Crackers by Chris Rock

It's taken 6 years for this music video to get out. If the title doesn't give you a clue why it's taken so long to get out, everything from 27 seconds on will.



Oh it's a parody of Outkast's Hey Ya music video alright. And it's dripping with sarcasm. I couldn't stop laughing the first time I saw it. In fact I'm surprised that Chris Rock made it. Bold is not the word.

The best thing about this video is what is being said. More than the insult that's the catch-phrase of the video. It's going to the heart of serveral issues.

But let's look at the catch-phrase for a second. Some Whites will be offended by being called a cracker. Which I can understand as it is offensive. But how is that different than calling a Black person the N-word? Isn't Rock "re-inventing" the meaning, just as Whites (and ignorant African Americans who likewise have no clue of the meaning and power of the term) claim when they use the term freely as if it were meaningless? If some Whites are offended, how in the hell do these same people not expect at least some African Americans to be offended?

The video goes deeper though. There is history in this. Lot's of it. They may not cover lynchings and rapes of African Americans for centuries of American history in school, but this video reminds us that it happened. Some of it far less than a century ago (the last attempted lynching on record was in 2005, and one of the more recent travesties of White on Black violence was the Megan Williams case in West Virginia - which the major media convienently avoided).

Oh this video cuts to the bone. It's not to kind to those that would adorn themselves with the N-word either.

There is just too much symbolism and truth to this music video parody. But is it racist, which it is sure to be called? I don't think so.

Slave rape, police brutality in regard to people of color, lynchings (as recent as 1981), popularization of demeaning terminology, commoditization of Black culture, insane degrees of disparity in economic and social status, and the willful disregard for inclusion of people of color in the entertainment industry are just a few facts this video hits on. If you covered all these topics in a speech, a lecture, or as I have from time to time on this blog, it's not racist. The fact it's all in 4 minutes of a music video, with more than a touch of humor and a slashing sarcasm makes it no more racist.

Chris Rock should take a bow. This music video parody is brilliant.

Do we need to see Who's Your Caddy? - 7.16.2007.1

I was in the movies recently (seeing Harry Potter) and I noticed a couple of movies coming up. One of them I had to double check and see other trailers. That movie was Who’s Your Caddy? The title makes you think golf, and perhaps a comedy. I’m sure that was what whoever wrote and directed this was intending. Sadly, they seemed to have missed the mark.

The fact is that Who’s Your Caddy? is apparently a cheap remake of Caddyshack. The fact that it’s a remake doesn’t mean that it’s bad. The storyline, as featured by the trailers says it is. All the elements are there, rich guy wants to play golf because he loves the game. Another rich guy that has an obnoxious attitude and is anal-retentive refuses to let him join. The first guy strives to join the exclusive membership and a golf match is setup to determine which of the 2 stay. That’s Caddyshack. The changes are that the protagonist is black, the humor has devolved to include large helpings of body humor, and there are gratuitous scenes of women gyrating. Oh, and a love story that sounds weak, and a hidden talent at playing golf. Help me.

Could they remake Caddyshack with African Americans and have it be a good movie? Sure they can, if they spent some money on the writing. They didn’t. Could it still be worth watching with a less than great script? Sure, if they had good directing. Seems like they missed on that too.

I have no problem that the film is based on a rapper that has done very well for himself. He has money, cool. He has an entourage that seems to be less than bright, not so cool. The one guy is so dumb that when someone asks to get Johnny Cochrane involved (which in itself was stupid) and they are told he is dead (Newsflash!) the black guy thinks that one of them killed him. Please. In another part we see that there is a music video, and the women of course are music video girls, and have to be in tops that are skimpy and clothes that are too tight. What could be the motivation for having Mr. Faizon Love fart like a foghorn? You must be kidding right? Oh, don’t forget the required ghettoized golf cart.

It’s a collection of juvenile jokes. That could still be good but they could have made it so much more. Yet I have to imagine that the executives involved in greenlighting this movie figured a couple of things. First, they have a rapper/entertainer in the movie (Big Boi of Outkast). That will attract the hip hop and rap music fans. It’s a pro-black, large African American cast which will ensure that a good percentage of Blacks will see it no matter what. Third the cost of the film is really low so there is no real risk.

It’s basically the same formula used in Soul Plane. Cheap film (about $5 million) featuring African Americans, with a low quality script, makes about $35 million in the movies even after the massive number of bootleg DVDs made on it. Then it gets to an official DVD and On Demand on cable. Maybe another $5 million there. The execs could care less how ghettofabulous or silly the African American culture is portrayed. They got their money and they are satisfied.

This movie looks to be beneath everyone involved from the look of it. I’d like to think I’m wrong, but considering trailers tend to be the best 30 seconds or so of a movie the outlook is bleak.

This is what I think, what do you think?

Andre 3000 as Sammy Davis Jr - 6.21.2007.1

On some lighter news I wanted to mention I saw a little while ago. A movie will be made soon on the life of the multi-talented entertainer Mr. Sammy Davis Jr. The film will be a portrayal of his news making relationship with Ms. Kim Novak. The key starring role will be going to one member of the music group Outkast, Andre 3000.

Andre 3000 has been getting a lot of attention and work in film and television lately. He has a children’s television show on the Cartoon Network, was in the re-make of Charlotte’s Web, had a supporting role in 4 Brothers, and starred in the movie Idlewild. The question of course is he capable of pulling off the role.

While there is no question that Andre 3000 can sing, his acting is questionable. He isn’t a stellar actor, though I place him head and shoulders above virtually all those rapper-think-I’m-an-actor actors out these days. So at worst he will be able to convincingly do the singing portion. In terms of look they are similar so that will help as well. The main problem I think is that Mr. Sammy Davis Jr. was not a tall man. Andre 3000 is taller and so that might throw things off a bit. Unless I am mistaken on their heights.

For those too young to remember Mr. Sammy George Davis Jr., you really missed a great performer. This World War II veteran, could sing, dance, play instruments, do stand up comedy and impressions. He came from a family (dad was like me, Black and Puerto Rican, his mother was either Cuban or Puerto Rican) that did vaudeville and thus like many of that time could do it all. Today’s entertainers may be good, but few of them can do more than one thing, Mr. Davis did it all.

Not only did Mr. Sammy Davis Jr. rise to be a renowned entertainer, he broke racial barriers while doing it. During most of his life segregation was not a word, but a fact of life. It’s been reported how he often performed in Las Vegas, filling the house, but was not allowed to stay in the hotels he worked at. [That changed when Mr. Frank Sinatra took his side.] Interracial dating may be a common practice for those under 30 these days, but in the 60’s it was a reason why he was removed from the inaugural party for President Kennedy. Yet he surmounted this, and a car accident that nearly killed him and cost him an eye.

That’s an entertainer. I only hit a few of his accomplishments, and struggles. So when I saw I wonder if Andre 3000 can pull it off, you have an idea why.

This is what I think, what do you think?