For as long as everyone can remember I have been arguably the most unlikely rap-head on the face of the Earth.
There ain’t too many on this Earth whiter than the artist formerly known as Snuffleupagus. Shoot, back in high school I would wear a white T-Shirt, white shorts, white tube socks and call it my God outfit because you couldn’t look directly at me without being blinded by the whiteness. It was impossible to tell where the shorts ended and the near translucent calf began. My in-depth knowledge of hip-hop surprised those discovering it for the first time. This was apparent yet again in Chicago when a new friend christened me cornbread, ‘cuz I’m white bread but with some soul.’
Well, now I am in France, and here, I may feel less white, but I have not heard less, or more importantly worse, hip-hop. Apparently my people like the music and not only do they like it, they know the good shit from the bad.
Last Saturday, the only day to actually go out in France and find things open, I wandered into the fnac (French Best Buy) and decided to take a look and see what they had to offer. After discovering that of course, these are the French and they insist of placing the French language albums at the front of the store, I found to the general pop music section and what should I see? Raekwon the chef nearly sold out and showcased at the front of the display! Of course whose album was sitting directly adjacent almost totally stocked? Jigga… maybe these are my people. (more…)
