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NAS ARGUMENT CHALLENGED.

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Drudge:
Look, I don't know if I agree with Nas's coon picnic argument. In-fact, the charge laid at the feet of KOBE,TAYE DIGGS, and CUBA is bogus. The common thread is that they have white wives and/or messed around with white women. The names he listed as men we should look up too Jim Brown, Stokley Carmichael, and others all messed with white women. As far as I'm concerned if I made it out poverty through hard work and perseverance I don't owe nobody shit. The story below tells how one author supports Nas the other one doesn't.





"While "Ants at Nas' Coon Picnic" raises some thoughtful and persuasive critiques of the rapper's diatribe against "sellouts" in media and entertainment, the author's fundamental premise is flawed, his opinion misinformed, and his tone quite elitist.

Morris O'Kelly deserves kudos for pointing out the factual errors in "These Are Our Heroes." Nas, by saying on wax "whatever happened to Weezy/the Red Foxxes?/never won Emmys but were real to me," misinformed many unaware listeners, who might use him as a reference in an argument or conversation and get embarrassed when their audience points out they're wrong.

Mr. O'Kelly deserves even more kudos for pointing out that Nas' praise of Weezy, Red Foxx, and, presumably, their contemporaries are definitely problematic. In the minds of a great deal of people, these actors were the "coons" of their era. The rapper's unqualified remark ignores the fact that Red Foxx and Isabel Sanford arguably reinforced pernicious stereotypes about blacks in their respective roles. The lyrics also ignore the fact that the black community was sorely ambivalent about the TV portrayals Foxx, Sanford, and others provided for mainstream consumption. Perhaps the strongest point in Mr. O'Kelly's critique is his assertion that Nas' clearly calling out non-rappers for buffoonery, but only dissin' other artists subliminally on the track is somewhat hypocritical and opportunistic. It's kind of unfair to mention the WB and UPN in a discussion about "cooning," when Lil Kim is runnin' around with blue contacts, blonde weave, fake breasts, and is a ‘hood poster-girl for Old Navy.

Despite these worthwhile merits, the author's primary argument- (in his own words) "our castigation of fellow African-Americans for supposedly not being ‘Black enough' [is] usually misguided...if not all-out wrong...[Nas] is a case in point"- is fallacious. The MC's observation that Tiger Woods, Taye Diggs, Cuba Gooding, Jr., and Kobe Bryant are sellouts is correct!

Mr. O'Kelly weakly tries to dispute this observation by highlighting what he thinks is a contradiction in Nas' logic.

The author wrongly assumes that the rapper's beef with Tiger, Taye, and Cuba is solely that they have white wives. He says sarcastically, "I get the joke. The common thread here is that all three have White wives." He then tells readers that the real heroes Nas suggests we emulate (eg. Jim Brown, Stokely Carmichael) had relationships with white women too, thus the rapper's reference to Tiger and ‘em as sellouts is bogus, or inaccurate at least. So happy that (he thinks) he has sonned Nas, Mr. O'Kelly asks an irrelevant rhetorical question: "[since Richard Pryor married a few white women], was [he] ‘less real' to you, Nasir, than Red Foxx?" He even says arrogantly in a following line, "I'm beginning to think you're not even sure what point you're trying to make."

The problem is Nas' admiration of Jim Brown, Stokely Carmichael, et al, who also had penchants for white women, is easily reconciled with his disgust with the three jiggaboos in question. The theme of "These Are Our Heroes," as the title so obviously implies, is that "our heroes," the few blacks that have achieved fortune and fame in the mainstream, are not saying or doing enough for the advancement of black people, especially those of us that reside in the ghetto. Why the pompous author missed the whole point of the song and believed that Nas dissed Tiger, Taye, and Cuba just because they had white partners, I can only speculate. Not everyone is preoccupied wit' white folks."

In contrast, Tiger Woods will not even publicly acknowledge he is black, never mind say anything about anything or do anything substantial for the rest of us. (Can you pronounce Cablanasian?) What else has Taye Diggs done concertedly for blacks besides pave the way for other, similar-pigmented actors to participate in scripted interracial relationships on screen? Cuba Gooding, Jr. embarrassed us all by literally doing a back flip for winning an Oscar, for best supporting actor of all honors, for a grossly offensive role in Jerry Maguire. (Show me the money!) Media outlets everywhere captured his unbridled hysteria with snide humor long after the end of the ceremony. His shall indefinitely remain the most undignified, dare I say, stereotypically slavish award acceptance.


--- Quote ---"Tiger Woods will not even publicly acknowledge he is black"
--- End quote ---
  Agreed



compliments of allhiphop.com

Shallow:
I really don't want to get into all this again, but since it's not about interracial couples and more about selling out I restate all my old points.


Tiger Woods is what he is, half black, half Thai. He's not from the ghetto and has no ties to it. He doesn't owe a goddman thing to anyone in it. If he wants to give back then that's great, but if he doesn't than we have no right to insult him. Why should Tiger publicly call himself black or African when half of his entire family tree is Thai. Are the Thai making a big fuss about him not giving back to them. Let me assure you the poor Thai kid in Thailand lives a lot worse than the poor black in America. So what if high profile jobs aren't available, or if College is difficult to get into or pay for, or if a taxi doesn't stop? You think some kid in Thailand who's 4 and 5 years old being pimped out to a pedophile by the child sex industry that plagues that and other countries in the area gives a shit about not being able to get a cab? They'd trade places with any ghetto kid from Queensbridge in a second.

So what if Cuba Gooding Jr celebrated for winning an Oscar? Because he was happy he won the award, something white people do all the time, he's some sort of house nigger? Fuck these afrocentric losers who look at everything as racist. White people never play demeaning roles? Larry Bird didn't exactly come from a silver spoon, I never heard him brigning up the problems of middle America or giving loads back to all those out of work labourers. Was he supposed to?

Nas has no merit and neither does this writer.

smartass:
im gonna tell you straight up, nas is an idiot. he has no room to call anyone else a coon when he was going to stage a fake lynching. not to mention making fun of another black mans facial features. this is the same guy who told a bunch of people to rob another black man because his "voice was annoying and he didnt play hs records" it makes me sick to know that people look up to this clown. i remember when this cat used to be intelligent, but that was like 11 years ago. its amazing what fame can do to someone.

7even:

--- Quote from: smartass on January 12, 2005, 09:54:30 AM --- its amazing what fame can do to someone.

--- End quote ---

...and coke.

lol
this dude musta be sniffin' a LOT in his life..

first I thought this topic was about how nas is retarded when it comes to having arguments.. LOL..

my 2 cent about this black thing is that black people should stop making them look like victims who need to stick together against the though oppression of racist whites or some shit... neither are they changing anything for the better with placing themselves in this role, nor are they fooling anyone.

Juronimo:
I already stated my opinions on Coon Picnic on another thread. Like I stated earlier, Nas's beefs with those people he mentioned has nothing to do with them having white wives, it's the way they behave, they way they carry themselves. The issues that Nas speaks upon are issues that have been talked about and have been geniune issues in the black community for decades. It's easy for one to criticize when one is not familiar with the dynamics he's discussing. The best they can do is to dissect a factual error or a contradiction or two, instead of discussing the real issues, since those that are the most vocal in criticizing Nas, especially on this board have little to no knowledge on issues affecting the black community.

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