Hip-Hop Fridays: Tornado Teef's News In Review

Welcome to another addition of Tornado Teef's News In Review. Under normal circumstances I would discuss current events that either directly or indirectly have an impact on the Hip Hop World. This issue was going to contain Suge Knight getting his punk ass shot, Cassidy and his murder charges, the Gangsta ass White woman who broke her Black husband out of prison in Tennessee, and the tragedy that was the La'Toyia Figueroa murder.

However, with the devastation in the Gulf Coast and the disgusting and irresponsible behavior of some of our so called leaders before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina, I feel compelled to look at this topic. We will look more deeply into some of the issues that have been brought up and some that may be laying under the surface.

Kanye West:

Although he was fidgeting, shaking, and stumbling over his words like a five year old who was due for a spanking, I have to give him some propers for stepping up. For as much as his tender ass annoys me, I have to recognize the balls it took to stand up to the establishment and speak his mind and say his peace concerning our government. No matter how uneducated he sounded when he said it, more poignant words never sounded so stupid. I have to say the term “The College Dropout” truly fits Mr. West.

We as humans are so accustomed to turning the other cheek when it comes to issues that may not affect us directly. But there are times when a person has to step up and do something. Something that that person feels may cause change or just clear their conscience. That is just what Kanye West did. We all know how scripted show business is and how the media will try to spin any story to the convenience of the powers that be. Kanye was sent out on a mission as a non-threatening Black man to subdue the rest of us who are mad as hell about what is going on in the Gulf Coast. Kanye had his orders, his script was in front of him and his White body guard was there just in case he got any funny ideas. Kanye was with it, he is in with the right (White) people. His career is really going to take off, his new album sales should surpass those of his first album. But somewhere between receiving his orders and walking in front of those cameras, Kanye had an attack of conscience. He realized that he is about to betray the very people who accepted his fruity ass and his mediocre music because he was different. Kanye put aside career aspirations along with his fake arrogance and allowed his true self to speak those words that we all heard that night.

Even though he was scared and did not know what he was going to say before he said it. That moment in time was probably the most real and sincere moment in Kanye's life. We should all be that fortunate to have a moment of clarity that profound. Hopefully we don't babble it in front of the whole world.

Usher:

No sooner than Kanye West could finish stuttering the last word out of his mouth during his impromptu performance, Usher and his people were devising a plan to capitalize on the spot that Kanye had just left vacant. In hopes to get on the cover of Time magazine and be claimed as “The Smartest Man In Hip Hop”.

Unlike Kanye, Usher is not concerned about what happened in the Gulf Coast. He is not worried about showing compassion for the people that died and more importantly, the people that lived. Usher and his people saw this as the perfect opportunity to maneuver his way into a position to bolster his burgeoning career even further. But is it really a surprise that he is trying to slide into a spot already occupied by someone else. He has taken Michael Jackson's place. I am just waiting for him to bleach his skin.

The fact that Usher was willing to take the position of the people that we are opposing it disgusting. How is this not the time for blame? How can we not point the finger? Normally, I try not to get upset. Normally, I am really good about letting live and respecting their opinions. However, in this case I really have a problem with this dude. With the situation being what it is and considering how there is more division between Black and White, rich and poor in this country than there has been in a long time, Usher needs to shut the f@#k up!

But wait, right after shunning Kanye, Usher must have come to his senses or someone told him that he made a wrong move by deserting his people, similar to whoever told George Bush that it was not a good idea to not go to New Orleans. Now he wants to retract his statement and say that he was misquoted and he understands where Kanye is coming from. If this was a rumor about your sexuality or a misquote concerning one of your staged girlfriends, of course you can retract your statement. This is not the music business and people are too pissed to to let this slide. You are on the other side now, tell O.J. I said "Hi," cause we don't want you back!


Barack Obama:

Obama for President 2008! Lets just get that out of the way now and start to support this man. Lets make him feel like he can win. Lets show him that we can come together as Black people and show some solidarity so that he will want to run for President.

At a time when every person in politics is trying to spin the tragedy in the Gulf Coast to their advantage and further their political careers, why not have a politician that we support and spin his ass right into the White House. It is time that we put together our resources and really make a change that will improve the lives of Black people in this country. Let take our anger and disgust and make something productive out of it. Let spite for the establishment become our motivation to affect change.

Of all of our so called Black leaders Barack Obama appears to be the most in touch with what needs to happen for Black folks to get their s@#t together. I think that having the ability to know what needs to be said and done but having the know how to say it and do it effectively is a rare talent that Sen. Obama possesses more so than any other of these out dated and misdirected Reverends!

We need a leader. A leader is what we have been lacking for years, someone who has a vision and is willing to follow it with no regard for the backlash that might follow from those who may be opposed to it. Without our supports as a Black nation how can we expect anyone to want to lead us?

Barack Obama, Black man, Black face, Black name, right person!

Larry Elder:

Let's keep this one brief.

They gave this house Nigger a television show and now he is the mouth piece for an entire race. He was sent to try to defuse the situation.

“Larry, will you please calm your people down. This is not looking very good for us!”

“Yesa boss, i”ll get right on it.”

“Whats wrong wit yall? You don't wanna fire up massa man. Theys been sooooo goood to us and this is how we repay them?”

See, it is muthaf@#$ers like him that set us back years. It is people like Larry Elder that reinforce all of the stereotypes that Whites have about us. If he was not so busy trying to fit in White people he might have a clue. The fact he can even utter from his mouth that race and class had nothing to due with the lack of response in the Gulf Coast is utterly and totally absurd.

Stay in the house nigger! Things are not looking to good for you out here, Ya Heard!

Conclusion:

Now if I could make a few points of my own.

How do you drown thousands of Black and poor people? Put them in a bowl and pour water on them. That is exactly what has happened. It can not be possible that race and class had nothing to due with the lack of response in the Gulf Coast. All we have to do is listen to the way they are describing us in the media. The spin is unreal. If you are Black you loot, if you are White you find. There are thousands of people dead, dying, or homeless and they are worried about someone caring a television thorough six feet of water. It is these subtle and not so subtle descriptions that should show us what this country really thinks about us.

If you remember after 9/11 we were all supposed to come together as one America and support the war on terror. Put aside our differences. Back then we were Americans, now we are refugees. But when you think about it, it really is not that surprising. This was never our country to begin with. What is surprising is that we bought into that come together as one America bulls@#t.

Understand this, we are Black and they don't care about us. You want to know why the government was so slow to respond? There is no oil in New Orleans. Basically what I am saying is that there was nothing worth rushing to save in New Orleans. We all know that if New Orleans was not poor and filled with Black people the government would have been there forty-eight hours before getting people out of there. On buses, planes, boats, whatever it took to get people out of harms way. But we should get the message loud and clearly now, we are not those people.

You have people dying in twenty plus feet of water. No water, no food, no home for four days. The first people that they see are armed gunmen. How the f@#k are we supposed to react. I don't care where you are, a fundamental property of this world is that without order there chaos. No one was going to help the people in New Orleans. How can you blame these people for arming themselves and trying to protect themselves by any means necessary. Yes there are some bad people down there but lets keep things in perspective. Some of the stories coming out of New Orleans of the murders and the rapes are exaggerated. They are a good way however of turning us against ourselves and saying how disappointed that we are acting that way. They are not showing us that some people were not allowed to leave the city limits of New Orleans. There were people who were turned back by the police forces of neighboring towns and told to go back to the very carnage that they were trying to escape.

If this is not the time to appoint blame then when is? When do we hold those responsible for their actions or lack there of. There is plenty of blame to going around and it needs to be passed on to those responsible. What do we do wait until our anger had subsided with the water and say that things were not that bad. NO! We can not let our emotions be dictated to by those who appear to have power. We need to learn from this in a way that we did not from 9/11. We need to blame George Bush! We need to blame Michael Brown! We need to blame Kathleen Blanco! We even need to blame Ray Nagin for allowing the people mentioned previously to neglect the city in their time of need.

The hypocrisy of all of this is that our people have been living in substandard conditions for decades now. They are below the poverty level without indoor plumbing in some cases. Even we have neglected them. But now we are all concerned for them and want there to be immediate action to improve their way of life when we have done nothing and were willing to do nothing up to now. Now is the time to do something, something to try to make a difference.

But hey, maybe Barbara Bush was right. They were under privileged and this just might work out well for them.

Eyes, Ears, and Mind Open,
Tornado Teef,
I tried to tell ya!



Responses to any of these stories can be sent to Tornadoteef@hotmail.com

Tornado Teef

Friday, September 16, 2005