FLOTUS Invites "Burn Bush" Rapper to White House

[Dusty]

I can't even describe how disgusted I am with this bullshit:

http://dailycaller.com/2011/05/09/bu...oetry-reading/

Here’s an opportunity to relive your high-school poetry classes.

First Lady Michelle Obama has scheduled a poetry evening for Wednesday, and she’s invited several poets, including a successful Chicago poet and rapper, Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr., AKA “Common.” However, Lynn is quite controversial, in part because his poetry includes threats to shoot police and at least one passage calling for the “burn[ing]” of then-President George W. Bush.

Back in 2003, First Lady Laura Bush held a poetry evening, and she invited several poets to reprise the work of Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes and Walt Whitman. Although none of those poets had urged violence against a president, Bush canceled the event after left-of-center poets protested and threatened to disrupt the event.

Here’s a sample of Dickinson’s work that could have been presented at Bush’s event:

I’m nobody! Who are you?

I’m nobody! Who are you?

Are you nobody, too?

Then there’s a pair of us — don’t tell!

They’d banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!

How public, like a frog

To tell your name the livelong day

To an admiring bog!

Here’s a sample of Common’s work, transcribed from a 2007 video with 837,613 viewers on YouTube. Students, please compare and contrast the two poems. You’ll get extra credit for counting the death threats. There is no extra credit for identifying spelling errors. By the way, ‘Uzi’ is slang for a compact machine gun:

A Letter to the Law

Dem boy wanna talk… [indistinguishable]

Whatcha gon do if ya got one gun?

I sing a song for the hero unsung

with faces on the mural of the revolution

No looking back cos’ in back is what’s done

Tell the preacher, god got more than one son

Tell the law, my Uzi weighs a ton

I walk like a warrior,

from them I won’t run

On the streets, they try to beat us like a drum

In Cincinnati, another brother hung

A guinea won’t see the sun

with his family stung

They want us to hold justice

but you handed me none

The same they did to Kobe and Michael Jackson

make them the main attraction

Turn around and attack them

Black gem in the rough

You’re rugged enough

Use your mind and nine-power, get the government touch

Them boys chat-chat on how him pop gun

I got the black strap to make the cops run

They watching me, I’m watching them

Them dick boys got a lock of cock in them

My people on the block got a lot of pok* in them

and when we roll together

we be rocking them to sleep

No time for that, because there’s things to be done

Stay true to what I do so the youth dream come

from project building

Seeing a fiend being hung

With that happening, why they messing with Saddam?

Burn a Bush cos’ for peace he no push no button

Killing over oil and grease

no weapons of destruction

How can we follow a leader when this a corrupt one

The government’s a g-unit and they might buck young black people

Black people In the urban area one

I hold up a peace sign, but I carry a gun.

Peace, ya’ll.”

The First Lady’s office did not return a call from TheDC.

*Commenter notes this may be “Pac,” as in Tupac Shakur

[TrapLine]

I wonder if the gun control crowd the POTUS snuggles with will have anything to say about this. I doubt it. Maybe it is ok to have guns as long as you don't "cling to religion" also?

[Dusty]

Don't get between the First Lady and a tamale or anything else when she be listenin' to rap poetry, 'n shit.

[JimP]

Pure, unadulterated ghetto trash.

[Box]

She is such a classy lady.

[echoes]

Originally Posted by Billy L-bach

She is such a classy lady.

Sir,

You.hit.the.nail.on.the.head!

Disgusting!

Holly

[Sigaba]

By the way, ‘Uzi’ is slang for a compact machine gun.

IMO, Mr. Munro's blog post does not reflect a credible understanding of American hip hop.

First, "my Uzi" is clearly a reference to a track by Public Enemy, "Miuzi Weighs a Ton," from that group's debut release Yo! Bum Rush the Show (1987). In that song, PE's front man, Chuck D, uses a metaphor to describe his skills as a lyricist and as a rapper.

I'm a Public Enemy but I don't rob banks
I don't shoot bullets and I don't shoot blanks
My style is supreme - number one is my rank
And I got more power than the New York Yanks
If Miuzi wasn't heavy I'd probably fire it
I'd make you walk the plank if I was a pirate
If they made me a King - I would be a tyrant
If you want to get me - go ahead and try it
Snatcher, dispatcher, biter never been a
Instead of takin' me out - take a girl to dinner
The level of comp has never been thinner
It's a runaway race where I'm the winner
It's unreal - they call the law
And claimed I had started a war
It was war they wanted and war they got
But they wilted in the heat when Miuzi got hot.*

By using that reference, Common is not only using the metaphor of gun play, he is also aligning himself with a trajectory of discourse within hip hop in which militant rhetoric is but one thread in a broader tapestry of political, social, and cultural criticism that is decades' old and global in scope. Within this tapestry, the visceral appeal of violent action (almost) always give way to a rational call for increased political activity within the scope of established boundaries.** (MOO, the artist who currently best captures this sensibility is Mathangi Arulpragasam.)

Second, Mr. Munro's implicit attempt to place Common in the same ranks as those hip hop singers who tend towards nihilistic lyrics only works if one knows nothing about Common's long standing rivalry with bands such as Westside Connection.

It is equally unfortunate that Mr. Munro's attempt to differentiate between "high" and "low" culture and to argue that the White House should not provide a forum for the latter is absent of any mention of Eric Wright's visit to the White House during Bush the Elder's administration.

MOO, the real "story" here is that we have yet another example of the current administration's cronyism. Common is a successful rap singer who got invited because he's also from Chicago. As a lyricist, he's derivative. As a singer he's rather quite ordinary. And as an actor, don't get me started.
______________________________
* Source is here.
** While some have traced this aspect of hip hop to the pioneering work of the South Bronx's Boogie Down Productions, I think credit (or blame, depending upon your POV) should go to the Last Poets--if not Amiri Baraka.

[Dusty]

Originally Posted by Sigaba

IMO, Mr. Munro's blog post does not reflect a credible understanding of American hip hop.

First, "my Uzi" is clearly a reference to a track by Public Enemy, "Miuzi Weighs a Ton," from that group's debut release Yo! Bum Rush the Show (1987). In that song, PE's front man, Chuck D, uses a metaphor to describe his skills as a lyricist and as a rapper.
By using that reference, Common is not only using the metaphor of gun play, he is also aligning himself with a trajectory of discourse within hip hop in which militant rhetoric is but one thread in a broader tapestry of political, social, and cultural criticism that is decades' old and global in scope. Within this tapestry, the visceral appeal of violent action (almost) always give way to a rational call for increased political activity within the scope of established boundaries.** (MOO, the artist who currently best captures this sensibility is Mathangi Arulpragasam.)

Second, Mr. Munro's implicit attempt to place Common in the same ranks as those hip hop singers who tend towards nihilistic lyrics only works if one knows nothing about Common's long standing rivalry with bands such as Westside Connection.

It is equally unfortunate that Mr. Munro's attempt to differentiate between "high" and "low" culture and to argue that the White House should not provide a forum for the latter is absent of any mention of Eric Wright's visit to the White House during Bush the Elder's administration.

MOO, the real "story" here is that we have yet another example of the current administration's cronyism. Common is a successful rap singer who got invited because he's also from Chicago. As a lyricist, he's derivative. As a singer he's rather quite ordinary. And as an actor, don't get me started.
______________________________
* Source is here.
** While some have traced this aspect of hip hop to the pioneering work of the South Bronx's Boogie Down Productions, I think credit (or blame, depending upon your POV) should go to the Last Poets--if not Amiri Baraka.

Sigro, Puhleez!

You gonna sit there and try to tell me this isn't about shooting cops?:

"Use your mind and nine-power, get the government touch

Them boys chat-chat on how him pop gun

I got the black strap to make the cops run"

Dayum, dwog!

[Todd 1]

Originally Posted by Sigaba

Common is a successful rap singer who got invited because he's also from Chicago.

And

“Has been a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago led by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright since his childhood”.

“He is featured in the video for "Yes We Can", a song in support of the candidacy of Barrack Obama”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_(entertainer)

Imagine that.

[Hand]

He might have chosen to align himself with Chuck D, but his lyrics are about as sophisticated as your average redneck 'bustin some rhymes' in the hallway in middle school.

I wonder how this argument would play out if it had been somebody of Chuck D's caliber instead?

Btw- I heard someone say today that 'burn bush' was a euphamism for 'chill out', or 'smoke a joint'.

[tonyz]

For the second time in her adult life, First Lady Michelle Obama is reportedly proud of her country. Recently, she invited several poets, including a successful Chicago poet, Common, who is famous - in part - because his poetry includes threats to shoot police and at least one passage calling for the “burn[ing]” of then-President George W. Bush.

A staffer, who was clearly less than familiar with the global tapestry of militant rhetoric - thought that she said bring me the poet with the burning bush…the staffer, clearly out of his element and unfamiliar operating within the American hip hop milieu consulted the urban dictionary for burning bush and found the following:

Burning bush:
a term used to describe the pubic hair of a red headed person - the act of setting your pubic hair on fire before performing sexual relations.

The question of what exactly Carrot Top did to prompt the SEALs to kill rather than capture him has not been settled.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said the White House is mulling whether to make the photo public, but he said officials are concerned about the "sensitivity" of doing so.

[trvlr]

Originally Posted by Dusty

Here’s a sample of Dickinson’s work that could have been presented at Bush’s event:

[...]

Here’s a sample of Common’s work, transcribed from a 2007 video with 837,613 viewers on YouTube.

[...]

The reader lacking attention to detail would be led to believe that this style of poetry would be 'presented' by Common. It doesn't pass the common sense check.

Sloppy journalism.

If conservatives hadn't stopped her I'm sure she would have turned the White House lawn into the scene of a huge gangster rap music concert

[Dusty]

Originally Posted by trvlr

If conservatives hadn't stopped her I'm sure she would have turned the White House lawn into the scene of a huge gangster rap music concert

Or worse.

[Dusty]

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local...121596869.html

The invitation of rapper Common to a White House this week is drawing the ire of the union representing New Jersey state police.

While not even casual hip-hop fans would characterize him as a controversial rapper, Common found himself under the microscope after First Lady Michelle Obama invited him to the White House for an arts event.

FOX News and Sarah Palin criticized the decision after the Daily Caller published some of Common's lyrics, including some that criticize President George W. Bush.

For Jersey police, the outrage centers on a song by Common about Assata Shakur, formerly known as Joanne Chesimard, who was convicted for the 1973 slaying of Trooper Werner Foerster on the New Jersey Turnpike. Garden State police take offense at "A Song for Assata," which includes the lines "Your power and pride is beautiful. May God bless your soul."For David Jones, president of the State Troopers Fraternal Association union, the White House invitation to a rapper who seems to celebrate Shakur is disturbing.
"The young people who read this stuff, hear this stuff, are getting a very dangerous and deadly message," Jones said.

Known for being more of a brainy poet type than a thug or a gangster, Common seemed to be amused by the dust-up Tuesday morning, tweeting and retweeting the various news items from his Twitter account, such as FOX News' description of him as a "vile rapper." He also tweeted "So apparently Sarah Palin and Fox News doesn't like me."

But Jones was further incensed that the White House appearance comes during the same week that lawmen from across the nation, including Jones, make their annual trek to Washington to honor their fallen comrades at the National Law Enforcement Memorial.

Sal Maggio, a retired troop commander with the state police said his colleagues still talk about Shakur and the million dollar bounty the FBI has put on her capture.

"Hopefully someday she'll be caught," Maggio said in in reaction to news of this invitation.

Common, who is also a successful actor, is known as one of the most lyrically poetic rappers. Last month he appeared in Chicago for a charity event for his foundation, honoring legendary author and poet Maya Angelou.


Neither Jones nor Maggio believe the president or first lady are fully aware of Common's song about Shakur, though the rapper did appear at campaign events for Obama when he ran for president.
"I like the president and first lady," said Maggio who added "I think he's doing a pretty good job lately."

There was no comment from the White House late Wednesday afternoon. A representative for Common could not be reached.

[Richard]

Meh.

Richard