Whatcha got against a brother?

bigdirtyfoot · Post by **bigdirtyfoot** » 02 Jul 2004 13:50

She dislikes Tupac? What the fuck. I'm assuming this involves ignorance, because most people don't understand Tupac. Unless she's listened to all of his work, I highly doubt she knows what the fuck she's talking about... I've got to read this now.

*EDIT*: Started reading... looks like it's about Tupac's poetry, which I haven't actually read. But the lady *did* read that. So I stand corrected at least on that point.

bigdirtyfoot · Post by **bigdirtyfoot** » 02 Jul 2004 14:03

Wow okay I just finished reading it, and I'm angered. The lady makes good points, but also demonstrates a lot of ignorance. I don't think she IS racist at all. But the thing is, she doesn't understand how positive an influence Tupac was on someone like ME, or on a lot of other children... I can't speak for his poetry, but his songs clearly show that he triumphed from poverty and I admire that. Regardless, there ARE a lot of violent/drug tendencies that are involved in Tupac's works... but that's all she's focusing on. And she's completely wrong about this:

"Malkin: ...I would like to know how it is that students who read lines like, "I'm more than you can handle, I'm hotter than a wax candle" are then going to make the leap to loving the sonnets of Shakespeare. It's not going to happen."

Wow. What ignorance. To get children excited about those lines... would open a whole new world to them. She just doesn't understand the lines, and is refusing to look into them for any literary merit at all! And I say that confidently because I know that that is taken out of context of a much larger poem. Plus, those lines alone have great literary merit, in my opinion. Sure, they're not Shakespeare. But that's the thing, we're NOT LIVING IN THE TIMES OF SHAKESPEARE ANYMORE. This has been something I've been thinking about a lot lately.

The part at the end of her debate that talked about this action by the schools being racist is also slightly off. I understand what she means, but she's missing the obvious effort of this mission, which is to attract people who normally don't read to READING. And THEN attract them to works of high literary scholarship. She fails to understand this, because she fails to see Tupac as a good stepping stone, which he is! He certainly was for me, as far as rap music goes, which is NOT crap, as she states in her debate. But that's a whole other issue. I liked this article Damon... thank you.

Tsiangkun · Post by **Tsiangkun** » 02 Jul 2004 15:03

read the article, but havent' read tupacs poetry book.

If tupacs poetry are like his lyrics . . . it's entirely possible the interviewee couldn't relate to the lines or even decipher them accurately.

How are upper middle class elite supposed to understand and relate to the beauty that is rising from the streets to gain the status of a prophet ?

How are inner city kids supposed to relate to the beauty of shakespeare ?
I see crack, pcp, meth, and alcohol abuse all around me, and I see hiphop as an educational tool to reach the kids.

This at least gives the kids a mix of stuff they can understand, and stuff they can perhaps appreciate more when at least some of the required reading interests them.

By god, I don't care if you read playboy for the articles, but getting kids to read anything is a good thing (tm).

MegaFighter_X · Post by **MegaFighter_X** » 05 Jul 2004 15:21

Good article. I see points on both sides. But I'm all for getting kids to read. But being as I've never read or listened to his stuff, I can't make a comment as far as that goes.

Concerning Shakespeare, no, Tupac's writing (probably) won't make them jump right into Shakespeare. But it may inspire them to read more. As they keep reading, they may start gravitating towards the classics, including Shakespeare. I don't really see the harm of putting him on a reading list.

Also, kids idolize the good about a person. People don't like to see faults, unless they want to bring the person down, which is what the lady did.

SpaceMonkey · Post by **SpaceMonkey** » 05 Jul 2004 17:18

Trust me by reading Tupac no kid will read Shakespeare unless they were already going to read him. If they like Tupac they are going to try to find more books that are like Tupac's. Example if someone likes, lets say, rap they wont try to find classical music to listen to they will try to find more rap. Get what I'm saying.

bigdirtyfoot · Post by **bigdirtyfoot** » 06 Jul 2004 14:24

SpaceMonkey wrote:Example if someone likes, lets say, rap they wont try to find classical music to listen to they will try to find more rap. Get what I'm saying.

I disagree with that from personal experience actually. And it applies to books as well. It just takes time.

SpaceMonkey · Post by **SpaceMonkey** » 06 Jul 2004 15:01

I've been a hardcore reader for like 4 years now I mean I read like hours a day but I read fantasy and Science Fiction, I have read Shakespeare but only because I had to for school but I would have never tried it otherwise. Maybe thats me but I think most other people are the same way.

FlexThis · Post by **FlexThis** » 06 Jul 2004 15:06

Matt · Post by **Matt** » 06 Jul 2004 20:10

I've been a hardcore reader for like 4 years now I mean I read like hours a day but I read porn and whats on TV.

I suppose its better than no reading, but surely shouldnt be substituted for shakespeare
maybe thats more how the rap/classical relation is?

thats not actually how i feel btw

bigdirtyfoot · Post by **bigdirtyfoot** » 18 Jul 2005 12:11

Does anyone have the original link to this post? Damon edited all of his posts and I'm looking for it...

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 19 Jul 2005 19:05

good thing tupac isn`t dead...

qphox · Post by **qphox** » 19 Jul 2005 23:10

Damon took back something he said?

Now, I can't be sure, but I'm pretty certain that he has never done that ever before.

...

Damon, maybe it's time you started giving me a reason to care about what you are saying. Just a thought.

HG · Post by HG » 20 Jul 2005 06:08

qphox wrote:Damon took back something he said?

Now, I can't be sure, but I'm pretty certain that he has never done that ever before.

...

Damon, maybe it's time you started giving me a reason to care about what you are saying. Just a thought.

OWNED

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 20 Jul 2005 06:41

Damon has left the forum, maybe for good. This happened last week.

Tsiangkun · Post by **Tsiangkun** » 20 Jul 2005 08:48

And that's why I voted Damon for Drama Queen.

Nobody asked him to leave . . . He just decided he wasn't liked here after Insulting a world champion and father of the sport, threatened to physically attack penske, told Peter to suck one like lewinski, challanged Allan and JIm to come battle his friends, and accused Peter of hiding behind his own reputation while he was infact hiding behind jason.

Then when given an easy out, he decided to continue the argument and eventually went through the trouble of deleting every post he had on the forum. Which, imo, probably took more time and thought than he put into the last flame fest he was involved in.

Wah Wah Wah

Someone hit the nail on the head when they said Damon wouldn't have the balls to own his statements, and his deletion fest proved it.

slapdash21 · Post by **slapdash21** » 20 Jul 2005 09:06

thats not necessarily why he did it. quit speculating...and bashing him when you KNOW he isnt going to respond is just low. i have no problem with 90% of what he said...and he has the right to insult a "father of the sport" if he wants to...as much right as he does to insult me or you.

Tsiangkun · Post by **Tsiangkun** » 20 Jul 2005 11:03

He threw a sucker punch and wasn't willing to stand behind his comments.

Clearly this is the abuse of the edit button that .org seeks to avoid by not allowing edits.

I don't care how offensive someones content is, I'll support your right to say it. The only problem is when you don't have the maturity to either stand behind what you say, or admit you were in the wrong to have said it.

Damon pulled a bitch move, grabbed his ball, and went home.

Wah Wah Wah.