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Imus Is Out, But Whitey Execs Get the Last Laugh

By Matt Taibbi, RollingStone.com. Posted April 19, 2007.


People say that Don Imus isn't funny, but let's face it, there is a joke in all of this -- a joke on the black community.
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"Ultimately, the fact that rappers are now being held accountable for something Imus said shows the bias many people have against hip-hop culture. Hip-hop is often the scapegoat of everything gone wrong in America, but hip-hop didn't slander the Rutgers women's basketball team, Don Imus did, so let's stay on point here. ... The point is, hip-hop didn't invent cursing, slurs, bad language, sexism or misogyny, though hip-hop like so many other fictional forms of the culture uses this type of language as a form of expression, however problematic it might be. This expression represents the way people in the streets talk. It might not be pretty or politically correct, but it is a unique form of fictional expression that emerges from the minds and mouths of young black men." -- Dr. Todd Boyd, professor of critical studies at USC, writing for ESPN.com

The most annoying thing about the Don Imus fiasco? The instant it blew up into an absurdly overdone national controversy, we all knew exactly how everyone was going to play it -- or overplay it, as it were.

We all knew that the angry-white-guy columnists of the Townhall.com ilk were going to turn even the previously-hated liberal Imus into a martyr of the political correctness age ("Imus, Political Correctness, and the end of America" was Douglas McKinnon's not-at-all-hysterical offering). We knew Al Sharpton would show up, business card in hand, at the back of the ambulance, offering his services. We knew campus feminists would surface en masse to paint Imus as a hatemongering symbol of the old-boy white male power structure that secretly still insists on its power and privilege in American society, his show a daily vulgar wink to fellow members of the Matrix. And we knew -- or at least I knew, since I've personally been through a couple of these media ass-whippings before -- that virtually every editorial denouncing Imus would include a line in there that would read something along the lines of, "And the worst thing is, his so-called 'jokes' aren't even that funny."

Canny observers of the cultural issues underlying the Imus controversy could have also made a few other predictions. The first is that the angry-white-guy crowd would try to turn the tables on Imus's accusers and point the finger at the hip-hop culture that introduced old white liberals like Imus to use words like "nappy-headed hos" in the first place. The second is that black intellectuals like the above-quoted Dr. Todd Boyd of USC would use their advanced degrees to find a way to split the necessary rhetorical hairs to repel these attacks, dismissing Imus as a worthless bigot on the one hand while upholding rap and hip-hop as a "unique form of fictional expression" deserving of the broad indulgence we grant to true art forms.

They're all full of shit, all of them. With very few exceptions almost everyone who jumped onto the Don Imus pigpile was a shameless opportunist whose mind was made up years before this incident even happened, and used the occasion of a radio jock stepping in shit to robotically jerk off his constituency for a cheap buck. First of all, let's just get this out of the way: the idea that anyone in the media world gives a shit about the dignity of women, black or white, is a ridiculous joke.

America's TV networks have spent the last forty years falling over each other trying to find better and more efficient ways to sell tits to the 18-to-35 demographic. They make hour-long prime-time reality dramas these days about shopping-obsessed sluts hitting each other with pocketbooks, for Christ's sake. Paris Hilton, a dumb, rich slut with a cock in her mouth, gets her own primetime show. MTV, the teenie mags, the pop music industry, they're basically all an endless parade of skinny, half-naked brainless whores selling makeup and jeans to neurotic, self-hating, weight-obsessed little girls.

The idea that NBC -- the company that proudly produced 241 episodes of Baywatch, a show whose two main characters for nearly a decade were Pamela Anderson's tits -- the idea that that network was "offended" by the use of the word "ho" is beyond preposterous. Until this incident, I would have wagered very good money that "Ho" would be in the title of at least one NBC-produced reality pilot within the next ten years. You can't see that? Trivia-battling sluts in Ho-llywod Squares? An irony-for-irony's-sake callgirl-improvement show called Pimp My Ho? Would you bet real money that the Paris-and-Nicole vehicle The Simple Life wasn't originally called Whore Acres at some stage of the pre-production process? I sure as hell wouldn't. Programming decisions of the The Bachelor ilk aren't spontaneous mid-show farts by an aging drug-battered brain like the Imus deal -- they're wide-awake decisions, forged in the crucible of number-crunching corporate reflection, to use reactionary images of cheap brainless skanks to sell Fritos and pickup trucks.


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See more stories tagged with: media, racism, sexism, imus

Matt Taibbi is a writer for Rolling Stone.

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MOM
Posted by: MRS on Apr 19, 2007 12:48 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Matt you are so on time with this article it is not funny. I don't know what is worse, the garbage coming out of young black men's mouths or the garbage coming out of the black intelligenca's mouth justifying it. Either way young black males remain at the bottom of the social heap with everyone else piling on to keep them there. So they sing their dirty songs about black women thinking that they can put black women lower than they are. That is an illusion. It is not working which is why the Sisters are moving on and looking elsewhere for mates and the Brothas' are popping caps in each other and no one is stopping them.

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» RE: MOM Posted by: fred_53_99
» RE: MOM Posted by: Wacre
» RE: MOM Posted by: MRS
» RE: MOM Posted by: huggybean
» RE: MOM Posted by: xconservative
» RE: MOM Posted by: hms2004
» RE: MOM Posted by: hms2004
Hip- hop is not Black Culture
Posted by: chutzpah on Apr 19, 2007 12:49 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If rap music is black culture, then which culture do Blues, R&B, Gospel, and Jazz represent? Gangsta rap is a part of rap music and not the whole. Yet it is that part of rap music - a mere subset of black music as a whole - that supposedly learned media talking heads (ignorantly or purposely) run off with.

Until the white controlled media is willing to portray blacks positively, nothing will change. You can silence snoop and others for all you like, still nothing will change. The white dominated media will just look for new ways to demean black culture. A look back at American entertainment history will surely buttress my point.

Anyway, kudos to VH1 Soul.

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» Answer! Posted by: ABetterFuture
» RE: Answer! Posted by: Wacre
» RE: Answer! Posted by: ABetterFuture
So what?
Posted by: edith on Apr 19, 2007 12:55 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Taibi rolls on and on in one big circle about moral equivalency between the white media and the black exploiters of youth-rap & Sharpton variety. Who cares? We are supposed to care because for a week or two MSNBC etc. told us this was important? Whenever a story is about the media itself, I read some additional fiction, go deeper into several well-written newspapers, or just watch or listen to music(w/o ho's, thank you) until the self-centered storm moves on.

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Bravo
Posted by: Skills83 on Apr 19, 2007 1:01 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This article is on point, period.

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Roll On!
Posted by: Cousin Jack on Apr 19, 2007 3:25 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Expletive deletives excepted, you make some excellent points. Lets face it, this country is nothing but a very well scripted ad, that is nothing like the product. When the soft king giants want to sell you sugar water with gas in it, they make it seem so wonderful, yet Coke and Pepsi is sugar water with gas in it. Much like the America of today. Gone is the wonderful wood species of America, now we are a country of particle boards; all sawdust and glue. Instead of embracing the ash, oak, poplar, beech etc. the ruling have turned it all into pressured sawdust and glue.

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Good rant, but confusing towards the end.
Posted by: kepstein7777 on Apr 19, 2007 3:33 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It's refreshing to hear someone address the hypocrisy and the melodrama of this incident in plain English. An article that knocks this story's entire cast of characters off their high horses at once can only be described as a work of art.

But towards the end, you seem to fall into the self-righteous mentality that you are cursing. Are you asking for more political correctness or limits on free speech? Would you want to stifle the next Richard Pryor? Where are you going with this?

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Thank you
Posted by: jims713 on Apr 19, 2007 3:45 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Matt. As usual you are right on the money. Sure would like to know if you ever do speaking engagements. I would even come into NYC to have a change to hear you and shake your hand.

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BRAVO! BRAVO! BRAVO!
Posted by: Astroboy on Apr 19, 2007 4:27 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
GREAT article Matt! When this controversy first started I felt it was total bullshit too. Below is a point I attempted to make at that time (and caught some shit for it), yet it still holds up today, as it will from time immemorial.
****************
I've just thought of something...
[Report this comment] Posted by: Astroboy on Apr 9, 2007 4:51 PM

It is human nature to project onto others what we choose not to see in ourselves.

All these knee-jerk accusers of racism are perhaps unconsciously denying there own.

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Women fair game for derogatory labelling?
Posted by: MerrynS on Apr 19, 2007 4:36 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
So it's terrible for rappers to call women bitches and hos, but OK for the author of this article to call women on TV "shopping-obsessed sluts", "a dumb, rich slut with a cock in her mouth" and "brainless whores"?
I suppose it proves his own point that "the idea that anyone in the media world gives a shit about the dignity of women, black or white, is a ridiculous joke."

One thing I knew would happen about this kerfuffle, was that the racial insult to these women would be taken more seriously than the gender one. And I was right.

[And now I'm wondering if this letter will get censored for "inappropriate content" for merely directly quoting the article I am commenting on.]

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I guess I don't understand something...
Posted by: H_H on Apr 19, 2007 5:29 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Matt includes in his missive the idea that showing a pair of "tits" on Baywatch is a form of disrespect to women (sexiness = sexism?) but this article appears immediately next to one in which we are asked why Americans have a problem with showing a bit of flesh while the enlightened Europeans walk-around naked all the time.

Cognitive... dissonance... RISING...

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» RE: I guess I don't understand something... Posted by: karma_ran_over_dogma
Hey, Matt...
Posted by: Chickensh*tEagle on Apr 19, 2007 5:55 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
-- Paris Hilton, a dumb, rich slut with a cock in her mouth, gets her own primetime show.

...are you sure you're not just jealous because it's not your cock?

Everybody knows the media world is full of whores. You can do better than this. The time to move on was last week.

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» RE: Hey, Matt... Posted by: whataboutthepeople
» RE: Hey, Matt... Posted by: Chickensh*tEagle
» RE: Hey, Matt... Posted by: Scientz
» RE: Hey, Matt... Posted by: Chickensh*tEagle
the "RAPE of Black heritage
Posted by: Conservasaurus on Apr 19, 2007 6:29 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
A great article and my favorite writer. Its about time someone took a stance AGAINST the "RAP portrayal of Black Culture and exposed it for what it is... the "RAPE of Black Heritage for Money".

Rappers could care less about IMUS ho statements and are laughing more than anyone else as it throws them into the spotlight which =sales, money, bling and more “HO’s”.

The entertainment establishment is at fault for the perception of Blacks popularized by RAP.- Shows like “Cribs” or “Pimp my Ride” etc. give a legit position to this demeaning “ART” form.

In this context Hard Core Porn is “art”, “snuff films” though criminal is art, yet rap videos hint at the same treatment of women and it is embraced.. thanks again to the record industry’s thirst for $$.

Time for a little Enya to gain perspective!

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Matt...?
Posted by: Scientz on Apr 19, 2007 6:41 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I smell a Pulitzer Prize, brother...

This article moved me.

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» RE: Matt...? Posted by: ramonab
On Point!
Posted by: Never_Slept_never_Sleep on Apr 19, 2007 7:05 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Great Job, I am a young black American and I was saying some of the same things to my roommate. Its all a Joke for the Corporate Benefactors. The So called leaders of the Black Community Jackson/ Sharpton need to retire with Imus and men with real convictions please stand up!Thanks again for the great article!

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» Mommi Posted by: haleema
» RE: Mommi Posted by: icj
» RE: Mommi Posted by: mizani
Matt Taibbi is right on
Posted by: lively56 on Apr 19, 2007 7:13 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
the mark. I used to like Imus's show until he quit smoking cigarettes. lol After that he became a self righteous egotistical asshole.

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» RE: Matt Taibbi is right on Posted by: ghoster
Foul-mouthed girls create the ho stereotype? or vice versa?
Posted by: karma_ran_over_dogma on Apr 19, 2007 7:30 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It was hilarious when the Simon mall chain prohibited foul language in their malls. What other legal way could they have banned 90% of black children, including the girls, and at least 60% of white children, including the girls? As a discharged male military veteran in the wild drug-addled '70s I had to deprogram myself from cussing all the time, but that wouldn't be necessary now - the expression "swearing like a sailor" certainly has a quaint ring to it when every 12 year old girl on the bus and subway is cussing away and dressed like a hooker. Is this an expression of feminism or the opposite? I wish Alternet would take a short break from rich college gals barfing up cannolis to explain this phenomenon.

The caricature of conspicuous consumption cuts across all racial lines - see what a white trailer trash family (like some of my relatives) would do when they hit the lottery. Also, I don't get the argument that with rap it's all about some mysterious rich white guys someplace making money - aren't the record co's hurting from downloading etc. & aren't most of the rap execs black themselves? (How do you pronounce Suge Knight anyway - is it Soooje or Shoog, like in sugar?)

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» Mommi Posted by: haleema
AND THE PLANTATION MACHINE ROLLS ON......
Posted by: thetruth07 on Apr 19, 2007 7:41 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I agreee 100 percent. To the "forty million dollar slave" i.e. athletes to the modern day minstrel show called rap music, the plantation machine rolls on........ And its sad 'cause young black men really don't know what the hell they're doing to black society as a whole.
The saying "as long as I get paid" seems a sorry excuse to sell your soul for a recording contract.
You make a little a money but "the man" at the top makes the biggest profit!
And last but not least this hip hop culture does not represent all of black america, it is a very young black man's game.

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there's bigger news than this
Posted by: grim ripper on Apr 19, 2007 7:43 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This article rocks, but in his zeal, Taibbi left himself vulnerable to attack, particularly by exhibiting some of the very whorish tendencies he's bemoaning, and by revealing his own establishment thinking. For example, his assertion that newly rich rappers are too stupid to buy land or invest in industry stock--I would like to know what stock exists that doesn't have its fingers in some well-concealed evil.

Meanwhile, although Taibbi's self-indulgent rave is good entertainment, it's taking away valuable real estate from infinitely larger issues

why haven't they been impeached yet
even as they drag us through the blood to Iran
and insult us with lie after lie?

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» RE: there's bigger news than this Posted by: LeftCoastProgressive
Sexism
Posted by: whataboutthepeople on Apr 19, 2007 7:48 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Even when the author appears to be critiquing media representations of women he resorts himself to commenting on the women in the media and their sexuality. He resorts to the same comments of those he calls out -- the rap community and the comedians -- use, i.e. "whores" and "sluts". He had the opportunity to make a meaningful comment - he could have noted that the media representations of women focus on consumerism, selfish greed, insecurity and demand that women be hypersexual in order to be in the limelight. He could have said that the media again demonstrates that in order for a woman to have value to our society she needs to be attractive, sexy and ready for men. But he didn't do that, instead he fell back on his own misogyny that was comfortable to him, described these women in the very way they are being used and in the tired old method that women have been criticized and abused for years -- their sexuality and what it means to men. Perhaps he did it for the shock value, perhaps he did it to get attention - -just like rappers and comediens, or maybe he did it because he truly thinks women's sexuality is worth commenting on and a woman's value is defined by her sexual choices. One word -- misogyny. What a let down, he goes out on a limb to make comments about economic structure and race but when it comes to gender, he can't seem to make the connection to critique his own comments.

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» Mommi Posted by: haleema
» RE: Sexism Posted by: Betsyny
» RE: Sexism & racism Posted by: philame
» RE: Learn the difference between sexism and reality Posted by: anonymous black writer
whores?
Posted by: whataboutthepeople on Apr 19, 2007 7:50 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Whores? Come on -- don't you have a more indepth characterization to make rather than commenting on a women's sexual choices? Isn't there a more substantive comment to make about women in the media? Don't women have a value beyond their sexual choices? Stop and think about the words you use.

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» RE: whores? Posted by: schnoggi
» RE: whores? Posted by: whataboutthepeople
» RE: whores? Posted by: whataboutthepeople
» RE: whores? Posted by: LeftCoastProgressive
We Are Not Supposed To Be Offended By Words Only Lies
Posted by: hole11 on Apr 19, 2007 7:53 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
That is the truth of this matter. Imus claiming basketball girls were hoes. They are not or not supposed to be. But they sure took the back seat to their coach who seemed to be the most offended.

News media brings us young (maybe dumb) broads and pairs them up with an over 40 news anchor to give them legitimacy. How often do you see the 24 year old male graduate talking about this subject as a news anchor or as a bystander?

We are not worried about a song because songs make us happy.

Everybody say hoe
Everybody waive your hands in the air and say hoe hoe hoe.

Over 30 years and the prudes are still the only ones complaining.

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» Back In The Day Posted by: hole11
Headline could read...
Posted by: karma_ran_over_dogma on Apr 19, 2007 8:03 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
"Imus Is Out, But Whitey Writers Get the Last Laugh"

Taibbi has made a nice cottage industry out of making fun of black rappers in Rolling Stone and black athletes in his sports/crime column in the alternative weeklies - he's good at it, but that's pretty much what he does for a living.

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» Your name sucks Posted by: Eat Politicians
THUG POP
Posted by: schnoggi on Apr 19, 2007 8:23 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
call it what it is, kindergarten songs for felons and fools

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Enough of Imus already!
Posted by: HughScott on Apr 19, 2007 8:23 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Get with the program, AlterNet. The I-Man is old news.

Here’s an idea, AlterNet editorial board. Watch CSPAN and take notes about how to present RELEVANT topics for discussion. Or pretty soon there won’t be any.

Hugh E. Scott, the editor of King-George.biz -- the only website with hardcopy proof of White House corruption.

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» Nice attention span Posted by: lamar
Mommi
Posted by: haleema on Apr 19, 2007 8:30 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Good views....The relationship between both groups....Imus/Corporate....and Hip Hop/Corporate, is that theyare both participating in Race denegrating behavior...One could say our African race is getting the brunt of it, however if at the end of the day BOTH races are mortally wounded...well then that just leaves both races dead...One may go first, but the other will follow....A difference is, just as you said...One is selling shiny beads with a big ass crazy lookin' grin, while the other is buying with Big Redd Lipps and Black face...
NO MORE SLUMBER !

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But there's More!
Posted by: deegee99 on Apr 19, 2007 8:33 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Love you article, but in addition all your excellent comments is a suspicion I have that Imus had a lot of enemies waiting for a chance to pounce. The smoke screen of Racism and Women-bashing was a perfect cover. The enormously powerful pharmaceutical industry was furious at Imus campaign to get themerisol removed from vaccinations because of their suspected connection to autism. Also the Bushies didn't like the embarassing bright light shown on the horrendous treatment of soldiers at Walter Reed and his successful fundraising efforts for the Fallen Heroes Fund. Follow the money. Threats to the advertisers is what got Imus fired. How else could Imus be driven off the air in the middle of a fundraiser for sick children?

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» RE: But there's More! Posted by: whataboutthepeople
Enlighten Me
Posted by: VisionQuest on Apr 19, 2007 9:19 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Please, enlighten me Matt--as one of those "revolting well-off suburban white kids who grew up on PE and NWA" what part of "hip-hop culture" taught Don Imus to use words like 'nappy-headed hos' in the first place? Is it that same culture that also invented the words "nigger" and "bitch"--words no white person ever used before the release of "Rapper's Delight"? Because Don Imus no doubt gets off a hard day's work at the radio station and rushes home to bump that new TI or Ying Yang--right?

It can't possibly be that Snoop Dogg is responsible for his words and Don Imus is responsible for his--right? And you wouldn't happen to be the 3,468,236th angry white male given a forum to make this exact same "point," not out of respect for women, a concept you consider risible, but because you just can't get into Yung Joc as much as NWA--right?

How tired you are, and how telling that you have the gall to sling this tired swill under cover of calling out the "opportunism" of others. Now I'll sit here holding my breath for your stinging rebuke of Warner Brothers, Paramount and Nintendo for the actions of Cho Seung-Hui.

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» RE: nlighten Me Posted by: philame
» RE: nlighten Me Posted by: Eat Politicians
» RE: nlighten Me Posted by: ramonab
» RE: nlighten Me Posted by: ramonab
Good Rant, Bad Focus
Posted by: jaebi on Apr 19, 2007 9:42 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The Author raises some compelling questions and critical observations (which is all he seems prepared to do) as a nicely placed rant. Most of which is deserving, but I really can't get down with rap music taking the blame for the shit that come's out of educated people's mouths--or even undeducated people for that matter.

YES--mainstream rappers sell their souls for what poor people see as good money. They are modern day coons and some, who completely understand their part and influence, are even worse.

Still, placing blame on a handful of artists is shortsighted. It's even shortsighted to point a finger at the industry as a whole.
Issues that plague our society are so vast and so intertwined and so ingrained that it would take an unimaginable number of steps to fix.

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More simply, Imus should have stayed out of the sewer.
Posted by: ABetterFuture on Apr 19, 2007 9:59 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If you stick someone in front of a bullhorn long enough, there will be people who will eventually start to believe what you say.

So it goes with "We're fighting evil in this world" with respect to Iraq.

So it goes with "We're fighting the terrorists", respect to same.

So it goes with "Bringing democracy to the mid East", ditto.

So it goes when society hears "artists" repeating and reinforcing the belief that males and females who look like them are worthless "hos" and "n------".

It turns out that if you tell society that folks that look like you are despicable, eventually the more impressionable folks in society sometimes start to believe you. In other words, Snoop's loud subculture either got to Imus or reinforced his previous notions. Imus forgot that he was the wrong shade to be welcome on that side of the sewer, and they threw his pasty ass right out of their turf.

Poor, stupid, ignorant Imus. In the future, take what is popularized by poor, stupid, ignorant artists with a grain of salt. The subjects of their hit records are still people, and when you show those subject "h's" and "n's"--more accurately known as "our fellow citizens" outside racist, sexist circles made up of successful rappers and a number of people on your canceled radio show--great disrespect in the company of civil members of society, we're more apt to be less forgiving. We still know when a statement is morally repugnant enough to merit the withdrawal of our financial support that your product depends on. What shade you are really isn't an issue for us; we withdrew our dollars from the rap industry after the Fat Boys fell on hard times.

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a "unique form of fictional expression"
Posted by: MartianBachelor on Apr 19, 2007 10:17 AM   
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> a "unique form of fictional expression"

I don't know why everyone seems to want to so quickly dismiss the experience of black men in the ghetto. It's not misogyny or a put-down (unless one is hypersensitive and among the chronically offended) to use the word "hos", it's a description of these guys' world as they see it. Go there and see for yourself. The hos are for real. And the men have to deal with that fact. No one's going to do anything about the situation by wagging fingers at the men and telling them to be good boys and shut up. They don't particularly like it, but the only avenue of escape they see is the narrow pipeline leading to the NFL or NBA. Denying the truth of the matter or trying to ignore it is the ultimate disrespect and put down.

> the idea that anyone in the media world gives a shit about
> the dignity of women, black or white, is a ridiculous joke.

Curious that men get left out of the concern, once again, even though media misandry is rampant.

> ...a TV entertainment industry that ritualistically
> demeans women

And again the author rides in to rescue the damsels in distress while it's just loads of fun watching guys get kicked in the balls on America's Home Videos every week. What Matt misses entirely is that all the TV entertainment shows are aimed at women, as one can easily see just by watching the ads, and women make up the overwhelming majority of the viewership of all shows outside sports (where there's zero ritualistic demeaning going on there). It wouldn't be on TV if women didn't want to watch it. Hence all the evil, loutish, and bozo-ish men. Calling for uplifting and positive feel-good images just sounds like a call to return to the days when father knew best.

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Sex Tips, Crash Diets, Perfect Bodies - At Your Checkout Station
Posted by: cognitorex on Apr 19, 2007 10:34 AM   
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What would have been classified porn in my youth now appears at every major supermarket checkout station in the nation. The sex tips and the barely clad bodies are titillating and I have mixed feelings that they fill my view when I wait to pay.
But, when I scan the hallelujahs for perfect abs, perfect thighs, and diet claims that girls and women are subject to along with the perfectly thin barely clad idealized females adorning the magazines' covers I feel a social crime is being committed.
Why should all the weight conscious women of America, particularly those who have a diet related disease have to run this gauntlet?
--Craig Johnson--

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just because blacks talk that way
Posted by: gerdhansel on Apr 19, 2007 11:18 AM   
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White people need to learn that it's never, ever okay to talk like black people.

Just because Snoop Dog and 50 cent rap about "knappy-headed ho's" doesn't mean it's okay for us white folk to say the same things in polite company.

I've long suspected that some black folk use this language in the presence of white folks just to sucker us into using such language ourselves. Then they can point their fingers at us and call us racists, and ruin our lives if they can.

WE CAN TALK LIKE THAT BUT YOU CAN'T WHITEY!! NANNY NANNY BOO BOO, NIENER NIENER NIENER!!!

White folks who make the mistake of talking like 50 Cent are just plain stupid and naive. Don Imus isn't just a bigot, he's a foolish bigot.

I remember a candidate for Texas attorney general who was way ahead in the polls until he called Booker T. Washington a "great black ("N"-word deleted), uh, I mean a great black American" at the Texas NAACP convention. His Democratic opponent capitalized on the gaffe and won in a landslide.

Black leaders gloated, "well the word got into his vocabulary somehow." But did he hear the "N" word at a KKK rally or a Richard Pryor concert?

After Richard Pryor visited Africa, he announced to his audience that he would no longer use the "N" Word in public, because "it's only a word that we use to describe our wretchedness." But he was a class act, after all. Gangsta rappers would do well to follow Pryor's example.

Too many of us ignorant white folks (I' talking to you, Don Imus and Rush Limbaugh) can't tell the difference between how folks rap back on the block in Compton and what whitey can spout into a microphone.

White folks best mind their Ps and Qs, or the double-standard police'll hunt you down.

I spent three years in the Army back during the Vietnam years, and I remember with some discomfort the terrible things black men used to say about black women behind their backs.

I have no doubt the women on the Rutgers basketball team are well-behaved and well-spoken. But I'd give a year's pay to hear what their boyfriends say about them when they're not around.

And I'll bet these black boyfriends won't care if a few white guys overhear them trashing their "nappy-haired ho's."

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» Ax not what your country can do for you... Posted by: karma_ran_over_dogma
street language
Posted by: bambino on Apr 19, 2007 11:44 AM   
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hip hop language is the way black males on the street really talk. well thanks for telling me this. now i am supposed to be relieved. there is just too much excuse mongering by certain black prof at good colleges. critical dept. indeed. what is critical about being an apologist? whitey always gets the last laugh is the mantra of the black community. makes you want to puke actually, when is the black community ever going to take responsibility for anything. have you ever heard of the theory of external and internal attribution. it seems to me the black male should be more accomodating to black women because they are unhappy about the lyrics as well. stop the posturing.

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» RE: street language Posted by: anonymous black writer
» RE: street language Posted by: Feltixx
First Amendment, remember it?
Posted by: Reader11722 on Apr 19, 2007 1:31 PM   
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This is all about the First Amendment. Let's not follow the gov't down the path of censorship. After all, censorship is becoming America's favorite past-time. The US gov't (and their corporate friends), already detain protesters, ban books like "America Deceived" from Amazon and Wikipedia, shut down Imus and fire 21-year tenured, BYU physics professor Steven Jones because he proved explosives, thermite in particular, took down the WTC buildings. Free Speech forever (even for I-man).
Last link (before Google Books caves to pressure and drops the title):
America Deceived (book)

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War of Words. Bloggers, Broadcasters, Rappers Code of Ethics
Posted by: Betsy L. Angert on Apr 19, 2007 2:34 PM   
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Dear Matt Taibbi . . .

I am a huge fan of Public Enemy. Their music was the first downloaded into my ipod. I do not think the Imus discussion is a means for singling out Rappers or the Black community.

You may recall that for years, the original Rappers complained that the current hip-hop does not represent Black culture. The finely tuned political themes are void in the lyrics of the now popular Rappers. Money, materialism, and misogyny are often the topics. Hip-Hop today is not the music of yesteryear. Nor is the audience mostly Black. This battle, I believe is about far more than race relations.

I refer you to a treatise that I recently published. I invite you to ponder my perspective. I welcome your comments.
War of Words. Bloggers, Broadcasters, Rappers Code of Ethics

Betsy L. Angert
BeThink.org

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Lecture the well-off white kids who buy this stuff too
Posted by: philame on Apr 19, 2007 3:17 PM   
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It is the well-off white kids that buy this stuff - where is your lecture for them? It is all too easy to come down hard on black people and women and let white people, particularly white men off the hook.

Use the word whitey all you want and listen to Public Enemy but you are not scoring "enlightened white boy" points with me. You totally let white people off the hook with excuses like "It's just white people's colonizing/oppressing nature - they can't help it" "They learned the insults from black people" Whatever! White people have to be as fully engaged in the social change process as you rant black people aren't. We're in this together as Americans.

This article was a disappointment.

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when rap music was taboo.
Posted by: eosrk on Apr 19, 2007 3:31 PM   
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I remember when rap music was about to be banned until the crackers found a way to put out what is now crappy music, and that goes for many other forms of music too.

All one has to do is to watch that crap show Cribs and you can see it. All the white artists show off their family, their homes, and sometimes their cars. Black artist, all we can show off is their damned cars, rims, systems, and bullcrap like that.

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» crappy music Posted by: slydad
Poor old Imus...seems he had the wrong producer!!
Posted by: bastonal on Apr 19, 2007 4:44 PM   
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Fact is Imus is far from a liberal....but like many other moderate to right people...He started to despise BushCo's policy and agenda...which is so very clear to anyone with a brain and the least bit objective...and he relentlessly let people know what he thought of Bush, Cheney & company...again not much of a liberal...more of a shock-jock, which means he's trained himself to quickly say anything, to sound hip and funny and this one apparently got away and it seems a bit of a set up as well...I don't know...I've refuse to follow Imus or this story, since I can't stand Imus...but I do know Howard Stern makes a great living saying just about the same things and is now buried alive on Sirius radio...along with his long, long time produce, Robin Givens, a black woman who never seems to take much offense to what Stern says only a quick scolding here and there and forces an apology now and then to keep it all running smoothly...and that's indeed what Givens is there for, as well as a receiving a nice hefty paycheck to put up with it....Perhaps, thats where Imus went wrong, I don't know and don't really give a flying dick...But maybe if Imus had a black woman too as his producer who knows...Maybe that's the key to life...somether at all times keeping us in line!

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Good riddance to Imus
Posted by: janelynne on Apr 19, 2007 4:45 PM   
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Mike tries to say Imus is a liberal. We don't want him. His crap lacks humor, irony, and intelligence, and is anathama to liberal sensibility. As a long time listener to Stern, Imus tried in vain to copy Stern's edge, but lacked Stern's skill and finesse and brought a belly full of racism Stern never had. Imus's crap is about hate, condescention, chauvinism, dressed up as shock radio. Imus is like the narcissist who always wanted to be popular, but never really cared about anyone in return. Most of the conservatives have used this opportunity to refocus their venom back on Black artists and Sharpton. Why? Because Imus is their proxy, and spoke nasty things they themselves believed in. With Imus gone, they have nothing to snicker about. I will not be surprized if his conservative backers try to rescue Imus from the swamp.

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Matt, You left a key point out: "Ho" ideology started with white people.
Posted by: ramonab on Apr 19, 2007 6:36 PM   
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It did not start with rappers.
Black people did not create these negative references to Black women; white people did.

We didn’t make the laws that enslaved Black women rendering them as mere property. White America did that. We didn’t make laws that justified white men raping Black women. White America did that. We didn’t create the caricature of Black women as sex objects to appease the guilty conscience of the white men who raped them at will. White America did that. We didn’t pedestalize white women and make white skin and blonde hair the epitome of feminine beauty. White America did that. We didn’t value light skinned Black women over dark-skinned Black women. White America did that. We didn’t cast light-skinned and straightened-haired Lena Horne and Dorothy Dandridge in progressive leading roles while casting dark-skinned Black women such as Pearl Bailey, Hattie McDaniel and Cicely Tyson in stereotypical and demeaning roles. White America did that.

And despite what white America did, we still resisted it. In the Sixties and Seventies we created slogans like "Black is Beautiful" to ward off the attack of white supremacist aesthetics that sought to drown our souls in self-hatred. We wore our hair in all its kinkified glory with pride. We appreciated all the hues of our Black rainbow. And how did white America respond to this act of self-determination? No, they mocked it. Then they marketed their mockery back to us and our children. We call it Blaxploitation today. It continues.

Imus’ comments do not emerge out of the Black community. Imus’ comments emerge out of a legacy of white hatred of Black people and Black women in particular. His hatred and the hatred of his people toward Black women is seeded in the same hatred of the likes of Thomas Jefferson, who while having "sexual relations" with his Black slave, Sally Hemings, was comparing the very same people to apes in his writings.

If you want to understand what lies behind the venom and hatred of the like of Imus? You need look no further than the very man and mentality behind this nation’s own Declaration of Independence. That legacy is what lies at the root of Imus’ statement. . Imus was just saying what his forefather said hundreds of years before him.
No, this castigation of Black women did not originate within the Black community. When we act in ways that are demeaning to our own selves and people, what we are doing is nothing more than the logical conclusion of hundreds of years of seasoning or socialization. This is what is called the process of mental colonization wherein the subjugated people believe the lie told to them about who they are and their self-worth. We have been trained to see ourselves through the eyes of those who despise us.

And this is not to defend what Black men in the main say and have said about Black women. For there is no defense that can be made, especially when it comes at the expense of the actual lives of young Black girls whose hopes and aspirations are dashed against the rocks of self-hatred.

Don Imus and those Duke boys have been made over in the white dominant media into martyrs. Good white men wrongly victimized by an unforgiving Black community. Programs like the "Today Show" have gone out of their way to salvage the "good name" of white men. Rather than defend the humanity of the women who were victimized both at Rutgers and Duke, white society is defending white manhood by going after Black leadership with a vengeance that would make Strom Thurmond proud.



As the attention remains on protecting these white men, the Black women of Rutgers basketball team have received death threats; the Black woman in the Duke case has had her identity revealed by the media. White America is making a loud and clear we don’t care about you or your people.

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HOLY F***ING NAILED IT....
Posted by: Eat Politicians on Apr 19, 2007 7:55 PM   
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Best article in a while...best on the Imus bullsh*t for sure. I was worried about the cop-out when I read the quote. But instead it was solid gold.

kudos...f***ing kudos...

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» RE: HOLY F***ING NAILED IT.... Posted by: babalucci
This is the only thing . . .
Posted by: yesman on Apr 19, 2007 9:18 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
. . . I've read or heard about the Imus "incident" that was not entirely and purely bullshit, of one stripe or another.

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Having been Black most of my 49 years...
Posted by: drmimi94954 on Apr 19, 2007 11:20 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
as opposed to Negro, colored, African American...
I found this piece most refreshing.
Having seen all the usual suspects swarm to get Imus to apologize on nationwide media (the better to get publicity for one's self), I am glad that SOMEBODY saw through the feeding frenzy.
We spend way too much time on celebrities doing public apologies when what they need to do is go back to the people they have harmed FIRST and make the apology face to face as directly as they made the disparaging remarks.
This is something most kindergartners learn.
This is one nappy headed sister who is way tired of all the sisters who lye, dye, fry and hang non hair to make one's hair long who get upset as having their hair called nappy.
As if...
And as for the "ho" appelation. I think that applies more aptly to all the bottom feeders going for the publicity, the need to be the "media conscience of the African American Community." That includes those whole feel the need to process their hair and at the same time tell people "how proud they are of their African heritage." Some days I just want to tell those brothers and sisters to kindly sit down and shut up and return to their very "bourgie" lifestyles and let some real voices of our community stand up.
One snap diva who has just about had ENOUGH with the so called leaders of people of color and feminists in our midsts.
"nuff for now"

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What a STUPID ARTICLE
Posted by: The Big Raven on Apr 20, 2007 10:39 AM   
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Just gives the racists more shit to harp on about.
I just love the way some of you racist asses try and cover your hate with more words I see many of you speak out of both sides of your mouths. Rap in not culture...try lookling the word up you might learn something.
And to hell with that oldman imus he has been mis-leading people for years with his hate filled drivel.

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My Two Cents
Posted by: anonymous black writer on Apr 20, 2007 11:32 PM   
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Where do I begin with this article. I will just say that hip hop is creative and innovative and that music acceptable today was often heretical in its day. So it is worthy of insight and criticism.Then he rightfully opines that nobody really cares about the dignity of women. This is true, but one thing about these women is that they did not use their beauty for sex,fame, men to get filthy rich or out the hood. Also, some men body build for looks,sleep around for popularity, become gigolos to women of means sometimes and do the stuff they bad mouth women for. Some men chastise women for being shallow when go after women for beauty and sex-what hypocrites. Ludacris quip is not only satire but unpalatable truth:
but hos don't feel so sad and blue
cuz most of us niggas(men can be substituted) is hoes too
Just think on it.Why not all the hoopla here. He talks about the foolishness of bringing up the race issue but that seems to be largely why he comments on the Imus affair. A few paragraphs later he castigate black politicians/intellectuals defense of the art form and their defense of it being empowerment. When all things are considered, despite no college education, a possible criminal record, and few job prospects given the cards they are dealt, the fact that they are succeeding is empowering and inspiring-despite the needed criticism. If they were in any other field and not black, they would be embraced as all-American and doing things "the American Way." Then he carps about their greed and overspending. Some truth here, but easy coming from a suburban white boy with a degree of comfort(and possibly financial literacy or at least access to financial skills). This can be seen on MTV cribs among other places but I used to see a similar show with white people call lifestyle of the Rich and Famous. Yeah they focus on greed/overspending,but considering the fact that they live in an industrialized country that uses around 25% of the world resources(with 6% of pop.) with the lowest savings rate, and shopping as a national past time,this ain't all that surprising-something to work on-but not surprising.This criticism can be made for alot of us.Also most people splurge when they make some money and many overdue it to keep up with the Joneses, so whatever. This all shows there is a joke. This joke is that some white people, though well meaning will find any excuse to be the moral police/compass of black people on things that they drop the ball on themselves. Then he talks about how they used deride women on the use of the word hoes. Both bad, but Snoop is talking about opportunistic women and Imus is deriding college basketball players. If these women are bad for playing basketball, what can they be deemed favorable in. In defense of some bad women they do what they do for survival, conditioning, and few alternatives. Then he carps about a double standard when expressing opinion.Yes who said what and context does matter; BUT RAPPERS HAVE BEEN CRITICIZE EVEN WITH THIS IN THEIR FAVOR-including Snoop. If he does not like this, sad, such is life Then about comics saying everything. Man, they are comics. Nobody looks to them for advice, political commentary or insight, but laughs. But I'll say that these shockjocks can say what he won't but we can complain if we feel like it.

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» RE: My Two Cents Posted by: anonymous black writer
Matt Taibbi's A Stereotyper: Many Rappers DO Invest Their Money!
Posted by: Nuuon on Apr 22, 2007 11:29 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Matt Taibbi employs a racist stereotype when he suggests that rappers spend ALL of their money on cars, girls and jewelry, instead of "buying land." You can find these stereotypes coming out of the mouth of the average dumb white racist. For example, check out the rhetoric of this white racist who was filmed in 1959. Check out how close his rhetoric is to Mike Taibbi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUQaY-kwsnA (his Taibbi-like tirade begins about 20 seconds into the video clip)

Okay, let's see if Taibbi is right by reviewing some of the economic facts of today's most successful rappers. Let's start with Jay-Z. He has made a major investment in Carol's Daughter''s Cosmetics; considering buying a large stake in London Arsenal soccer team; is part of a $300 million investment in New Jersey Nets; has collaborations with Swiss watch maker Audemars Piquet; he owns a chain of sports bars (the 40/40Club) in New York, and is opening clubs in Los Angeles, Los Vegas, and Singapore. His owns Roc-A-Wear clothing (a $600 million-a-year company), Roc-A-Wear films (debuted its film "Death Of A Dynasty" at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival). He was the first non-athlete to have a signature sneaker line (The S. Carter shoe broke Reebok's sales records).

Let's look at Sean "P Diddy" Combs. Start with the Sean John ($400 million dollars annually) clothing line. His first major business was started in 1993 (Bady Boy Worldwide Entertainment), which has branched out from music into books and films. He has recently announced he was becoming a MVNO (wireless jargon for mobile virtual network operator). He was ranked 54th on the Forbes Celebrity 100 as early as 1999. His empire includes Blueflame Marketing & Advertising AND he has a Restaurant called Justin's which is also expanding its locations. In 2002, Combs was named one of the 40 Richest People Under 40 by Fortune magazine.

Okay, lets move to Russell Simmons. He built the Phat Farm label, Phat Fashions, which he sold to Kellwood for $140 million. Simmons' empire includes watches, books, magazines, cell phone design, Rush Communications, Def Jam Records, Baby Phat clothing line, and One World Communications. He also has created the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation which has helped thousands of new and established artists. And let's not forget Def Jam Comedy and Def Jam Poetry. Def Jam Poetry has propably done more for the revival of the interest in poetry than any single American institution. And then there's the Rush Visa Card: a debit card that is made available to those who can't get regular bank accounts or credit cards because of a bad credit history. Simmons teamed up with Trinity Financial Institutio Bank to develop the debit card.

Now let's check out Fifty Cents. He earned $41 million last year, and he ranks No. 8 on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list. "Onstage, he guzzles from a Hennessy bottle. His fans don't know it holds only iced tea." He created the G-Unit collection of sneakers with Reebok, Video Game Bulletproof (1.3 million units sold, 2006); G-Unit clothing ($75 million in 2006); publishing and film ($46 million - "Get Rich or Die Trying"); and has invested in bottled water, Formula 50 bottled vitamin water ($25 million in 2006). And, by the way, Fifty Cents doesn't drink alcohol.

All told, when you look at their empires from top to bottom, these four rapper/hip-hop entrepreneurs combined are likely employing tens of thousands of individuals. Because of these young men, many African American business people are getting the opportunity of their lives working for the high-powered companies that these brothers have created. These guys are true SELF-MADE MILLIONAIRES. They didn't rely on daddy's money or the access that white skin color provides to build their empires.

Has Matt Taibbi accomplished ANYTHING that can remotely compare with this?

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Niggers are Awesome
Posted by: jhg on Apr 24, 2007 11:15 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The word "awesome" has been taken away from us. When any
"awesome" thing in any "awesome" circumstance given to us
by ''totally awesome" people; you can see why you can no longer describe the Aurora Borealis.
"Nigger" works the same way: Two white kids calling each other "nigger"; two black kids; one Latin kid and one kid of mixed race; I was called a "white nigger" once. by a drunk dago in a bar.
It would take one Awesome Nigger to do and mean everything and still maintain a little modest meaning for themself.
















































"awesome

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