WALK THIS WAY

I am not sure how many people reading this are true sports fans, so I took it upon myself to offer this First Take.  It's important to note that when the basketball mecca of the world has a hoop's team that flows deep into the post season, New York City will feel like riding down the Broadway's bonanza of boutiques , catching all the green lights, in a yellow cab, holding a black American Express, weaving your brown hands through two weaves on each side of you, while both beauties believe that you are "other" Ray Lewis. 

As for the game itself, the New York Knicks blew a 4th quarter lead to the mostly light-skinned Indiana Pacers that was wider than a Kardashian gap during an HBCU homecoming.  You may be asking who the f@$ cares..., which is a fair question. Butt, then you also have to ask yourself, have seen Khole lately?  She is more open than a 2am HOV lane in Elmhurst.   

side bar

I believe that one day a Kardashian is going to whip my ass, which would be a 180 for them. 

Let's be clear, sports are no different than religion. It means everything to their supporters & nothing at all to their detractors.  In fact, the only people that profit from either are the puppeteers dangling the invisible strings.  Dr. Jah King (who clearly didn't have many fans in Memphis) once said "The most divided time in AmeriKKKa is during the hour of worship".   I really miss him.  At any giving time, the people in the front row at the Garden of Eve own a net worth that is more than the combined wealth of 99% of the rest of the country.  Ready for more sad irony, having the Knicks in the NBA playoffs actually benefits the US economy.  Forget the fact that you have 19,500 -- MSG's seating capacity -- screaming lunatics hoping the mostly black teams continue to tap dance in front of a mostly white audience. 

The truth of the alternative is..., if those Kiggerbockers stop fetching they may start to think.... "Hey since we are the only reason this arena is full of stars and this system is so profitable, we should all come together and buy a team in the league we pretty much built.  What if they start to think our families don't benefit from the sweat pouring out our veins on these floors. Instead, our families are more likely to land a job cleaning them.  Perhaps one of those Kardashian balla's wives can use their legs to kick THAT door open. Perhaps.    

Now we know none of the white owners want black people to start thinking... that black people can be on Wall Street despite the fact that black people built their own Wall Street and the replica is less than 6 miles from where the caged birds are currently singing (and dancing).  

Money, It Must Be the Shoes...

Honestly fam, I grew up in the Bronx rooting for the Knicks and my favorite player was Bernard King who as like Chuck D and Neno Brown to me.  Bernard's lightening quick jumper used to have opponents shook like a Saint Bernard in an elevator of people holding White Castle Bags.  However, when the game ended, King rolled through the city like a Rakim single parted the streets.   King wore number #30, so when I started to play ball, I wore the number 15 because I wanted to be half the player he was.  And you thought my wit started when I measured Barack's ears?

When I look back, I often think about what if I would have stopped trying to be Bernard King and focused on who was paying him?  Perhaps my Visa card wouldn't say Knicker Please when I swiped it. 

Epilogue

The moral of the story isn't all that tricky.  As long as all we keep doing is singing and dancing, the person holding the leash will keep feeding the starving, hunger, insatiable desires from the frenzy of fans. Then, in the morning when all 99% of those fans (that have no real tangible or vested interest) are back at work, crying about the game's outcome, the oligarch owners (win, lose or draw) will wake up the same morning, but they will go for a 6-mile walk and not just to buy a longer leash. 

1 love, 

Ray Lewis 

Nobody Wins When the Family Feuds

There is no secret that throughout her tainted history the USA have been involved in some unforgettable battles (and that's putting it mildly).  It's that bloody history that will remind us..., that just one day before there was an actual "Independence Day" to celebrate (using the term celebrate loosely), there was a three-day, bloody Battle of Gettysburg.  The conflict between the Union and the Confederate marked the turning point of what we now know as the Civil War (April 1861).  Some people would call the Union's victory a win for independency. 

Of course, the Confederate (unable to digest such a loss) decided to erect a Confederate Flag to mark its participation. Just think for a second just how ignorantly arrogant one has to be in order to hang a flag in a war that they lost?  It would be like Elon Musk-y winning a paternity case. 

Eighty-two years earlier, a Battle of Yorktown propelled this very same land to become one of the most prosperous in modern Western civilization. This despite just how uncivilized the wars truly are.  

Some credit the ambition and wherewithal of (then) President, George Washington, who simply refused to wave a white flag.  The real truth is..., the outcomes of most battles are decided long before the gloves are ever tied.  There is no coincidence that many of today's USA residents don't really feel like a victory lap is in order considering many have not experienced the freedom or independence that either war boasts. In many ways, these wars are still active even if the opponent is not nearly as clear.  

… We bring knife to fistfight, kill your Grandma

We kill you iddy bitty ants with a sledgehammer

Don't let me do it to 'em, dunny, 'cause I overdo it

So he won't confuse it with just rap music…  jewels from Jay-Z's 2001 Blueprint 

Mr. Morale Vs. Moral of the Story

The Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake beef wasn't really a fight between 1 and 1/2 Black emcees.  This fight was more about Culture vs Commercialism, and which flag the society truly supports.  In one corner you have K. Dot, the culture's cornerstone from Compton.  In the other corner you have mainstream's erection, Aubrey Graham, the outstanding Orator from Ontario.  

In the early "Karen" Polls -- which also tracks just how much mayonnaise is in a beef produced by Mustard -- it doesn't even seem like a real fair fight.  However, for the first time since an Obama run the people got to chance witness what happens when the "referees" aren't on the presumptive winner's payroll.      

"Some of the greatest battles will be fought within the silent chambers of your own soul."  Ezra Taft Benson

On any level playing field the culture, talent, justice will prevail.  Always.  This is why Drake is suing.  Drake is accusing the machine (the same one that made him a pop icon) in helping K. Dot obliterate him.  He probably forgot that evil people only do evil things, even if you were once the beneficiary of these shenanigans.    

Jew Think I'm Playing

I am often called a radical extremist, (which really hurts my feelings) when the honest truth is..., that's what I am fighting against!  Why else would you ever know who wack-ass Bruno Mars is, yet have no clue who Skyzoo (one of Brooklyn's illiest) emcees is?  Why would you know (or care) who Taylor Exit Swift is, but not know who Eric Roberson is, or Rahsaan Patterson, Hiatus Kaiyote, Donnie, Moonchild, Seba Kaapstad, Jordan Rakei or Cleo Sol or.... I wonder which side of Drake's DNA (the light or dark meat) he used when he attempted to sue his brethren at UMG? 

WHO's YOUR DADDY

Only in AmeriKKKa can a Puff Daddy be crucified for sexual assault and beating a woman in his robe, while the Vatican City gets all puffy about selecting a Pope who has a history of using their robes to hide sexual assault.   

Epilogue 

Now that the black smoke cleared from the all-male, robes-only meeting in the Vatican City, the world can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that the Ultimate Holyman, who rides in a bullet-proof whip, is here to restore your faith.  The new Chicago-bred Pope, Robert Francis Prevost will have to find a way to navigate through some of the most intense world battles ever.  

'I Ain't Sayin' She's a Pope Digger"

Some people expect him to carry the liberal torch that Pope Francis left burning in the LBGTQ (I may need to buy a vowel) community.  Others will expect Minister Chi-Raq to exercise some balance between baby oil and holy oil -- and the dwindling lines at Target.    

In lieu of tithing, I am offering this quote to the Pimp My Ride resident: 

"There are some fights that are worth fighting even if you lose; while other fights aren't worth fighting even if you win."   

In the end, it's my hope that Rome's new Robe Runner concludes that when the family does feud the top five answers won't be found on AmeriKKKa's history board.  

1 love, 

Ray Lewis