Thursday, December 14, 2006  Conflict... Blood... Peace
Diamonds? Russell you are still not Hip-Hop!  A couple years
back Rosa Clemente penned a heavy letter about Russell Simmons
called Russell Simmons You Are Not Hip Hop. Back in 2001 it
caught me, it helped me remember why I got sick of people
sweating Russell. It got me to realize why I did a little "mouth
vomit" when I heard someone refer to him as the Godfather of
Hip-Hop (didn't Herc already have that title?). Recently Russell
opened his mouth again, this time to defend the diamond
industry.  This past weekend I shelled over my hard earned bills
to see Blood Diamond at the theaters. Going in, I had my
expectations set at the level that I set them when I'm going to
listen to a Method Man album (that's pretty darn low). But I was
rather impressed with the film. Of course there were your
standard issues of gender and race (e.g. Black Africans find
White woman in the bush and she charms them with her camera --
don't even get me started) but the message abo