As we grow older, a lot of things we once valued aren’t as valuable to us as they once were.  The way we thought the world works isn’t exactly how the world works. Is it that we have lost faith, or do we just see things for how they really are?

Being popular is more important than being smart… how silly of me.

Having things is more important than having assets… how silly of me.

Not realizing every mistake or sin is fear-based… how silly of me.

Trying to change people rather than being the change I want to see… how silly of me.

What have you realized that you have been silly of?  How do you see the world now compared to when you were 18?  21?

*The soundtrack for today’s post is, “How Silly of Me,” by artist 607 (one half of the duo, earFear).  You can hear more here.

Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…

You’re at the club…

Okay, maybe clubs aren’t your thing.

But, for the sake of argument, let’s just say you’re at the club.

You walk around.  You’re having a good time.  You decide to hit the dance floor… upon which you witness the following (WARNING:  Turn your speakers down.  This video contains profanity):

What do you do?  How do you react?

Drop a comment…

- SouthernCharm

When I was in college, there was a dorm at my school called Confederate Memorial Hall.   Most of the time it was just called Confederate Hall, which I don’t need to tell you caused many a black people to look like the way Three Six Mafia described Chinese women’s vaginas.  It’s just something about the word “Confederate” that brings in thoughts of Kunta Kinte, and him being whipped into the name Toby. The reason for the name, Confederate Memorial Hall, was it was funded by the Daughters of the the Confederacy (DOC) as a memorial to the fallen soldiers of the Confederacy.

Well because of public outcry, the dorm’s name was changed to Memorial Hall. This was done without the DOC’s knowledge, and they sued (rightfully so).  Well Vandy was a little smart.  The university changed the name in all publications, but left the name on the building facade.  They didn’t want to have to give UDC back  the $50, 000 that was given to fund the dorm 72 years ago… Which in today’s dollars converts to about $2.2 million… or about a year’s tuition for one student …J/K…only a little.  :(

While I was in college, I followed the crowd on this one which was, “Screw them!  They made us slaves!”  Well now I have to go back on that previous idea.  Although slavery was a huge part of the Confederacy, I understand there were numerous other issues that caused that war.  And those men, at the time, died for their country fighting for what they believed in.   And if their people want to pay for a memorial for that, then I have to say that is all good to me… BUT…We have to see both sides of that:  The dark and the light.  Sadly, in most wars that are fought, only the winner gets to decide who was right.  I’m sure if the South had won, the North would have the same problems with memorials.

“Treason is all a matter of dates ” – From the Movie the Count of Monte Cristo.

I’ll add to that it’s a matter of outcome as well.

But I say all that to keep my topic in perspective.

VA Gov.  Bob McDonnell made the declaration that April will be “Confederate History Month”.  Now I can see where people would have a problem with this.  But let’s be clear (In my Obama voice)…  I think it is just as wrong not to have a Confederate History month as it is to not to have Black History Month.  He did it for a clear reason.  He wanted to honor the past and boost tourism for the state.  I don’t have a problem with that.  But here is my problem Bob…

How dare you not cite the roll of slavery?  Now Bob I don’t have a problem with you honoring your people, but don’t you dare not tell the whole truth.  Keep it real son!

I think Martin Luther King was one of the greatest men to walk the Earth.  We honor him as well as all black pioneers during Black History month.  But let’s be honest.  MLK smoked, and he messed around with other women.  That’s the truth, and we would do ourselves a disservice not to tell the whole truth no matter how ugly it is.

I’m probably thinking too much on this one when I think about Bob’s merits.  (Which I tend to do)  But to me that is very careless and mildly racist.

So I don’t have any problem with what you do.  I say leave the name Confederate Memorial Hall.  I say have your Confederate Month.  But don’t forget my heritage in the process.

Wood has Spoken.

-Trillionaire Wood

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, or your George  W. Bush circa 2005 Hurricane Katrina your life has been enveloped in the crisis in Haiti…

Well of course you’re getting hit from all sides on this tragedy. 

Some people say don’t give because we are already giving money through income tax.

Some people say give because it’s right the right thing to do.

If there is an opinion on this issue, it has been voiced.  And you have had a chance to weigh in on it.

But I must say their are two opinions that seems to pull me in every time.

 One made by Pat Robertson of the 700 Club.  Mr. Robertson has said on his show…

“Something happened a long time ago in Haiti and people might not want to talk about it,” the televangelist said. “And they got together and swore a pact to the Devil. They said, ‘We will serve you if you’ll get us free from the French.’ True story. And so the Devil said, ‘Okay, it’s a deal.’ . . . But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after another.”

So basically he’s saying they are cursed for what they did.  I’m not a fan of this comment because it’s based on speculative history.

But this is the one that really got me.

Rev. Eric Toussaint while addressing his congregation is quoted as saying…

“Why give thanks to God? Because we are here,” “What happened is the will of God.”

Now I could be totally misreading his  quotes and he may be saying that them surviving was the will of God, but it seems like he is saying the earthquake was the will of God.  That is about as believable as the plot for the movie Legion.

I have to say I’m totally in disagreement with both men.  I don’t believe that God goes around handing out punishment like water.  God loves us.  You can’t tell me in one breath God would give his only son so that the world be saved then go around killing people because he was angry with you or you made a pack with the devil.

What do you guys think?  Was the earthquake the will of God? 

-Trillionaire Wood

In black culture it is a widely accepted practice to spank children.  Heck it’s a cornerstone of rearing. (rearing and spanking…lol…get it…Ba dum Ching.  Thank you ladies and gentlemen I’ll be here all week.)

There is always the quote…

“Spare the rod, Spoil the child.”

Now I’m not here to say that spanking children is wrong, but I do wonder sometime do we use that as a first resort or a last when disciplining our children. 

I can count the number of times I’ve been spanked in my life, and none of them were really bad.  I was just acting up, and it was time to lay down the law.  My mother got me early in life so that I would know better later on.  Later on, all she had to do was make a little threat and I was back to Angelic Wood.  

I can vividly remember going on a church trip to Dallas.  As the bus was about to leave Dallas, we decided (me and some other kids) to go exploring around the hotel.  Well needless to say when our moms found us it wasn’t pretty.  It was like watching Leonidas and the Spartans beat on the Immortals…lol  But I didn’t get spanked with them.  I thought I had gotten away.  Then… I felt this sharp pain in my back.  It almost felt like my back had caved in.  Well my mother had took her right hand, reached down into the pit of “The Hot Gates”, and brought back a hit that would knock a full grown gorilla to the ground.  Needless to say, lesson learned.  When it was time to go, it was time to go…lol

On the other side, I have cousins and friends that I feel got spanked daily and they didn’t fair so well in life. 

I really liked the show “My Wife and Kids”.  You never saw Michael Kyle raise his hands to any of the children, but he got his point across.  He used creative strategies to not only punish, but to make his kids understand why he did the things he did.  He would get carried away sometimes, but I thought it was an ingenious way to not physically harm his kids. 

Here is an interesting article on spanking and how people try reference the bible to say it’s okay.

So my fellow nerds what say you?  Is spanking okay?  Is it a last resort?  Is it a first resort?

BTW if you have never seen Sinbad’s HBO special at morehouse, I implore you to find it.  His routine on spanking is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in my life…lol

-Trillionaire Wood aka Wood the Great

My partner in business, Southern Charm, wrote a post a couple of weeks back about Birdman and Lil’ Wayne and their affiliation with the Suu Woo nation.

Read it here 

In a nut shell he was saying that Birdman may be a gangsta, but at the end of the day it’s all about money.

Which brings me to my picture of the line up.  It’s safe to say that it represents a fair sampling of the most popular rappers out there.  And it’s also safe to say that these guys generally have very violent lyrics and talk about a life that is probably not true.

Rick Ross: Former Correctional Officer and College Graduate

Lil Wayne:  Was in College.  Now instead of Penn State he’s headed to the State Pen. And rumor has it that he never started cussing until he was 18.

Plies:  Have you heard the interview.  OMG!  This negro has better grammar that Cornell West…lol

T.I.:  Owns a construction company with his uncle.

Young Jeezy:  This cat may actually be gangsta.  I’ve never heard anything to the contrary.

But 1 out of 5 is not a good %. 

So why do they act that way?  Well duh!!!  It’s for the money.  I get that.  But my question becomes does life imitate art or does art imitate life?  And I really think it’s a cyclical thing.

I’m a grown man.  And in the past I have watched BET and have become desensitized to reality.  So for an impressionable youth, it is possible for them to watch a video, listen to a song, and believe that the song is actually real life.

So this is how I see rise of the Hip Hop Gangsta:  Groups like NWA come out.  They make money.  People listen to them and get desensitized to violence.  Now the record company sees it makes money and they have 100 new acts working the formula.  More people become desensitized.  Then people like Lil Wayne come along that don’t even rap like that.  But they want to work the formula.  So now Lil Wayne and the whole lot are gangsta.  Then I think what happens is these people begin to believe the bull they are peddling.  Birth to a Hip Hop gangsta.  Next thing you know he is being busted for having drugs and weapons. Which I’m almost convinced is a ploy by they higher ups to continue to paint the image. 

N!gga you not gangsta!

So the questions I pose to you…  Should these guys be censored?  Should they be allowed to rap and keep spreading the nonsense?  Is it the parents fault when kids act out the songs and videos? Is it cool to be gansta?

-Trillionaire Wood

So I’m watching 106 & Park yesterday (yes, I like to keep up with what’s going on in pop culture), and Bryan “Baby” Williams aka Birdman is a guest on the show.  When they brought him out, the first thing I noticed was the red flag hanging out of his back-right jeans pocket.  No harm.  No foul. 

And then the coonery fukkery ensued.

After every segment where Terrance & Rocsi interviewed Birdman, I suppose he just felt the need to say, “Suuuu woooooo.”  I say felt the need because he said it after EVERY SEGMENT! 

*For the sheltered suburbanites For those who don’t know, Suu Wooo is a call sign or greeting that members of the Bloods use.

Now, we know Jay-Z is up there in age.  He’s 39 going on 40 this year.  Birdman is already 40.

There is a 40 year old man… tatted & flagged up… yelling, “Suuuu Wooooo,” in front of an audience of teenagers.  After the last segment of the interview where Birdman (I refuse to call him Baby lol) yelled, “Suuuuu Wooooo,” Rocsi started to say something about it while Terrance just put is head down and shook it.  Sad indeed.

Not only was this ignorant, irresponsible, and down right coonish… it misled a lot of impressionable kids who may have been watching that show.  It made gangs appear to be cool.  I’m sure many “affiliates” or people out there false-flaggin don’t even know the history behind what they’re reppin’. 

Some of the most popular gangs were born out of the Black Panther movement.  They were resurrected to protect communities.  The problem is that these communities soon became drug infested.  And where drugs are, there’s money to be made.  And these gangs soon were organized and centralized to get money and control their flow of money in the drug trade.  That’s it.  It’s about money.  You think Pookie got shot randomly for wearing the wrong color, in the wrong place, at the wrong time?  Maybe… But 9 times out of 10, Pookie got shot because his gang was interfering with another gang’s money.  My set controls this block.  You’re interfering with my money… simple as that. 

Think “The Wire,” but set in Compton instead of B-More…  Barksdale’s crew is the Crips and Proposition Joe’s crew is the Bloods.

Which brings us back to what it’s all about: the money.  Birdman is a businessman.  When Cash Money first came on the scene, Birdman & Lil Wayne weren’t reppin’ and flaggin’ like they are now.  I would argue that it would make more sense to do it then rather than now.  Gang culture’s popularity was at an all-time high in the 90′s.  But it’s sad to see a 40 year old man reppin’ like an ignorant 17 year old.  It’s the money.  I think as long as it’s profitable to drop it in a song that sells… then Birdman is all about it.  Just like money was behind gang violence, money is behind this nonsense. 

And Nas said it best: “What’s sad is I love you cause you’re my brother… you traded your soul for riches.”

Yesterday we talked about whether black people could be racist.  As always, there were inconclusive findings. 

Anyway I wanted to ask you guys a question…

We have a lot of organizations that cater to black culture like NSBE (National Black Society of Engineers), Black Greek Organizations, ETC. ETC….  I know at one time in society, we needed these organizations because everything else excluded us.  But are they still valid?  Do we just self-segregate at this point?  And if so, why?

But I’m getting off track here.  Those weren’t my original questions.  My question is if white people had an organization that catered to whites only, like the White Society of Engineers,  do they have a right to?  I’m sure most people would look at that name and think, “OMG! That sounds like the engineering arm of the Ku Klux Klan!!!”  But I mean seriously, if there was a group of white kids that said, “Hey there is an engineering association out there for every other race. Why can’t we have one”,  would they be wrong?    I’m not saying it’s an association that is truly whites only, but it caters to white culture… just like Black Greek organizations cater to black culture, but are no longer exclusively black.   Sidenote:  How crazy is it crazy to see a white guy outstep his bruhs?

There would be many arguments about it here.  I could see both sides.  One could say that any organization that doesn’t exclusive cater to a race is by default a white organization.  But is that true or is it what I asked early?  Do we self-segregate?  Do we not go to those country clubs because they said no blacks allowed at one time and we lived with that limitation?  What say you my fellow nerds?