Bill Simmons smites Scoop about the head...

Re: All-Star Weekend fallout, including CJR, Billy Hunter questions N.O. ASW.....

this site found its way over to sohh.com. the largest hip hop site on the net. thats how i got here. we have been discussing the merits (or lackthereof) of Mr. Whitlock for a while now. and this has been a hot button topic since the article came out. but again, i'm part of the Black KKK that is the hip hop culture.....

 

Re: All-Star Weekend fallout, including CJR, Billy Hunter questions N.O. ASW.....

Are you gang banger or a wanna-be thug? Did you throw food on waitresses while in Vegas? Did you spit on blackjack dealers when she hit a 21? Did you and six of your buddies walk out on your tab at Coco's Restaurant? Did you shoot a strip club bouncer for stopping your buddy from punching a dancer after she started picking up the money he threw on stage?

If not, then Whitlock wasn't talking about you.

 

Re: All-Star Weekend fallout, including CJR, Billy Hunter questions N.O. ASW.....

so if thats the case, then lets just call out those individuals. of course, he didnt do that. he indicted a whole culture because of what some folks did over a weekend. does that make sense.....

 

Re: All-Star Weekend fallout, including CJR, Billy Hunter questions N.O. ASW.....

And what do you think of Chuck D., one of the genre's godfathers, saying this?

 

Re: All-Star Weekend fallout, including CJR, Billy Hunter questions N.O. ASW....

what am i supposed to say? of course, he's right. would you expect me to say any different. but i would never sit on the sidelines and say "those guys over there are crazy", knowing that i came from that same environment. call me crazy, but i would do what i can to help the problem and not address the symptoms. it makes no sense to curse the gas light when it comes on in the car while youre driving right by the gas station. whitlock came off as an elitist. plain and simple. and you can continue to cite cosby or chuck or anyone else who might have cast a light on the problems in the black community. more than likely, they didnt do it in the way that whitlock chose to....

 

Re: All-Star Weekend fallout, including CJR, Billy Hunter questions N.O. ASW.....

So if it's your column to write...how would help the problem, however you define it? Let's say you're whitlock, and you've been to Vegas, and you don't like what you see around you, etc. What would you write?

 

Re: All-Star Weekend fallout, including CJR, Billy Hunter questions N.O. ASW.....

Well, it would seem that it would be difficult for MavRick to answer that, inasmuch as he's identified himself as part of the problematic group.

 

Re: All-Star Weekend fallout, including CJR, Billy Hunter questions N.O. ASW.....

MavRick - fascinating arguments you've made. If we're scoring this (and I am), Mav and FB are up 2-0.

 

Re: All-Star Weekend fallout, including CJR, Billy Hunter questions N.O. ASW....

So it's not the message, but tone you have a problem with?

 

Re: All-Star Weekend fallout, including CJR, Billy Hunter questions N.O. ASW.....

First: Mavrick, welcome. You've added good insight, although I disagree with you on a few points.

In spending the day talking to various folks about what did and didn't bother them about Jason's column, one thing seems pretty clear: The reason (some) black people are upset with it is not because what he said was wrong, but because they know the action of (some) people in Vegas will indict us as a race. Bruhman (Hi, Deron!) said a few pages ago not to address the black community as a monolithic group, but unfortunately we don't/never had had that luxury. We, like a few other minority groups, are defined by our lowest-common denominator. That stings and it's a burden. You could be a black man that's a banker, but to some people, you don't look any different than the black man the nightly news showed robbing the 7-11.

Anyway, Mavrick, you asked how Jason's column helped and I'll take a stab at an answer. It helped because it started very intelligent, honest discussion. It made people react. That's what a columnist supposed to do. If he uses "brothers and sisters," instead of the language he did, maybe people don't react the same. Maybe it's not talked about on your hip hop website you frequent.

Another thing: I dug a lot of things Cosby had to say, but I hate that his words are used like a switch on the whole black race. Like because Cosby said it, it's gospel. To be honest, Michael Eric Dyson gave Cosby quite a challenge on some of the things he said.

 

Re: All-Star Weekend fallout, including CJR, Billy Hunter questions N.O. ASW.....

Um...did she just out somebody? Or has Bruhman outed himself before.

 

Re: All-Star Weekend fallout, including CJR, Billy Hunter questions N.O. ASW.....

Uh, yup ... that sounds like she did.