'Toine in Memphis - answer to prayer!

Overnight a trade brought MY favorite NBA player to Memphis! That my friends , is an answer to prayer! Now Antoine Walker may have seen his best days, but he did win a championship ring with the Heat two seasons ago. He can still play and he's always played well in Memphis. I'm orderin' tickets!!

A nostalgic trip

A pleasant evening of relaxation means a good movie and a bowl of ice-cream.
" The Princess Bride" was the first date movie I took Allison to. It has remained a beloved treasure. I recently purchased the DVD and viewed it this evening. Watching it again was like becoming reacquainted with an old friend. Maybe it's time for you to be re-introduced to a favorite movie once again,,,,

Maybe he listens to Lil' Wayne?

The men arrested in the slayings of an aspiring Christian singer and his colleague at a Texas recording studio said in a chilling jailhouse interview the victims were killed at random in a robbery that netted only $2.

Cousins James Broadnax and Demarius Dwight Cummings, both 19, face capital murder charges in the deaths of singer Matthew Butler, a father of two, and Stephen Swan, his employee, outside Butler's Christian recording studio, Zion Gate Records in Garland, Texas.

Broadnax and Cummings, speaking to MyFOXDFW.com from the Dallas County Jail, told the station of their plans to rob somebody the night of June 18. They traveled by train from Dallas to the suburb of Garland because "that's where all the rich white folks stay at," Broadnax said.

Their targets turned out to be Butler, 28, and Swan, 26.

"I made sure they was dead," Broadnax told MyFOXDFW.com

His voice wavering, Broadnax recounted in blood-curdling detail how he shot the men to death in a parking lot outside the recording studio after Cummings asked for a cigarette.

"I just blanked the f--- out," Broadnax said. "I shot him [Butler] and he stumbled back. I shot the driver [Swan]. He hit the ground, you know what I'm saying, but he leaned up like he was going to try to get back up, so I shot him in the head.

"Then his homeboy, I shot his a-- again, you know what I'm saying, but he was still trying to run off," he continued. "I knew he was going to die anyway, but just to make sure — pop, pop."

Broadnax said he shot Butler twice in the head.

I have seen too much evidence of young men both black and white who have appeared to have grown up without a conscience. No remorse - hardened by life and hardened to life. They embrace the notion of 'gangsta' - and unfortunately unlike Lil' Wayne (see previous post) are never going to live to brag about their rise to fame!

An afternoon w/ Lil' Wayne

I promised my eldest son that I would listen to the latest Cd by Rapper Lil' Wayne before I dismissed his lack of judgement. So with headphones on I settled down (!) for a 77 minute joyride in the presence of "the greatest rapper of his generation".
Without being unduly unkind - there was some definite skill in wordplay demonstrated throughout. There was the presence of commercial and annoyingly good backbeats and samples. "Lollipop" is an insiduous track that slides into the subconcious before you fully realize the overt oral sexual overtones.
Of course I was listening to the 'unclean' version - and therein lies a problem. How clever a wordsmith do you have to be to use f*@# or m-F or b**tch a thousand times - I can get a dose of that everyweek in my Jail GED class - unfortunately many young black males live in a distorted "WAYNE'S WORLD" but without the bling and the arrogant self promotion.
I wish my son had been exposed to REAL afro-american writing and poetry from the likes of James Baldwin, Langston Hughes and even Gil Scott-Heron before he rose to acclaim Mr Carter as a great poet.
I wish that I could say that my afternoon with Lil' Wayne had a redemptive purpose or an educational, uplifting outcome. Instead I was left with the impression that he is symptomatic of a problem, not an attempt to be a solution, to the plight of the oppressed minorities, whether racially or economically. I am looking for a voice to arise out of the urban landscape that not only speaks truth to power but does it in a way that brings life! Up to this point there has only been one in my lifetime - Martin Luther King, and there is only one who can truly set people free by his word and that is Jesus Christ!