Pass the Courvoisier... (no, really, I mean it...)

Ah, the end of a love affair. So bittersweet...

After years and years and YEARS of giving free advertising to the Louis Roederer Company and its Cristal champagne (available from $150 to over $600), hip-hop artists are now talking about boycotting the company. In a recent interview, the head of the company was asked what he thought of rap artists' long-term infatuation with their overpriced grape juice. This guy apparently sniffed dismissively, and called the love of urban artists for their beverage "unwanted attention." Wow. Cold-blooded!

Anywhoo, Shawn (Jay-Z) Carter, rap icon and President of Def Jam Records, went on the radio up in NYC last week, to pronounce Cristal was "over." He suggested that we, the urban community, respond to the Cristal people's haughty disdain by not buying any more bottles. Um, I think I can comply with that request.

It makes you wonder, though. If a request from Jay-Z is all it takes, why won't Jigga announce some other things as over? Like Black-on-Black crime? Like crack-selling? Like rapping exclusively about crack-selling? Like shirtless, fedora-wearing Usher knock-offs? I'm just asking.

The whole Cristal story may ultimately prove to be as lacking in substance as other urban legends about smack-talking beneficiaries of hip-hop fads. The stories about the boss of Timberland and Tommy Hilfiger (on Oprah, no less!) disrespecting the Black and Latin kids propping up their quarterly earnings proved to be false. But why are we never surprised to hear this stuff? The Hip-hop Generation tries to come up, tries, often foolishly to move beyond the things we're "supposed" to want to seek the trappings of the upscale American Dream. But deep down, we suspect that the people who make these things don't respect us, don't want our money. It's that paradox: Even when we're flexing our money and ego, we're insecure.

Bush's Greatest Hits, Vol. 1

Here we go again. Once again, the Congress is taking up the issue (or non-issue) of gay marriage. George W.Bush's conservative water-carriers are once more trying to push through a law banning same-sex marriage. And once more, not only is this effort bigoted, but it is also cynical, stupid, and unnecessary. Much like Bush himself.

During the 2004 election, Bush and the Republicans got a lot of traction out of this issue, including some previously unthought-of support from minorities (more on that later), so it's no surprise that they come back to it now that their collective backs are against the wall. But what's surprising is that anyone is still buying into this legislative scam at this point. Jay Leno (WHAT?) said it best last night. As he said, polls show 51% of Americans disapprove of gay marriage. And polls show that 70% of Americans disapprove of Bush. So Bush is even less popular than gay marriage.

My views on gay marriage are simple. Marriage is such a deeply devalued institution (skyrocketing divorce rates, Fox reality shows, etc.) that if gays can't come up with anything better, let them have at it. Glibness aside though, committed homosexual couples need a way to preserve insurance, estate rights, and adoption, so I would have to say I support it.

People who don't support it, though, should realize how they are being played by Bush and the Republicans. These folks float this law, knowing that Democrats and moderate Republicans will not be seen allowing intolerance written into the Constitution. But this whole charade gives the Conservatives the right to say that Congressman/woman X is soft on gays, or something, and they can run some Ralph Reed Jr. against them. Bible-thumping homophobes, wake up. THEY'RE USING YOU.

That Bush is playing to the narrow-minded and short-sighted is no surprise. They're his "base." But the support that he's garnered from holy-rolling Black folk, in particular, I find distressing. In Washington, DC, in the past year, two pastors of large Black churches have taken to the pulpit and spewed hateful, homophobic rants. One even went so far as to ask the "real men" of the church to come forward, and separate themselves from the "sissies." How many men, given those circumstances, stayed in their seats? Right, NONE.

Are these idiots so lacking in perspective that they cannot remember when Blacks themselves were persecuted, vilified, and separated from other races? Why, it seems like it was only yesterday. BECAUSE IT WAS.

Oh, I know... Homosexuality is a choice, blahblahblah. BULLSHIT. Churchgoing Black folk, don't you get played, too. Bush has supported how many things in our best interest? Not too bloody many. By making us as intolerant and hypocritical as him, he's doing us no favors.