Posted on 09/13/2005 10:34:46 AM PDT by Millee
Kanye West stirred all kinds of feelings when he recently told a live TV audience "George Bush doesn't care about black people."
The first lady called those remarks "disgusting." Many people said West was a fool for going political at such an inappropriate moment. Others felt different.
The rapper's vitriolic words captured the frustration and anger of so many people in this country. His words have become a catchphrase emblazoned on T-shirts and bumper stickers.
Now an underground remix of West's song "Gold Digger" - which West was not involved in - is on the Internet, downloaded by tens of thousands.
The refrain: "George Bush don't like black people."
The Houston rap group The Legendary K.O. sampled West's quote, along with the "Gold Digger" music track and vocals from West and actor-singer Jamie Foxx and mashed it with new lyrics.
Here's one verse: "Five d--- days, five long days/ and at the end of the fifth he (Bush) walkin' in like "Hey!"/ Chillin' on his vacation sitting patiently/ Them Black folks gotta hope, gotta wait and see/ If FEMA really comes through in an emergency/but nobody seems to have a sense of urgency."
There's no way to measure whether Bush really cares about black people. But one thing is clear: He knows how to care for his own. By that, I mean he takes care of his homies.
It's clear that Michael Brown, the incompetent FEMA director who finally resigned Monday, got his job because he's a friend of Bush buddy Joe Allbaugh, a longtime ally and Bush's 2000 presidential campaign manager.
Mediocrity begets mediocrity.
Three days into rescue efforts, when it was clear Brown was over his head, Bush said he was doing "a heck of a job."
That remark got people wondering if Bush cares about black people. Kanye West just said it out loud.
Many people said West was dead wrong. It's not that Bush doesn't care about black people; he doesn't care about poor people.
This is their proof: If Bush cared about the victims, he wouldn't have flown to San Diego the day after Hurricane Katrina struck. He wouldn't have stayed in vacation mode for three days. He wouldn't have flown overhead
in Air Force One.
Bush supporters don't seem to see a connection between that, his inept friend of a friend heading FEMA, and the bungled efforts to rescue those trapped by flooding. Instead, they're calling for a boycott of West's music.
Well, West's sophomore album, "Late Registration," is No. 1 on the Billboard charts, where it should be.
West may have gone over the line on national TV, but he's the antidote to rappers who glorify bling-bling. (His new album includes a song that calls on people to stop buying diamonds because of their connection to death and unrest in Africa.)
West has appeared on two other TV telethons since his infamous remarks, without any political quips. Americans got a chance to see another side of him.
During the "Shelter From the Storm" concert, broadcast live Friday night, West wore his trademark preppy V-neck sweater. He performed a revised version of "Jesus Walks," the acclaimed single off his first album.
He put politics aside, and rapped, "I can only imagine if I couldn't talk to my mother. If I had to lose my home. If I had to stay in the Superdome."
No doubt West is as angry and frustrated as so many of us who have felt helpless in the face of government incompetence.
Maybe his next song will explore those issues. Until then, we've got the remix.
What the comment that Kanye West is a racist A$$hole that is single handedly trying to start more racial conflict where there isn't any.
Frankly, I don't blame him for not wanting to hear ANY rap song.
What's wrong with saying that Kanye West and "The Legendary K.O." are a pack of bigoted racist hatemongers?
If he has the guts to make up a rap "exploring" the mind-blowing incompetence of Ray Nagin and Kathleen Blanco, I might gain some shred of respect for him ...
Bigoted Race mongering POS. And that goes for the author of this piece of trash too.
Thank you.
I don't think W's exactly a big rap fan, anyway...
I doubt that the President could really care if people hear this song or not. The type of person who would download it and listen to it are the same type of person who would feel at home at DU.
Exactly. The Denver Post could have saved a few trees if it had just printed:
"Savvy cynic West knows the same people that bought Michael Moore's books will buy his CDs."
I don't quite know which is worst for "disenfranchised" America, Jesse or Kayne, crack or rap. Both look and feel like gold to these folks but only after "living the life" for many years do SOME realize it's pyrite.
Ted Kennedy is also trying to start more racial conflict where there isn't any at Roberts confirmation hearings.
It was learned that his sainted mother was an English prof and his absent father a Black Panther turned Christian marriage counselor. He scandalized the scandalmongers by announcing that he damn right had more jam than Gretchen Wilson, then wrote a quasi-apology that had diamonds in it. When he tacked on a verse about Sierra Leone, he was chided for his failure to earn a degree in geopolitics first.
Oh goodie...more political masterminds letting the world know what their political opinions are, like we care.
One more thing - he is now guaranteed a Grammy, so he won't have to throw another public fit about not winning one this year.
If he's like me and millions of other civilized and discerning folks the correct reply would be "all of them".
Who, in their right mind, cares in the least about any 'rapper'?
National Association of Hispanic Journalists
Cindy Rodríguez writes a twice weekly column for the features section of The Denver Post. Prior to joining the Post in 2003, Rodríguez worked for six years at The Boston Globe where she covered several beats, the last of which was immigration issues. She has also worked for the Akron Beacon Journal and The Syracuse Newspapers.
She has been a member of NAHJ since 1989. Before joining NAHJ's board of directors in August of 2004, Rodríguez led NAHJ's student newspaper project off and on for several years.
Rodríguez grew up in Harlem, NYC, the daughter of a Puerto Rican mother and Cuban father. She is a graduate of The City College of New York.
It's also clear that FEMA did a decent job with four major hurricanes last year.
Whereas the money allocated for Katrina relief to date exceeds the total damage for the next-three largest past hurricanes - Andrew, Charley and Ivan.
So this storm was much larger - by an order of magnitude - than anything that has hit this country in the last 100 years. Hard to adequate cover all bases for that.
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