I recently found out via the internets that DJ Kool Herc was suffering from a major illness and was just released from the hospital due to what some people are saying was kidney problems. Currently, he's home, but he's in need of further surgery and still has outstanding hospital bills. The problem is that he doesn't have the money to pay them.
For those that don't know, DJ Kool Herc (born Clive Campbell) is the man widely credited for originating the sound that we now know as hip-hop. At 1520 Sedgwick Ave. in the Bronx, NY, Herc looped beat breaks in old records to create the first semblance of the boom-bap sound that has come to define hip-hop music. Basically, he's the James Naismith of this hip-hop sh*t.
As someone who is passionate about hip-hop music, it obviously bothers me that Herc is in this position. However, I understand that hip-hop in the late 1970s was not as lucrative as it is today, especially not for DJs who weren't even vocal artists. In fact, I don't even think this is the first instance we've seen of a rap pioneer being financially strapped. But my issue isn't so much with the fact that he needs the money. My real problem is that we even know about it.
YouTube. The greatest way to waste time since 2005. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to YouTube to watch a video and found myself repeatedly clicking on those related videos on the right toolbar. Next thing I know, I've been watching videos for the past hour, and I can't even remember what brought me to YouTube in the first place. I remember during my sophomore year of college when YouTube had just begun to get popular, my college roommate and I would spend countless hours on YouTube just wasting time. Before I knew it, it would be 2:43 in the morning and I'd realize that I still wasn't done with that essay that was due in 6 hours. However, I wouldn't want you to suffer from the same procrastination penalties that haunted me. So, listed below are my favorite YouTube videos, the ones that I've enjoyed sharing with my friends time and time again. I'm sure there are some that I've forgotten, but such is life. Without further ado...
The weekend before Thanksgiving, I did some volunteer work. For the holiday season, one of the local churches I attend conducted an outreach service through which they delivered Thanksgiving meals to at-need families around the DC metro area. I was part of the loading & unloading team, which took 250 meal boxes off the delivery truck and then loaded them into the cars of the volunteers who were to present the meals to the families. After all of the volunteers had left, there were still about 50 boxes left unaccounted for. (Translation: multiple volunteers who had signed up to help deliver boxes didn't show up. Sigh.) So, the rest of us volunteers who were still there took what was left and helped to deliver the meals to the families that were expecting the boxes.
Why am I mentioning any of this? As I was heading home after volunteering, for some reason, Black fraternities and sororities came to mind. When I was in college, I remember the Greeks always mentioning volunteering as their main contribution to society as an organization. I always found it to be somewhat ironic whenever their community service was brought up, because for the most part, very little of it was ever made public. As a college student who never pledged, the things I most associated with Greeks were step shows, hearing them brag about their pledging process, and their strolling getting in my way when I was trying to dance up on a chick at a party. For this reason, I always wondered why these seemed to be the prevalent things that separated them from the rest of us instead of the alleged community service that was supposed to be the foundation for their organizations in the first place.
Furthermore, when you look at the mission statements for the NPHC fraternities, everyoneofthem has a focus on providing service to the community (with the exception of Kappa Alpha Psi, whose only concern seems to be "being really good at everything"). I find it strange that service is such a common theme, yet most of the volunteer service being provided is done in private, unbeknownst to the rest of the college community. How can you attract like-minded individuals with your good deeds if they don't even know that it's being done?
We all know the facts. We've all heard the statistics, read the books, and watched the specials. Most educated black women are single. Sure, 50% of marriages in America end in divorce, but these chicks can't even get married to know what divorce feels like. There have been too many reports, too many books from comedians, and too many blog posts addressing the issue. Hell, I even talked about it on this blog a while ago. So I won't even bother to belabor the point any further. It is what it is.
Anyway, I found myself on this blog the other day, and I was really enjoying the posts and the blogger's point of view. After some perusal, I stumbled upon this post. The video in particular got me thinking, specifically the part when they pointed out that 42% of black women have never been married. They went on to say that because black women outnumber black men by so much, even if every black man in the country married a black woman, 1 out of every 12 black woman would still wind up single. Wow. Then when you eliminate the ones without an education and the ones in jail, the pickings for black women becomes quite slim.
"I always call n*ggas fools for wanting to learn the hard way/ When I'm really the fool for tryna teach 'em" - Joe Budden
Very often, I find myself in situations where I see someone I know about to make a bad decision. Very often, of course, because people are idiots. Now, when faced with these situations, I have one of two options. I can either a.) try to intercede and stop them from making an ill-advised move, or b.) sit back and watch them fail miserably. Choice b is obviously more enjoyable, since other people's failures make me feel better about my own life. Unfortunately, there are a few people in this miserable world that I actually care about (who knew?), in which case I feel compelled/obligated to offer some advice.
To be completely transparent, I must admit that most of my advice comes from a very selfish place. As a man that thinks he always knows best, I enjoy being able to tell people why I'm right and they're wrong. I take pleasure in proving to other people that I'm smarter than them. And in several occasions, they will even admit to such by letting me know just how wise and superior I am. Responses such as, "That's a great point!" or "I never looked at it that way!" or "You are an amazing genius! I'm lucky to know you!" typically let me know that my job is complete. I have imparted my knowledge on your wretched soul, and now you are forever indebted to my beautiful mind.
I recently found out via the internets that DJ Kool Herc was suffering from a major illness and was just released from the hospital due to what some people are saying was kidney problems. Currently, he's home, but he's in need of further surgery and still has outstanding hospital bills. The problem is that he doesn't have the money to pay them.
