I’m still reeling from the fact that I missed the greatest concert of all time, but I’ll get over it soon enough. I’d probably get over it faster if someone told me the Palladium was air tight, hot, and smelled like old rotten cheese but I doubt that’s the truth, especially since Twitter was going over board on Saturday about how the likes of Heavy D and Queen Latifah showed their ass, in a good way.  I’m sure these videos don’t do the concert justice, but at least I still don’t know if Common is shorter than me. That would be a major blow to this recurring dream I have.

 

 

Speaking of blow, did any of you catch The Cleveland Show last night? Why do I feel like you have to be high or something to thoroughly enjoy it? I wanted to love this show, but I’m not sure how to feel about it yet. I don’t do animation (yes that means I hated Rugrats as a child) so I’ve only caught The Family Guy a few times. I know that show is suppose to be snarky, inappropriate and what not, and The Cleveland show is a spin off of that gut buster, but I wasn’t awed. I did laugh out loud a few times but most of the time I had a slight grin on my face in anticipation of more and it never happened.  I’ll probably watch it again next week just to support one of the few Black shows on television, even though it doesn’t have real Black people. 

 

I must say I’m not that mad Cleveland is being voiced by a white guy, though that would have been nice, however I could do without Cleveland’s fast-ass step-daughter looking like she’s ready to audition for a Luke video, and all of the talk about Donna’s (Sanaa Lathan) fat ass. No really, Donna’s behind is huge, the characters comment on it, a lot, which will undoubtedly lead to cries about stereotypes and all that stuff that pisses off Black people when they want to be pissed off.

 

I probably could feign outrage but the story that really pissed me off is the news that a four month old boy was shot and killed in Van Nuys yesterday morning. He was caught in the crosshairs of a violent argument between rival gang members. I wonder how do you convince the mother of that little boy violent crime is actually down in Los Angeles?

 

 

Back in 1984, death row inmate, Romell Broom, committed a crime the state of Ohio deemed was worthy of death. He raped and murdered a 14-year-old girl. This guy is definitely a monster but does the state of Ohio have the right to try to execute Broom, twice? On September 15, an execution team attempted to kill Broom by lethal ejection and failed miserably. A team of at least 12 people stabbed Broom with a needle more than 18 times over a two hour period but could not find a proper vein to inject so the execution was halted. Now the state must decide if they should try the execution again.

 

Broom’s lawyers argue that that the two hour ordeal was equal to torture and violated Broom’s constitutional rights because it was not quick and painless. They are expected to argue that a second attempt would be cruel and unusual punishment.  That’s definitely not as cruel as raping and killing a little girl but everybody has rights, right?

 

And because I refuse to mess up y’all Monday with stories of rape and murder I must point your attention to a juicy story that could end up in bloodshed if all parties involved channeled Orenthal James. I know we tend to stay away from mindless gossip but this Alicia Keys, Swizz Beats, Mashonda drama is too tempting to ignore. I’m surprised people haven’t been talking about this more since it’s rumored that I am SuperWoman aka A Woman’s Worth,  is boo’d up with Mr. Take My Gucci Rag and Wave it ‘Round in the Air aka a Still Married Swizz Beats. Apparently Alicia got to talking about love and what not on the twitter and Mashonda responded publicly, ahem, quite publicly. This is messy, but it’s like a train wreck you can’t turn away from.

 

 

But if you must turn away, check out this video I spotted at BananaClipse. You have my permission to yank me if I ever buy some shoes instead of paying rent or that heffa Sallie Mae, but “Throwing My Money” is still one of the catchiest songs on Tiron’s Ketchup, which you should have downloaded a long time ago. It’s laced with tales a twenty something can relate to (being broke, being lonely, going to college and trying to get laid); even if you can’t relate, it still sounds good.

 

Tags: Alicia Keys, Common, Crime, Death Penalty, Ketchup, Swizz Beats, The Cleveland Show, Tiron