I was going to put another post on here when I came across these pictures online. There isn’t anything more manly than this.
Feel free to comment.
Before we get into the meat of the post, I’m going to tell you that in order to understand it, you have to know something about hip-hop. I don’t mean that garbage Lil’ Wayne puts out, society’s modern-day obsession with the auto tune (every artist that uses it should pay homage to Roger Troutman), or that commercialized stuff that has the BK King grabbin’ the mic.
I mean real, old school, hip-hop. Beat Street. Krush Groove. Treacherous 3. Cardboard boxes on the sidewalk. Furry Kangols. If you don’t know about this stuff, you can try to keep up, but you might not get it.
I was watching television today and I came across this Nike commercial. It’s a good commercial, but as soon as I heard “the voice”, I was shocked:
Don’t get me wrong. I like the commercial. It’s catchy and will help sell sneakers. But in case you don’t know, the black Santa is the “blastmaster” KRS-One.
The legendary KRS-One. The leader of the mighty BoogieDown Productions. The same KRS-One that destroyed the careers of MC Shan and the Juice Crew. The same KRS-One that is arguably the greatest lyricist of all time (I’m more partial to Rakim, but I can understand the argument.)
KRS-One was always the conscious mirror of hip-hop. He wasn’t in it for the money, but for the art. He always prided himself on doing it for the love. He bashed those artists who he thought crossed over to the commercialized side. In fact, he once threw another group off stage during their own performance for not doing what he coined “real hip hop”.
One of the things I admired about him as a man was that he stood steadfast in his beliefs, whether or not they were popular or even the most lucrative.
And now he’s doing sound overs for puppets???
The only reasons I didn’t put this in the “Just Not Manly” category are:
But I have to question this. To paraphrase a Lauren Hill lyric, did he gain the whole world for the price of his soul? Did he sell out the art that he helped create?
Or maybe I just hate seeing good old school hip hop wasted on dancing, shucking and jiving puppets.
To all my old school hip hop heads out there…did KRS-One sell out hip hop? As a man, did he go against his core principles and turn his back on the house he helped build? This is something lighter for the holiday season, but it’s getting to me…
Feel free to comment.
I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving. I hope that you ate lots to turkey, watched a few of the NFL games, and fell into a comatose like sleep. I also hope that you learned a little something about family.
I think that sometimes we take our family for granted. I mean they’ve always been around, even when you didn’t want them to be. We have holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas when we’re supposed to appreciate them a little bit more, but shouldn’t we do that all year long?
I have a friend who spent a non traditional Thanksgiving with her mother this year. It was just the two of them because, as happens to all of us, the rest of her family was pulled in so many different directions that it’s hard to keep up with everyone. She and her mother went out to eat dinner…and then went bowling. She texted me later to let me know that it might have been the best Thanksgiving ever. She got to spend some one-on-one time with Mom and learned a few personal things about Mom she probably didn’t know before. My friend said that she wouldn’t have gotten to know Mom better over the loud roar of Thanksgiving conversation, family catching up, and NFL Fox Sports news casts.
I learned a lesson of my own. My family got together for the typical Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone was eating and enjoying each other’s company….except my teenaged cousin. She usually sits in the corner, eats dinner, and gets on her laptop. Everyone is older than her, talking about jobs and their kids growing up and going to school. She’ll take part in the conversation for a while, but then goes off to do her own thing.
After I ate, I went into the living room like I usually do to watch a lopsided football game. I peered over at my cousin. She just looked up from her computer just long enough to catch my eye, smiled back, and went back into techno-world. Instead of watching the game, I went to talk to her for a while. We talked about her love of Korean pop music, that she wants to go to college in Japan, and that she eventually wants to help design computer and video games. She’s a really smart kid and she has a bright future.
Even though get-togethers sometimes seem like a bad scene from “Madea’s Family Reunion” and they get on my nerves, they are my family. You don’t have to love your family, but I do.
Did you learn anything new about your family? Feel free to comment.
It’s no secret that President Obama wants a more educated country. I think our President means what he says about wanting to overhaul education “from the cradle to a career” and has good intentions. Obama wants to push funding for the No Child Left Behind law and make sure every child as a chance at a quality education.
Too late for that. Just about every child was left behind a long time ago.
We’ve failed our children not because of a lack of teachers or old textbooks. Every child can have their own tutor and brand new textbooks, but it doesn’t help if what their learning won’t help them. The educational system we have is archaic. It no longer serves the purpose we need it to, and the sooner we realize that, the sooner we can give our kids the education they really need.
Remember when Phys Ed was an important class? I remember I got a “B” in Algebra, and my father lectured me for 20 minutes about the importance of math. When I pointed out the “A” I got in Phys Ed, he responded, “Any monkey can jump around.” It just wasn’t that important anymore.
Fast forward to now. Can you really look at your child’s report card and see classes that will really help them when they get older? Don’t give me that bullsh*t about having a “well-rounded” child. I’m talking about helping your children keep up with a rapidly advancing society.
My father and I debate about this all the time. He’s an educated man, and he always talks about the value of a good traditional education. Math, English, Science, Social Studies. And he’d be right if this was 1960. But as we move forward to 2010, our kids shouldn’t be looking at those old textbooks they have and asking, “When are we going to have to use this?” We should be asking that ourselves.
Our educational system should be focused more on technology and less on the traditional courses. Face it, we aren’t going back to the abacus or counting on our fingers. Social studies is a joke. You’re never going to have to count that big jar of pennies you have on your dresser. You’ll go down to your bank or local supermarket, pour it in that big coin counting machine, take your receipt, and get your dollar bills.
There are some people who say we need the traditional education in case all the computers shut down; those are the same nuts that stocked up on bottled water, duct tape, and canned peaches and locked themselves in their basement at 11:59 pm on December 31, 1999 while I was raising my champagne glass and welcoming in a New Year (I’m still laughin’ at your dumb ass on that one).
I’d like to see more courses on internet navigation, using search engines, and social media. These aren’t just toys teenagers use to find free porn sites and talk to each other about ex-boyfriends; they are legitimate communication tools and they’re only getting bigger. People are text messaging business communications and using Twitter to distribute their resumes. Fifteen years ago, did you ever think that blogging would be as big as it is now?
You would have thought we would have seen this coming. Multi-functional minicomputers we call Blackberrys and IPhones have replaced those large mobile phones you used to have to carry in a small briefcase. Cell phones have put public payphones out of business (I haven’t seen a payphone in a while). I haven’t met an encyclopedia salesman in a looonnnggg time. My point is that advancements in technology have changed the game in terms of what we need to learn. Our educational system hasn’t changed with it.
If we don’t re-educate our kids now, we’re going to have a large group of people who aren’t qualified to do much. Don’t get me wrong. I know there’s always going to be a need for somewhat of a baseline traditional education, but that’s about it.
What do you think? Answer the poll below and feel free to express your thoughts.
Today is the day went most of the kids in America will dress up in costumes of their favorite characters they will only wear once, go out in their neighborhoods, and do what most consider a socially acceptable method of begging by saying “Trick or Treat!” to get candy. 
It’s also a day when most parents will have to trust their children and begin to let go.
The other day, I found that I’m not cool enough to hang out with my son anymore. He called me and asked me if it was ok if he went Trick or Treating with his friends instead of the old man this year. He’s 10 now and I guess he’s beginning to feel his oats.
As much as it hurt me to say “yes”, I did. I still remember the first time I took out. He had on his little Spiderman costume and could barely say “Twick or Tweet”, but we got around to just about every house in the neighborhood. After all that walking, he was too tired to even think about eating his candy and just went to sleep.
Dads, even though it’s hard sometimes we have to let our kids grow up. The best thing you can arm them with is common sense and a set of rules to go by. Drill these into your kids head before you let them go out.
If this is your child’s first time going out alone, let them know that this is a big step and that you are trusting them to make the right decisions while they’re out. This will give them a sense of responsiblity.
And don’t be cheap and cut the lights out when kids come to your door. Have a heart.
Happy Halloween.
Feel free to comment.
I have an interesting story to tell.
This past weekend, I took my son to Great Adventure for Fright Fest. The park is decked out for Halloween and the staff get dressed like ghouls and goblins and tries to scare the living daylights out of you.
We got on the Superman ride with these two young white kids. They couldn’t have been older than 13. They said “hi” as the carriage the four of us were in lifted us into the air and took off.
As we dipped, turned and twisted through the air (I hate rollercoasters), I heard a very loud and unnerving noise…
“JIGGABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”
I turned to my right and the young white teenager next to me was screaming at the top of his lungs, lips puckered up…
“JIGGABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”
I was in disbelief. My son and I were sitting right next to him and he’s saying this. This young punk. I figured the best course of action was to grit my teeth and get through the ride.
(If you haven’t figured it out, yes, I’m African-American. My son is African-American and Puerto-Rican. I call him my “Bor-Negro.”)
As the ride slowed down towards the end, I turned to Eminem’s stunt double and asked him, “Young man, why would you say that?”
“Say what….jiggaboo?”, he replied.
“Yes,” I continued. “You know what that means??”
To quote a Talib Kweli lyric, “the question was rhetorical, the answer is horrible…”
“No, I don’t’ know what it means. I just hear my dad say it a lot and I thought it was a cool sounding word.”
Now, I was no longer mad at the little boy. I was mad at his father. His father thought it acceptable to say those kind of words in front of his son. If you’re ignorant enough to say that in front of him, at least be man enough to tell him what it means so your son doesn’t look like an ass in public. Be man enough to let your son know that you don’t have the intelligence to judge a man by the “content of his character” and that you probably don’t’ have the “testicular fortitude” to say that to someone’s face.
I told the young man that was a horrible, offensive word. He instantly apologized. At that point, I honestly believed, and still believe that he wasn’t being hurtful. He really didn’t know.
It just so happens when we exited the ride, his father was waiting for him outside. My son and I waved goodbye as we saw his son ask, “Dad, what’s a jiggaboo?” His father turned as pale as a ghost and caught my eye staring at him, waiting for the answer.
My moment was interrupted by my own sin. My son looked up and asked me “Dad, what’s a jiggaboo?”
My sin was for a different reason. My little boy was getting older (he’s 10) and I’ve tried to protect him, so I’d never really told him how cold people can be when it comes to race. I can’t protect him forever, even though I’d like to.
I needed to man up.
I wasn’t going to let this ruin our night, and I knew that if I didn’t tell him, he’d be wondering about it the whole time we were there. So I told him.
He stood there for a minute and thought. And as I had to grab him by the arm and pull him back (“I’ll be right back, Dad. I’ma go smack the chap off his lips”), I told him that if you spend all of your time fighting people like that, you’ll be fighting for the rest of your life. If they put their hands on you, beat em’ like they owe you money, but don’t people like that get to you.
He smiled, gave me a hug, and we starting walking towards another ride. I took a look back at the young white boy, and I started to feel sorry for him in a way. The sins of his father’s ignorance would be passed onto another generation.
And we wonder why things won’t get better.
What are your thoughts? Feel free to comment.
I heard an interesting radio commercial while driving. It addresses the out of control behavior in children and how to fix it.
James Lehman, MSW and behavioral therapist, was promoting his Total Transformation Program. He stressed how families are in turmoil more than ever because of their child’s behavior. He said that his process is proven to work with any child, no matter who ill-behaved the child, in 30 seconds.
I couldn’t help but think, “My mother could be a millionaire right now. She has a proven method of changing a child’s behavior too.” My mother’s method might be a little different than the one I heard on the radio. The Total Transformation Program references talk therapy and reinforcement. Let’s just say that my mother was more of the strong and silent type. Her reinforcement was a lightning-fast backhand to the lips.
Talk therapy was, “You’ll act right because 1) you know it’s the right thing to do, or 2) because I’ll whip your ass every time you don’t.” Given those options, acting right and getting good grades were a reasonable alternative.
My father never had to say anything. The “look” was enough. That alone put a stop to anything you were doing right then a there.
When I got home, I looked his program up on the internet. The front page of his website has the following passage:
“Are you struggling with a child who is disrespectful, obnoxious or even abusive toward you? Are you frustrated and exhausted from arguing constantly? Do you “walk on eggshells” around your child, avoiding conflicts that will “set him off?” Have you tried screaming, punishing, pleading, and negotiating and your child still walks all over you?”
I kind of smiled a bit and reminisced on a few times that my behavior got out of line and my parents, to put it mildly, helped steer me in the right direction. But it also makes me wonder if we gone too far in the other direction when it comes to parenting? As a society, are we afraid to be parents? Have we lost control of our kids?
My answer to that is yes we have. So it’s time to man up and take control back.
I can see why we’ve moved away from some of the old parenting habits. Some of them could be considered abuse. No child should ever have to pull the “switch” they’re going be beaten with from a tree and get hit so hard and so many times that the skin breaks. Years ago, that was common place.
We’ve done a complete 180 from that. The beatings we used to fear have been replaced with “time out.” Honestly, I don’t know that we’re any better off for it. Generally, children are defiant and have no fear of their parents. They are more afraid of getting their PSP taken away than of the true consequences of their actions. Today’s kids (my own included) have an entitlement mentality. We have to break that mentality. But what’s the best way to do it?
I don’t know about you, but if I have to choose between old sch
ool parenting and new school, I’m old school like shell-top Adidas and furry Kangols. One difference between me and a lot of men is that I’m not afraid to be a parent, up to and including whipping my son’s backside if necessary. Damn Family Services. Damn em’.
I don’t make deals with my son. There is no time out or go to the corner. I don’t pay for good grades. You’ll do what I told you to because I’m your father. 
It’s my responsibility to look out for your best interests, and that means administering discipline when necessary.
I refuse to lose him because I was afraid to do my job. If that means I have break my foot off in his behind from time to time, so be it.
I don’t have a problem with the Total Transformation Program…I have a problem with the fact that it has to exist. Any time a child’s behavior is such an issue that we need to create special products and programs for it, the child’s behavior might not be the issue.
It might be ours.
Fellas, man up. Be a father to your child. You can be his friend when he has children of his own.
What are your thoughts? Feel free to comment.
Fellas, we have to stop lying to our kids. We have to stop sugar coating things and tell them the truth. There are winners and losers in life. That’s just the way it goes.
I was at one of my son’s martial arts tournaments a little while ago and overheard a parent talking to her son before his match. She gave him a big hug and told him as long as he tried his best, everything would be ok.
The little boy went onto the mat and proceeded to get his ass handed to him. Wasn’t even close. As he ran off the mat bursting into tears, his mom ran over to him, gave him a big hug, and told him that as long as he had fun, that’s all that mattered.
That was one of the worse cases of parenting I’ve ever seen. Horrible. No excuse for it.
When did it become ok to be second rate? When did we stop telling out kids the truth? Our children depend on us to be their teachers and confidants as they grow up. There are winners and losers, man up and accept it.
In life, not everyone gets a trophy just for taking part (another pet peeve of mine) . 
Not everyone gets to be a winner all the time. It may take a little extra effort; that “trying your best” stuff will only lead to disappointment.
The world rates us in many things. We are measured against each other in almost every facet of our lives, from job performance appraisals to college entrance exams. If there weren’t winners and losers, there wouldn’t be standards. Everyone would just get a “Tried Their Best” all the way down their report card. Everyone would make every sports team they tried out for just because they showed up. Mediocre would be the “in thing.” There would be no incentive to try to be the best because you wouldn’t have to.
I remember reading a story about a girls’ high school basketball team in Dallas, TX. The Covenant School beat their opponent, Dallas Academy, 100-0. You read that correctly, 100-0. Dallas Academy did not score a single point. The Covenant School actually forefit the win and fired the coach. What kind of crap is that??
Why did they forfeit the win? What kind of lesson does that teach the girls at Covenant? “Success and being the best is a bad thing?” And what about the lesson that teaches the girls at Dallas Academy. “You can be subpar and not measure up. Someone will be there to bail you out?”
And you wonder why we have a nation of C students. That’s what we’re teaching them to be.
Sometimes, just trying isn’t good enough. It’s best to let our children know that now before they grow up and find that life may not work out the way they want it to, even when they do their best. They may actually have to put in extra effort to measure up.
You candy asses out there need to man up and teach your kids the way the real world works. Better they learn now from someone who loves them than from someone who doesn’t give a damn and will just tell them, “Oh well. Sucks to be you.”
Back to the martial arts tournament. My son had the next match. He looked at me, smiled, and said “I’m ready.” I told him I wanted to go in there, kick butt…and win. Yes, win. And he did.
After a few matches, he lost. He was disappointed. I put my arm around him and told him that everyone loses at something at one time or another, and that the most important thing was to learn from his loss. I told him that he wouldn’t be getting a trophy because he didn’t advance far enough in the tournament.
Then I asked him how losing felt. With a tear in his eye, he replied, “It sucks.” He also told me that he didn’t like the way losing felt, and that he would work harder to become better so he wouldn’t have to lose again. He told me he wanted to win.
Lesson learned.
Feel free to comment.
