Thursday, August 28, 2008

Swagger Like Us...




When I woke up this morning I thought about a couple of things. How much I could accomplish today before work and what to blog about. Turning on the TV, MSNBC was covering highlights from the DNC and gearing up for tonight's speech like most other media channels.

I began to reflect on how this political race has just now captured my attention, without Hip Hop's influence. By far, I think John Kerry's speech last night was great. No errors and you could really get a good sense of him believing in what he was saying. His highlights shown on MSNBC were evidence.

Two more things happened this AM. First, I searched Google for politics and hip hop and saw Chris Lightly's article which I disagreed with (I'll touch on this later).

Meka, one of the hosts on MSNBC's morning show basically showed her political stance by displaying her anger of the fact that media coverage surrounding the Obama campaign making history has received unbalanced attention. No doubt, history is taking place. Is it wrong not to cover history as it unfolds?

One could feel inspired by Obama's campaign and feel the need for change. Instinctively, naysayers have come out of nowhere to give their two cents on what Obama should do. Lightly's article does just that. Check it here.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-lighty/politics-unusual-hip-hops_b_118270.html

While Hip Hop may embrace Obama, some are not getting why Obama can't acknowledge the Hip Hop community the way Lightly hopes for. While Ludacris' song (Obama Is Here) may be a bit wreckless, I think Nas made a better attempt at focusing a song around Obama. Check it here.



Commentators this morning also said that Obama's speech tonight will be tougher to pull off with it being the anniversary of the "I Have a Dream" speech and the "columns" placed at Invesco Field which will convey a mixed message. I definitely believe that America does not care about stage props.

In the youtube.com era, criticism can come from many angles. Especially when you have media outlets such as Fox news conjuring up their imposing political agendas. Misleading the population away from whats important seems like a daily goal for them.

Attention needs to be given to what's important in America. No matter what side of the spectrum you are on, there is no doubt American needs change. A different direction...

Guess what I'm watching tonight?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

According to this Boston magazine story, this is the first speech Kerry has cared about in ages.
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/how_to_make_a_senator_sweat/

I love this passage,"Kerry on a bad day is something to behold. The senator can, famously, radiate a sort of anti-charisma that doesn't repel so much as baffle. When he showed up in Lowell, the crowd instinctively pushed toward him, propelled by the electric charge people feel when they see someone famous. But then came the inevitable disappointment. Kerry was uncomfortable, not entirely engaged. His back-slapping was unconvincing. To denote exuberance, he clapped his hands—but just once. It looked as if he was trying to kill a fly."