Shadows over Watts Street - Chris 'Preach' Smith

Shadows are part of who we are as people. We cast them down as
we go about our business in life. But there are times when our own
shadows become larger than life. Another reminder of this broke into
the news headlines this past Monday with the arrest of Mister Cee,
the well known DJ for Hot 97 in New York City and a notable hip hop
figure for his work with The Notorious B.I.G. Cee apparently was
caught in the act of having fellatio performed on him by a prostitute.
A transvestite prostitute. Of course, since then the news has become
tawdry and has stirred up a lot of jokes and a liberal outpouring of
homophobia. It's also led to the beginnings of a verbal war between
Hot 97 and Power 105, the two main hip hop radio stations.

My take? To begin with, Mister Cee is a grown man. A man who in
all honesty, has some personal questions to ask himself. Because
having the NYPD catch you getting a humjob in your truck at 4 AM
and then claiming on Twitter that you're being targeted is not the
way to handle this. From what I've heard since, this isn't the first
time he's engaged in such behavior. But it would've remained his
private business if he didn't put it out there on the street. There's
a reason why hot-sheet motels exist. It shows that he's on a slippery
slope because a)he got busted out in the open and b)he got busted
right near where he works. To just throw caution to the wind like a
pair of dirty drawers says he's not only done this before but has
been totally taken over by his vice. Cee can't avoid what this has
become. And trying to start beef with DJ Envy is a lame attempt at
distraction dude. That combined with Funkmaster Flex throwing
subliminal shots on your behalf doesn't make you look any more
pristine or macho. And it also might lead to violence, something
that we don't need given the senseless death of DJ Megatron just
last week.


I'm not here to debate whether Mister Cee is gay or not. I really
could care less. There's a lot more dire things going on in the world
to be worried about. But I can't help but laugh and shake my head at
the disgusting, hateful comments that trail behind every report on
Mister Cee like a stream of fresh diarrhea. Some people really have
no clue. Especially when you look at some elements and figures in
contemporary hip hop today. Some of these people who are quick to
type in slurs and call names and claim that hip hop has no need for
this behavior forget that Lil Wayne and Baby had a questionable kiss
or two eight years ago IN PUBLIC. And it has mostly been forgotten.
Weezy is now a platinum superstar who has a legion of followers. We
are in an era where the lines aren't only blurred, in some cases they're
smudged like a toddler with fingerpaint. We've accepted wild behavior
in our emcees before. And now we've accepted the paradox between
overt thug machismo and secret activities behind closed doors. Don't
believe me? Think about some album covers by 50 Cent. Why is it
that certain publications have ads in their classifieds for man on man
sex chat lines? Why does Bay Area artist Lil B feel it necessary to
heavily make hints at being gay? Why did Nicki Minaj speak on being
bisexual, then waffle? Because it SELLS RECORDS people. Byron Hurt
addresses this in a powerful documentary, 'Hip Hop: Beyond Beats
and Rhymes'. Understand that no matter what, the industry loves this
because their job is to gain profit by driving up ratings. And if they
need to use this situation for their gain, they will. People talk, and that
talk translates to dollars. If this kind of ambiguity exists, it's because
the public has accepted it as status quo from dudes wearing skinny
jeans off their ass to tongue piercings to embracing drank and Ecstacy
use in clubs. Wake up and smell the hypocrisy.

Mister Cee will get past all of this. It's not as if he's a second tier rapper
with one hit under his belt. The bigger question is, can he live with this
kind of shadow following him? Time will tell.