It's Reached a New Plateau

Those of you who have been around from the starting point know how I feel about all the little thug-wannabe bastards that exist in the world. You know about the anger, the frustration, the madness they cause me. Well, that has all changed.

No longer am I angry. No longer am I mad. No longer do I want to grab them by their baggy pants, straighten their hat and shake them until they agree to stop finishing every sentence with yo, youknowhatimsayin' or dawg. Actually, that last part isn't true; I still want to do that bit.

But after I shake the shit out of them, I want to educate them. Why? What has prompted this change? One quote, delivered by a would-be thug returning a movie:

Calvin: American Gangster, that was pretty good.
Thuggy McThuggenstein: Yeah, it was a'ight. There wasn't enough gangsterdom. Coulda been more killin' and shit.

Gangsterdom? We're in trouble.

Here is my solution:

Remember in school when they used to bring in the motivational speakers every year and it was always a recovering alcoholic or drug addict, someone who could warn you about the ills of society? That never worked because it was always the same dude every year. The first time you heard him, fine, you listened. Then the next year when you went to the same assembly, it did nothing for you.

Instead of bringing the speaker to the people, we need to bring the people to the speakers. Forget having school assemblies when some guest comes in to the auditorium and no one pays attention for a hour and a half, we need to reverse things. I say we load up for a class trip and let the wanna-be thugs meet some real thugs and hear their stories.

How long do you think some tough-talking shoplifter from St. Johns would last in Compton?
What about Harlem? Or better yet, how tough and dangerous would these kids be sitting in a penitentiary visitors room talking with convicts, getting some real knowledge about the end results of the life they think is oh so glamourous?

This is one of those things that some talk show needs to do. Oprah needs to make this happen. Instead of handing out free shit to people and having Dr. Oz come on and talk about colon cleansing again, hook this up. Oprah has that kind of sway, doesn't she? Collect up some would be gangsters and drop'em off at The Pen and pick'em up in an hour or two, see what happens? Sadly, you know one or two morons would think prison life is the bomb yo!

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I'm Sick of These Little Wannabe Thug Bastards!

Someone needs to grab all these little punks by the back of the neck, take them to a maximum security facility and let them talk with the people who have actually committed all the serious, hardcore crimes they idolize and watch them piss their pants!

Maybe then they will realize that the life they're leading right now, is one that ends in jail, dead or as a dredge of civilization.

This venom towards a segment of today's youth comes from two incidents today while I was at work. The first was the little bastard decked in a New Era Cardinals cap - cocked sideways of course - and PNB Nation hoodie that took off like a bat outta hell after stealing a couple movies. The second was the the tilted brim, neck tattoo sporting douchebag who came to the counter and asked "D'you got Menace II Society, yo?" and then was all pumped to go home and watch O-Dogg bust some caps with no idea what the actual message of a film as powerful as Menace truly is. Same goes for Boyz in the Hood...

Seriously, how the fuck did we let our children turn out like this? What the fuck happened?

I'll tell you what happened...

50 Cent happened. Grand Theft Auto happened. Glorification and desensitization of violence, drugs and sex has rotted away the brains of a segment of today's youth and it's goddamn scary. They idolize hip hop artists who glorify "money, cash, hoes" as Jay-Z once rhymed. They think Al Pacino's Scarface is a suitable idol, despite his demise at the end of the film. They think stealing and hustling and being little stick-up kids is a viable occupation, totally oblivious to the damage they do to society, themselves and the people around them. And it sounds corny as hell, but if they're stealing a movie today, next week it's a car and on and on and on until they wind up either dead or in jail. Then it becomes "such a sin what happened to little Johnny..."

Bullshit. The sin is letting it get to this stage in the first place.

Now listen: I'm not going to be another in the long list of people to blame hip hop for all of society's ills. That's too easy and not fair to the incredible artists who have nothing do with this problem - Common, The Roots, Dead Prez and Talib Kweli didn't have nothing to do with this right here...

First and foremost, this is a family issue. Someone along the way that was supposed to steer these kids in the right direction dropped the ball, for whatever reason. Educators too. But after that, a big portion of the blame falls on mass media, some of it's stars and the people that power the machine.

D'you know how hard 50 Cent is now? He's so gully that he lives in Connecticut! That's gangsta!

It's a goddamn shame, but living the Thug Life didn't work out so well for Biggie & Tupac did it?

And all the record executives that want to harp on about freedom of speech can kiss my ass. I'm not saying these bullshit artists poppin' off at the mouth about slinging drugs and bangin' bitches can't say whatever the fuck they please, but that doesn't mean record labels have to put that shit out. No publisher would put out a book of racist poetry would they? Or an instruction manual on how to build bombs? They couldn't do that and then claim freedom of speech without facing the wrath of thousands, so why is this any different?

Unfortunately, the almighty dollar reigns supreme and because such a growing portion of the youth market is drawn to this bullshit - all of it, the music, the image, the bullshit posturing - the cycle just keeps on churning and more and more crap flows into the world. And it's not just music either.

How does a parent let their 7 year old kid play a game like Grand Theft Auto? My old man - for all his shortcomings - would have beat my ass if he caught me playing a game where I could score some drugs, bang hookers in my stolen car and gained points for killing people. When did running around as a little Italian plumber stop being enough?

My solution? I'm taking action - positive action - and getting involved. I'm going to become a Big Brother and perhaps down the road, you know, once this writing thing takes off, do some speaking about topics just like this. If I can help one kid, then I have made a difference. If each of us helps one kid, think of the difference that would make...

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