I got millions of thugs on salary, bitch

So Kid Wave (or Nazz to some) performed at VA Tech yesterday, much to Bill O'Reilly's disapproval, I am sure. And Noz wrote a very well thought out piece on the whole "Read a Book" controversy, which is the biggest backfire I think BET has suffered in a long time. Oh wait, there was that whole "Hot Ghetto Mess"/"We Got to Do Better" fiasco. But I want to get back to Noz's piece. He makes a very valid point that a lot of this debate centers around destroying something a group of people like by intentionally stripping it of context. I agree with his thoughts on the flexibility of language being restricted, but I can easily see how some people will get uppity about how flexible rappers can be. To add to his point, a lot of these TV hosts (Tony Harris was not being a journalist in the clips below) try to make the story matter to viewers by bringing up the tired idea that the lyrics are so strongly affecting the kids. Now, in some cases, they are right, the lyrics do have an effect on the kids. Except that isn't the kind of news they want to hear. They want to tell adults that kids/grown ass men in Philadelphia kill each other because of something Lil' Wayne said. Doubtful. Maybe it's because Philly is economically assed out and there are no jobs for people. And I can think of a few songs where rappers who are normally called out for degrading their people say uplifting or challenging things, no matter how unorthodox. But that's not really the point. If you don't like what a rapper, or any musician has to say, that's is perfectly fine. But don't just say they should be banned. And don't just complain to the artist. Complain to those you know, those who will care about what you have to say. If you make a legit argument against the artist's choice of topics, then your friend may be inclined not to follow them as closely, and that rapper just lost a fan. And that's bad business, especially in a landscape of "reality-flavored cheeseburgers." Also, one song does not and should not define an artist. So if you hate "Bia Bia," that's one thing. But it's a stretch to say anything he's ever done is terrible and offensive without knowing an artist's catalog, or even a fair amount of songs. If someone who liked the Beatles introduced me to them by playing "I Am the Walrus" (which I hate), it'd be a dick move to write them off as some two-bit English douches people called "artists" because they were hard to understand. It's the same with rap. Things need to be looked at holistically, and in the case of music, this is best done by, get ready, listening to albums. Get a full picture and then reach a decision, and then communicate why you don't like the music being made, don't just yell that things need to stop and expect all bad things that happen to women/minorities/the poor in rap music to stop. Crap isn't that simple. Deal with it. All right, I'm out.

Wear some damn deodorant.