Do Black kids really think it’s “acting white” to excel in academic/intellectual pursuits? Dr. Edward Rhymes says no. In his article, Acting White? African-American Students and Education, Dr. Rhymes seeks to discredit disingenuous and misled pundits and celebrities who claim that there is some anti-intellectual movement afoot. Citing his personal experience with youngsters, both in and outside of the classroom, he claims that he has never heard any Black student “equivocate scholastic achievement with whiteness.”

Students at T.C. Williams High School say otherwise. In the article, When The Street And The Classroom Collide, several college-bound Black students report that many of their peers have ridiculed them as sellouts or “acting white” for their devotion to their studies. Something’s wrong here. I would never go so far as to question another man’s experience, but I will say that the evidence seems to support the kids more than it does Dr. Rhymes. Since Dr. Rhymes’ article is published at Black Commentator, I will concede that bias could be a problem in the Washington Post article, since the mainstream press is partially to blame for fueling this stereotype. Or something like that. They’re always on the lookout for that type of bias over there, so I’d better acknowledge it up front.

I’m less interested in the Washington Post article than I am in Dr. Rhymes’ article, but not so much because I think that the focus in the post is “righter” than Dr. Rhymes, but because Rhymes does a provide an interesting framework for analyzing the situation. Instead of placing blame, his stated purpose is to seek an explanation. He cites four elements as having explanatory power in the lack of academic push among Black youngsters: pop culture, curriculum, placement tests and other standardized tests, and the ethnicity of teachers. Okay, except where does any of that give the kids agency? But I’m getting ahead of myself.

One thing I will give Dr. Rhymes credit for, he does a good job of pointing out the fact that the majority of the students are actually ambivalent towards academic success. All other things being equal, they would prefer to be on the smart side of average rather than the dumb side, but intelligence counts for far less than, say, physical appearance, charisma, or athletic ability. That’s true. It’s also true that the nerd stereotype did not originate in the Black community, so in that respect I suppose it’s fair to question the degree to which people act like Black people are so anti-education vis-a-vis the mainstream society. That’s a good piece of fat for some career eggheads to chew, but does it really matter? Whether Black kids don’t push hard at school because they don’t want to be “white” or they don’t want to be “nerds” (and if you take the pop culture angle, there have only been two real Black nerds: the gay dude in the Revenge of the Nerds movies and Steve Urkel, so it’s not clear that “nerd” and “white” are mutually exclusive) the issue is that they’re not pushing hard at school. Not whether larger society is somehow culpable. I couldn’t have cared less why my kids didn’t think it was worth their time not to know how to multiply, I just wanted them to learn how to do it.

The second element he targets is the curriculum. Let’s say for a moment, that I actually bought into this misconception about African-American youths’ aversion to education; when the curriculum is viewed from our social studies, history and English classes across the country, it’s easy to see how education and “whiteness” becomes inseparable. Ambra has written a good deal about the merits (or the lack thereof) of classical literature, so I’m not about to rehash that. She also has a piece about hip-hop in the classroom that’s definitely worth checking out. All that to say that I can co-sign on a critique of the curriculum to a degree– but only to a degree. Even Furious Styles, in Boyz In The Hood, stressed the importance of mathematics to his son. If the evidence showed Black kids doing well in math but poorly in courses where “Eurocentrism” could be blamed for their lack of interest, I wouldn’t have an argument. That’s not the case, though. I was a math teacher. I know. An eighth grader who can’t immediately spit the answer to 12 X 12 is not the victim of a Eurocentric education system or one that is steeped in Americanity at the expense of facts. More than likely, he’s the victim of too much idiot box, but we ain’t gon’ talk about that. We never do.

As for Black students being steered away from AP courses, I’m not sure about the extent to which that has any bearing on this discussion. I think Dr. Rhymes’ point is that Black students think high academic achievement is “white” because they don’t see themselves reflected in the highest tier of coursework, but that’s specious at best. I think the fact that most majority Black schools don’t offer many AP courses is something that’s worth investigating, but I’m fairly sure that if there were more parental demand (on the schools to provide the courses and on the students to make it worth the schools’ while) those problems would be addressed. Still, that’s something to keep an eye on.

The ethnicity of the teachers…ehhhh. I think it can make a difference, but it doesn’t have to. Much more important is the teacher’s expectations for the students and the degree of tolerance that ze has for foolishness, both behavioral and academic. Black kids don’t need a Black teacher to learn. It doesn’t hurt, but it’s not a necessity. Kids will respond to whoever cares. True enough that the teacher’s worldview is passed to the students along with the curriculum, but I still maintain that that’s not a deal breaker. It would be great if there were more Black teachers who could act as mentors and role models, as well as classroom instructors, but come on. Any group of students will show its collective behind to any teacher who will let it, irrespective of race. That’s just what kids do.

Finally, Dr. Rhymes demonstrates the difference between scholastic performance of voluntary and involuntary immigrants throught the world. Now that’s some interesting stuff that I hadn’t seen before. I’ll definitely be taking a look at the literature on that. But…

The most important element is one Rhymes brushes aside on the way to his conclusion: Although Ogbu’s studies offer some compelling reasons for the gap between African-Americans and whites in education, he also cautioned that we should not allow our righteous zeal to fight discrimination (and to break down barriers in education and in the opportunity structure), to cause us to ignore the personal behavior and attitudes that are conducive to academic success. Again, to the extent that I call myself conservative, this is why. All the rest of that stuff may play a role somewhere. Nerds on TV and in the movies or an deadening curriculum or no AP classes or a lily-white teaching corps may have some detrimental effect on Black educational performance, but none of that even comes close to the “personal behavior and attitudes that are conducive to academic success.” We used to do much more with much less. There’s no reason we shouldn’t be doing better now.

In order to properly evaluate albums, the first thing I have to do is create a rubric. (What a fun word). I’m thinking that the criteria for hip-hop albums will be slightly different than the one for gospel albums, but not entirely dissimilar. After all, I’ll be comparing albums within genre by the same artist, so it’ll be inherently fair.

Anyway, to review, this is going to culminate in a list of my 10 favorite albums…for now. The list I proposed last time was the following:

Dare Iz A Darkside - Redman
De La Soul Is Dead - De La Soul
Songs In The Key of Life - Stevie Wonder
Love Alive 1 - Walter Hawkins
Resurrection - Common (Sense)
Mama’s Gun - Erykah Badu
Amerikkka’s Most Wanted - Ice Cube
It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back - Public Enemy
Black Star - Mos Def and Talib Kweli
Benny Carter Meets Oscar Peterson - Benny Carter and Oscar Peterson

Of those, I said that three are mortal locks: Mama’s Gun, Nation of Millions, and of course, Songs In The Key Of Life. It’s the other 7 that are giving me trouble. For one thing, I made that list three weeks ago and I’m not sure about several of those picks. But at least two of them are in competition to be my favorite album by that artist/group, let alone to be in my all-time top 10. So without further ado, let’s get it on…

For my money, the late 70’s was the apex for gospel music as a genre. It was still in its most pure, undiluted form, but within that, there were some innovations. At the forefront of those innovations were the Hawkins brothers, Edwin and Walter. (Walter was also at the forefront of the pageboy-for-men innovation, but we ain’t gon’ talk about that.) Edwin had received a good deal of flak for his restyling of “Oh Happy Day” into a pop hit in the early 70’s. Nevertheless, the rearrangement of traditional gospel songs was a central feature in Hawkins recordings. (We used to have a lot of Walter Hawkins records, so I can break that down further if need be.)

Love Alive

Song selection: 10
Old School Reinterpretation: 9
Tramaine-goes-off Song: 10
Get-down song: 10
Replay Value: 10
Congregation Participation: 10
Sequencing: 10

Total: 69

Love Alive 2

Song selection: 8
Old School Reinterpretation: 10
Tramaine-goes-off Song: 10
Get-Down song: 10
Replay Value: 9
Congregation Participation: 9
Sequencing: 8

Total: 64

Love Alive and Love Alive 2, if they had been released as a double album, would probably be perfect. As it is, it’s almost like listening to the same album with different selections. Even then, Love Alive 2 would be the weaker disc, but their overall combined strength would make any weaknesses negligible.

The biggest difference between the two is in song selection. Simply put, LA 2 has a couple weak songs on there. I’m Going Away is just not that good. It’s not a bad song, and within the context of the album, it’s not so bad, but it’s definitely the weak link. Come By Here, Good Lord is not that great either.

The second area where LA 2 comes up short is in sequencing. Song order is an extremely underrated element of musical performance. Whether in the studio or in concert, sequencing determines the mood and helps to create the a rising or descending effect for the audience. Love Alive 2 seems too disjointed. On top of that, the last song is one of the somewhat lackluster.

Having said all that, LA 2 is definitely a great album, and very likely in my top 20. It can’t beat Love Alive, though.

The permanent list so far:

Songs In The Key of Life - Stevie Wonder
Mama’s Gun - Erykah Badu
It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back - Public Enemy
Love Alive - Walter Hawkins

next time: De La Soul Is Dead vs. Buhloone Mind State

Okay, but before I get to all that, I just saw the Tyson knockout. That joint was pitiful. Mike actually hit the ropes, bounced back up, and got caught with another fist. It was like something out of Rocky. Michael King has a discusson about it.

It’s just sad to me. As if the world’s not in enough flux, there’s not even a dominant name in the heavyweight division. At least before, even though we knew Tyson wasn’t the same miraculously fast, hard puncher he was in 1986, there was always that back-of-the-mind thought that he could put somebody to sleep at any moment. This time, he was actually gunning for the KO in the first round and couldn’t get it. Remember the guy on the SI cover?

This is the 200th post. It’s Saturday. Generally, weekends are for cleaning up, but I’m an old comic booker, so multiples of 50 are special issues. Conflict of interests. Scattershot thoughts or double issue? To solve this, I think I’m gonna finally deal with some posts that have been lingering around for too long. By the end of the day, I will have completed that Love Alive vs. Love Alive 2 comparison I’ve been selling woof tickets about for the last two weeks, and I’ll probably get into something a little more substantive, like this question of “acting white” as it pertains to education. I read a couple interesting articles that deal with this in different ways, and I need to weigh in. Also, there’ll be an autobiographical some’nother.

Does anybody remember the Space Giants? Goldar, Silvar, Zan, and Methuslem vs. the evil of Radak? That used to be my sure shot on weekday afternoons when I was in early grade school. I don’t remember what channel it used to come on…maybe Chicago’s channel 64 or something. One of those high numbers at the end of the UHF dial that I always got in trouble for turning too fast.

Then there was Spectreman. Space Giants I remember vaguely. Spectreman, on the other hand, I actually remember the music and some of the dialogue from that. It looks cheesy now, but it’s just the prequel to the Power Rangers. Spectreman was hot, though. It used to come on channel 26, WCIU. When I was in grade school, it came on around the same time as the Space Giants. Later, when I was in Junior High, it came on before school, at about 6:30. Best believe I made sure to get up and hit the shower so I could eat my Lucky Charms and watch Spectreman.

This is from an interview with Melle Mel. Kool Moe Dee rated him the greatest MC of all time in the book, There’s A God On The Mic. At first I kind of disagreed, but then taking everything into consideration…I really can’t argue with it. From my first post, I’ve been mentioning really breaking that stuff down, and as I approach # 200, I may honestly start some systematic breakdown. Or else, maybe that will be my inaugural address when I finally pack up and move. At any rate, these are Melle Mel’s ratings for some well-known (and maybe not-so-well-known, for you non-hip-hoppers) MCs. This is on a scale of one to ten.

Caz - 10
Rakim - 9
T La Rock - 7
Moe Dee - 10
LL Cool J - 7
Lil Rodney C - 6
Nas - 8
Kid Creole - 10 ( Im probably biased ‘cuz he is my brother ; but he is a dime to me )
Rahiem - 10
Scorpio - 8
Cowboy - 10
Run - 7
Chuck D - 8
DLB (Fearless 4)- 7
Busy Bee - 5 (laughs….thats my Nigga , I Love him to death - he just wasnt lyrical )
Jay Z - 9
Ice Cube - 9.5
Ice T - 8
G.L.O.B.E - 8
Big Daddy Kane - 9
Kool G Rap - 11 (not a typo - eleven)
Mc Shan - 8
KRSOne - 8
Biggie - 10
Tupac - 9
Guru - 8

Just looking at it, the first thing that jumps out at me is Kool G Rap’s 11. Now, I’ll be the first one to say that G-Rap is probably the most underrated MC of all time, but 11? With Rakim as 9? Definitely warrants further review.

The evals on the other members of the Furious 5 are suspect. I dismiss those out of hand.

Biggie > Kane, Rakim, KRS?
Tupac = Kane Rakim? Tupac > KRS?!, Chuck D?
Biggie > Ice Cube > Tupac… probably about right…although Jheri Curl Cube v. Biggie…Once Upon A Time In The Projects vs. Niggas Bleed… the very thought makes my mouth water.

At first this was going to be another in the occasional series on my dismay at the public adoration of Tupac. My contention is that Ice Cube was the MC that Tupac wanted to be. There are some strong parallels to their careers, and there would probably be a lot more had Tupac not died when he did. I’m not taking it in that directon right now, though. Instead of comparing him to his inferior, I’ll just let it suffice to say that Jheri Curl Ice Cube was the greatest MC ever from the West Coast.

Now, I’m specifying Jheri Curl Ice Cube(JCIC) as opposed to the later incarnations, because there’s a definite difference in tone and quality. Death Certificate, his second full-length solo LP, I still count as JCIC, even though he had cut his hair by that point.

Ask anybody who has a historical sense of hip-hop and they’ll tell you that after Straight Outta Compton, everything was different. I’ve said that a few times myself. This time, I’m not trying to place it in any kind of sociological context or any of that, I’m just talking about an album. There had been gangsta rappers before, but nothing in the world could compare to Straight Outta Compton. Ice Cube either wrote or co-wrote all the important songs on there. Now this is not to say that Cube was a one-man show. On my breakdown of favorite groups, I said that NWA had the first complete starting 5 in the modern era of hip-hop (no disrespect to Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5). MC Ren was nice. A lot of people front on Ren, but Ren was the truth. And even though he wasn’t an official member of NWA, The D.O.C. was second only to Ice Cube in terms of lyrics and delivery. As the ghostwriter, however, Cube gets more credit.

So Cube is basically the one who gave gangsta rap its name, with the song, “Gangsta, Gangsta.” He’s also the one who brought incessant vulgarity to the forefront. But in the era in which NWA came, nobody would have paid them any attention if it hadn’t been for the lyrics. That’s what made NWA so dope, Cube was a stone-cold writer. From Parental Discretion Iz Advised:

I’ll be what is known as a bandit
You gotta hand it to me when you truly understand it
Cause if you fail to see, read it in braile
It’ll still be funky — so what’s next is the flex
of a genius, my rapid-stutter-steppin if you seen this
dope, you hope that I don’t really mean this
But if played, made the grade a high-top fade
Is not my trademark when I get loose in the dark
You guess it was a test of a different style
It’s just another motherfucker on the pile
Drivin your ass with the flow of your tongue
You hung yourself short, the after-knowledge was brung
to your attention, by the hardest motherfuckin artist
that is know for lynchin any sucker in a minute
Stagger ‘em all
When I start flowin like Niagara Falls
Ice Cube is equipped to rip shit in a battle
Move like a snake when I’m mad; and then my tail rattle
I get low on the flow so let your kids know
When I bust, parental discretion is a must

Or from the brother song, The Grand Finale, from The D.O.C.’s sublime No One Can Do It Better

Picture a nigga that’s raw
Amplify his ass and what you see is what’s on
Muthafuckas I slaughter, blow em out the water
Word to me, fuck the father
My medley is deadly as a pin in a handgrenade
5 seconds before you get played
You can’t throw me, I guess you’ll blow up
Ever see a sucker scatter, it’ll make ya throw up
Then I take advantage, you can’t manage
To get up, all you can do is sit up, I get lit up
Hit up, Ice Cube tearing shit up
Like a dude you can bet on
Collide like a head on
Collision, stutter steppin is an incision
Of a nigga saying exactly what I vision
Because I’m gone, you think I left you all
But I stay in yo’ ass like cholesterol
When I blast some solid as alcatraz
And if you escape, you better swim fast
‘Cause I’ll catch ya, physically and mentally
And the capital punishment’s the penalty
Sit in the electric chair, grab a hold
Pull the switch, yo’ body twitch, your eyes explode
Out your skull ’cause being dull on a flow
Is an N-O, niggas didn’t know that I can go
Off and show off to throw off the law
Turn, take 10 paces then draw
What’s left is a muthafucka dead in the alley
Ice Cube is the shit on the grand finale

Kool Moe Dee only gave cube an 80 on battle skills, but I beg to differ. Jheri Curl Cube was a MONSTER. Personally, I think Rakim was the best that ever did it, although I have to acknowledge that KRS-1 has a legitimate claim as well. And if Big Daddy Kane was not quite on the same tier as those two, he’s only micrometers below. In any case, Jheri Curl Cube would give any of those dudes fits. The craziest part is that they were all at the top of their games in the same time period. These young cats try to tell me that ‘94 was the year, or ‘98 or somethin’…naw, dawg. ‘89 was the number. I’m not even gonna bring Chuck D into the discussion.

For all Cube’s work with NWA, it’s when he broke camp and recorded solo that he became simply devestating. Amerikkka’s Most Wanted was by almost all accounts an instant classic. I remember getting a letter from my friend that summer. He was like, “That’s the hardest nigga I ever heard. I’d hate to run into him in an alley.” But it wasn’t just that. It was hard and funny and thought-provoking all at the same time. See, to tip my hand on the 2Pac argument, in addition to the elements I described before, a big part of Pac’s reachability, of his “everyman-ness” was the fact that he wasn’t an outsanding lyricist. He was approachable in that way. Cube, on the other hand, the average listener knew…there was no way they could ever get it like that.

The Grind Date, the new De La Soul album, is coming out on September, 28.
Check y’all at the store.

What’s the point of any governmental regulation of sex? Seriously. Moral regulation, i.e. pontification from a religious institution is one thing. State regulation is something altogether different. Nobody stepped to me on prostitution…whatever. Except for the element of taxation, I don’t see how the government has a stake in it one way or the other.  This goes even bigger than that, though.  Texas had a law banning sodomy.  How’s the state gonna decide that only coitus is legal? Or in this case, how’s the state gonna decide that sex toys are illegal without a prescription?

I have my uncertainties about the calls for smaller government, because as I’ve said many times, I think there are definitely some things that the government is better-suited to handle than private entities. There aren’t many, but there are some. Determining the manner in which two grown-ups (or one, as the case may be) carry on is not one of them.

I guess I just don’t get it.

In my first journalism class, the professor kicked that old cliche, “Man Bites Dog…That’s news.” But this…this is just sick.

A suburban Chicago man is in court today facing charges he raped a female dog, facing up to nine years in prison and $75,000 in fines if convicted.

Joyner faces one to three years in prison and fines up to $25,000 if convicted on each of three charges.

The dog, which suffered physical injury during the attack, is reportedly recovering in its owner’s care.

What I wanna know is, what was he on? I’ve seen guys leave the club with “dogs”, but I’ve never seen one go into the kennel to pick her up.