value ourselves and our image. No one feels compassion for a pimp no matter how hard out there it is for him. Let’s broaden our mythology so next time (omnipotent life force forbid) we are wading though water looking for food to survive, we are not labeled looters.

First Octavia passes and now this? “Are we living in Parable of the Sower already? Was my first thought. Then my next thought was “perhaps I should douse myself in gasoline and set myself on fire” BUT with the price of gas being so crazy right now I would hate to waste that on little ole me. My very next thought went to what am I doing artistically right now?

Then I thought, well we do have EXITTHEAPPLE. But sometimes I feel dwarfed by the corporate sponsored rap group that is only a drop in the ocean of wack shit out there representing us. For as many people as there are who come though this site, more connections should be made. I KNOW for a fact that there are folks who come to this site or attend our events whose life works compliment each other but never cross paths.

And I’m guilty of over working and never acknowleding that stuff has actually been done. And people do meet and accomplish things so to that end I do want to thank those of you who do put forth the effort and occasionally shout us out. It helps…however what do we do NOW?

Right now I’m going to finish these scripts I’ve been working on.
As for you my fellow exiters/nerds ask yourself what have you done, what can you do, and are you part of the 90%? Be honest. No pain no gain. The struggle continues.
Peace