But since when was Queen Latifah going mainstream? I mean, I know it's been some time, but isn't this the same woman who, in the 90's, was a rapper projecting a tough image? I admittedly don't know much about her music, but I recall seeing her in videos projecting this image of a tough dame who would throw down if antagonized.
She's hardly the first so-called hardcore rapper to go native. Ice-T is now part of the establishment, being in one of the Law & Order franchises and having a reality show about his life. Ice-T, f/k/a Tracy Morrow, was a badass, but he's gone native too.
LL Cool J is now on one of the NCIS shows. I don't know that he was as gangsta-affiliated as Ice-T, but he also projecting a tough-guy image. Now he's just another actor on another mediocre TV show.
Jay-Z, nee Shawn Carter, is now Mr. Beyoncé and a very visible albeit minority owner of the Brooklyn Nets, is a mover and shaker in music and now sports agency. For someone who dodged a lengthy jail sentence, he's awfully mainstream.
Sean Combs, or whatever Diddy-derivative name he goes by these days, is a mogul unto himself. Until he dated Jennifer Lopez I'd never heard of him. Now he's in commercials for Macy's and heaven-knows what else, along with producing music I've never heard. Good for him.
What amuses me is that these folks used to rail against the man, and now they are the man. Perhaps they've matured, but I suspect they saw the dollar signs that the man had compared to what was in their bank accounts and decided to switch sides.
On the other side of the fence, we have whitebread mainstreamers trying to act black. Years ago I was told that this was regarded by blacks as wigging, but I can't confirm that. Even so, I'll use the term, because there sure are a lot of whites wigging it. That reality show turned racist epicenter Big Brother has a girl who likes to throw down as if she were born in the hood. It's laughable, because she's a pageant coordinator who now, unbeknownst to her, is unemployed. That she shares a surname with the Trayvon Martin shooter is an unfortunate but humorous coincidence. But she walks around the house blurting all this stuff as if she were in a Jay-Z video. It's affectatious in the extreme, because she's not black on any level. She's trying to piggyback on black lingo to look cool. It's one thing for Queen Latifah to use it, but quite another from a wannabe black girl.
Even mainstream advertising has gotten in the act. Check out this ad:
Does anyone seriously believe that she's hip with the lingo? I mean, I get the irony, but is it necessary? Why not use a black actress in that role?
The blurring of lines between white and black is a good thing, ultimately, despite the ongoing misunderstandings and the attempts of the Forever Selma sect to keep the fires of racial division roaring. I'm not suggesting by any means a return to Separate But Equal. I do think, however, that it's amusing to see blacks embracing that against which they fought for so long and whites trying to act like blacks to fit in. Sometimes, people can lose their jobs despite trying to appear to embrace the other's culture.
But no matter. Perhaps Ginamarie Zimmerman can ask Jay-Z for a job. At least they're both from Brooklyn.
(c) 2013 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles
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