No More Imus on TV For a Little While

Oh, and another thing. Expect the Imus and Duke thing to drop off the face of the earth—for better or worse—in light of today's news.

Imus Winds Down

It's been a few days, but emotions needed to simmer down.

Not that we're done with Imus, mind you. Just no more long treatises.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear my journalism ethics teacher call the networks and advertisers who that railroaded Don Imus last week hypocrites. Then again, he's the chief legal counsel for the New York Times and suggested the paper come to Larry Flynt during the whole Jerry Falwell incident.

On a second, short note, kudos to Fox News' "Hannity and Colmes." They were (along with Opie and Anthony) completely on point throughout the whole Imus charade. Hannity also pointed out that Hillary Clinton (I don't like her, by the way) received some $800,000 during a fundraiser hosted by Timbaland, renowned hip-hop producer. His music has lots of degrading words, too.

The Duke thing, which I'll address later in the week, was another hot, racially charged incident. Lots of hypocrisy there. It's almost as if hypocrisy powers this country. Hmm.

Imus Dropped From MSNBC: Not Surprised At All

Well, that's that. Imus is gone from his MSNBC simulcast, but for the time being he's still on the radio. Yeah, what's the over/under on that one?

Way to go, America. Way to overreact to a stupid comment.

My plan? To become an ordained minister and become a leader in my community. I'd have as much credibility as other such leaders.

Al Sharpton's Presidential Campaign: Funded By The Degradation of Women

Al Sharpton is a professional hack. Not only that, but he accepts money from companies that promote the same so-called "abhorrent" words that he finds so awful. How valiant, dear leader.

If you haven't been following the news, radio personality Don Imus said the phrase "nappy-headed hos" in reference to the Rutgers women's basketball team. Right after, if you don't remember, the Earth shook a mighty shake, the streets of New York split apart and flames engulfed the Silver Center. It was horrible. I'm lucky to be alive, really.

Back to Sharpton. In 2004 he ran a tremendous presidential campaign where he championed, I don't know, issues. But campaigns cost money. Thanks to that wonderful Web site Open Secrets, we can see just who gave money to fund his campaign. In the words of Matt Drudge: Shock! The list of contributors include Radio One (to the tune of $15,000) and BET ($3,000). Let's see what high culture these organizations peddle.

Radio One operates 70 commercial radio stations in the U.S. These stations are aimed at the urban (read: black) market and play music that range from hip-hop to R&B. (The company also has talk radio stations.) Now the fun part: what kind of music do these stations play?

From Detroit's Hot 102.7 Top 20 songs: Mims - "This is why I'm hot" (One small part; the rest of the lyrics can be found here.)



This is why I'm hot
Catch me on the block
Every other day
Another bitch another drop
16 bars, 24 pop
44 songs, nigga gimme what you got
I'm in there driving cars
Push 'em off the lot
I'm into shutting stores down so i can shop
If you need a bird I can get it chopped
Tell me what you need you know i get 'em by the flock
I call ma homie black meet on the ave
I hit Wash Heights with the money in the bag
We into big spinners
See my pimping never dragged
Find me wit different women that you niggas never had
For those who say they know me know I'm focused on ma cream
player you come between you'd better focus on the beam
I keep it so mean the way you see me lean
And when say I'm hot my nigga dis is what I mean



Let's analyze this. In this verse Mims uses the word "bitch"—certainly a degrading term—to refer to women; he uses the word "nigga" three times; he refers to selling drugs ("bird" refers to cocaine and "chop" means to sell drugs); he refers to "pimpin," or the entrapment of women to perform sexual acts for money in which he'll make a percentage. That's just one verse, mind you.

How about another verse from another song played on Hot 102.7? This time, R. Kelly's "I'm a flirt." The rest of lyrics can be found here.



Ima b pimpin
I dont be slippin
When it come down to these hoez
I dont love em
We dont cuff em
Man thats just the way it goes
I pull up in the Phantom
All the ladies think handsome
Jewelry shining, I stay stuntin
Thats why these niggas cant stand em
Ima chick mag-a-net
And anything fine im bag-gin it
And if she got a man, I dont care
10 toes and I wanna be, cause I gotta have it
Now-Now who do it like B-O-dub
Girls on me when I walk in the club
Game aint tight, Ima take yo chick
Thats it man now your girl in love
Witta rich nigga, fly young dude
Ride wit me lil mama cant lose
Dont get mad at me homie cause yo girl friend choose
See this is how goin down in da 6-1-4 from the Natty up to Clevland even in Toledo
Ima boss and you know it
I got the money ima show it (Thats right)
If I give yo girl one chance to talk to me homie she aint gon blow it
HA-HA
Now the moral of the story is cuff yo chick, cause hey,
I'm black, fresh , and I rap, plus I'm rich, and ima flirt



Oh, cool. Mr. Kelly also refers to "pimpin;" also uses the word "nigga;" and what about his last line: Now the moral of the story is cuff yo chick, cause hey, I'm black, fresh , and I rap, plus I'm rich, and ima flirt. Some role model, Mr. Kelly. Rapping and rhyming about the very things that outrage Mr. Sharpton so, so much. But hey, not enough to turn down money from the company whose stations make money spinning these records.

But Imus is Lucifer reincarnate for having used the phrase "nappy-headed ho" in jest. Makes sense to me.

BET does fine work, too, what with "Wild Out Wednesday" (Wylin' Out?) and such illustrious guests T-Pain on the show "106 and Park." A quick look at some of his lyrics, from the song "I'm N Luv (With a Stripper)," are in order. The rest can be found here.



She's every man's dream
She's God's gift to Earth
Women they love 'em too
That's what you call a women's worth
See I love all the strippers
Because they show me love
They know I never pay as free whenever I hit the club
But I can't even lie
The girls are here so fly
She slidin' up and down that pole got me mesmerized
Mike Jones don't ever trick
But god damn she thick
I can't lie, I must admit
I'm in love with a stripper



So I guess Mr. Sharpton's cool with the degradation of women when he stands to gain financially from it. Kudos!

I was home for most of the day today and every time Mr. Sharpton was on TV and an interviewer brought up the issue of degrading rap lyrics and the like, Mr. Sharpton was only too quick to point out that he's fought hard to clean up rap's lyrics. Really? Like, hard enough to demand their license to say horrible things be revoked and their livelihoods destroyed? Nah, but you'll certainly take their money when your campaign is rolling through town.

I'm tired, but I'm not done with this hack quite yet. He needs to be exposed, even if only to the 1.2 people who read this.

Poor, Poor Imus

Holy smokes.

Don Imus, welcome to hell. I was sitting here, both blogging about really cool technology and listening to the Rutgers press conference condemning Imus' hateful, hateful words. There was some dude from the Rutgers upper echelon condemning Imus murder of three million people. Oops, wrong guy.

I really cannot understand all of the hullabaloo. The team is acting as if Imus was the crooked sheriff in Mississippi Burning, not a 300-year-old shock jock like he is. I'd like to know if the ball players would feel so "hurt" if the media hadn't jumped on the story.

Imus is finding out firsthand the power of a vocal minority. He's also finding out firsthand just how deep seeded racism in this country is. This manifestation of racism is even worse than the kind enforced by Jim Crow. And to anyone saying this will be a teaching lesson: bologna. Outside of the media elite, I'd like to see if a single mother working two jobs gives a damn about Don Imus' hateful, hateful words

I'm watching Hardball right now and good ol' Al Sharpton's on and boy does he seem to love the media attention. I'd like to know if any of the Rutgers girls phoned Sharpton and asked him to represent them. Because if not, he really has nothing to do with this story, other than, of course, than to inject himself into the media spotlight. He'll get his own post later in the week, you can count on that. Him and Jesse "Himey Town" Jackson, too.

Let's just get the Cosmic Race in gear and get over this whole stupid, self-imposed problem in the first place. Or just accept the fact that people, generally, are jerks to each other. The guy (Thomas Hobbes) who said life is "nasty, brutish and short" is 100 percent correct.

I'd love to be an alien looking down on Earth. I'd say to my boy, "They [homo sapiens] are fighting each other, making each other's lives miserable because they're different colors.

Oh my God. Can we start a save Imus fund? You know he should have done? Since he's 400-years-old, had a long and influential career, he should not have apologized and said, "Look, it was part of a comedy show. You don't like it, don't listen." (Not that they listened anyway.)

Don Imus: He's a Witch, Let's Burn Him!

Alright, nuts to OBAMATACH today. Let's just say he was elected the president of Earth and be done with it.

Moving on...

I enjoy listening to talk radio, be it that handsome devil Sean Hannity or those two cool cats Opie & Anthony. But there was a radio story not too many people noticed this past week that really picked up today. It involved Don Imus and Al Sharpton and the whole issue of what is and is not racist. Oh yeah, America will get over its race mania real soon...

Imus recently said the Rutgers women's basketball team was made up of "nappy-headed hos." He said it in jest, too. His whole stupid show is in jest. He's essentially a 200-year-old shock jock that occasionally has Tim Russert and Abraham Lincoln on as guests to discuss the issues of the day. But of course, people overreacted and wanted Imus' head served on a platter... his whole livelihood robbed from him because he uttered a line that could easily have been heard on Power 105.1 or Hot 97. I should know: I listen to the hip-hop.

So because Imus teased the basketball team, he's automatically worse than Genghis Khan. Al Sharpton came out of the woodwork, as he so often does when he smells blood in the water, to condemn Imus' horribly deplorable words. Why does the media pay this man any mind at all? He's not good.

Um, what's the problem with what Imus said? Keeping in mind that his show is to be listened to like an audio-only version of Pee Wee's playhouse, why does Sharpton have to get involved? (Never mind that Sharpton was involved with that whole Tawana Brawley thing a few years ago, which, incidentally, occurred not only in the town where I lived from ages 6 to 17, but quite literally across the street from my house... ask me and I'll take you on a tour one day. In fact, Sharpton will be the subject of my second post this week because he needs to be called out. Hard. Oh, he vexes me so.) I don't know if this guy sees himself as some sort of Martin Luther King Jr. character, but golly gee it's hard to take him seriously.

Another thing, the comment itself—nappy-headed hos—what, specifically, is the controversial part? Is it the "nappy-headed" part or the "hos" part? "Nappy" derives from "shaggy" via the Dutch and German languages and "ho" was a term coined by Bill Clinton in the 1992 presidential campaign to describe Gennifer Flowers.

UPDATE

OK, in the time between drafting this post and coming back to it, the punishments were announced. Imus is suspended for two weeks. OK, whatever, it's not like I expected CBS Radio to let him off the hook (because faceless corporations are cowards that freak out at the mere mention of the word "boycott") but the worst is the response from the NBC News president (MSNBC simulcasts his radio show) and my best friend Obama. Mr NBC said:

Beginning Monday, April 16, MSNBC will suspend simulcasting the syndicated 'Imus in the Morning' radio program for two weeks. This comes after careful consideration in the days since his racist, abhorrent comments were made.

Holy smokes, abhorrent?! Are you kidding? I'm, like, angry at this. To quote the messenger dude from 300, this is madness! Imus wears a cowboy hat not a KKK hat.

Then you've got Obama who said, "The comments of Don Imus were divisive, hurtful and offensive to Americans of all backgrounds." Hey, senator, I'm an American of some sort of background and it doesn't offend me. (Gee, why'd they ask Obama for his comment? Oh, right, because America is a wonderfully racist country and we just had to get the black candidate's opinion.)

If this were Livejournal, my current mood would be "disillusioned, but not at all surprised."

Just stop already with your bellyaching.

He's an American Idol, All Right

Yes, I'm alive. Sing songs, let the trumpets blare, et cetera. More importantly, let the uninformed ramblings continue. But before I do...

OBAMAWATCH~! How could I let a bit like "Obamawatch" die? It's too perfect, too topical. I'd just like to point at that my best friend Barack Obama just raised more money in the so-called "first primary" than perceived front-runner Hilary Clinton. This makes me so happy. Not least of which because Mr. Obama is a black gentleman, hence making any and every reference to him on this here Weblog both pertinent and necessary, but that we need new blood in the White House. Enough with the same "oh look at me, I'm a politician" politicians already. Man up, America, and don't fall for Clinton's trickery. That goes for either Clinton, by the way.

Moving on...

Well, it's been something like 24 years since I last addressed the topic of race and how its perception is changing right along with the passing days on my Dashboard calendar widget. I don't know why I stopped, either. I mean, here, I can unwind and let the opinions flow as at they may. Flow like the mighty Ohio.

So anyway, what's with this American Idol show everyone's watching? (Shouldn't you be made to look like a fool by a fifth grader instead?) I bring it up because there's this kid Sanjaya who, apparently, has stolen America's heart. Stole her heart, at any rate. Oh, and he's Indian. Like, India Indian, not the kind Andrew Jackson hated. So what, you say?

Well, just a few years ago, you had people like Elton John claiming that American Idol was a ruthlessly racist show. Yeah, well, Sanjaya is pretty much changing that perception this year. Part of the reason why so many people (i.e. yo) are looking at him this way is because he's pretty much the worst singer in history. I do believe Koko B. Ware had a better voice on 1985's The Wrestling Album.

The point of all this nonsense is that, apparently, we're cool with seeing young non-whites prancing about on stage to the point where we'll forgive their complete and utter lack of talent. It's not too surprising, as I so shrewdly pointed out many moons ago.

To Sanjaya, I wish you the best of luck. Just know that you're really just a side show act. If you weren't so "unique," you'd be finished by now.

More hard-hitting content to come.