Yesterday was a big day. The Soundscan face off between Kanye and Fitty or um, I'm sorry Curtis. Who will win David or Goliath? Only a week will tell. Yesterday also marked the six year anniversary of the tragedies at the world trade center, the pentagon and flight 93. I consider them both to be events of significance. Graduation vs. Curtis will set the tone for music over the next couple of years, or at least the next couple of months. Curtis is a Fitty album in true form filled with tales of gun play and hot girls. Graduation is a great work, but not nearly as good as Mr. West's previous offerings. Quick, everyone try to remember what it was like the first time you heard All Falls Down or the first time you heard Drive Slow. There will be none of those feelings here. He will have no argument when he gets 4.5 mics instead of 5, but my money is still on Kanye.
I am using today as an opportunity to bring up another recent tragedy in our Nation's history, one that Kanye is connected with. Remember Kanye, in reference to the Kartina disaster saying, "President Bush doesn't care about black people"? I do, and I would like to amend that statement to "President Bush doesn't care about poor people." Race is a lesser issue where he's concerned. I know what everyone's thinking, it's a little late for a Katrina discussion. WRONG. This is the perfect time because this time two years ago was when the real tragedy was taking shape. The residents of the Crescent City, are used to a little bad weather, and by bad weather, I do mean that to include catastrophic, seemingly apocalyptic,category five storms. It seems only natural, them living in a bowl shaped city below sea level, on a hurricane path and all.
Unfortunately, something else that the resident's of New Orleans are used to is a a failure by their Government to adequately protect them from harm. It just seems a little absurd that in a country where we've placed a man on the moon, people have figured out how to get the Terminator and President Bush to become elected officials and Magic Johnson has been living with HIV for over a decade we could not get a drop of water or a sandwich dropped into a major city in under five days. It's appalling. Katrina herself is not the eye of the tragedy the federal Government is.
While we grieve for the victim's of 9/11 we should also have a heavy heart for those who are still referred to as a refugees in their own country because landlords, and insurance companies are not being forced to keep up their end of the bargain, and these folks have been forced to relocate. When we think about the terrorist attacks of 9/11 let us also think of the men, women, and children who drowned to death,who died of starvation, who were raped, who were without medicine while they waited for their government to respond.
Fresh.
P.S. I don't think most people necessarily relate consciousness and fashion. Please stay aware and remember that there's a war going on.
