Guilty Pleasures
We all have our guilty pleasures. Mine will probably come as a shock to many of you. I love Snoop Dogg. Really. It all started when I worked as a hotel maid one summer in college. Dr. Dre's The Chronic was out and as I'd move from room to room the TVs would stay on MTV and I'd clean to the rhythm of hardcore rap.
I was never a big rap fan, although there's a few artists (Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys, Eminem) that I've always liked. Snopp Dogg caught my attention because, in a genre dominated by sampling, his style is completely original.
Now, I am aware that Snoop has that pesky legal history (acquitted of murder charges) and pimp image (he says P-I-M-P stands for "paper in my pocket"), and as a conservative I should hate him. And, it gets worse, he even did some anti-Bush "get out the vote" ads.
But then I hear things about how he took a San Diego Pop Warner football team to meet the USC Trojans with the "purpose of inspiring them to continue onto college". I found out this morning, that Snoop is the offensive coordinator on his son's football team too.
I can understand how some people might be shocked or horrified that Snoop is coaching kids, but when you read what this guy says he really sounds like a conservative. He'd probably be shocked to read that, but here's an example of what I mean:
EB: And you have a child now, right?SDD: Yeah, I have a son. He's two.
EB: Do you let him listen to "gangsta" rap?
SDD: I do. Whatever I play at my house, he listens to, Whether I show it to him or not, it's going to be out there in front of his eyes every day. The streets don't have no love for him. They're not going to teach him. I'm going to love him and show him the right way of going about it. I didn't have no father in the home to stop me from gangbangin', but he does.
EB: Do you think that rap has an influence over kids and their decisions on the streets?
SDD: No, I don't. It's an expression. And it's a legal way out for those who don't have opportunities. A lot of times, people don't see all the positivity inside of this gangsta-rap thing. We all come from violent backgrounds, but yet and still we find time to do the right thing for Mother's Day. We look out for the homeless. we look out for people who don't have anything. Rappers Against Violence is a group that I'm a part of - we work to unite with real gang members who are trying to stop the violence. I made it from a community that doesn't expect people to make it. My job is to make sure I'm doing the right thing, and that's the best example in the world.
That's a conservative message. He's saying that parents matter and that you don't blame rap music for kid's misbehaving, you blame the kids and their parents. And, what's the way to solve problems? You do something about it, you don't wait for the government to throw money at it.
Sometimes I think the media has so demonized Republicans that people who should, from the whole of their beliefs, vote Republican, don't even consider it. They're reflex Liberals. It's awful hard to break that, but hopefully the conservatives can make some headway.
Now, there's a long way to go before Snoop is some kind of South Park Republican icon, but don't be surprised if it happens some day.
Posted by at November 20, 2004 10:32 AM
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Comments
| # March 7th, 2005 6:48 PM Converted_Comment | |
I've always been a big Snoop fan, as well as a lot of other rap. Unfortunately I think that conservatives often miss out on some of the positive aspects of rap music and its icons, because they choose to take a superficial look at its flaws. That's something that I hope will change over time. Until we begin to embrace a cultulture that many conservatives simply don't understand, we'll continue to collectively to suffer from the stereotypical "curmudgeonly old white men" image. |
| # March 7th, 2005 6:48 PM Converted_Comment | |
Why is it a conservative message to say that parents matter? That we shouldn't have the government decide what people do or do not listen to, but leave it up to the families themselves? That doesn't seems like it's necessarily conservative or liberal (although I would tend to say that it seems those upholding so-called "Christian" morals are the first to jump up and ask us to "think of the children", by which they mean censorship). Also, it's interesting that violence is not villified nearly so much as sex. Why is is that the human body is so more disturbing than violence that we put so much more effort into preventing children seeing sex than witnessing violence. Movie ratings, video games, television - you're more likely to see people killing each other than having sex, that's for sure. Maybe this is why the NRA and the so-called "Christian values" voters are going hand-in hand? |
| # March 7th, 2005 6:48 PM Converted_Comment | |
It's a conservative message because liberals like Hillary Clinton like to say that it "takes a village" to raise a child. It's a conservative message because public schools (run by ultra liberals organizations like WEAC) take it upon themselves to indoctrinate children in liberal values regardless of what their parents might want. Don't give me that NRA bs. People who support the NRA's goals aren't expressing "Christian" values, they're expressing the fact that they value our constitution. It's funny to me that you want to support the 1st Amendment in one sentence, but then in the next sentence it seems like you're willing to abandon the 2nd Amendment. |
| # March 7th, 2005 6:48 PM Converted_Comment | |
Don't care but for that Snoop is HOT! |
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