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Don't forget, the Rockets had their own little incident with an accidental racist. Shaq. When he was poking fun at Yao. I don't think anyone really thought shaq was a racist, yet the world forced him to apologize as if he was one. No longer is the intent or the person measured. And Poor Obama is faced the same criticism last week over the good looking woman comments. The point is, why can't we let go, when can we let go, or is it human decency to never let it go. I understand both sides of it, but I tend to side with LL and Paisely because it is a more positive approach to let it go, and generally things work out best. I think that at the deeper level, also letting go of not only the symbolism, but the events themselves too. One really interesting example is the Cold War. Essentially we all forgot about it. And I don't think there is any hostility left in the youth of America for the former Soviet Union. It's kinda like it never happened. Just puff, all forgotten. And the symbolism done. I can't speak for the Russian youth, but I hope the same. And I think that is what LL and Paisley are trying to message.
I am not trying to white wash anything. And yet I still don't get your example: pecan pie, ice tea, and southern belles, what's wrong with those? I am just asking a question why do you feel compelled to attach to the institute of slavery anything associated with southern people? I think real white washing is not bringing out the truth about what went on in the south. To do that,you have to be willing to look at things with an objective eye. Henry Louis Gates has a fascinating program on pbs that highlights famous celebrity's family trees as a way to get past all the rhetoric. I respect Gate's far more than Cornell West in that because Gates is after the truth. I think you'd be fascinated to know that other things besides slavery went on in the south and I suspect that many of the people who fly the rebel flag remember those things fondly.
I honestly doubt this. What I'm going to say, I say with great fondness, but the majority of the people who fly the rebel flag are dumb rednecks. I'm related to many country folks, and I grew up in the country, and still consider myself somewhat of a country boy, but I'm not going to fly the rebel flag because of pecan pie, sweet tea, or rocky road ice cream. I just listen to country music from time to time, treat people the way I'd like to be treated, crave pecan pie or Frito pie from time to time, and think about the glory days on my grandma's farm or smashing pecans at my others grandma's house when I was a kid. Probably the same way that a good old northern boy would do.
They're examples of southern culture and heritage. There's nothing wrong with them. Be proud all day about them. The Confederate flag is hardly anything. Maybe if these ignorant people would leave the Confederacy in its grave then we wouldn't have to talk about it. Instead, what they've done is fought progress every step of the way, trying to retake the symbolism and define it how they'd like to define it. Nobody flying a rebel flag remembers dick from 1865.
Weird for the station managers and record labels that segregated R&B, Rock & Roll and Country sixty years ago, but younger country fans have always listened to black music; and much more so, though probably more specifically with rap, nowadays. Southern states have larger black populations and I think there's a little more linguistic and socioeconomic overlap than is perceived. And most musicians have much more diverse tastes than their fans, mostly because they're looking and listening for completely different things. I don't really have much to say about the song, but how the **** old and rich is LL Cool J to still be talking about being mistrusted by adults (for dressing and acting like a child)?
I said "rapper", not "black". It's not like LL Cool J was singing a Ray Charles country song. I just think it's a pretty unusual mix, even if it was Darius Rucker and LL Cool J singing a song not about racism.
Actually, I think this song actually brought us together to agree that it blows. Once again, good idea....poor execution or inadvertently great execution???
LL Cool J on Jay Leno talking about this dumb song and attempting to explain how NOT bad his lyrics are.
