February 25, 2010

Part 3 of The Score’s Black History Package

Here it is. And, as before, they were silly enough to put me in it.

February 16, 2010

More from The Score for Black History Month

Just wanted to drop Part 2 of The Score’s Black History Month package on you. Like before, they were silly enough to put me in it.

February 14, 2010

One More Playlist for the Quasi-Holiday

It’s Valentine’s Day. Or, for some, Sunday. Embrace it either way.

Did lists a few years ago. Here they are.

Since those are kinda old now, time for a new one. The Platinum Prince list is just gonna be mine, but enjoy “The Funky Ride.”

Sade, “Give It Up”
Cee-Lo, “Spend the Night in your Mind”
Marvin Gaye, “Soon I’ll Be Loving You”
Erykah Badu, “Didn’t Cha Know”
D’Angelo, “Spanish Joint”
Sleepy’s Theme, “Private Party”
Teddy Pendergrass, “Let Me Love You”
Prince, “The One”
John Legend, “So High”
Minnie Ripperton, “Inside My Love”
Prince, “International Lover”

That’s an hour. The rest is on you.

February 11, 2010

Mayer says “nigger,” and I’m OK with it

John Mayer learned that, in the Twitter generation, a snowstorm is the wrong time for an interview to hit the ‘Net if you’re going to say stupid things. Snow makes people mad at all kinds of stuff that doesn’t matter.

Like, for example, whether John Mayer likes black women. He says he doesn’t. Because of my particular affinity for them, it’s hard for me to believe him. But given that blond doesn’t do anything special for me, yet bleach flies off the shelves, I can understand that my tastes aren’t anyone else’s.

Plus, the less for him is the more for me.

I won’t go too deeply into this because it doesn’t matter. But what struck me was what Mayer chose to apologize for — using the word “nigger.”

Quite the buzz word “nigger” is. Doesn’t scare me much. Scares the mess out of a lot of you.

Anyway, here’s Mayer’s quote from Playboy using “nigger.”

Someone asked me the other day, “What does it feel like now to have a hood pass?” And by the way, it’s sort of a contradiction in terms, because if you really had a hood pass, you could call it a nigger pass. Why are you pulling a punch and calling it a hood pass if you really have a hood pass? But I said, “I can’t really have a hood pass. I’ve never walked into a restaurant, asked for a table and been told, ‘We’re full.’”

There’s nothing offensive there. It’s inaccurate, but not offensive (that’s not what a “hood pass” really refers to). The truth is, given Mayer’s interpretation of the concept, that he can’t call himself black or honorary black because he doesn’t deal with the nonsense that black people put up with on a regular basis. Nobody sees him as a “nigger,” so he can’t pretend to be one.

Here’s the apology in three parts.

Re: using the ‘N word’ in an interview: I am sorry that I used the word. And it’s such a shame that I did because the point I was trying to make was in the exact opposite spirit of the word itself. It was arrogant of me to think I could intellectualize using it, because I realize that there’s no intellectualizing a word that is so emotionally charged.

I’m not sure why he can’t intellectualize it, though.

Yes, I am sure — because people bug out so so so fast.

It’s not just black people. It’s the hyper-politically-correct white crowd and pretty much everyone else that, instead of understanding why hearing “nigger” from non-black people is so jarring, just avoided it. Very similar to a spouse saying “fine, I just won’t do that anymore” out of hurt and in defense.

It’s not that simple. Now, if approaching it with that simplicity is what it takes to stop someone from getting hit in the face, far be it from me to recommend you change your stripes. Safe is intrinsically good.

But when people apologize for verbalizing what so many of us know — that there are plenty of people that still see black folks as “niggers” — then we’ve got a problem.

He chose the clearest way possible to illustrate his point, and he wasn’t just throwing “nigger” around in vain or in an unwieldy manner. In an interview where Mayer was all over the place, this was perhaps the clearest, most focused thing he said.

Even though he doesn’t understand what a hood pass is.

But don’t apologize to me, man. Don’t apologize to black women, either, for you like what you like. Apologize to Kerry Washington for saying she’s “white girl crazy,” if it strikes you.

But for using “nigger?” Psssh. I’m kinda glad you did. Sounds like, even if his penis alliteratively resembles a white supremacist, he’s got confidence that his heart is legitimately good. Based on that one statement, there’s no real reason to think otherwise.

February 9, 2010

The Score Celebrates Black History Month

Business…you can subscribe to me new project, The Morning Jones, at the iTunes Store. I think you should.

Now, when I was in Toronto last month, I sat for the Black History Month package The Score, a sports cable TV station owned by the same company as Hardcore Sports Radio, produced. A talented cat named D.J. Bennett brought me on for it, and he and his folks did a great job. Video of the first segment is below.

February 1, 2010

Working at home might drive me crazy

So I’m working from home again. Did it for years, and I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. As I’ve heard, I’m skippin’ to different congas than the general population. Then I worked at as pleasant a workplace I could possibly imagine before beginning stints of Funemployment and outright joblessness at the house.

Well, lemme tell ya…this stint working form home is different than the last. Since I do the show from my office upstairs, I find myself spending more time in here than I did before. My spot up here has a window directly to my right.

It’s starting to freak me out.

Seriously, people just drive past all day long. Why aren’t they at work? I haven’t seen any foreclosure signs go up, so I imagine everyone’s hanging in there pretty tough. But man, if this isn’t turning me into an old person, I don’t know what is.

Don’t pick on that old lady that stays in her window. I get where she’s coming from. When people are just around, and you can see ‘em, you gotta at least try to get a handle on their intentions. And, if you’re close enough to give somebody that “I ain’t the one look,” you might be saving five-oh a trip to the neighborhood.

The only this could be worse would be if teenagers lived in the neighborhood. Their bad asses got the day off school because of snOMG, but the weather’s been okay. That means the one with cars would be terrorizing the mall and the movies, while the immobile ones would just be walking around here with mischief on their minds. I’d sit in my window with a broomstick, hoping the kids mistake it for something I could swing on ‘em.

So yeah, that’s what I’ve learned form this new stint of working out home — that the outside world’s a scarier place then you can tell from your office.