It's Hip To Be A Hypocrite

A couple of weeks ago, I was watching music videos with the Sooperfamily on an early weekend morning, when out of the blue, something shocked me. No, it wasn’t the fact that MTV was showing music videos, which would be shocking, but something completely from left field. The image below sent me into an altered state of disbelief.

In the video “Down” by Jay Sean, featuring Lil Wayne, this image actually made me laugh out loud. Lil’ Wayne is flashing his “Communist” shirt proudly. Before I begin to digest this information, a disclaimer. I actually LIKE Lil Wayne. I like his music, his vibe, and his story. He’s actually very talented. That being said, he’s also now an idiot.

The theory of communism according to MSN’s Encarta: “As a political movement, communism sought to overthrow capitalism through a workers’ revolution and establish a system in which property is owned by the community as a whole rather than individuals.” Kind of a bold statement for a rapper to want to give up his accumulated wealth and share it with the common folk, huh? Especially Lil’ Wayne, the guy that coined the term “bling”, “make it rain”, and whose moniker is “Young Money”.

I guess the thing that bothers me the most is that if we were a communist state, what would these people have to rap about? Money? No, it’s our money. You’re no richer or poorer than me. As a matter of fact, you could probably rap to me when I was behind you in the line to get our rations for the month. Could you rap about how you’re the best rapper ever? Nope. We would focus on the greatness of our society, not individual greatness. That’s the essence of your vaunted communism. The community is greater than the individual.

Maybe I could see your political or religious views in your new music video. Maybe you’ll have a shirt that says “L. Ron was right”, “Lenin was the fifth Beatle”, or something stupid like that. Ah, but alas, the government (er…I meant our “community”) would probably silence your political/religious dissent, and since they would most likely have control of all the media, I doubt that there would be music videos (plus they cost money, and we don’t want our money spent on flashy videos. (We’d rather have more bread! Yum!). Does everyone see now why this is stupid?

Let’s break down this situation. There are 3 main topics that the rap world focus on:

1. Money

2. Women

3. Ego

Sure, sure, there have been “political” rap songs before (Fu@$ the Police by N.W.A., and By the Time I Get to Arizona by Public Enemy, from the top of my head), but for the most part, these three topics cover the entire spectrum.

As I said before, there would be no songs about money, because the wealth would be distributed. But take it further. Would these rappers even make songs if they were to get paid what every worker was getting paid? Remember, no lucrative record contracts, can’t have that nasty individual wealth. I mean, they could rap about their wealth, but making songs about $32.50 in your bankroll isn’t really sexy. Here’s how Soop would envision it:

“Was goin to tha sto to get a fo oh

But then I remembered they were no mo stos

You know I don’t play cuz I got P B and J

And I be stalkin’ the bread line ALL DAY!.......trick”

Moving on to the women. There has been a lot of tension between woman empowerment groups and rappers objectification of women (bitches and hos, anyone?), but the luster of a beautiful women would dim when there are no “elective” surgeries to enhance one’s looks, and no money to pay for them. I mean Mother Russia churned out some hotties, but for the most part, the trolls that were walking around there didn’t really make Maxim’s top 100, if you know what I mean. So what conquests would great Communist rappers have to write about?

“At the bread line, saw a fly boo

She axed me ‘What we gon do?’

Only had one mole, so I said ‘Let’s go’

And we stood in the cheese line to get mo……….trick”

And finally, ego. Why is it that every rapper thinks they are the best? Even the crappy ones? Communism would take care of that. Personal achievement? Nah, we don’t need that. You’re no better than your neighbor, which is probably sleeping in your bed with you because you can’t afford housing on your own. No “greatest rapper alive”, just “a rapper who lives somewhere where individual achievement is downplayed in order to enhance achievements for the community”….doesn’t really roll off the tongue during a song, huh?

Look, let Lil Wayne say what he wants to say. We already know people in the spotlight tend to say stupid things *coughcoughJessicaSimpsoncoughcough*, but let’s not forget that because Lil Wayne is rapping in “the US muthafu#@in A” is why he can say these things. Freedom of speech is the most important right that we have, and citizens’ use of that right is part of what makes us great. So keep on Lil Wayne, you kept me entertained for a bit. Just don’t trip and fall….you know….that socialized medicine and all of your great communist state.

*sigh*