Oh, the beginning of a new week and the drama continues. President Obama got a great laugh with his translator Luther, Dave Chappelle is back to self-sabotage, Jay Z surfing his Tidal waves and Baltimore now the latest city to have a black man die in police custody and no answers in site.
White House Correspondence Dinner
There were a lot of laughs at the White House correspondence dinner on Saturday, in particular during President Obama’s speech. He gave it like he always does but this year, there was a bit of comedic twist.
He invited his “anger translator” Luther AKA Keegan-Michael Key from the comedy duo Kee and Peele to help relay to the audience how he really feels. Obama delivered his speech in a calm mellow fashion and during certain parts of the “skit,” Luther interjected his interpretation of the real President Obama.
The no holds comedian did a good job and it was a nice break from the political speech that is usually given. From the looks on the audience’s faces, it went over pretty well too, although some people were totally taken off guard. I personally thought it was a little too much. Not that Luther coming up there was too much, I though his delivery was too much and I have honestly seen him a lot funnier in his President Obama anger interpretations than he was last night. All in all though, it is great that he was there. Goes to show where your talents can really take you. Check out the full segment of President Barack Obama with Luther just below.
Upset Fans to Dave Chappelle: Give Us Back Our Money
Just when I thought he was making a comeback, Dave Chappelle had to go and fuck it up. The comedian apparently showed up drunk at one of two Detroit shows last Thursday (why did he have to do it to Detroit though).
The first one went over without a glitch, but I guess all the drinking during and in between the next set got him wasted because the second one was not “the business.” Several people in attendance (the show was at the Filmore) said that the star was wasted when he finally got on stage (an hour late), slurred his words and pretty much sat quietly (smoking) and talking about nothing.
And while most of the time his rep is able to spin his not so great performances, even they admitted that the show from Thursday was not his greatest hour.
People are now mad and want their money back. I don’t blame them either. You want the experience that you are paying for and if you don’t get it, you have every right to demand that you get your money back! Plus, he isn’t funny to me at all.
Jay Z Stands Up for Tidal
When you are Jay Z, there will always be haters. No matter what you do or what you say, people will always open their mouths in some kind of retaliation to what you’re about.
Such is the case with Tidal, the music streaming service that Jay Z is now pushing. People have been bad mouthing the venture saying that it is not doing well and it is not what he is trying to make it out to be. Other outlets have reported that although the debut was a star-studded event, the hype has faded and Tidal is “underwhelming.”
Jay Z, who is usually private and reserved on social media, balked back at the haters via twitter over the weekend. Using the hashtage #TidalFacts, he let them know what’s really going on with the streaming service.
“Tidal is doing just fine. We have over 770,000 subs. We have been in business less than one month. #TidalFacts”
Here’s the thing with people and epically the media- they spin shit. They will make it look like you are beating your girlfriend in the street when you are really fixing her hair. That’s what they are doing with Jay Z and Tidal. It debuted last month… LAST MONTH. Why do naysayers think it will be bigger than Spoitfy, which as been around for a decade, in that time?
They just need to stop because as Jay said in one of his tweets:
“The iTunes Store wasn’t built in a day. It took Spotify 9 years to be successful…”
While there are kinks that need to be ironed out, I am sure Jay and his people will get it together and everything will be just fine. But there is one company that will be moving heaven and earth to make sure Tidal isn’t as big as Jay Z would like….the big ole mighty Apple. There’s already stories of artists like Rihanna who are joining the new service who suddenly had lots of technichal issues on iTunes with her latest song. He’s truly swimming with the big killers now so be ready to surve those even bigger tidal waves that will be crashing down soon.
A Killing In Baltimore
It seems like it has become commonplace for a black man to be killed while in police custody and it happened once again last week when Freddie Gray, 25, was killed by while in the back seat of a Baltimore police vehicle.
Having lived in Baltimore before, I know how the cops there treat people, especially in the inner city, so those saying that he probably did something to deserve it, go eat a… let me calm down.
Black people have been beat down by the BPD for years and with Freddie’s death, it hit home in a way that he hasn’t before. And let me interject something here, everything that we are seeing on TV right now is not how things are going down.
We have to dig deeper and go beyond the outlets of the mainstream media to get a clearer picture of what’s happening because as they always do, they are portraying things in a way that is not totally accurate.
On both sides (the victims/perp and the law enforcement) things need to change. But how many more lives and how many more riots we will see/ experience before it does?