I see where the suits of the Atlanta Falcons American Football team are in a tizzy over their half-time entertainment during a game against Philadelphia last Sunday. According to a report in today's Sports Illustrated, a rapper named Bonecrusher didn't sing about raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens - he preferred to give the people a fairly graphic description of what it's like one fellow shoots another fellow in the head.
It's not that nice, apparently.
Anyway, the Falcons are a bit shocked at this. Beats me why - rap has been banging on with the same stuff since it first came on the scene. Whenever rappers are asked about their propensity to glamourise violence, to persistently and doggedly refer to women as bitches and hos, they always looked quite shocked, and explain to the interview that he or she doesn't understand. The rapper is merely in character - he is rapping a part, he is sharing with a his audience a visceral but very real insight into urban life, into what it's like on the streets.
Yeah. How come then it's always the same character that the rappers portray? When Bonecrusher or Youngbloodz get on stage to rap about a sensitive gay boy growing up in the projects, dreaming about getting his poetry published and wearing taffeta, well, I'll be very surprised.
