Michelle Obama has invited rapper “Common” to the White House to read poetry. Conservative groups are displeased with the invitation and that is causing a predictable reaction from the left:
Even though it’s 2011, we’re still litigating whether rap music in and of itself is a societal corrosive or an artistic expression that channels raw experience and expurgates emotions in the form of a catharsis. It’s really the old Plato versus Aristotle rap battles over the artistic merits of tragedy — at least we can dance to it, so there’s that.
But the news today is that Michelle Obama is having some poets over to the White House to read some poetry, and that one of those poets is Chicago rapper Common, and OH MY GOD did you know he’s rapped about violence? It’s true, and the Daily Caller is beefing about it.
The principle argument centers around the imagery of violence and what seems to be a call for the death of George W. Bush:
“A Letter to the Law”
No time for that, because there’s things to be done
Stay true to what I do so the youth dream come
from project building
Seeing a fiend being hung
With that happening, why they messing with Saddam?
Burn a Bush cos’ for peace he no push no button
The truth is, that’s small potatoes. There’s much, more of this poet’s eloquence. And that’s before we get to his support of cop killers.
“Orange Pineaapple Juice”
Peep the maneuver, how bout the Heim-lich
I rhyme sick and you can get the duck, coon
I’m the shit, you’re shit out of luck, tough
I’m the act to follow, housing kids like Ronald
Mac like Donald Goines, flows I change like coins
Choyoyoyyoyoyyng, choyoyoyyyyng, choyoyoyoyyyyyng
I draw a crowd like blood with the ‘pint of’ technique
and everybody there be like, “YEAH!”
Cause cain’t near a nig dat’ll say ‘Whoomp, There It Is’
I’m like a mom on section 8, over-bearing kids
shit they be like, “Com-mon!” That’s my muhfucka true
Youse a hamburger, I’ma Fudrucker
askin me to lettuce ketchup, knowin you can’t cut the mustard
So where’s the beef, jerky?
I’m as Worthy as James, not that good with names
but I do remember your face from someplace this is one taste
of Chicago, we got mo’ many mo’ many mo’ many mo’ flavors
Don’t just come to me, go ask thy neighbor-I’m-a-hood takin niggaz under
on the tundra, cause “they’re plain, they’re plain” (Fantasy Island)
I’m on a plateau that is fat so
It’s just a fan-tasy, for the fans to see
how I land, I’m grand like a finale
I’m goin back to Cali (why?) cause Cali got bitches check it
Aiyyo Dart this is a sickness
“Real Nigga Quotes”
Real nigga quotes I tote, got some shit on the free but
This some shit that I wrote, legendary like The Goat
Who got game? Giving a quarter rest while I make these quarter notes
My album, niggaz was expectin, now my water broke
Before it, I was sorta broke
Get the paper for the funnies, sports and the horoscope
On a curry goat, like flu stokes order coke
You sharp with your rings and chain but you short a rope
At the end of the road trip still, I’ma hold shit down like syndrome
Rappers are like Fox Brown tryin to get home
Rarely get your touchdown, I’m in the end zone
You can’t honor what I’m on, then bitch nigga, get gone
>From the wind storm, I’ve been told the street folklore
Body language spoke raw, don’t talk to broads that are spoke for
That provokes war, stand out like cold sores
You claim that you hard but you wholecore
George Bush and CIA, you movin old or
I Wright like Richard for publishing while you sold yours
I use to love H.E.R.
I might’ve failed to mention that this chick was creative
But once the man got you well he altered her native
Told her if she got an image and a gimmick
that she could make money, and she did it like a dummy
Now I see her in commercials, she’s universal
She used to only swing it with the inner-city circle
Now she be in the burbs lickin rock and dressin hip
And on some dumb shit, when she comes to the city
Talkin about poppin glocks servin rocks and hittin switches
Now she’s a gangsta rollin with gangsta bitches
Always smokin blunts and gettin drunk
Tellin me sad stories, now she only fucks with the funk
Stressin how hardcore and real she is
She was really the realest, before she got into showbiz
I did her, not just to say that I did it
But I’m committed, but so many niggaz hit it
That she’s just not the same lettin all these groupies do her
I see niggaz slammin her, and takin her to the sewer
But I’ma take her back hopin that the shit stop
Cause who I’m talkin bout y’all is hip-hop
It’s positively Whitmanesque. I have a couple of questions:
Does Michelle Obama allow her girls to sing these lyrics? Is this “poetry” on the kids’ i-Pods?
Just askin’.
This is the “poetry” I want to see read to the kids at White House.
And it also happens that “Common” wrote a song in support of a convicted cop killer.
Rap artist “Common” performs at a poetry evening at the White House to celebrate the American arts, music and song.
He was invited by the First Lady and President Obama who hosted the event. His appearance has created controversy.
Conservatives say his lyrics celebrate violence. New Jersey state troopers are really angry.In one of his rap songs the lyrics question the conviction of a woman who was jailed for killing a New Jersey state trooper.
Black Panther Assata Shakur, formerly known as Joanne Chesimard was convicted for the 1973-slaying of Trooper Werner Forester on the New Jersey Turnpike.She escaped from a New Jersey prison and now is hiding in Cuba.
It seems that Common has named his daughter after the cop killer
Omoye Assata Lynn is the only child of the rapper and former girlfriend Kim Jones. Her birth coincided with the release of Common’s third album, “One Day It’ll All Make Sense.”
Common has also written a song in support of Mumia Abu Jamal
As the controversy flared online, conservative outlets reported that Common has voiced support for cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal. In his rap, “God Is Freedom,” he declared that “flyers say ‘free Mumia’ on my freezer.” Mumia Abu-Jamal was sentenced to death for the 1981 murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner.
It is noted with dismay:
In an unfortunate coincidence, Common’s appearance at the White House event coincides with National Police Week.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.
But it’s art!
And that makes it okay!
And these poems (?) certainly reflect the opinions of Moochelle.
You can’t question art (unless it is conservative art).
You can’t restrict speech (unless it supports capitalism or free markets).
And you certainly can’t question the taste of our most prominent voice from the ‘hood, FLOTUS.
What you can do is take an anti-nausea pill, buckle your seat belt, and notify your elected representatives of the tasteless, cheap, tawdry, and demeaning manner in which the White House decorates itself.
And if you are a policeman, never attend any meetings with the President.
Sick.
That’s all. Just sick.
mathman, this is called ” INCITING”
THE AMERICANS DECENT PEOPLE
Remember when this magazine cover was called ”offensive” by Obama’s people?
Well, it looks a lot more like reality now that we’ve seen two + years of Muslim speeches (one to come this week) and militancy toward running every aspect of our children’s lives.
Common’s ”poetry” says a whole lot about who these people in the White House really are.
Reading Michelle’s Self-Indulgent Senior Thesis, Explains it All
It was a senior thesis. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8642.html
That of course has been locked up from the public, but you can read it if you want to waste a few minutes.
There’s a problem deep down inside
It’s a malignancy known as entitlement
Like a fool’s pass, it’s just a free ride
a Master’s thesis, wallows in the tide
reads sophomoric self indulgence
Yet laughingly passed as literary
Yet those with a grain of sense
See pathetic whining so dreary
when Moochelle makes critical errors
Remember she has been schooled
To point out her faults is not clever
For her slop should be bejeweled
The main birth right of entitlement
means never submit to judgement
It is REAL hard to think that this crap he spews is called “poetry” in ANY sense of the word, much less the bastardization of the english language that ebonics has become. This is a slap in tht eface of all of our kids, no matter the color or race- this is NOT
@Blake: ^$$@!^% fat- fingered me! This is NOT in any way furthering the education, but instead, dumbing-down the populace, and The people at the WH should be ashamed of themselves, but of course, they are not capable of that emotion.
Oh, by the way, common is the son of a professional basketball player who grew up in a mansion and no more lived in the ghetto than my dog. But if you can pimp the race card, why not? The phony ghetto kid writes phony lyrics to pretend to be a gangster. What a bunch of BS, all around.
I’m not really sure this should be all that surprising to anyone here. I mean, when one of the most common(no relation) visitors to the WH is the union thug Trumka, and other visitors have included McCartney, who gave an unfunny diatribe on Bush, Soros, who seems to be the master puppeteer of all progressives, Jeremiah “God Damn America!” Wright, Malik Shabazz, the racist New Black Panther leader, William Ayers, accused but unrepentant domestic terrorist, Michael Moore, who famously tells lies to rake in millions and then whines about capitalism, Jesse Jackson, the race-baiting shakedown artist, and many, many, similar people.
Do we really have to wonder at the Audacity of the Obamas, who invite, and receive, those who not only hate, but wish to transform, America?
I definitely think that Michelle should have picked a more tasteful artist–there is nothing wrong with her having a rapper recite poetry at the White House, but there could have been a better person selected that is a better representation of professionalism.
Those who don’t like Common
Are racists full of spite,
Burning green with envy
’Cause he’s so erudite.
His lyrics: poetic;
His harmony: sublime.
He’ll serenade Michelle
With caustic, vulgar rhyme.
So don’t begrudge Common
His one White House invite.
Things could be worse, I’d say:
It could be Reverend Wright.
Is it really shocking or merely an affirmation of who these people are – stupid and un-Western-Worldly.
By itself, it is damning proof we are a rudderless country, but reading No. 7, it is hilarious and sad at the same time. That this kid had all the advantages of life, makes it utterly hypocritical. It is stunning to think that with the educational perks available to him he is still immersed mentally in the hood. Poetry, my ass! I’ll bet he couldn’t pass a 6th grade English test in the UK. It only proves that a really dumb kid can put some words together to make a really dumb statement. I guess it Meeshelle’s thing.
Gee, someone that hates America and calls it racist gets an invite to the WH. Not a surprise under this president/first lady.
How does having someone like Common invited to the White House advance race relations? Fact of the matter is, it doesn’t.
Most white people understand that there are blacks who hate them and are racist toward them. And there are whites that hate blacks and blacks know that. But most white people were unaware of Common, or his words, and now they are and they understand that the hate that Common directs toward them, and is accepted by the black community is now acceptable by the First Lady. The fact that Michelle Antoinette would invite such an inciteful “poet”, shows that she is tone deaf to the feelings of anyone that is not black, or who doesn’t approve of cop killing, or who doesn’t think that having sex with a white woman is ok as long as they can be used as nothing but a sex toy but a black man, with self respect, would never marry that little white “ho”.
What do you expect from a WH that had Christmas ornaments with Moa’s picture on them?
I wonder where our resident moonbats are on this one? I am surprised that rich, tom, etc… aren’t worked up over our short sightedness on this invite.
Anticsrocks aka Dr. J’s mini me. I’m enjoying BHO”s 60% approval rating.
Who’s Moa?
@rich wheeler: 60 percent.
LMAO
@rich wheeler:
Wait- let me do a Tom.
Rich, I guess this proves you endorse these lyrics.
rich wheeler, good but temporary only
Well Dr. J, I guess little dickie thinks that calling me your mini me is an insult or something. As I told him, if he wanted to insult me, he should call me HIS mini me. Now THAT would be insulting!
@little dickie wheeler: I guess you can’t recognize a typo when you see one… It is of course, supposed to be Mao, not Moa. Don’t get yer vowels in an uproar over this, dickie.
As to his high approval ratings, his bump is primarily from Republicans who are presumably happy that he made the call to kill OBL. That won’t translate into votes come 2012. High gas prices, brutal economy and the joblessness will hang ’round his neck like a stone.
Dr J. Another of your non stories.Not a single announced candidate even mentioned him.I’d prefer an update on your buddy Col.Gadhaffi.I believe his murderous days are numbered.
Also thought it very cool the way you defended Retire05 calling the POTUS a “half-breed”
@little dickie wheeler: As usual, you ignore comments that you don’t want to deal with.
And as usual, right out of the Alinsky play book, you try to throw bombs at Dr. J.
Interesting how you condone the lyrics of Common. I take it you would invite him to your house as well as the Peoples’ House?
Little dickie, 60%? I see you just happened to miss the LARGE AP symbol on the Open Thread that shows he isn’t at 60% approval. Typical leftist. If it doesn’t fit your reality you don’t adjust your views, you just ignore reality.
Someone hold my beer while I b*tch slap Dickie with the truth:
It’s a poll of adults and not likely voters.
Breakdown by party ID:
46 percent identify as Democrat or leaning Democrat,
29 percent identify as Republican or leaning Republican,
4 percent identify as purely independent leaning towards neither party,
and 20 percent answered, “I don’t know.”
60%? Buwahahahaha! Keep dreaming you deluded fool.
So to sum it up for you, it’s a junk poll.
http://floppingaces.net/2011/05/11/weekly-open-thread-75/
H.R. You’re to the right of Atilla the Hun,proud of it and totally out of whack with reality.
A poll of adults you say.Damn,I THOUGHT IT WAS A POLL OF KIDS.
Dems 46 Repubs 29 .That certainly bolsters your story.
ANYBODY within 10 points of BHO head up? I know,I know it’s early.I’ll wait
Semper Fi
rich wheeler, since the term “half breed” seems to offend your sensibilities, from this day forward I will only refer to Obama as a mulatto.
Oh, and btw, RealClearPolitics has Obama’s approval rating at 51.5%, only one poll has him at 60%.
@Skookum: \
I made a copy of that “thesis” a couple years ago…she shouldn’t have graduated Princeton based on it…the professor should be hung that approved it…she got into Princeton because her brother played on the basketball team …even with Affirmative Action she was barely accepted…what a POS
@rich wheeler:
Wow. You are less intelligent than I thought.
They poll likely voters because that comes closest to matching election results. Polling “adults”? Not so much.
If you want to pretend that a deliberately biased poll means obama is at 60% approval you are free to do so. However, we’d like you to quit whining when we prove you to be living in fantasy land-as we have just done.
John Galt I realize in an ideal world we’d only invite cowboys in 10 gallon hats singin about their pick up trucks and their dawgs I don’t have a clue who Common is but to knock Mc Cartney singing Michelle. That’s cold.
RETIRE05 AND ALLAN ALLEN Is calling the POTUS a Mullato and the First Lady a POS the Conservative voice??
HARD RIGHT Your RCP Poll of polls 51.6%-42.5% + 9.1% Fine
Let’s see, he disagrees with johngalt, so he attacks him.
He disagrees with me, so he attacks me.
He disagrees with Dr. J., so he attacks him.
He disagrees with……well nearly everyone. So he basically attacks all.
Since I have been a regular here at FA, I have noticed that little dickie wheeler’s rants have been consistently moving to the left. Now that some of the really wacko moonbats have been culled, he has proudly stepped up and taken their place. Way to go, dickie, you are our new Braindead Rob…
Antics, I’ve noticed that too. It seems as reality fails to conform to the version of reality dickie wants to exist, he lashes out at us. Apparently, attacking us allows him to avoid facing the harsh truth about himself and his beliefs. A psychiatrist would have a field day with him in addition to making a fortune as his kind only go deeper and deeper into denial. IIRC it’s called pathological denial of reality.
It plays a significant part in explaining how the destruction of our energy production is viewed as a positive by such individuals. The other major part is narcissism.
As little dickie is incapable of self introspection, expect him to get worse.
Anticsrocks and Hard Right I”m really sorry guys
I had no idea you were so thin skinned. I’ll go easy from now on.
btw I agreed with H.R’s POLL and I thank him for his medical advice.Is he in practice with Dr.John?
I haven’t heard John Galt cry like a baby like you do Anticsrocks.Why is that?
I had someone download several songs on a computer I used to own. I really never listen to music, truthfully I can’t stand most of it but the chance to own a few songs arose and I gave a few of the songs a chance before deleting them. On of those songs was a duet which introduced me to common and another rapper, the song actually mentions using angel dust and using marijuana and cocaine, which caused me to delete it shortly after. I had to give it a couple listens because I was so shocked at the values of the current “artists” and “poets”, that are making music for young people. They not think of something wholesome to sing, so they just sing about debauchery.
Angel dust use may explain the phenomenon known as “common” lyrics. A drug addict in the white house…
I said:
Hard Right said:
And here, little dickie proved us right…
Evidently my pointing out that he has been on attack mode more and more as of late is crying; and I guess the fact that folks agree with me means everyone is crying.
Paranoia is a tricky thing, dickie.
LOL
AP states that Obama is enjoying a 60% approval rating, not among likely voters, or even voters at all, just among adults.
But AP says all sorts of stuff that is fantastic.
(The stuff of fantasy, that is, not good.)
Like, today.
AP ignored the facts that we are suffering the flooding of much significant farmland.
(Now, I’m no ”Malthusian,” but we are going to have major crop failures in the USA, spending one ear of corn on ethanol is one ear of corn too many.)
But AP didn’t like how we laughed at their headline last week, to wit: there is no inflation.
So, what to do?
Put out a better headline this week: Consumer inflation may be peaking, economists say.
Yeah, sure.
And what’s wrong with cowboys and their dawgs? Too Funny!
Bard: Erudite Indeed! Too funny!
Zac, a new metaphor for white house? Obviously not an Almish Milking House.
Allen Allan, the link I gave has the thesis divided into four parts. It is a strange thesis that relies on personal opinions concerning race and the problems of assimilating into the “White” world and compromising “Blackness”, rather than doing research. In the universities of old, the thesis would have been cut to rag dolls in a freshman English class by a prof foaming at the mouth with a profound hatred of undergrads; unless, you are “entitled” by race or ethnicity, you are then allowed to write almost anything and be praised as erudite or you could accuse the prof of being racist, an epithet far worse than being called a commie. Actually, to be thought of as a commie in most universities is to wear a badge of honor and distinction: yet, to be considered or accused of being a racist would be considered a career ending accusation.
Thus America works through its racial issues by creating deep seated animosities based on a scale that was unbalanced. Michelle is aware of the measuring device and refuses to make the necessary adjustments. If they want to immortalize cop killers, misogyny, and the drug culture; who are we to criticize?
Why, we be the racists, that’s who!
We who crawl on our belies like reptiles,
How could we be so common and brash
To criticize Michelle with patronizing smiles
While we neutralize gains by talking trash
You must admit the Obamas deserve their due
They transform America right before our eyes
So sit back an’ take a drink of right strong brew
marvel at the creativity and novelty of his lies
conmen make you think, you enjoy a terrible screw
we shake our heads and join in a collective sigh
with vigor, Obama says, “I’m not done with you”
There will be more. I fell off my horse laughing, and still more!
@John Evan Miller: Rap is not poetry, in any shape or form, any more than it is music.
People (of the liberal persuasion, no doubt) would like to boost the egos of these people by claiming that they did a good thing, when this style of “poetry” or “music” is akin to a mentally challenged person coloring outside the lines- you can applaud the effort, and make this person feel good, but it is still not good enough to “pin on the fridge” or show your friends.
Let’s face it- it is poor effort that is hugely rewarded, like affirmative action for the arts.
@retire05: You could always refer to Obama as a “high Yeller”, as the Louisianians (mostly Cajuns) used to- he is hard to describe- mixed race, half-breed, “multi ethnic”- I just call him a socialistic traitor and be done with him- he’s just Carter with a good tan.
I had forgotten about Michelle Antoinette’s thesis. But I do remember that in it she expressed surprise that the black alums of Princeton did not subscribe to her belief in separatism that she so soundly accepted. She stated that she was “hoping” for different results, to prove her thesis that blacks will always remain outside the norms of a “white” society. She did not get her wish and only 22% of the questionaires she sent to alums were responded to. Guess they were too busy making money in her “perceived” white world.
But with her invite to a “poet” that would be rejected by most people as being a hater, a racist (against whites) and a promoter of violence was a perfectly normal action to Michelle. You see, the views of the woman who wrote that thesis have not changed. She still believes that there is a “black” culture and a “white” culture. If Common is representative of that black culture, then black America has more problems that it will admit to, and not coming from the whites of the nation.
What Michelle Obama has not learned, or is unwilling to accept, is not that we are a melting pot, we are not, but more like a stew, where each ingredient stands out on its own, contributing to the stew as a whole. We can enjoy the foods of other nations, chose as our favorite music the Mississippi Delta blues of blacks, and enjoy those traditions that are not part of our own heritage. The culture of each segment has blended into the culture of all segments.
@rich wheeler:
Did you actually READ my post, Rich?
I said;
I was referring to his monologue he gave on Bush, not his music, or anything else.
You don’t know who Common is? Maybe you should have read more of the postings here. He is a rap artist who sings about killing cops, committing violence against a President, and serenades convicted cop-killers. Does this sound like someone who should be invited to the WH? I don’t. Especially since he was invited to show up during a week honoring Policemen across the nation. Have you ever found anything to criticize Obama for? Or do you blindly give him your support, no matter the issue?
@johngalt: You asked of little dickie wheeler:
I would venture to say that he indeed does blindly support Obama. One might also envision his candle-laden alter to the Anointed One in his house…
Please be advised that the name of the Executive Mansion in the District of Columbia has been changed to,
“JUKE 1600.”
Or, if you prefer, “JOOK 1600.”
@rich wheeler: Rich
What do you do for a living?
That is. if you don’t mind my asking.
Dr J I’m a Realtor/Mortgage Banker and P.T. Personal Trainer. How bout you?
John Galt Obama’s made mistakes.Haven’t we all?
Take a look Rich.
http://blog.usni.org/2011/05/12/and-then-i-think-of-brian-blonder/
Thanks Zac, you know something, he wasn’t that far from the White House. I’ve been to both places, Arlington several times.
Obama’s legacy will be remembered as a series of lost opportunities, for here was the chance to shake the hand of a hero, but he managed to meet Common.
Zac, that is so very touching, so very well compose, and the emotions bursting out of the text,
get you to reflex and pray GOD TO PROTECT HIS TROOPS,
YOU FIND JEWELS FOR US, THANK YOU FOR THIS SPECIAL ONE.
BYE
@rich wheeler:
Rich, it isn’t just about mistakes. Yes, we all make mistakes. Obama, however, has never owned up to his, and liberals, never criticize him for it. Why is that? The only reason that makes even a modicum of sense, is that liberals will not criticize him, no matter how bad the mistake is. Do you find that it was right to invite a person like Common, to a WH event where poets are invited, particularly as it is National Police Week?
And BTW, I don’t really care that Common has said, or sung about, what he feels. I won’t listen to it, but some people will.
If you really think about it, your lack of criticism towards Obama is irrational. Man is fallible, is he not? And if man is fallible, that means that he makes mistakes, both in action, word, and thought, correct? So, a lack of criticism towards a person means either that you don’t care about that person enough to consider their mistakes, let alone acknowledge them, OR, that you believe a person so close to perfect so as not to make anything other than negligible mistakes. You obviously care enough about Obama, otherwise, why the defensive comments of him? So that leaves the OR aspect. That you must believe Obama so close to perfect, that only negligible mistakes happen, in regards to his actions, words, and thoughts, and as such, means that you must believe, for all intents and purposes, that he is nearly a perfect human being. As I said, irrational.
Zac #43 Thanks so much.Inspiring. Today I spent 2 hours visiting the travelling V.N. Memorial Wall in Dana Point CA. 4 miles from my home in San Clemente.Beautiful salute to the 58,ooo who sacrificed their lives for our great country.
Semper Fi
@rich wheeler:
Those war memorials tend to be very somber and reflective, while giving one a sense of appreciation for the service of so many, and the ultimate sacrifice of a great number of those. My favorite has been the WWII memorial in DC. Being there was a very moving experience.
Test. Pls ignore.