Essays On BETism AKA Y'all Got To Do Better!

I was born in 1975, so I remember when BET first launched back in December 1980. I also remember back when BET began airing Video Soul and Rap City in addition to it's other serious programming like BET News. BET was committed to bringing quality programming to Black America that was also entertaining back in the early days. They were fighting a world full of stereotypes, few opportunities for Black themed shows and none of them were concerned about the welfare and future of Black people in the least. BET filled that void and created a venue where we got to see the full diaspora that is the Black experience in America.

Whether it was seeing Ed Gordon as the lead anchor on BET News at night or moderating all of those Town Hall Meetings that were must see TV, or catching Video Vibrations, Video Soul, Rap City, Video LP and Screen Scene all in a row. Or it was watching Teen Summit every Saturday morning, BET had it all on lock. They had the Black Enterprise showcase shows where we saw Black men and women owned their own franchises and chains, they started Emerge and YSB magazines both of which started out with a dedicated readership. Most of all, they were all about class and integrity.

 I don't remember Donnie Simpson, Sherry Carter, Madelyn Woods, Angela Stribling, Harold McCoo, Lisa Johnson or Chris Thomas ever doing anything completely or even remotely dumb or ignorant on or off camera during BET's early pre Viacom years. I can't say that is the case now. On BET nowadays, Ignorance is running rampant...and the Prophet is nowhere to be found to stab him in the heart with sharp steel bookmarks.



Why were these shows important to BET? Who remembers when BET News reported that story on that experiment to put electronic devices into prisoners in Baltimore/DC prisons? They halted those experiments thanks to BET. Remember when Timberland officials stated that the "urban" demographic only accounted for 5% of their business? Remember how quick BET News (and The Source back when it had real writers) put a foot in their asses? Who else reading this remembers when rappers would come on Teen Summit and had to answer to their audience? Here are a few classic moments that some of you unfortunately missed (there were a lot):

Special Ed is a guest and his second album has just dropped. he revealed that he never graduated from high school or even got his GED. The teens on the panel (Lisa Johnson included) then proceed to get in his ass (no Baby F. Weezy) and make him promise them to get his GED.

Scarface is a guest and he says that if someone tried to rob him he'd fight and kill for his material possessions (a la Cousin Harold..the scene in Menace II Society sparked the discussion) rather than give them up. The teens on the panel then tear him a new one, some going as far as to say that they "lost respect for him" over his stance on the subject. Then, he had to perform for them! If you saw the faces of those kids on the panel half heartedly clapping behind him...classic moment.

Lil 1/2 Dead of the Dogg Pound Gangstas coming on the show and explaining his name was 1/2 Dead not because of the villain in the Penitentiary movies, but because so many of his homies are dead and that since he still lives in an area where gangbanging is prevalent that he can die at any moment. A couple of girls on the panel start crying (one more than others) and a couple of the teens tell him that calling himself "half dead" is sending a bad message to kids coming from areas overrun by gangs because by saying that he's half dead, he's given up on life and they should, too. Lil' 1/2 Dead also tries to spin what his new single "12Pacofdoja" is actually about to the panel. Oh, man.

Queen Latifah being told point blank that in response her song "U.N.I.T.Y." that she made as an anthem of female empowerment by a panel member that in the song she (Latifah) punches a dude in the eye for grabbing her ass and calling her a bitch and "Latifah, you're a big girl. You're the queen. I'm just a regular sized chick and if I try to hit a dude for grabbing my behind it's over for me. How should I deal with that if it happens?" Latifah looks stunned for a while, not realizing that that question would ever be asked of her but soon recovers and gives the teen some good advice.

Seeing Chuck D, KRS One, Wise Intelligent and several other "conscious" artists chopping it up with the youth and interacting with them in a real way. They were regular guests, as was Jada Pinkett (who damn near became a regular host before God sent us a gift called Ananda Lewis...and Mya dancing in the background at the same time)

Without this type of sounding board or venue where we saw the artists talking about real issues affecting the younger generation who oftentimes were their listening audience and directly interacting with them we've lost a key instrument and forum. Imagine if these rappers know had to come on Teen Summit and answer questions about their content or explain their lyrics to a panel of teens and young adults with common sense? No fluff interviews that fail to even scratch the surface with acts that have the depth of a fish bowl. 

You as a new artist have to show up on and stand up to scrutiny and questions that aren't pre prepared to make you look good. Chuck D once said in a CSPAN panel that he used to put new artists in front of grade school kids and watch them squirm because the kids would ask questions that couldn't answer. Chuck's point was that if you didn't put enough thought into your own material that you can't answer a child's question about it, then chances are you shouldn't be making music.

Watch 106 & Park and ask yourself "Where is the quality control?". I saw when Denzel Washington showed up to promote Deja Vu (when an adult shows up, Terrance and Rocsi have to step up their interviewing) and they asked him this question with an obvious answer to any Black person with common sense:

Terrence J (to Denzel Washington, adult Black man with common sense): "If you could go back in time and change any one thing, what would you change?"

Dart Adams and Buctyala (adult Black males with common sense watching at home in unison): "Slavery!" (me): "That's a dumb ass question!"

Denzel Washington (one second later): "Slavery. Definitely slavery" (audience applauds)

Terrence J and Rocsi: "Wow" "Wow..that's deep." "I didn't even think of that"

I got up from my couch and changed the channel myself, I didn't even reach for the remote. Ever since BET ran off everyone that us old heads came to admire the network for employing and I stopped seeing Black intellectuals on the network or any serious programming that smacked of anything resembling journalism I knew it was a wrap for BET. "Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin" was on the wall. It was clearly time to move on for anyone who craved quality programming directed toward Black America.

What do we have now? "College Hill","Hot Ghetto Mess AKA We've Got To Do Better", "Strictly Offensive Behavior", "Baldwin Hills"and bunch of other shows that are simply shows from other MTV networks that have now been "blackened" or "negroized" for Black audiences. I know "Boiling Point", "Laguna Beach", "Makin The Band", "Real World"  and "Punk'd" in blackface when I see it!

Of course, BET has it's critics. Of course they've done little to change the fact that if TV One had a few shows that appealed to Hip Hoppers I would black out BET entirely from my didgital cable package. Cousin Jeff had a show that came on only while Dracula and meth addicts were awake. They make specials to address issues like the Sean Bell shooting way after the fact and then they don't air them enough to make a real impact. BET is feeding the masses a steady diet of visual junk food and high fructose corn syrup and they haven't done a damn thing to change it. If you think Aaron McGruder is the only one who has SERIOUS issues with BET's lack of quality programming then you're sadly mistaken. Make a search of the internet and the bloggerverse...This bullshit has got to cease SOON.

I don't buy that that the people in charge at BET care about making quality programming for it's viewership. You can't make a show called "We Got To Do Better" and then do nothing to actively make things better. Bring back "BET News" and hire some real journalists and anchors. Bring back "Teen Summit" and use the old interaction format but update it. Make these artists have to account for their music on a weekly basis and meet the audience face to face. Last but not least, put in place a show that caters to the underground or independent music scene. The audience is larger than you would imagine and they're hungering for a show right now. I would say to expand "Rap City" but the way it's going right now you can probably cut it to 45 minutes and no one would bat a damn eyelash.

As of right now, speaking as a 70's/early 80's baby I'm like "Fuck BET!". If I could go back in time and tell myself what BET would eventually become, I don't think I'd ever believe it...that is until 1998 happens. For real BET, y'all GOT to do better.

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Dart From Boston AKA His Return: Day Six

I’m completely fed up with these bullshit videos from rappers that don’t even care anymore. Apparently, 50 Cent has managed to put out yet another wack video. These new songs of his are pure garbage, he’s just faxing it in every time. Remember the hungry 50 Cent from “G Unit Is The Future”? Remember when you HAD to hear the old G-Unit Radio mixtapes? I do. Back in 2002 he was a phenomenon, an unstoppable force. Now he’s convinced himself that he’s making great music and putting out the videos with earth shattering images thus he’s going to generate monstrous buzz for his new album...the problem is that in reality he’s making lame ass videos for contrived songs with the same lame theme...he’s rich. He gets money. He runs New York. Whatever man.

I watched “Rock The Bells” with my brother Buctayla and my boy Cardi yesterday. We saw concert footage from Supernatural, Eyedea & Abilities (Eyedea grates on my nerves but you cannot front on DJ Abilities), Jurassic 5, and Dilated Peoples. We saw Chang Weisman of Guerilla Nation bust his ass to put on a great Hip Hop show that showcased all of the elements in peace and unity all because he loves Hip Hop. 50 Cent has lost that drive and determination and hunger. He doesn’t love this anymore. It’s a chore for him now. A job. It USED to be fun, he used to enjoy it. Now he has to build a buzz and climb this same “sell more than everyone else” mountain every time he comes out. Just make better music, music that people actually want to hear and not this faxed in crap you’ve been putting out. Sticky Fingaz (R.I.P. X-1) once said he’ll rip his heart out his chest and put it right into a rhyme. Where’s 50’s love at? For him, love does not ring a bell.

Record labels are all jockeying for position to release a big album on the “right” day. Meanwhile, ain’t shit coming out from major labels. Last year, I’d see weekly Soundscan threads everywhere. Not anymore since these labels are too shook to even put out albums by well known artists. If it wasn’t for Nature Sounds, Babygrande, Stones Throw, Duck Down, Rawkus, Def Jux, Koch and a bunch of other indie labels I’d have no new quality Hip Hop to listen to. It’s bad enough that cats like Buff1 of the Athletic Mic League and Blu & Exile released these great album and there are NO videos for these releases anywhere. I decided to post some of my favorite videos and clips as counter programming against the bullshit we’re being fed. We’re all living in the film “They Live” and below are your pair of sunglasses.

The zeros and ones made the words in Dart’s blog.

Sean Price-One


Rugged Intellect f/Ras Kass-Next Dose


Hezekiah f/Bilal-Looking Up


Blue Scholars-Back Home


J. Medeiros-Constance


Strange Fruit Project f/Erykah Badu-Get Live


Camp Lo- How U Walkin’


Gym Class Heroes-Shoot Down The Stars


Juggaknots-Namesake


Lupe Fiasco-He Say, She Say


Far East Movement-Smile


Planet Asia-Havin’ Thangs


Dilated Peoples-The Release Party


Aesop Rock- None Shall Pass Promo


Snowgoons f/Reef The Lost Cauze-Never


Dizzee Rascal-Sirens


Kano f/Craig David-This Is The Girl


Blu & Exile Live @ Boombox in Los Angeles


These clips from Buff 1’s album release party come courtesy of my boy Rideout from the “D”:

Buff 1-For You (Live)


Buff1-Pretty Baby (Live)


Buff 1-Big Thangs (Live)


They Slept So Hard On ‘Em:

Royce Da 5’9” f/Cee Lo Green-Politics


Sav Killz f/Planet Asia-Champion Rap


Sphere Of Influence f/Jin-Yo Yo Ma


Zeebra-Street Dreams


Zeebra-Top Of The World


Aquarius f/Dabo & S Word-Here In Tokyo


K-Os-The Seekwill


Obie Trice-Cry Now


Roc C f/Aloe Blacc-My Life


Eternia-Evidence


RipShop-A Better Day


One.

The Revenge Of The 80’s presents G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero

Back in 1982, while the Star Wars craze was still going strong toy manufacturer Hasbro decided to produce a new version of the famous G.I. Joe line of toys. They would be 3.75 inches in height (1/18th scale to the human body) and have weapons, accesories and vehicles that resembled real weapons and equipment that the American military actually used. They decided to call it “G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero” to help avoid confusion. Morever, they needed someone to fight. The Cold War was still on but they couldn’t have G.I. Joe try to rid the world of the Communist threat. Instead, a force called COBRA was created to do battle with the G.I. Joe team.

They were billed as a “ruthless terrorist organization trying to control the world”. They had vehicles, and equipment that resembled the militaries of other world armies and cadres. They also had a lot of original creations thought up by a team of toy designers. Each figure came with a weapon and acessories as well as a file card that came with it. Every vehicle came in a kit that you had to assemble yourself along with decals and a blueprint/schematic sheet that showed all of the features of that vehicle.

At first, the toys sold briskly but the Star Wars figures still owned the market. Hasbro only made a few characters and they had some inferior molds to make the toys from. Another problem was that while their action figures has many more points of articulation than the Star Wars figures (which couldn’t bend their arms or knees), the first run of G.I. Joe and Cobra figures all had straight arms making it hard for them to hold their weapons properly or look natural when they drove their vehicles. In June of 1982 the G.I. Joe Marvel Comic’s book began it’s long run.


In 1983, Hasbro decided to give all of the new figures swivel arms starting at the bicep to give them more range of motion. It was such a big hit that they reproduced the 1st run action figures to have swivel arms as well (like Firefly here).

The final installment of the Star Wars trilogy “Return Of The Jedi” was released. The Star Wars merchandise was still selling well, but the G.I. Joe and Cobra toys and their vehicles and accesories began to capture the imagination of American children more and more. Hasbro had already made a deal with Marvel Comics to produce a comic book series that was quite popular with readers so they made a deal with Sunbow Productions to produce a G.I. Joe animated TV movie. Once the G.I. Joe movie “The M.A.S.S. Device” aired on syndicated television channels they was no turning back, kids wanted to have Snake Eyes, Duke, and Stalker as well as Cobra Commander, Major Blood and Destro. They also wanted to have the vehicles they saw in the cartoon. The Marvel Comics series turned out to be excellent as well. The M.A.S.S. Device was such a breakout hit that another TV movie was to be produced...as the opening to a G.I. Joe cartoon show.

By 1984, there had been 3 generations of G.I. Joe and Cobra figures and vehicles. New popular figures such as Zartan and the Dreadknoks and the Crimson Guard were big sellers. They also became a big part of the cartoon and comic book as well. It was an excellent three tiered marketing strategy, the commercial would come on TV and part of it would be animated then at the end it would say “read about it in Marvel Comics!” and then in the new season of the G.I. Joe cartoon there are all of the characters using the new vehicles and new equipment. In the comic book it’s the same thing...brilliant.

The cartoon served as not only some great entertainment because it was surprisingly funny and well written, but because it was a 22 minute commercial that came on 5 times a week. You had Shipwreck’s smart ass comments, Roadblock spittin’ 4 bars everytime he spoke, Spirit being all wise and esoteric, Stalker’s gap toothed ass flying around with a jetpack, Bazooka saying something stupid and of course, who can forget the famous Alpine yodel? The great thing about G.I. Joe was that they had everybody down with them.

Barbeque was a red headed Irish Boston fireman, Doc was a Harvard/Johns Hopkins educated Black doctor, Spirit was a Native American, Zap and Shipwreck were both Puerto Ricans, Gung Ho was a Cajun Marine from Louisiana and Scarlett was a Southern belle from Atlanta that just also happened to be a red headed Ninja. They fought stereotypes as well...where else can you see a Black mountain climber (Alpine) and a cold weather specialist (Frostbite) on the same squad? (Although Big Lob was a step backwards, thank God he never got an action figure...although William “The Fridge” Perry did.) Well at least we learned a lot of lifelessons from those PSA’s. Knowing IS half the battle:



I was pissed off by the cartoon to a certain degree because G.I. Joe used to always win because Cobra Commander fucked everything up or because of infighting between Destro, Zartan, or the Crimson Guard/Tomax and Xamot (“Extensive Enterprises!”) trying to take control of Cobra. Thais all took away from the fact that Cobra should have won every fuckin’ time because they had iller weapons and more of them. Trust me, I played G.I. Joe vs. Cobra with my brother for years and when we played I was G.I. Joe and he was Cobra...I lost ALL of the time. I was three years older than my little brother and I watched shit like “Apocalypse Now”, “Full Metal Jacket” and “Platoon” regularly. He just had the iller vehicles and weapons, even to this day I look back at all of the vehicles he had and I don’t know how I was supposed to stand a chance (we played all out military style, not like the cartoon). We used to set up snipers and have ambushes where we took hostages and then tortured people for info. When our Joes or Cobras thumbs broke we turned them into cannon fodder or vehicle drivers (You can’t hold a weapon? Fuck you then!).

Once the crotches broke or they just broke in half because that black rubber band in the middle broke you had to get a new Joe to replace the one you lost. There were a couple of ways we got new G.I. Joe figures, you coulod go out to a toy store but that was a trek for some kids to do. In the hood there were a couple of chain stores that carried G.I. Joes where I lived they were called Rx (pronounced “ricks”) and Christy’s. The thing was that these stores didn’t really have great security so you could go in and sneak to the G.I. Joe spinning rack and pocket between 3 and 6 random Joes real quick without getting caught. If you were looking for someone in particular, you needed a diversion at the counter (“Ayo Hakim, go buy 4 Chocodiles and a 2 pack of AA batteries while I get a new Lady Jaye, Quick Kick and a Sprit”).



The other way was order them from Hasbro Direct, a lot of the figures and vehicles were discontinued and not available in stores but in different Marvel Comics (big surprise) were these deals and order sheet where you could get those figures and vehicles for cheap. I remember getting the A.W.E. Striker, Cobra H.I.S.S., Hooded Cobra Commander and a bunch of other shit from there over the years. Of course, we always had boosters that would hit up Kay Bee or Child World (both notorious for having lax security) and come back with mad figures but it was always a mixed bag because a lot of the time they’d get a lot of the same ones (4 Bazookas, 3 Scrap Irons, 3 Zartans, 2 Destros, 2 Recondos, a Major Blood, an Aitight and a Dusty with like 3 Weapon/Acessory packs). Sometimes, kids used to hit up the Woolworth's...that was a tougher mission, though (See what happens when you tell a bunch of Boston kids legends about the Lo Lifes in New York?).

Those Weapon/Accesory packs were cool because a lot of the times you ended up losing a character’s backpack, accesory or weapon. In some cases it would spoil it so you couldn’t even play (“Where’s Stormshadow’s swords at?”) and you’d end up looking for a quarter inch plastic weapon that’s the same color as your rug for a full hour...that shit ain't fun at all. We'd lose backpacks, guns, everything. Those accessory packs were lifesavers (we used to handpaint the weapons different colors cuz only Ghostface would be feeling a baby blue uzi or a canary yellow sub machine gun).

The cartoon was bananas. In the first movie, they weren’t shooting red and blue lasers like they were later on. Plus, people were getting SHOT, not that laser beams wizzing by and hitting nothing shit. I still have “The Weather Dominator”, “The Pyramid Of Darkness”, “Arise Serpentor Arise” and several cartoon episodes on tape from WLVI TV 56 from the old days, now they’re all available on DVD complete with the PSA’s. After “Transformers: The Movie” did so horribly at the box office, Sunbow Productions was shook to release “G.I. Joe The Movie” in theatres. Instead, they aired it on national television. This would be the last year that the G.I. Joe cartoon would be in production (it was cancelled before a new season could be produced) and the toy would begin experiencing a decline in inventive ideas after the Cobra La 3 pack flopped and Cobra Commander and Serpentor were both removed from the series.

Some of the classic episodes included Lights! Camera! Cobra!, The Viper Is Coming, Twenty Questions, The Traitor, Eau De Cobra, Cold Slither, Cobrathon, Glamour Girls and Ninja Holiday in addition to the full length movies I mentioned above.

G.I. Joe jumped the shark and the dumbest ever idea was implemented by the design staff. G.I. Joe took seized Cobra vehicles and some of their one discontinued vehicles, gave them a new paint job and used them in combat. They called the line “Tiger Force” (above)...it did not do well at all. I had hopped off the bandwagon by then as the years of 1984-1987 produced the best G.I. Joe and Cobra vehicles and figures. I’ll highlight my all time favorites here:


Here's the reason I was so pissed off playing G.I. Joe all the time. Not matter how fly a vehicle I got, Cobra had something to bump it off. I had mad Armadillo tanks:

Cobra ALREADY had the H.I.S.S. and then they got the S.T.U.N. that could shoot two vehicles at the same time



and take these out (even with the hoversled):

I had the Conquest X-30 airplane and thought I was the man:

Cobra had the goddamn Night Raven



(with an additional plane on the back to blow not only the Conquest out the sky but THIS as well):

I had a Snow Cat for the longest:

Then Cobra goes and gets this ill ass snow vehicle:

It was the neverending story for real, not only did you have to deal with Cobra, but the Dreadknoks. I used to get STOMPED on the regular. Even when I had firepower like this:

I had to deal with shit like this:

It was an arms race for real in our room! You couldn't go anywhere without seeing a G.I. Joe or a Cobra figure crouched in a corner or over in the cut in a firing position from one of our marathon Joe vs. Cobra sessions. When we finally moved out of our old apartment of 24 years in 1999, me and Buc kept finding Dusty old G.I. Joe's behind couches and under or beds and dressers still in the positions we left them more than 10 years ago, waiting to light the enemies ass up Low Light style.


A new G.I. Joe movie has just been greenlighted and it’s to be produced by the same team that made the new “Transformers” movie (so expect Stalker, Roadblock and Doc to all die horrible on screen deaths or say “What’s crackin’, bitches?”). Check out more information about G.I. Joe’s figures, vehicles or cartoon series at the these sites:

http://www.yojoe.com/
http://www.thejoeindex.com/
http://www.joeheadquarters.com/
http://joes.propadeutic.com/

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