It seems rapper Nas has joined with black progressive activist group Color of Change in their campaign to challenge FOX News for their habitual Negromongering over Presidential candidate Barack Obama and his wife Michelle. Sometimes it feels like 1952 on there -- the way we never were. Someone had to launch a counter-attack.
You don’t have to be invited onto Nas’ tour bus to know that the big screen in the back lounge isn’t tuned to Fox News. Ever.
If the track “Sly Fox” (”Watch what you watchin’, Fox keeps feeding us toxins/ Stop sleeping, start thinking”) on Untitled didn’t already tip you off that the MC isn’t a fan, then his position at the front of the pack at a press conference held outside the “fair and balanced” news network’s Manhattan headquarters should seal the deal.
At 2:30 p.m. tomorrow, Nas is joining the Web sites ColorOfChange.org and MoveOn.org to deliver a petition with more than 620,000 signatures demanding that the network end what the organizations call a “pattern of racist attacks against black Americans including presidential candidate Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle.”
“Fox poisons the country with racist propaganda and tries to call it news,” Nas said in a statement. A spokesperson for Fox News could not be reached for comment at press time.
But Nas? As one poster on Jack & Jill Politics opined, "Wasn't Will Smith available?"
Will Smith, like Obama, is not prone to gaffes, is tightly in control of his press and career and knows how to behave in polite circles. He's friendly enough for the white folks, yet down enough for the blacks. He's your basic "Blackness Ambassador." It's a title you get when you bridge two worlds semi-successfully. I'm a Blackness Ambassador. So is Oprah and Gwen Ifil. It's a pain in the ass explaining what a pressing comb is to white people, but someone has to do it.
Nas is not the sort of guy who bridges that gap with a Coke and a smile. Yet that's who we got. Nas, a guy who tried to release his latest album under the title "Nigger," including wearing gear with the world "Nigger" printed on it at the Grammys. He changed the title. (Did people learn nothing from Ol' Dirty Bastard's "N*gger Please" album? MTV VJ's can't exactly drop that title on TRL.) But Nas is also a talented rapper with a great pro-Obama song. He's more conscious than say, Jay-Z, and other than sometimes sounding like an idiot (as rappers are prone to do when they discuss things outside of their sphere of influence -- no one asked your opinion on "Jesse can't keep shit in the family"-gate). He's no T-Pain. If T-Pain or Lil' Weezy were repping for Color of Change's anti-FOX protest I'd be concerned.
And I'd be saying, was Puffy not available? I'm sure he could have pulled out some of those old "vote or die" T-shirts.
Jokes aside, I guess I'm glad Nas is taking an active role in getting Obama elected. I would have preferred him being polite on the sidelines, writing good pro-Obama rap songs like "Black President," then registering to vote and later actually showing up at the polls to vote for Obama, but that's me. Also, I don't know if Obama wants most rappers' help -- donations? YES. Obama takes cash. But I'm sure he also has a naughty and nice list for rapper fans.
Mos Def, good.
will.i.am, perfect.
Queen Latifa, good.
Lupe Fiasco, has potential.
Snoop Dogg, bad.
Yung Berg, bad.
50 Cent, bad.
Kanye, risky.
But pro-rapper love or not, Barack is getting his help. Nas, Move On and Color of Change to the rescue.
It's great when we all work together.
But Jack & Jill Politics commenter "Town" sums up my true cynicism about this endeavor.
Publicity stunt on Nas' part, IMO.
I'll bet a box of Krispy Kreme donuts that Bill O'Reilly will call ColorofChange a racist hate organization and he'll talk about how the gangsta rapper NAS loves the n-word so much that he wanted to name his album that but the good folks at Walmart took a stand against such racist filth.
Yeah ... that feels about right. And he'll work George Soros in there too. And Jesse Jackson. That's the FOX I know. Just let the bigotry wash over you like a bath of battery acid. So warm and stinging.
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