Random Notes

I'm visiting my mom for a couple days. She has dial-up (got me back in 1997) and was waiting for a phone call, so no posting for me yesterday. Normally, it wouldn't make a difference, but yesterday was Malcom X's birthday. I'm usually surprised at how little attention it gets, even in Black circles, given his iconic status. Anyway, let's put it in some perspective: May 17th- Brown v. Topeka Board of Ed. May 19th- Malcom X's birthday May 28th- Soul Plane comes out. I'm sorry--Soul Plane? Are you kidding me? Instead of protesting the Nielsen Ratings, as you can read here at Booker Rising, (Al, you just got finished "running" for President, and your first move, the very first public thing that you do, is protest that Black people aren't adequately represented in idiot box surveys? Need to be protesting all that IB watching we do, but that's another post.) Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson need to be protesting that piece of trash. They've taken a perfectly good Robin Harris routine and ruined it. I can't wait until they jump on this waste of celluloid in The Boondocks. ... Looking to close out this hip-hop generation gap stuff, I looked at the Letters to the Editor in the new issue of XXL magazine. If those letters are any indication, the record-buying public has been totally duped by marketing and promotion. These jokers have no clue about what's important in a rhyme and what's not- or maybe I'm just getting old and grizzled. If so, I'm glad about it. One dude in the letters said that Scarface was better than BIggie, but Biggie got more attention because of a New York bias in the press. I'll admit the NY bias, and I'll admit that Scarface is better than I give him credit for being- his name never comes to mind whenever I'm making a top-whatever list, even though he deserves a passing thought, at minimum. Maybe I'll put some time in listening to Scarface and see what's what. Also, I just happened to be checking out the IB myself today (I can look once or twice a week.) and MTV had a list of the 22 greatest MCs. I wasn't surprised when 2pac came out to be number 1. The first rule is, always know your source's biases. After reading There's A God on the Mic, with Kool Moe Dee rating himself #5 all time, I had to reappraise his work. In the process, I ran up on a copy of his battle with Busy Bee in 1982. It's kinda hot now, but 20+ years ago? That thing had to be crazy. I guess that's why, when cats like Kane and Rakim (how was Kane not even on the MTV list? These kids are fools!) talk about who influenced them, his name keeps coming up. Or else, they're just pleased at their ratings (#4 and #2, respectively) in the book. ... Watched my first playoff game of the season. Timberwolves v. Kings. With Kevin Garnett and Chris Webber out there, I would've been happy no matter who won, but Butterscotch wanted the Kings to win, while I kind of wanted to see K.G. win another series. The TNT production is good and the song kind of reminds me of the NBA on NBC, so I could handle it. They even have Doug Collins calling the games. It's almost like going home, but not quite. (And K.G. is officially a beast. He was one already, but playing like that in a game 7? He's certified now. If he can do something against the Lakers...we'll hafta see what happens.)