Afro-Ameri-Spawn
Houston's Hometown Hero
I was kicked back today, attempting to fill the hour of dead space that exists in my life before TNA Impact begins and decided to check out the highly touted BET Hip Hop Awards. As I watched, millionaire rapper after millionaire rapper walked out onto the stage and performed and gave acceptance speeches as they picked up award after award and each one made, in one way or another, a plea for everybody in attendance and watching on tv to get out and vote on the 4th of next month. Not only that, but each plea and lyric changed in a song to fit the deed was imploring the public to vote for Barrack Obama.
Now it is rare that I see something that perplexes my entire thought process to the ends that this has or that truly embodies the phrase "ignorance is bliss", but I am lost on this. Being an African American myself, I can understand the feverish excitement of possibly having the very first African-American President of the United States of America. But I really have to wonder if these "artists" realize what the technical ramifications are of what they are saying to the general pubic. I mean sure that The Bush Era did nothing to dissuade this course of action or this outcry, but you have to wonder if Rappers and entertainers are looking at the issues before them
before they look at the color of the candidate's skin.
1. REJECTION
First and foremost, when Barrack Obama announced his intentions on pursuing the candidacy for the Democratic party offering for president, rappers were the first to offer their support. Obama rejected their offering and stated that he did not want any negative association from his supporters. This should have been a big red flag, but it did nothing to dissuade support from the rap community. Hell, you even see reside rap psycho mogul P. Diddy proclaiming "Vote or Die" and "Vote for Barrack" between insane stunts and tirades that has, on more than one occasion, caused me to wonder why this man is not on medication. But apparently rejection does not fend of stalkers, it only encourages them.
2. TAXES
The second huge warning should have been noticed during every presidential debate as Barrack has solidly stated that he does not plan to tax the middle class. Instead, he states that those making $250,000 or more will be the ones carrying the tax burden. How many rappers/entertainers do you know that makes less than $250,000? Hell, even MC Hammer, Coolio, and Tone Loc have more than $250,000 today. Soulja Boy made more than half a mill for a stupid dance. So who do THEY think is going to be paying their taxes? Do they think that Obama is going to "let a brutha slide" on the taxes? Nope. It's business. Ankle grabbing, excruciatingly painful business. And there's only two things that are certain in this wonderful world, death and taxes.
3. JOBS
Not sure if any of the masters of bling bling have taken a moment from getting Jacob to craft their next great masterpiece and noticed Obama's job plan or not, but they should. You see, the plan calls for alot of skilled labor jobs. Alot of degreed jobs. Alot of jobs that you need to go to college or trade school for. As a matter of fact, there are no jobs for average joe to work instead of going to college. So what does that leave for a young, often minority youth to be able to procure right out of high school. Anybody? Yup, you guessed it. The military. So while he promises to bring the troops home, he's going to make it awful hard for you not to go to the military to survive if you can't get into college. Very nice. Very very nice.
So what do you do? Mind you, this is NOT a Barrack versus McCain discussion. The topic of this discussion is simply this. If you were a young millionaire entertainer, would YOU vote for Obama?
Now it is rare that I see something that perplexes my entire thought process to the ends that this has or that truly embodies the phrase "ignorance is bliss", but I am lost on this. Being an African American myself, I can understand the feverish excitement of possibly having the very first African-American President of the United States of America. But I really have to wonder if these "artists" realize what the technical ramifications are of what they are saying to the general pubic. I mean sure that The Bush Era did nothing to dissuade this course of action or this outcry, but you have to wonder if Rappers and entertainers are looking at the issues before them
before they look at the color of the candidate's skin.
1. REJECTION
First and foremost, when Barrack Obama announced his intentions on pursuing the candidacy for the Democratic party offering for president, rappers were the first to offer their support. Obama rejected their offering and stated that he did not want any negative association from his supporters. This should have been a big red flag, but it did nothing to dissuade support from the rap community. Hell, you even see reside rap psycho mogul P. Diddy proclaiming "Vote or Die" and "Vote for Barrack" between insane stunts and tirades that has, on more than one occasion, caused me to wonder why this man is not on medication. But apparently rejection does not fend of stalkers, it only encourages them.
2. TAXES
The second huge warning should have been noticed during every presidential debate as Barrack has solidly stated that he does not plan to tax the middle class. Instead, he states that those making $250,000 or more will be the ones carrying the tax burden. How many rappers/entertainers do you know that makes less than $250,000? Hell, even MC Hammer, Coolio, and Tone Loc have more than $250,000 today. Soulja Boy made more than half a mill for a stupid dance. So who do THEY think is going to be paying their taxes? Do they think that Obama is going to "let a brutha slide" on the taxes? Nope. It's business. Ankle grabbing, excruciatingly painful business. And there's only two things that are certain in this wonderful world, death and taxes.
3. JOBS
Not sure if any of the masters of bling bling have taken a moment from getting Jacob to craft their next great masterpiece and noticed Obama's job plan or not, but they should. You see, the plan calls for alot of skilled labor jobs. Alot of degreed jobs. Alot of jobs that you need to go to college or trade school for. As a matter of fact, there are no jobs for average joe to work instead of going to college. So what does that leave for a young, often minority youth to be able to procure right out of high school. Anybody? Yup, you guessed it. The military. So while he promises to bring the troops home, he's going to make it awful hard for you not to go to the military to survive if you can't get into college. Very nice. Very very nice.
So what do you do? Mind you, this is NOT a Barrack versus McCain discussion. The topic of this discussion is simply this. If you were a young millionaire entertainer, would YOU vote for Obama?