RANDOM RIFFS

Role Model #1

This quote was forwarded to me by my wife, regarding the recent Imus flap that's been much discussed:

"It's a completely different scenario. (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 hos that's in the 'hood that ain't doing shit, that's trying to get a nigga for his money. These are two separate things. First of all, we ain't no old-ass white men that sit up on MSNBC 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 muthafuckas say we are in the same league as him. Kick him off the air forever."


- Snoop Dogg dismissing comparisons between sexist hip hop lyrics and the recent sexist/racially charged remarks made by Don Imus

This, ladies and gentlemen, is why the pitchfork brigade is coming for rap music. Read a quote like that and you almost want to see hip-hop outlawed.

Role Model #2

In a strangely related incident, New Jersey governor John Corzine was on his way to his mansion to meet with Don Imus and the Rutgers basketball team when the vehicle carrying him was sideswiped off the road (accidentally) and he was critically injured.

He wasn't wearing a seatbelt and the state trooper driving him didn't enforce New Jersey's seatbelt law. (For a more in-depth opinion about this go to--and I'm not kidding about this--Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback column at SI.com. I agree with him completely). Interesting to see how that shakes out once Corzine recovers.

The 100-Word Movie Review: THE NAMESAKE

Mira Nair's The Namesake certainly deserves more than 100 words written about it, but I'm pressed for time so I'll be concise. Go see this movie. It is a terrific tale about the assimilation of a Bengali family in New York during from the late 1970s to present. Not necessarily just a tearjerker or "heartwarming" in a manipulative way, this adaptation of the Jumpha Lahiri best-seller rings true and is beautifully acted and shot. My Grade: A

For now y'all...

Peace.