The Lil Wayne Death Watch That Was - Chris "Preach" Smith

“It’s better to burn out than fade away.” Kurt Cobain

Last Friday night, social media got rocked with the news from celebrity crazed news
outlet TMZ that Lil Wayne was allegedly close to death while hospitalized in Cedar-Sinai
Hospital in Los Angeles, California for seizures. Folks were buzzing about. I was wary
about the news because social media, mainly Twitter, has a tendency to declare 
celebrities dead just for fun. For a couple of hours, there was a massive degree of
confusion. It was made worse because other news outlets took what TMZ said and
ran with it instead of fully vetting it. That got compounded by Mack Maine, his Young
Money cohort sending out tweets saying that Weezy was good, they were watching
college basketball and that there’s going to be some people embarassed. Not even 
that stopped the chatter. Finally, Weezy sent out a tweet. And that seemed to stifle
the death watch, and in the process leave TMZ scrambling to wipe egg off of its face.

But as Lil Wayne is somewhere recuperating after being released from the hospital
yesterday, there’s still a lot of issues surrounding the whole situation that can’t - and
shouldn’t - be waved off as nothing. First, let’s all be real and basically admit that we
know what has led to Lil Wayne having seizures. We have known. It’s not exhaustion,
as Birdman would have you believe. It’s that dependence on sizzurp, that drank. The
same reason Rick Ross caught that bout of seizures a couple of years ago. Exhaustion
wouldn’t lead to seizures leaving you laid up in a hospital for 6 days, not by itself. The
people have always regarded Weezy’s toting around a styrofoam cup of that mixture
as an open secret. Call it what it is, an addiction. And if you do, ask yourselves this: 
does Young Money care about their boy? We know that Wayne has an album coming
out in a couple of weeks. I’m not suggesting that this situation was manufactured at
all to generate media hype. But the man responsible for a big deal of your success is
pulling an Amy Winehouse number, and we know how that ends. Even the family of
Emmitt Till, who he maligned on his ‘Karate Chop’ track, sent him well wishes. If I’m
Birdman, my mind is heavy. 

Another issue that has been raised is just how frayed the chain of verification is in
journalism and news delivery these  days. Once TMZ retracted a part of their initial
story saying that Weezy was being given last rites, the Twitter retractions from different
news outlets was swift. Thankfully it’s not so widespread, but it’s still there and remains
unchecked. And TMZ is going to feel the sting of this for a minute; they built their rep
partially on getting news before all the major news outlets (i.e. Michael Jackson’s death)
and now they potentially face legal action. In the end though, I can’t help but think
that the death watch that never was revealed a lot of flaws that we can’t cover up
with Solo cups, expensive cars and brand labels. I don’t have sympathy for Weezy for
putting himself in this situation. I don’t want to see him die over it either. But I don’t
want to sit and watch delusions from the overly sanctimonious folks who think that
this is a chance to show off their ego by getting their Nancy Reagan on, or witness
folks so root for death. Maybe last Friday night was all about a death watch that never
was, but maybe it was needed to let certain things go. Perhaps Weezy has that on his
mind as well while being reminded that he is a human being after all. 

"Passin' Me By" Twenty Years Later - Chris "Preach" Smith

Today, twenty years ago, The Pharcyde dropped ‘Passin’ Me By’. That song back then
was the vessel that helped a young cat pour out some inner anguish, but also drink
from the well of wonder the hip-hop music of that time created.

I was in a turbulent state at the time. I was on the verge of leaving St.Francis Preparatory
High School due to grades and my growing disconnect. I was bookish, but not in a scholarly
way. I was into exploring a whole other world in northern Queens, into video games, deep
into hip-hop - and heavily into girls. There was trouble at home, and I was one kid on the 
block who had to catch up with the rest socially in some respects. Tall, overweight with a 
tapered ‘fro and a polite quietness, I was basically tagged as a herb from time to time. I 
got my escape when I could, usually once I got home from school and turned on the radio
or caught some TV. But on this day 20 years ago, I remember my man Dax talking about 
The Pharcyde, and this new single he copped on tape. He gave me the tape, I popped it 
into my Walkman and the opening notes took me away. I zoned out, which at the time was
hard to do on a crowded bus full of Catholic high schoolers glad to leave the confines of 
Fresh Meadows. As soon as we got to the 165th Street Terminal, I parted ways with Dax,
made my way over to the nearest record store and got the album. And for the next two 
days, I let ‘Passin’ Me By’ seep into my pores.

It’s a song that stuck with me for a couple of reasons. First, at that time, hip-hop had its 
share of love songs, but they tended to be done by MC’s who had established sex appeal
like Big Daddy Kane or LL Cool J. And even then, the songs were lyrical come-ons. There
weren’t that many that spoke to what I was going through at that time. ‘Passin’ Me By’
spoke to me because these were four guys, four MC’s who poetically delineated each of
their unrequited crushes. I could feel that pain they went through, echoed by that chorus
of horns and the refrain that clung to you like your clothes after being out in the rain with
no umbrella. ‘She keeps on paaaaaaasin’ me byyyyyyy…’ The second thing was, it was 
West Coast hip-hop that wasn’t full of raw gangster attitude like Ice Cube, Tupac and Dr.
Dre who were HUGE around that time, even out in NYC. It built on the dopeness we had
back with A Tribe Called Quest and ‘Bonita Applebum’ and De La Soul’s ‘Buddy’. Tracks that
I loved, but wasn’t old enough to get the full definition of yet. It harkened to the jazz & blues
my folks had blasting every weekend. Little wonder since J-Swift’s production made great
use of Quincy Jones’ ‘Summer In The City’ along with Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Are You Experienced?
You even get a bit of the Weather Report in there. The way The Pharcyde created this song
also is a lyrical masterpiece. Starting it off with Imani’s high-pitched voice speaking about a
crush on his teacher was the magnet that drew you in once that bassline kicked in, and 
then SlimKid Tre’s non-chalant telling of his crush kind of reminded you of how you’d be 
with your boys after telling them you were digging a girl. Bootie Brown’s verse, quick as it
is sums up exactly how your boys WOULD react. And Fatlip’s verse? MAN. ‘Now here she 
goes again, the dopest Ethiopian…’ He channeled Cab Calloway for that, without question.
Listen to the verse and tell me I’m lying. 

You also can’t talk about the song without talking about the video. They went together, 
like Alize’ and orange juice. That video was remarkable because of the grainy, Super 8 black
and white it was filmed in for one. Then you have every member of The Pharcyde upside 
down throughout most of the video as they rhyme. And they all showed that angst. For 
a time, I truly felt like Fatlip was shedding real tears in the back of that cab at the end of
his verse. And SlimKid Tre looking like a jilted Black Jesus crucified too…they showed me 
and others that it was okay to express being lovesick. It was okay. It hit me in the heart, 
one that had been crushing on a girl named Leticia Baez, a girl so fine that she could’ve 
been a Jet Model of The Week for a whole month and no one would’ve cared. She was like
melted copper, and shined even more when she smiled at you. ‘Passin’ Me By’ was heavy
for me in that it showed a greater sensitive side to MC’s when it came to women, that 
even they never got all the girls. Despite that, they were better men for their heartbreak
and for expressing it. It helped me to express mine, and be a better man for it. So that 
the world wouldn’t continue to pass me by, nor would Leticia Baez. And I got up enough
courage to befriend her, and got real cool with her, even going to the same college as her.
Thanks in part to a song that still sticks with me 20 years after hearing it on a bus cutting
through Hollis, Queens.

Splintered Hoop Dreams in The Garden - Chris "Preach" Smith

This is a bittersweet time right now.

March, for many of us, is the onset of spring. And March Madness, that stretch
of weeks where college basketball dominates the American thought process to
such a degree that you can’t go anywhere or do much of anything without being
besieged by the NCAA basketball tourney. Be honest: your office right now may
have about 3 different brackets just about ready to go. You may find yourself in
a bar you don’t even frequent just because they’ve got that hot wing special just
for the tournament. And it IS just that exciting. But that’s not why this March is
bittersweet. After this last tournament in Madison Square Garden in New York City,
the hallowed Big East Conference as we all know it will cease to exist.

The truth is, the Big East conference has been on a steady decline for the past 
couple of years due to schools coming and going for monetary reasons. It hasn’t
affected the hoops tourney though. It’ll be crazy not to see Syracuse and Georgetown
battle every season anymore. Or Georgetown and UConn. St.John’s going up 
against Providence. Those rivalries extended far beyond the court and made a
few players heroes on the streets. Hip-hop naturally reflected this impact in a
couple ways. Remember when having a Georgetown or St.John’s Starter jacket
was the epitome of casual flyness? Then Nike stepped in and made their mark on
the Big East fashion game. UConn had some slick uniforms and warmups in the
Ray Allen and Richard Hamilton days. And Georgetown blessed Allen Iverson and
the rest of us with those unis with the kente cloth-style trim from about 1994.
Even the players and teams made it into lyrics and connected a whole region,
from Nas’ ‘It Ain’t Hard to Tell’ to The Beatnuts’ ‘Get Funky’. And the players? 
Let me name a few others to get your mind in flashback mode: Raymond Berry,
Chris Mullin, Kemba Walker, God Shammgod, Ron Artest, Carmelo Anthony,
Lawrence Moten, and many others. The Big East of old for many of us signified
hardcourt swagger that was an extension of the schools we rooted for. It brought
heads together from Boston to D.C. Some of you still may have pieces of gear 
from your favorite college still. So let’s look at these games and remember the 
good old days, and hope that the lasting memory of this year’s tournament won’t
be those day-glo Zubaz monstrosities of uniforms Notre Dame, Cincinatti and 
Louisville showed up with. 

Beat Appreciation or Beat Biting? - Chris "Preach" Smith

Drake has released two tracks recently that have people buzzing, ‘Started From The Bottom’
and ‘5 AM in Toronto’ this week. Both records had good production, although in my honest opinion
‘5 AM In Toronto’ is better thanks to Boi 1-Da’s basslines. But these days, when a track blows up,
you are almost guaranteed that there’s going to be a slew of rappers rhyming over that same
beat. The question is, has it gotten completely out of hand?

The answer? Yes and no.

Hip-hop is an art form that from the very beginning, has used music from artists before them to
create records. From the park jams where crews toasted over break beats like ‘Apache’ by The
Invincible Bongo Band and ‘Ashley’s Roachclip’ by The Soul Searchers to sampling being the norm,
it’s always been present. You had Ice Cube with a major hit in ‘Jackin’ For Beats’, significant for
the fact that he was able to use all of these different beats to rhyme over on a major label release
with no pubilc pushback from that label. A far cry from Biz Markie getting slaughtered with those
sampling lawsuits back in the day. Another source point has to be the underground radio shows
like Stretch & Bobbito who would not only break new artists but have artists freestyle over any
of the hot instrumentals at that time. Scour all of their shows, along with those from Kool DJ Red
Alert and Kid Capri. Props also have to be given to the masters of blend tapes. I remember those
days of vendors up and down Jamaica Avenue with those tapes (shoutout to DJ Ron G!!), and 
all of the suave cats pushing Acura Legends with the gold rims ‘round 1993 had to have a blend
tape as an accessory. Funkmaster Flex even extended his empire that way. This was way before
we called such musical adventures ‘mashups’. Hearing an MC or crew go in over another beat was
easter egg status.  

These days though, some of that excitement is watered down more than an Incredible Hulk at
any major bar before 9 P.M. Because it’s now an established norm that whenever there is a hot
beat that captures the mainstream attention, you’re going to have other rappers put out their
own versions. And it seems to have only grown bigger in the past year and a half. Look at what
happened after ‘Started From The Bottom’. Thirty-six hours later, you had about 6 rappers do
a verse or two over that beat. Maybe one out of the 6 being decent. Some of these struggle 
rappers need to cease and desist with that tactic. Because it’s not as simple as the idea that 
they have that rhyming over the hot instrumental of the moment will make you hot. You can
get exposed real quick. There’s sites making names for themselves off of this, and instrumental
CD’s are all the rage, i.e. J.Armz and the ‘How To Be An MC’ series. But the drawback is the 
rise in struggle rappers, weedcarrier rappers deluding themselves and diluting the market. So
much so that established MC’s like Jean Grae and Bun B are outwardly against this practice. 
But, this will continue unless we get back to bolstering that fine line between beat appreciation
and straight up beat biting. Maybe it’ll happen after the 29th rhyme done over the beat from a
Fabolous track.

NBA Slam Dunk Do-Over - Chris 'Preach' Smith

His Airness, Michael Jordan.

Tomorrow will mark one week since the NBA All-Star Weekend in Houston, Texas. 
And it will also be a week removed from possibly one of the most god-awful Slam Dunk
contests the NBA has overseen. If you happened to be on any form of social media that
night, you could pour all of that frustration off the Web like extra grease from a pan of
fried whiting. It got so bad that the only thing flashy at one point was Darryl ‘Chocolate
Thunder’ Dawkins’ suit. It was so painful that even TNT’s ‘Inside The NBA’ crew struggled
to add some flair to it. This crown jewel of the weekend has become a cubic zirconia right
before our eyes. But there’s no mystery as to why. And I’ve got three ways that could help
get the Dunk Contest back to its former glory.

1)Bring The Stars Back.

For all of us, you mention the Dunk Contest and the names pop out at you. Michael Jordan.
Dominique Wilkins. Julius ‘Dr.J’ Erving. We haven’t had the superstars come out and get 
down for a couple of years now. it’s to the point that Lebron James makes it a yearly ritual
to hem and haw about the contest, then once people are selected, to front like he wanted
to take part. (Note to Lebron - STOP SHAMMING.) The last notable star was Blake Griffin
winning it in 2011. And then deciding not to defend the title, possibly because there were
allegations of the NBA rigging the contest. (More on that later.) Granted, the big name
players don’t want to risk injury and that is to be respected. But most, if not all of these
cats grew up watching the same contests we did back in the day. Maybe the league should
sweeten the pot a little bit more. Look to the Skills competition (insert groan here); they
could wind up having a dunker represent a teenager in the hunt for scholarship money. Or
even have a tie in with State Farm where a homeowner gets a chance to win money or a
home. This isn’t a shot towards players like Jeremy Evans and others who are role players
and swingmen normally. But this contest has always been about big names versus lesser
known names. Look at Larry Nance beating out Dr.J in 1984, or Gerald Green’s win in 2007.
So Lebron, Blake and Kevin Durant…you’re up.

2)NBA Officials: Sometimes Less Is Best

I remember once, in the contest’s lean years in the mid 90’s, talking with someone about
how lame things had gotten. He offered up a theory that maybe the NBA was trying to 
let the contest die a slow death due to it being a by-product of the ABA when the two
leagues merged. Now, that may seem outlandish but you have to wonder why the NBA
seems to act like contestants on a season of ‘Hell’s Kitchen’. It might be best for them to
let fans decide on certain new elements for the contest rather than just introduce them
at this point. Mind you, the fan voting is a master stroke. But the allowance of numerous
attempts for a dunk is horrible. Abolish that and you’ll see a better competition. Nate
Robinson may not have been the only three-time champ if that rule was in place back
in 2006. Nothing’s worse than seeing someone try the same dunk over and over again
with no success. Getting rid of the multiple attempts would force dunkers to craft a great
overall strategy rather than focus on two showcase dunks. Also, the NBA should have
left well enough alone and let music be more prominent. We all remember the fiasco that
saw Isaiah Rider win in 1994 over the instrumental to Brandy’s ‘I Wanna Be Down’. Make
it upbeat, like we were back in the park. Lastly, don’t put yourselves in the middle of any
controversy. Look at 2011. Sending out announcements that Blake Griffin won BEFORE
the contest even happened with a Kia tie-in? Come the hell on. Even the judging has 
gotten suspect. Giving someone a 10 on a regular dunk made after SEVEN tries means
you should lose your judging spot automatically and be forced to sit with Reggie Miller at
his next dentist’s appointment.


Vince ‘Half-Man Half-Amazin’ Carter at his best.

3)Embrace the playground again.

Part of the whole appeal about the Dunk Contest is that it’s birthplace IS the asphalt
confines of the playground. Its life-blood stems from Rucker Park, Soul In The Hole,
Berry Farms, The Pit and countless other places across America. Denying that just 
to mollify corporate fears that you’re encouring ‘thuggish’ elements or trying to hype
new events is not the way to go. (Oh, and New York City will STILL never forgive you
for that NBA 2Ball atrocity during the only time they’ve ever had an All Star Weekend
here. Had to throw that in.) There’s no reason that a major sports league with global
ties can’t add in a little bit more of the street flair. Get Harlem’s own Duke Tango to
do the play-by-play. As stated before, maybe have a top notch DJ just for that event.
Maybe invite cats like Joe ‘The Destroyer’ Hammond, ‘Jumpin’ Jackie Jackson and others
to sit in on the festivities with the NBA greats. 

I hope the NBA is taking notes, because the Dunk Contest is a vital part of the league’s
culture as well as the nation’s culture. And we don’t want it to go the way of the NFL’s
Pro Bowl now, do we?