Old School Scholar

It seems that I have a little more to get off my chest about Nelly’s comments on the BET Blog concerning Hip Hop vs. America, especially how He ended it. Here is the direct quote:

“Now, Hip Hop is making money, we’re making strides, we’re the biggest music on the planet, and we’re also the largest black employers on the planet, so its allowing more brother and sisters to do other positive things, and send my kids to some of the best schools in the country. And to solidify trust funds, leave trust funds, have health care. It’s a beautiful thing, and I’m happy to be a part of it.”

I ran across something by Nelly the other day on the BET Blog that I found quite interesting, and it falls in line with my article Who’s really in charge? He was making reference to Hip Hop vs. America in which he took part last fall, and He goes on a tirade about how America wants to ban Hip Hop, gangsta rap especially, because they can’t control it.

As I was driving home from work the other day, I pulled up to a stop sign. Standing on the sidewalk was a boy no older than 8 or 9. He looks right at me and starts reciting the lyrics to Lil’ Wayne’s “Ride for my Ni¢¢az”. My first thought (aside from, “where are his parents?”) was, “This kid thinks he’s impressing me with his ability to quote Lil’ Wayne, profanities and all.” I’ll bet he couldn’t even remember what he learned in school that day, but he sure knew those lyrics.

I was reading a press release about the Hip Hop Hall of Fame forming an alliance with the InterVision Network Corporation (IVNET) to provide international multimedia access to all end users. That is nothing special right? Everybody is going global with streaming content’s availability from the PC, Apple TV to cell phones, and the BBC is leading the way with IPTV access.

Welcome to Old School Scholar: The University of Hip Hop! We have proudly launched March 31, 2008 with much enthusiasm to share with the global Hip Hop community as a place for true school heads to network and share resources.

For those not familiar, minstrel shows were theatrical skits that portrayed African Americans as cartoonish stereotypes. You know; lazy, uneducated, inarticulate, watermelon, fried chicken, yada yada yada. The characters were either played by Caucasian or Black actors in black face. White audiences in the 1800’s to early 1900’s were greatly entertained by them. Mainstream America [...]