Can I Puff Cigars & Drink Cristal?

If this is heaven to me
is this considered heavenly?
Can I still touch lives
answer they "whats & whys"
[and] make sure
everybody in my fam' clutch five?

Yes indeed! As we proceed, to give you what you need! © 1987 Doug E. Fresh (Not as so many youngsters believe, P. Diddy, who gave the same opening in “Who Shot Ya” which if it was indeed a dis record, was the most vicious dis ever recorded. Sonny “Schoolin’ ya in the old school/Knowing he owes ya the completion on his top 10 Dis records of all time”Redd).

Happy Monday! How are ya feeling, good I hope! Me! Wonderful! It is the start of Sonny Redd Appreciation Week! As a result, my visits around the blogosphere will note such a momentous week. Be prepared.

Alrighty then, we have a lot to cover, and a little time to cover it, (as time is money and money is a major issue! And this is a M.I.A.M.I. or stupid ghetto acronym, a la Nelly’s P.I.M.P. Scholarship digression).

First, did you see 60 minutes yesterday? Can we say just the greatest episode ever? Okay, I’ll say it- Greatest Episode Ever. You had the Nagin fiasco, with a quite reasonable quote – “You guys in New York can’t get a hole in the ground fixed, and it’s five years later. So let’s be fair.” Perhaps the greatest thing Chocolate Milk ever said. (For the uninitiated, when Nagin was asked about his assertion in a speech that God himself wanted New Orleans to be a chocolate city [to which I queried, “Why? What’d we ever do to God?”] he elaborated, that he meant chocolate milk, that it takes white milk and Hersey’s [or Bosco! I loved Bosco as a kid] syrup to make a chocolate city. And this is a “honey, I forgot the milk” digression.) His further statements on the show-not so hot. New Orleans is still screwed.

Then, after an expose on stupid people – don’t you ever invest in anything that promises a 300% return – there was a piece on homosexuality which- forever- should bed the idea that homosexuality is genetic. See they showed two identical twins who each shared the same DNA and upbringing, and what did they find? One was straight and the other gay (not that there is anything wrong with that). In fairness they showed children of all ages who exhibit differing levels of fruitiness (not that there is anything wrong with that-Sonny“PC”Redd.) The point, dear readers, is that if identical twins can differ in sexuality – while you might be born that way, it ain’t in your genetic code. And again, I am right! Hahahaha!

And the righteousness continues! When last we met, I assigned homework. Given the fact that too many of you are lazy, some of youse haven’t done your homework. Let me make this simple, READ THIS ARTICLE! Damn! I know you rely on me to distill things for you, but you gotta meet me halfway.

Juan Williams, much maligned pundit and Fox News’ resident foil to Bill Cristol, wrote a piece entitled “Banish the Bling: A Culture of Failure Taints Black America” which ran in the Washington Post on August 21.

Williams argues that today’s “bling bling” generation has devolved into a “a culture steeped in bitterness and nihilism” which virtually assures its – rather our – collective failure. He further asserts that it is this lethargy that spurred Bill Cosby’s many rants on the cultural decline of Black people.

Now before I go any further, I should add that Juan Williams is persona non grata among the Civil Rights crowd. Williams’ day job as an analyst for Fox News does not ingratiate him to those who need to keep their eyes on the enemy. Because of that, I like him! He of course has shot back with a new book basically dissing Reverends Al and Jesse along with the rest of the gang. (And when rappers dis each other, we act like this is some aberration. Nah dog, intellectuals been doing it for years! And this is a pointing out the obvious digression.)

But back to the matter at hand, the pervasive argument – that Williams didn’t originate, he merely parrots – is that this “bling” is a terrible thing. And it is. But lets lay the blame where it belongs, shall we?

Way back in the day – the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s to be (somewhat) exact – there were two lines of thought as to the “Black problem” in America. One, championed by Booker T. Washington was a purely economic solution. The other, offered by the father of the NAACP, W.E.B. Dubois was a social solution.

Washington told black people, “Stop asking whitey for shit, and be diligent hard workers. Cash will do the rest.” Now in fairness, stop asking for shit included asking for civil and human rights. Washington envisioned a world where black people would be the backbone of the country – in every realm – trades, crafts, labor, academics, and finally the professions. In the meanwhile, we should work to be self sufficient, in short support our own businesses and our own economies. (I think right now, there is a dreadlocked black man who smells like incense and needs a shave – likely named Brother Raheem, or some such, who is spouting the same damn thing. But I do digress, and I do it so well!)

Dubois on the other hand, being the Harvard educated academic that he was, said that to toil this way was (channeling my inner Mike Tyson) ludicrous! Dubois wanted equal rights now! And not only equal rights for Black folk, but equal rights for all oppressed people! (Dubois would later die a socialist, but what academic doesn’t?)

Well, Washington’s camp – derisively referred to as “Toms” would lose the struggle – perhaps rightfully – to Dubois and his agitators. But, at what price comes victory?

Fast forward 40 years, and a young upstart (with a smokin’ wife) named Martin Luther King, (after his daddy, of course. Sonny”Yeah my first born son will be Sonny Junior”Redd) merged the “work the system” philosophies of Washington (Ghandi-who?) and the agitation philosophy of Dubois, to form a kindler gentler movement. The result? He was too soft for the true agitators (see Malcolm X) and too hard for the Booker-ites. But the man got results. And in this society, results are all that matters.

Well upon his murder, these two sides saw a power vacuum. And they raced to fill it. On this side, you had the Panthers, the Muslims, the 5%ers, the Nationalists, Stokely Carmichael, and the communists. We’ll call them the “Black Power” crowd.

And on the other side you had…

Um…

Let’s see…

Uh…

Oh, that’s it! There was nobody. The social movement crowd completely obliterated the economic crowd. And it makes sense, the glue that held the two together, King, was murdered. And the Black Power crowd had that fact, the murder of Fred Hampton and the Vietnam War to rail against.

So the 60’s and 70’s were seen as a time of economic hopelessness for Black people. Nihilism was in, but not the hedonistic nihilism of hip-hop. Nope. The idea of economic hope was what was missing. Coincidentally, the same hopelessness permeated throughout American culture at the time.

And then the 80’s hit! Money was being made on Wall Street, in defense contracting, cocaine and in a new thingy called computers. But what was Black America prepared to do? Certainly not rake in the dough on the “man’s” stock market. And since folks were so busy getting Afro-American studies degrees, there were no real computer scientists to be had. Nope. That left one thing, cocaine.

And the coke legends from the 80’s -- Rayful Edmonds, Azie, Rich Porter, Fat Cat, Supreme, Alpo, Aaron Jones, Harry-O (Sonny"whenever someone googles these folks, they need to come here and learn something"Redd)– became replacements for C.J. Walker, Booker T. Washington and John H. Johnson. And today they remain the figures of Black success – captured in physical form by Puffy, Jay-Z and 50 Cent.

So excuse me Mr. Juan Williams if I say that you are only partly correct. There is a large segment of the Black community that values “bling.” But their valuation of “bling” is less an indication of moral decline, but is rather an affirmation that we have tired of being viewed as hopeless. If our educated class has failed us – which it has – in its belief that they have all those degrees and money, and are still “niggers” who are oppressed, then what is the point of all that learning and striving? It is a logical question. Its answer is even more evident, we get high, fuck bitches and cop a Bentley. No point going through that obvious hell of interacting with – and *gasp* being oppressed by – whitey. Ain’t no pot of gold at the end of that rainbow. So what is the point?

I suppose that there is indeed a pervasive nihilism among today’s generation of Black people. But, Juan Williams, it isn’t the hopelessness of hip-hop. It is the hopelessness and despair of the Black middle class, which has convinced their lower-class brethren that the ghetto is where it is at. Po’ folks indeed have it good. After all, po’ folk can be themselves – in all their 22” rimmed out gold toothed glory. Ours is the only people who envy our poor.

Thus, it is clear that the problem isn’t that the Black lower-class can’t or won’t be led from poverty. The problem is that those they would look towards ain’t up to the job. And in that way, perhaps they are right.

There is a reason why I love Jay-Z so much. He is the only rapper to really address – in album after album – what the middle class needed to hear. That it isn’t moral leadership that is missing in the ghetto, it’s economic leadership. And if it ain’t gonna be a doctor or a lawyer providing such ledership, then in the words of Jay-Z, its gonna be “the first dude to cop the 850 in '89 and drove it up to 55th..." Cause right about now, that's the only cat who is providing ledership.