the hardline

President Barack Obama will be America’s 44th, but hip-hop’s second president. Hip-hop’s first president was Ronald Reagan, whose war on the poor and significant cutbacks in public school art programs incubated the times that fed the narrative of the second generation of b-boys and b-girls. The change in subject matter and attitudes will almost certainly…

Rebel Without A Pause – Public Enemy The Cult of Personality – Living Color: “Only you can set you free..” be happy, but Be Cautious. Young, Gifted and Black – Nina Simone When the Revolution Comes – The Last Poets: “You’ll know it’s revolution, because there will be no commercials” Mosh – Eminem: “Don’t matter…

I wrote a joint some time ago about what a distraction having a live-in mother-in-law in the White House would be to Barack Obama. To say I was crucified for it would be to understate the reaction: this, as if any of us would appreaciate any in-law, absent an emergency, posting up in the marital…

Run DMC has made it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but I don’t know how to feel about it. Long days ago, I wrote a joint about the way the Rock Hall, based right here in my hometown, handles black music in general, and hip-hop in particular. The premise behind the Rock…

Barack Obama started making me nervous with campaign-talk about closing Gitmo, and now it looks like it’s the first thing on his “to do” list. Sure, it’s a fine idea. Then, what do you DO with all those prisoners? It’s bad enough having fresh-out perverts and sex offenders moved into your neighborhood—then, you want to…

I gotta say that the gay sexual harassment charges against New York Knick Eddy Curry don’t pass muster. It sounds like a shake-down gone wild, where the accuser throws as many different types of offensive accusations in a bag and sets them on fire. The only thing missing are allegations of child pornography. It’s not…

I read this joint about how black men are hit harder by unemployment, and it just struck me—sadly—like a no-brainer. Last hired, first fired is the rule, and that rule always seems to hit people of color the hardest. Luckily, most of us know something about being broke, so we don’t go jumping off bridges…

There seems to be some chatter about Dick Parsons possibly getting the nod for Commerce Secretary. He’s been aww-shucks-ing it up the press, but since “Dollar” Bill Richardson stepped away from the table and Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been tagged to be surgeon general, there’s some sense of Disney magic floating around the beltway. Mr.…

Sheree Whitfield of the real Housewives of Atlanta is determined to get a seven-figure settlement out of her divorce, even if means taking it all the way to the supreme court. I’m a big fan or fairness. And  I’m not sure how that’s going to work out, but I’m sure that kids don’t need millions…