Monday Madness...

"We're brothers of the same mind, unblind.  Caught in the middle and not surrenderin'..."  Public Enemy - Don't Believe The Hype

It's Monday y'all, back to the grind.

And here is Monday Madness; last weeks news that made me cringe, cuss or just shake my head.

 1) Eddie Murphy and his trifling ass: I know this is old, but I came across something that resuscitated the nagging feeling in my stomach.  It was only a matter of time before I exploded.  I must admit, Eddie used to be the man when he had us hollerin about, "Edddiiiieee I want HALF!" But when all of his dirty laundry was aired when Spice Girl Mel B. had his love child, the real Eddie Murphy sure did stand up.  Eddie Murphy has fit the mold of the stereotypical deadbeat father portrayed in movies...ok and I hate to say it, but live and in living color too.  The one who does not take care of his child and responsibilities or steps up as the man that he should be, because he was blessed with the gift of having children.  The one who tends to forget they are not a father because they have a son, unless you're taking care of him. With that said, my whole perception of this man has changed immensely.  The only good thing to come out of this situation, is that Miss Mel B has a beautiful baby girl and has grown into a sexy confident woman and mother who is doing the damn thing.  Check out her spread for this new lingerie line she is heading up.  Mel, you do you girl, I'm not mad at ya.  

2) Wesley Snipes gets 3 years in prison: I have had the pleasure...ok honestly I am not sure if it was a pleasure, however I have met Wesley Snipes twice over and on both accounts, he was not the most personable of persons.  Perhaps it was a bad day, I don't know but it sure didn't seem like it.  Anyhow, Mr. Snipes as we all know, had to spend some time in court for tax evasion which followed by an acquittal of felony conspiracy and tax fraud charges.  However, he was found guilty of 3 misdemeanor acts of willfully failing to file tax returns.  With the federal prosecutors pushing for the maximum penalty, Wesley has to do 3 years–one for each count. The one thing that I read which bothered the hell out of me, was the fact that after Wesley wrote a long statement saying he was sorry, the United States Attorney for the middle district of Florida said, because his letter never said the word 'taxes' or 'tax', he showed no remorse.  Ummm, riight.  Well Mr. Snipes, I'm sorry but you who makes all that money from all of the wonderful movies that I have paid my $13.00 and change to see you perform in and YOU mean to tell me that you are not able to pay your taxes?  WTF??!!  Get it together my man, get it together.  I digress...you reap what you sow...

3) Songwriters becoming singers: I don't know about you, but the new wave of songwriters/producers coming forth with albums are a bit overwhelming for me.  Especially because most of them should have honestly stayed behind the scenes and continued writing.  Those I will steer clear from are: The Dream–even though it's too late, I can really do without hearing "Shawty is a 10" one more time.  Sean Garrett–this dude's new song "Gripping" with Ludacris is a complete waste of 3 minutes and 44 seconds.  And the last, Ryan Leslie–well I must admit that "Diamond Girl" has grown on me, but I am not sure if I will be able to get through a whole album of Ryan.  Seriously.  Now the three aforementioned artists are talented in their respective fields of songwriting and producing and have brought many danceable tracks our way. However, there is no excuse to further destroy and suck the life out of the once prominent genre of R&B.  Please, give it a break.

4) Kanye shouts out the wrong city during his show: Oh my my my, Kanye what is going on?  Too much Connect Four on tour is starting to take you out of your element.  FOCUS KANYE, FOCUS!  Now tell us the truth, did you forget where you were performing purposely to get us talking (it has worked hasn't it?), because you have been so quiet?  Or did you genuinely forget where you were at that instant?  I am sure you wanted that spaceship to take you away to another planet.  I know we all make mistakes and yes, believe it or not, Kanye is only human.  But to forget where you are during a concert?  I don't know about that one...but then again, he is dealing with breaking up with his fiancee and hurting from the passing of his mother.  Perhaps, I should give him a break?

And lastly...

5) The Sean Bell verdict: There is so much to be said about this verdict, I don't know what to say because I am utterly speechless.  How do you seriously acquit 3 cops of literally taking away a man's life the eve of his wedding day?  And to add to the remarkable outcome, we are force fed to believe the sheer fact that Sean Bell and his friends were under a barrage of 50 bullets...50 BULLETS and that was not enough for a conviction of some sort?  I don't believe that, I can't believe that. I think excessive force is an understatement of grand proportions.  The unsettling actuality that the normal outcome for cases involving black men loosing their lives at the hands of the NYPD (Amadou Diallo, Ousmane Zongo etc) is a payout by the city, leaves my queasy. I also do not believe violence in any shape way or form is the answer.  Some are saying that since peace is not an option, maybe violence will get a message across.  I am hoping these same people realize this is EXACTLY what they want, and you are feeding into the frenzy.  Sometimes silence is the best message to send.  In silence, there is fear in what your opponents next move will be and consist of.  And it is the not knowing that will have them on the edge of their seat, because we do fear what we do not know. One thing we do know very well, is Nicole Paultre Bell and Sean's family, will continue to fight their courageous fight for justice.  It will be a hard road to continue traveling, no harder than the evening of November 25th, 2006 no doubt, but a hard one indeed.  I am sure knowing they have support from the masses, friends and family is a huge comfort in itself.  My prayers go out to Sean Bell's family...

A picture of strength and courage...

Flashback of the day: After the madness I needed a reality check, but for the life of me nothing came to mind and I sat here drawing blanks each direction I took.  So I had to go with my guardian angel Anita Baker once again:

Hope you caught the podcast.  See y'all soon...

Tha Connoisseur