the backwoods (v. 7.0): THE BITCH IS BACK!!??? REALLY?!!!

You know back in the mid to late 1990's, my era, Hip Hop music was running at full steam. Crews like Wu-Tang, Mobb Deep, Nas, Dred Scott (and a host of other underground West Coast cats) Saukraties (Tdot), and Company Flow were just feeding our insatiable appetites for a music that kept creating, kept reinventing, and never seemed like it had an end. Even cats like Notorius B.I.G (or just Biggie Smalls as we used to call him in NY r.i.p) were holding shit down on the radio. Now most of the cats I ran with, didn't really even care too much for "radio rap", and were still put in a trance by beats that banged from the underground. Nevertheless, Hip Hop was probably at its strongest point, as far as all around heads were concerned. I mean, you could find a female rhyming right along with Nas' hit; Life's a Bitch. That time, as everyone knows however, has proverbially "passed us by".

One of the things I can starkly remember from that time though, was the crusade that was put out against Hip Hop Music for using the word "Bitch" to describe women. It was a crusade started by the white women's movement, and almost totally taken over by groups like the NAACP, and various other African American Women's groups. I have nothing against any of these groups, but their attacks didn't focus on the ENTIRE Hip Hop community, even though they painted that picture. Now, my stance hasn't much changed over the years, and I STILL say, if you see a woman acting/carrying herself like a bitch, then you are fully within your rights to call her one. Oh, and "Hoe" was another term the crusaders went after. Which brings me to April 27th, 2009.

While over my mothers house, helping her get shit straight with general upkeep of the grounds and whatnot, I decided to take her up on an offer to eat some pink beans and rice. A traditionally Puerto Rican dish, but one my CUBAN grandmother kicks the shit out of EVERY TIME hands down. While I sat down to eat, she clicked on the television, and began watching her little guilty pleasure; Dancing With The Stars. Arguing with her on why that shit is all brain deterioration was as pointless as trying to get her to watch a special about the life of Carl Sagan. After all, she's 60something, and she's lived enough life to tell me to fuck off because she's still my mother. Anyway, that lame ass show was on and these two "stars" were dancing away, looking like white folk with no rhythm trying to do a sock hop. It was actually kind of hilarious. After they were done, and the girl dancing was finished trying to keep her low cut jeans from falling down on her straight and un-curvy ass, it was the next couple's turn. Fortunately enough for me, Kimberly Denise Jones' (aka Lil' Kim's) now crazy, self hating, Michael "Jazzy" Jackson look alike more than Latoya's ass was the next one to dance! No harm no foul. I needed a good laugh, and just looking at her new face is pretty much enough. But she did have to dance yet! Cue the clip. What you are about to watch (and you MUST watch it ALL THE WAY THROUGH) is the show talking about how she (Kim), kinda sucked it up the week before. The judges claim she didn't have any "edge". And that she needed to add that "Queen B" flavor back into her step. You can already see where I'm going with this. If you don't watch all the way through the key point is at 3:40.

Now my beef isn't that two of the three judges are gay british men who often have too much criticism for the females who dance on the show. Its this;

1. What the fuck do you mean she needs to add more "Queen B" to her routine? Her little partner all but called her a nigger while he was describing to the camera what she was missing.

2. Why did Kim need the judges to give her "permission" to bring her "personality" into any god damed dance?!

3. Most of all however, WHEN IS IT EVER OKAY TO STAND UP, POINT, AND CALL A BLACK WOMAN (or at least a woman who USED to be black) A BITCH ON NATIONAL TELEVISION?!! This by far is my biggest gripe. The gripe that some gay men, think they can say whatever the hell they want without thinking, and not get checked for it. First off, a white man calling a black woman a bitch is bad enough. With all the history behind that, it still didn't matter. And then Kim's stupid ass is sitting there jumping up and down because her "bitch" was back!? Pretty disgusting. We love to jump all over ourselves when it comes to a lot of shit, just like crabs in a barrel. But when someone else does it, its totally okay. It flies under the radar and all that. Good job DWTS, way to keep that underlying racism/sexism, alive, well, and firmly entrenched within the American way of life. I wonder if the NAACP will come calling again? Just who is it they work for? peAce.