Octopop

Rumors are brewing in the blogosphere claiming that hit maker Lil’ Wayne has impregnated two women: sweet dimpled-faced actress, Lauren London and R&B songstress, Nivea. Lil’ Wayne, who already has two children and two different baby mamas, has been linked to Nivea for quite some time. In fact, the story goes: Nivea, who was once married to and mothered three children with The Dream, writer/producer responsible for hits like Rihanna’s career defining Umbrella, was creeping around with her now fiancé, Lil’ Wayne, while she and The Dream were still together. The plot deepens.

Apparently Lauren London, who is rumored to be six months preggers, had no idea that Nivea was also expecting until she found out by checking a popular entertainment blog site, mediatakeout.com. Looks like Lil’ Wayne will be having ghetto twins: The term used to describe a man who fathers two children in the same month with two different women (urbandictionary.com).

So the man who proudly proclaims his desire to “f&@k every girl in the world” has at least FOUR children and FOUR different baby mamas! I don’t mean to sound insensitive, but it sure sounds like the chickens are coming home to roost… literally.

The possibility that Lil’ Wayne was having unprotected sex with two women within the same time period is so alarming. I mean really! In this age of fatal STD’s his alleged behavior is reprehensible. Furthermore, Lauren London, and Nivea are women famous enough to grab headlines with their pregnancies, in actuality there could seriously be an entire brood of women carrying the spawn of Weezy. I doubt his reckless sexuality was limited to Lauren London, and Nivea. I’ve heard the stories about hip-hop groupies; and Lil’ Wayne is on top of his game, which makes him a prime target for panty-less skanks looking to hit the baby daddy jackpot. Lil’ Wayne obviously isn’t big on birth control or protection so there is a possibility this guy could be having ghetto octuplets: thus the term Octopop.

I guess my main point isn’t necessarily about Lil’ Wayne’s family life and this crazy web of love he has weaved for himself. I am more interested in his glamorization of promiscuous sexual activity. His lyrics boast of beautiful women, “thick redbones”, and double entendres about lollipops, but I’ve yet to hear him rhyme about the hardships of fatherhood, baby mama drama, hospital bills, or child support. In fact you would think that Lil’ Wayne’s promiscuous lifestyle is without consequence.

Adults, with the life experience to know better probably listen to Lil’ Wayne’s music for the pure entertainment value; but I’m concerned about the youth who may absorb his lyrics and integrate them into their epistemic web. So often performers try and separate themselves from their product. “It’s just a song” they say. But how can a person honestly carry no responsibility for those things which they produce? Songs portray messages and I believe you cannot separate yourself from the messages which you create, nor should you desire to.

I hope in the future Lil’ Wayne makes more positive decisions for his life. With his booming record sales I’m sure he will be able to take financial responsibility for however many children he has out there. It’s the Lil’ Wayne wannabes I’m worried about. The guys who have allowed Lil’ Wayne, and other rappers with irresponsible messages to influences the way they choose to live their lives. The emulators may have Weezy’s swag, but they don’t have his money. If these guys become Octopops who is going to take care of their kids? I’m not suggesting irresponsible music is responsible for all the irresponsibly in the world. I’m merely suggesting Lil’ Wayne, and others like him should be more aware of the messages they send out into the world; because, as I am sure Lil’ Wayne must be aware of by now, consequences are inevitable.

The revolution will be Televised, and Twittered, and Facebooked…

In a world of complacency and apathy there is something so fundamentally and absolutely inspirational and beautiful about the will and passion of a people united. Recently the people of Iran took to the polls in order to vote in a new president. When it was announced that incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was the landslide victor skeptical supporters of the opposition channeled their angry energy into protests.

Protesters suspect election fraud, and it is this suspicion that has ignited hundreds of thousands of citizens to petition their grievances in the streets of Tehran. As of this morning 32 protesters have been killed, and many more people have been injured. Despite one’s opinion of the Iranian political situation, it seems undeniable that this is an exercise of democracy in its purest form. The people’s demand to govern themselves and to be heard and respected by their governing body is the underlying issue.

Being self governing is a fundamental premise of freedom and to deny an individual’s right to govern herself is to deny her autonomy, her liberty, her freedom. When a person, knowingly, is denied her freedom, all she desires and all she does in predicated upon attaining that freedom. The desire to be free is inherent in the human spirit. That is why Patrick Henry’s famous words “give me liberty or give me death” have rang so true to the hearts of so many for so long. So while we may not always relate or agree with the plights of those seeking freedom, shouldn’t we all, at the very minimum, be able to relate to and respect a person’s right to be free?

In our world people are constantly denied their freedom, and in this age of social networking we are more aware of the plights of others than ever. But, has this increased awareness caused us to become more jaded to the causes of our fellow man? As we become more connected are we really becoming more disconnected? Because the revolution has been televised it loses some of its sheer horror. Neatly packaged into a 30 second video clip; death tolls become numbers, we view hundreds of thousands of protesters with little awe as we await the next story—an update on the relationship status of Britney Spears and her agent.

Today I would like to remind everyone, it is our responsibility as inhabitants of this planet to respect our fellow man’s fight for freedom. With that in mind, I hope we all, despite our political perspectives, keep the people of Iran in our thoughts and prayers.

Fanning the Flames

Imagine this. You lost your job last Friday, all your bills are past due, you have no groceries, your power got turned off on Monday, your car got repossessed on Wednesday, and your women told you she was pregnant and left you 20 minutes ago. Sounds like the blues huh? Now imagine if, in the midst of this crisis you take out a “payday loan” so you can buy out the bar at your favorite local hotspot. You’d have to be crazy or just have the budgeting sense of the city of Los Angeles.

Los Angeles has no money, at least that’s what they said when they CANCELLED summer school. “The cut will save the LAUSD $34 million” claimed LA Unified School District Superintendent Raymond Cortines. Summer school isn’t the only city program that will suffer either; women, children and mental healthcare programs are facing serious cutbacks, while city employees are being forced to take furloughs. This is all very confusing to me because I always assumed the inflated cost of living in Cali was necessary to support the stress on the system, but we won’t even go there. The point is the city is broke. To borrow the mantra of city officials, “we haven’t seen this kind of fiscal emergency since the great depression”. I suppose in the face of such crisis cutback are appropriate. What I find wholly inappropriate is senseless opulence in the face of poverty.

Woohoo! The Lakers won the NBA championship for the 15^th time! The world will be a better place now, right? This is the end of poverty, starvation, hatred, and oppression, right? The Messiah will come down from the heavens to personally congratulate them, take Kobe into his arms and ascend back from which they came, right? No? None of that? Then why in the world is the city of Los Angeles spending millions of dollars in cash and resources on a damned celebratory parade?

The night the Lakers won, I couldn't sleep. Not because of the sheer joy and excitement, it was the sirens. The Police sirens were unrelenting. I can’t remember a single moment during the night when it was quite outside. The fans took to the streets, rioting, stealing, and destroying property. I say they have had enough fun. A parade encouraging the behavior we witnessed on Sunday night would just be stupid. And it will cost 2 million dollars, half of which the city of Los Angeles will be responsible for.

The mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, claimed that much of the money the city will contribute will come from donations from the private sector. This makes the parade no less ridiculous. Shouldn’t all fund raising efforts be focused on more important causes? I guess Villaraigosa wants to “buy out the bar” so he can forget about all the problems Los Angeles is facing. LA is going to have a hell of a hangover in the morning.

Keep the Faith

Turn of the lights, light some candles, pour some wine and press play. I can assure you a night of romance or relaxation. The sweet sounds of Faith Evans self titled album “Faith” provides the perfect soundtrack for an evening alone, or a night shared with a lover. Tracks like “Come Over” make you feel young because it takes you back to the place you were when you first heard it. At the same time you are overcome with a sense of maturity because life has helped you understand the emotion behind the words for the first time. The jazzy feel of “Give it to me” will certainly take you to all the places you have longed for. And then the quintessential make up song “Soon as I get home”, will have you in a hurry on the freeway. This is a real R& B album. If you love love songs, sung sans the synthesizer this album is for you. If you like an album that you can play from beginning to end, this album is for you.

Faith Evans’ voice is so sweet and soulful over the Bad Boy tracks produced by then super producer, Puff Daddy. Say what you will about his unrefined look; If Puff Daddy produces artists like Faith Evans and MJB, and Sean Combs produces groups like Danity Kane, I’ll take Puff Daddy every time (shiny suits and all).

Listening to Faith made me ask myself if an album like this could survive in the mainstream music climate today. Among all the Rihannas, Beyonces, and Keri Hilsons, I get plenty of club music, but real R&B, music that helps you through hard times, or inspires you in good ones; I think it was buried alongside Hip Hop. Don’t get me wrong, I do recognize the Jill Scotts, and the Dwele’s out there, but I really miss this really raw, and real R& B that was so prevalent in the 90’s. I guess that’s why it is so nice to be able to pull out an album like Faith and get that old familiar feeling whenever I want it.