The Arizona Song of the Day

So, I guess Cesar Chavez Day has been cancelled in the Sunshine State now, too? Ditat Deus, people!!!



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The Michael Steele Quote of the Day

Boy, you thought the cowboys over at the GOPilgrim were pissed with Da Little Big Brutha before, wait till they get a whiff of this. This boy is so far off the reservation, I wouldn't be surprised to see his scalp paraded all across the Fox News set.

"We have lost sight of the historic, integral link between the party and African-Americans. This party was co-founded by blacks, among them Frederick Douglass. The Republican Party had a hand in forming the NAACP, and yet we have mistreated that relationship. People don't walk away from parties, their parties walk away from them.

"For the last 40-plus years we had a 'Southern Strategy' that alienated many minority voters by focusing on the white male vote in the South. Well, guess what happened in 1992, folks, 'Bubba' went back home to the Democratic Party and voted for Bill Clinton."

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R.I.P. Dorothy Height and Guru

Today was a weird one. I spent all day listening to NPR and staining the deck. First, I was trying to think of a funny way to tell the Kal Penn mugging story--like he got jacked for his weed coming out of Barry's White House.

But then I got all bummed out over Dorothy Height's death. The woman was 98. So, it wasn't much of a surprise. But I've always enjoyed the few interviews I've heard her give. And, of course, she's a homegirl--another star in the Black Pittsburgh constellation. They just don't make many like Dorothy Height.

But, what's really got me is Guru's death. I had no clue the brotha was sick. I mean, damn, I'll admit to hating on Jazzmatazz II, but the man was only 43. And Gang Starr ...

Well, clearly, I have no words for this. So, a video's in order.



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Snyder's Madden-ness Strikes Again

On Sunday night, either a victim of Xtreme food poisoning or the flu, my body became a high-speed, two-way food evacuation system--almost simultaneously. So, on Monday morning, cold and shivering, I thought I was merely delusional when I heard that the Redskins traded for Philadelphia Eagle, future hall-of-fame quarterback, Donovan McNabb. Now, with a few days to recover and regain my sanity, I'm wondering who was the delusional party when the Eagles gave McNabb up for a couple of draft picks.

Personally, I'm not much of a McNabb fan. {whisper: I actually think he's a 'roider.} But I've never understood the antipathy that so many Eagles' fans have had for McNabb all these years. Season after season the man has done nothing but win for that organization. For most of those seasons, it has been a smothering Eagles' D and McNabb all by himself on offense that got them into the playoffs and the inevitable loss in the NFC Championship game.

The failings of McNabb to get them into the Super Bowl was really the failure of the organization in providing him with a reliable wide receiver option. For years, it was so obvious that Philly would be playing for the Lombardi trophy if only someone could catch the ball, and yet they refused to accommodate the man. And the year they finally did and got T.O., they went to the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, they ran smack up against those damned dynastic Patriots (we Steeler fans can tell you all about those videotaping bastards).

But now that the Eagles finally have a fully-functioning, though really young, offense with LeSean McCoy taking over for Brian Westbrook and two nice receivers in DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin, they're giving the old guy up?

Yes, I understand that Donovan's best days are pretty much behind him. And that amazing D that Philly has enjoyed the past decade is gone and needs rebuilding. But McNabb's not that old. I was picturing these next couple of seasons like the last few Elway had once he finally got a running back and the Super Bowl rings he deserved.

To this armchair GM it seemed like a perfect fit, the grizzled, old veteran leading the young talented corps to the Promised Land. Instead, you've got a young, inexperienced quarterback, Dennis Kolb, with no veterans to instruct him on what to do (since the Birds are trying to trade Michael Vick, as well). Instead of a playoff team challenging for the title, the Eagles have decided to scrap the whole thing and start all over again.

I guess there's a certain logic in that, but it's hard to understand why Danielle Snyder opened up the purse strings to snag McNabb for a one-year deal. They started dumping players left and right in the beginning of the off-season. They swept the locker room clean of the Jim Zorn regime. It looked like Snyder might finally be shedding his old ways and may try to start building the organization up again from scratch.

But he hasn't. The Napoleon of the Potomac only knows one game. And that's EA Sports' Madden franchise. Whenever you look at the moves the little man makes, they only make sense when you realize that Snyder loooooves that great video game, and he loves it sooooooo much that he holds onto old versions of it long after the new season-by-season updates have arrived on and been cleared from the shelves.

That's why he always gets aging veterans like Deion Sanders, Jeff George, and Bruce Smith decades after their primes. He was playing old versions of the game when they still had 95+ Player Ratings. Last year, he actually did play Madden '09 before making his free agent moves. That's why he broke the bank signing Albert Haynesworth, not realizing that Asshole Factor actually isn't a Madden stat that could affect a real player's efforts on the field.

This year, he went vintage Madden--I'm guessing, '00--to get his coach, Mike Shanahan. His Coaching stats were through the roof that year. So, Snyder probably thought he was really getting a bargain when he signed Shanahan. Of course, Danny Boy forgot to look at the man's Without Elway stats, which are really in the crapper.

Larry Johnson was a 99, the perfect running back, power and speed with a wicked stiff-arm and could really chew up ground. Snyder probably went through the roof when he realized he could get Johnson for a song this offseason. Of course, he would've understood why if he'd only looked at the packaging. He was playing Madden '04.

And, when you team '05 Johnson with '06 "Fast" Willie Parker (who I was actually hoping the Steelers would've re-signed), you've got the best "Thunder-and-Lightning" running back duo in NFL history. What the Steelers and the rest of the league has realized, though, is that Parker had broken his leg in the '06 season, has been plagued by injuries ever since, and ain't so "Fast," anymore.

But that damned game has blurred Snyder's vision. He sees things in players that no one else does--highly-pixelated, two-dimensional images that look amazingly life-like with spin moves that just leave you dazzled.

So now, Snyder has the dream offensive team with the '00 offensive "genius," Mike Shanahan at the helm, his '08 Chris Cooley, '06 Santana Moss, '05 Larry Johnson, '06 Willie Parker, and an '05 Donovan McNabb under center. With such impressive weaponry available on his Playstation 4, you can understand how Danielle Snyder is once again salivating (as he does every April) over his veeeeerrrrryyyyy realistic chances of winning the Super Bowl this season.

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Obama, Medvedev Celebrate Nuclear Deal

We here at Tome have obtained exclusive footage from Russian PravdaTV of President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev entertaining foreign heads of state tonight at Prague Castle after signing their historic nuclear arms reduction treaty. According to PravdaTV, even Vladimir Putin was inspired by this historic moment.





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For Those Who Like Watching White People Dance

All right, I know I've been remiss in this whole blogging thing for more than a little bit. I will fall on the Excuse of My Generation ... I've been sooooooo busy. ... Well, a little bit.

So, here, to tide you over for a little bit longer, is a sample of the album that made this morning's rush hour a bit more tolerable, Lykke Li's "Little Bit." Youth Novels is a good one. Check it out.





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Western Civilization and the Economic Crisis: The Impoverishment of the Middle Class

I haven't read this all yet, but Global Research has this fascinating article about, well, what the title says. It's depressing food for thought, but something we all need to digest. In fact, we should've heeded all this crap long before this crisis happened and had the FDA slap "This Bullshit May Cause Rectal Cancer, Aneurisms, and Worldwide Depression" warnings on MSNBC and all Wall Street reports we've been forced to ingest from the mainstream media.
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Erykah Badu -- Window Seat

All right, I often joke that ... uh ... carnal relations with Erykah Badu must be revelatory, to say the least. I mean, Outkast was outlandish and all before Andre 3000 stepped to the goddess. But afterwards ... my God! Common was cool, but one night with Badu turned him out to make Electric Circus, one of the freakiest--and coolest--hip-hop experiences (way) out there. And now, folks are all over Badu's latest baby daddy, Jay Electronica. So, I'm thinking ...

Anyway, this video's getting all kinds of media-generated-to-sell-more-copies "CONtroversy" because Badu shows us what all those gentlemen's hysteria has been about all these years. I wanted to show the video because it fits well within the Tome theme for this past week. Besides, Mrs. Unknown loves the woman.

Enjoy. The new album, New Amerykah Part 2, drops today.




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Health Care Quote of the Day

French President Nicolas Sarkozy comes to Columbia University to slam his Conservative American counterparts:

"Welcome to the club of states who don't turn their back on the sick and the poor ...

"[W]hen we look at the American debate on reforming health care, it's difficult to believe.

"The very fact that there should have been such a violent debate simply on the fact that the poorest of Americans should not be left out in the streets without a cent to look after them... is something astonishing to us."

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And You Thought I Was Just Being Paranoid

Dad used to always tell me one of his favorite Dick Gregory jokes: "A black man in this country who is not paranoid is crazy." So, I'll admit that I, too, can walk around like a Rockwell video in the making. However, I am not--I repeat, not--simply being paranoid about what I just said about the Tea Baggers. Here, take a look.







Oh yeah. And the FBI just conducted several raids on some Midwestern militia types. It'll be interesting to see what's going on there.
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Potty Mouth Bill Is Right

I have my problems with Bill Maher, but this rant is not one of them. He is so right he's actually left.




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True Colors

I have to admit, I am somewhat surprised with the utter surprise the mainstream media seems to greet the recent Tea Party insanity. I feel that anyone could've seen this coming. It's been three years in the making. The homophobic and racist comments, the spittle on Rep. Cleaver, the death threats, and cut gas lines are only a continuation of the arc started in 2007 and may very well just be a precursor of things to come.

That arc started its trajectory in Iowa when two Clinton campaign workers started an anonymous email accusing Barack Obama of being a closet Muslim. While Clinton disavowed the email, that same missive continued to appear in people's in-boxes all across the country, and through not-so-subtle innuendo they continued to use Obama's race and supposed otherness to play against the fears of a disaffected white working class, somehow suggesting that he would be "dangerous" for this country. This strategy did indeed work in states like Pennsylvania where that population was large enough to affect the election. And up until the very end of the primary contest, they continued to contest the legitimacy of his win.





Republicans picked up the thread during the general election campaign. "Barack Hussein Obama." "Palling around with terrorists." For the "real Americans" who just could not grasp, could not handle, and actually feared a black man's being President of the United States, the seeds were planted and were nourished by the Clintons and the GOP. And when Barack Hussein Obama actually became the President of the United States, their worst fears were realized.

Those fears have been simmering since the slave revolution in Haiti, the utter paranoia that black folks would somehow take over and seek revenge. They have been fanned throughout American history, and now, to them, that day is here.

The Birthers expressed it with their claims that Obama isn't legitimate because he was never born in the US. And when that wasn't enough, the Tea Party was born. When you listen to their complaints, when you listen to their ringleaders, Beck and Limbaugh, and when you listen to their GOP cheerleaders, you hear that fear. You hear that eschatological mania that the end is near. John Boehner himself rages on about "Armageddon." And among the complaints of Marxism and Nazism, of death panels and abortion, of "government take-over" and of illegal immigrants taking our health care, you hear one common refrain: "We need to take our country back!" back to when "this country was free!"





As all revisionist thought goes, they have a romantic notion of this country's freedom that was not free for a lot of us but definitely was for them. When these middle-aged and elderly (and some of their progeny) envision America, they are not thinking of DC 2010 but Selma 1960. And yeah, for them, this country was most definitely free.

Hell, white folks had so much freedom, it was murder--for the rest of us. The white working class never had it so good. They had good jobs with good pay. One man could work 40 hours, support an entire, rather large family, buy a house in the suburbs, relax on weekends, and even take a vacation or two.

Women cooked the meals, tended to the kids, and did the housework. Blacks weren't allowed to compete for the same jobs, didn't go to the same schools, and couldn't even find their neighborhoods even if GPS had been invented at the time. Latinos were called "Spanish," and they couldn't even tell you what one fucking looked like. Orientals were just enemies you had to travel to the other side of the world to fight on occasion. And all these other races and religions we are now surrounded by didn't even exist in their minds.

Now everything's changed.

There are no good working-class jobs. The illegals have taken them all. They fill up our schools for free. Take our health care for free. Fill up our jails and our welfare rolls. Along with the blacks. Who do nothing but rape, rob, and rap. The Arabs blow up our buildings. And the Asians own this country lock, stock, and barrel.

So yeah, I'll say it: The Tea Party movement ain't nothing but about race.

Sure, economics are definitely involved. After all, there really are no good working-class jobs in this country. But the white working class never blames the white ruling class who has shrunk their wages, broke their unions, and outsourced their jobs. They never do. They always blame the coloreds for their demise and the demise of this country. It is a fear that has consumed them since the birth of this nation, and it continues today. And now, they feel justified in that fear because a colored is running the damned country!

As Tom, a middle-aged white guy, told me when I went to a Tea Party rally: "They're just a bunch of racists. They're scared. They don't know where this country's going. They see Obama in the White House and a Latina on the Supreme Court, and it pisses them off."





There is a "New World Order." The country is less and less white, and they find minorities running the country and, to them, running this country down. They don't see a place in this new world for themselves. They are trapped. Cornered. Just like those Southerners in Selma back in '60. And just like those Alabamans, the Tea Baggers have decided to fight back. And they know just who to fight back against, the very symbol of all that's wrong, evil, and anti-American about this country--Barack Hussein Obama!

But these Tea Baggers can't come clean. They can't actually say they don't like Obama because he's black. Even racists get a little tetchy when you call them racists, and many of them actually don't want to be identified with such sentiments even as they voice them every day. So, instead, you get all this garbled rhetoric. We hear that the man is a Communist and a Nazi and an Islamic terrorist. We hear that he's taking over the country, taking away their freedoms. That he is dangerous and illegitimate.

The Republicans, seeing political opportunity and caring nothing for moral responsibility, have joined the mob. They have contributed in ratcheting up the rhetoric. They harangue about how dangerous Obama is, the Communist takeover. John Boehner himself has called health care reform "the most dangerous legislation" he has ever seen. Palin "targets" Dems with cross hairs while Glenn Beck openly encourages taking up arms and encouraging "revolution."

With their fears being drummed into hysteria, with their very own media and political leaders encouraging that hysteria, with open talk of taking up arms and revolution and a wacko slamming his plane into an IRS office being hailed a "hero," how can we be in the least bit surprised that these people are physically assaulting politicians and cutting people's gas lines praying for murder?

Their cause has become a righteous one. Stopping Obama is now their patriotic duty. And this weekend is only a precursor, their Boston Tea Party, if you will. First, they're targeting the "niggers, faggots, and baby-killers" who run Congress. But these fools are working themselves up for someone to take out Obama. All this hyperbolic vitriol has been in preparation for that eventuality. They want someone to get worked up enough to actually take that shot, and they want to feel justified when they're happy that someone has done it.

So, don't think this past week's violence was just a one-off. It was a mere flirtation that may very well come to a bloody conclusion. There will be many Tea Party sympathizers who will be turned off by what has happened and will slink away from the movement. But others will simply feel even more victimized by the criticism. They will become even firmer in their convictions. And someone will act.

Alabama militiaman Mike Vanderboegh is openly encouraging people to throw bricks at Congressmen's offices. Many Tea Baggers are planning to protest Congressmen's private residences. And rumor has it that there's a planned open-carry gun rally in Virginia on the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing (April 19) because they want to get as many guns as close to DC as possible.

Media talk around the Tea Party movement since August has been shrouded in uncertainty and speculation. The mainstream media has been suspicious, but they are utterly loathe to call anybody out as "racist" or "violent" or "dangerous." But that shroud has been lifted this week. Oh, they are trying to hide behind the rhetoric of "government take-over" and the yellow "Don't Tread on Me" flag. But only a fool or an opportunistic GOP hack can't see what the Tea Party really is. And someone needs to stop these fools before we are all watching a sea of red on CNN.





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Hell No You Can't!

I'm sure a lot of you have already seen this video. But it's so funny, I thought I'd share it with you unfortunate few who've not seen it yet.

I think it perfectly sums up the quandary that the GOP finds itself in right now. It's damned near impossible to fight hope with anger. And America fashions itself a "can-do" nation. To constantly say that we can't do something just pisses us Americans off--and even if we can't we'll steam right ahead just to prove you wrong.


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To All Those Tea Baggers Who Hate Health Care Reform & Love to Cherry-Pick Thomas Jefferson Quotes to Make Your Point--Here's One for Ya

"We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness--That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the the Consent of the Governed..."

--Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence [Emphasis added.]


Makes you wonder what good, ole TJ would've thought about universal health coverage. After all, to quote your gal, Monica Crowley, on The McCoughlin Group: "You cannot have Life if you are Dead."
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Obama Derangement Syndrome

"Obama Derangement Syndrome," a new and rather apt term coined by John Avlon, meaning "[the] pathological hatred of the president posing as patriotism" is spreading like wildfire through the Republican ranks. According to the latest Louis Harris poll, this is what these "Hatriots" (also an Avlon term) find themselves believing:

--57 percent of Republicans (32 percent overall) believe that Obama is a Muslim

--45 percent of Republicans (25 percent overall) agree with the Birthers in their belief that Obama was "not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president"

--38 percent of Republicans (20 percent overall) say that Obama is "doing many of the things that Hitler did"

--24 percent of Republicans (14 percent overall) say that Obama "may be the Antichrist."

Click here to read more about the insanity.

The asylum has long since crumbled to dust. Boehner has the keys but he only rattles them furiously to increase the furor. If you thought the passing of insurance reform would serve to quell the mob, you are sadly mistaken. These lunatics will not be satisfied until they are drinking Obama's blood and squishing around in his organs.

You may laugh at their madness, but, believe you me, these fools think they are at war. Don't be surprised if and when they actually bring it to us.

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The Barack-Obama-Signing-Health-Care-Legislation Video of the Day

Now you just know that after all the T's are crossed, the I's dotted, and the ceremonial pens are handed out as souvenirs, The Big Brutha and Mrs. Michelle are going up to the Lincoln Bedroom and Cabbage Patching to this Old School Jam. Oh ... to be a fly on that wall.



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Hitler, Stalin Plan Gay Marriage in Celebration of Obamacare

TPI--Warsaw, OH


"This is a glorious day!" trumpets Adolf Hitler, in his finest, Versace tuxedo. Joseph Stalin, decked in Vera Wang, nods in enthusiastic agreement.

Many historical observers would have never thought that this day would ever come. Many are probably rolling over in their graves as you read this. But these two dictators, who many have considered to be on opposite sides of the political spectrum, and who waged a devastating, four-year war against each other that left tens of millions dead, are uniting today--in marriage. Who is responsible for their pending nuptials?

Barack Obama.

"It is almost impossible to believe that I, the very definition of white supremacy," chortles Hitler, "would find such a kindred spirit in Barack Obama. But he's like the son I never had."

"Me, too," shines Stalin. "He stands for everything I stood for. Believes everything I believed in. He is the perfect Soviet!"

"The perfect Nazi!" Hitler heatedly corrects.

The two stare angrily at each other. Then, Stalin licks his thumb and rubs it against Hitler's moustache.

"You had some schmutz, darling."

"Oh, thank you, dear."

The two bloodiest dictators of the twentieth century kiss and hug. All is right again.

"It's like Addie and I got together and had our own child," Stalin says. "And we named him Barack Obama."

"We are so proud of that boy," Hitler says, wiping away a tear. "He will finally fulfill the thousand-year reign of the Aryan race I long dreamed of!"

"And make the world one, single proletariat!" Staling adds.

"He is half-black, ya know?" I hesitantly correct.

A big, burly Ss soldier steps forward and growls. Hitler holds up a hand and stays the beast.

Stalin laughs. "And I was part of the 'demon Asiatic horde'!"

Hitler laughs, too. "I was young. I said things I didn't mean back then. I am sure you have done the same."

"I once said that Kid N Play were the best rap group in history," I confess.

We all laugh at that one. "Ridiculous!" Stalin pours vodka.

"So, you two are no longer enemies?" I venture.

"We were until Barack brought us together," Stalin says. "We realized that he alone could bring our dreams to fruition."

"The total destruction of the United States," Hitler beams.

"The utter smashing of the capitalist state and thieving bourgeoisie," Stalin growls.

"The glorious creation of one, great National Socialist--"

"--Soviet Republic of the United States of America," Stalin concludes, dreamy-eyed. "Wondrous, isn't it?"

"The N.S.S.R.U.S.A.?" I ask. "And how will he go about doing all that?"

"'Go about'?" Stalin asks. "Why, he has already done it."

"Yes," Hitler agrees. "He got the health care bill passed. Didn't you see it?"

"Uh, all of that is in the bill?" I ask.

"Yes. The forced exile of all Spanish speakers." Stalin.

"The covert sterilization of the Africans." Hitler.

"The death panels that will elmminate the old, the weak, the infirmed." Stalin.

"The total annihilation of the Jews." Hitler.

They both sigh, "Ah ... the Jews."

"It makes you wonder why the white working class protested the damned thing so vehemently," I say. "It sounds like they're the main beneficiaries of the legislation."

"I blame affirmative action," Hitler says.

"Of course you do," I say.

"It brought down your education system," he continues. "Those Tea Party people don't realize how good they got it. The country will soon be theirs again!"

"Yes! One large--"

"Aryan!"

"--proletariat!!!"

"Because of the health care bill?" I ask again, incredulous.

"Read the bill!" Stalin commands.

I start reading--fervently.

"And when we were reading the bill ourselves," Stalin continues, "we started realizing how much we have in common."

"How we were silly to think that Nazism and Communism were actually two, competing ideologies," Hitler added. "Those Tea Party people made us see the light. JoJo and I were actually fighting for the same things. The same things Barack Obama is fighting for."

"It's one of the things all three of us have in common." Hitler.

"We all like schnitzel." Stalin.

"And Marlene Dietrich movies." Hitler.

"Jay-Z." Stalin.

"And who doesn't love killing Jews?" Hitler.

"Uhhh ..." Me.

"And then, when we saw on page 1046 of the bill, the page that legalizes gay marriage, we realized that we had to make our newfound love known," Hitler declares.

"It is the only way to pay proper tribute to Barack Obama for all he's done for the cause of Communism!"

"And Nazism!"

"And who can resist that moustache," Stalin says, twinking Hitler on the nose.

"Oh, you silly Asiatic."

The two men hug. They do truly look happy. It's a bright, shiny day in Warsaw. I wish you all could be here to see it.

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GOP Talking Point Bingo Card

Here, I caught this over at Brown Man Thinking Hard and thought you'd find it interesting. Scare Tactics Made Simple, AND Fun for the Whole Family!!!




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Freaknik: The Musical

Yeah. I was there. Freaknik. 1994. I'd just moved to Atlanta after spending most of '93 in the Czech Republic. I was just creeping out of my culture shock and starting to hang out in the city. I'd recently met Skip, who was to become one of my best friends, and he strongly encouraged me to join him at this thing called "Freaknik."

I was 23. I had nothing better to do. I went. Thank God!

After living in a 99.9 percent white country all that time, to see all those young black folks in one place was a revelation. All that ass shaking, all the videotaping, that sister with a snake up her skirt, folks hanging off of porches, all that drinking, all that ... uh ... smoking ("Is that the Chronic? Is that the Chronic?"). I was so--shall we say--"overwhelmed" that I was--let's call it--"exhausted," I was "asleep" by 11 o'clock.

Something that good, black, and, yes, illegal could not last for long. The white folks in Atlanta were pissed! At the time, I just chalked it up to good ole boy racism. "The City That's Too Busy to Hate" is really just too passive-aggressive to actually show that hate. They use their campaign contributions to hold their Vanilla Sway over Chocolate City Lite.

(Of course, I later amended this ... a little. After all, those porches all those students were hanging off of were private residences that they just took over. But still ...)

In '95, Piedmont Park was off-limits. And Freaknik became a great, big College Cruise through downtown Atlanta. Soon after that, Freaknik was dead.

So, when Triple T told me there was a new cartoon series on Adult Swim about Freaknik and that it was a lot like Boondocks, I was intrigued. I looked into it and saw that the cast includes Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, Big Boi, Andy Samberg, Bill Hader, and George Clinton and Bootsy Collins, I was on that mess like government cheese on your colon.

But, while watching it, I got this strange sense of deja vu that left me pretty damned flat. It was the same feeling I got when watching Undercover Brother--through joke after joke harking back to the old Blaxploitation movies of the '70s, I kept thinking, "Wait, doesn't I'm Gonna Get You Sucka already exist?" Freaknik: The Musical isn't like Boondocks, it's basically ripping off Boondocks.

The show is just a retread, and, of course, isn't as good as the original rubber that has been fucking with our minds since Aaron McGruder got national syndication with his comic strip. Lord knows, black folks are funny, and we do a lot of shit that we can make fun of (NOTE: I said we). I don't understand why Freaknik just mines the exact same ground that Boondocks already has.

OK, first, they make fun of Kid 'N' Play. Didn't folks do that, like, 20 years ago?

They stole the idea of preppy rappers from Fear of a Black Hat and added a special twist of homophobia thrown in to, I guess, "keep it real."

Having the Boulé being the secret organization ruling over black life could've been funny. And the fact that the Boulé was Oprah, Cos, Reverend Al, Jesse, and Russell Simmons was also good. But all it was was the Black Intelligentsia that had Tracy Morgan on the run on 30 Rock. And those scenes must've been stolen whole-heartedly from the Boondocks' banned BET episodes. They even turned Rev. Al into, of all things, Robocop.

Lil' Wayne's Trap Jesus episode was the only bright spot. Our heroes roll into New Orleans during the day, when someone says, "I thought the sun never shined in the ghetto." A "gangsta" Moon immediately appears and caps the sun. And having a drug-selling Messiah who's been wanting to sell drugs since he was nine-years-old was pretty damned funny.

The rest of the series, though, is an utter waste of time. Borrowed irreverence just falls flat. You feel like you've been through all this before. The press material's talking about how it took T Pain two years to make Freaknik come about. I guess it just took him that long to rip off all the material he used to "compose" these episodes.

I guess that's what you get when your DVR doesn't have enough memory. And Freaknik: The Musical is what you get when rappers and musicians think they're actually writers.

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My 500th Post!!!

I don't know if this is really that big of a deal in the big, bad blogosphere. But I personally can't believe I've lasted 500 posts and damn near two years now. So, Big and I went out and celebrated this great event, Tome-A-Palooza. Fun was had by all--though most of us decided to hold it all night. That boy spends way too much time in the bathroom.

To further celebrate, I'd like to go back in the day when Ice Cube was not only gangsta, but I "used to dream that he'd come and kill my whole family."




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