This post is in response to the article written by ESPN's Scoop Jackson, and can be read at: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=jackson/051101

My cousin Johnnie Rascoe, who is the head basketball coach at Roanoke Chowan Community College asked me the other night if I head read Scoop Jackson's piece on Phil Jackson and what he had said about hip-hop, and I told him no. So I got up at about four this morning to write an editorial for the Newspaper I write for here in North Carolina, and decided to check it out. The editorial I am writing is about a guy named Calvin Moore, who is the head basketball coach for Bertie High School's varsity men. Scoop's article while at first seemed like the black thing to say, actually knawed on me especially after having just interviwed Coach Moore the previous evening. Coach Moore and I played high school basketball together, and I've known him for decades. He graduated from North Carolina State University, and has been an educator and coach for as long as I can remember. He missed caoching his team last season because as a Major in the National Guard, his unit was summoned to Iraq.

Let's get two things straight. Phil Jackson is a very rich white man who has made a lot of money as a celebrity coach in the NBA. I say celebrity because that is what I see him as first and foremost a celebrity. Not that he's not a good coach, but he has had the luxury of coaching four of the fifity greatest players of all time for his nine championship runs (stop hating on Kobe). So whenever somebody in his position and with his cultural background feels as they are an authority about the state of black youth in America, I usually pay no more attention to them as I did Fisher DeBerry when he made his comments about needing more black players on his team because they were faster.

I ignore them because most of the time they are just shooting from the hip and saying the exact same thing that most black people feel, but don't want anyone else to have the right to say it. I also ignore them because if I was going to going to start a crusade to clean up the negativity being thrown at black youth in our society, I would start with that bastion of African American culture, Black Entertainment Television.

Which brings me to my second point, as ill equipped as he is to serve as a diplomat for anything than other than wearing nice suits and following great players around, Phil was the Jackson in that article with the most relevant point.

I am everything that Scoop Jackson is not, except black. I am not a holder of a Master's degree from anywhere. I have been unemployed, on several occasions. I have not only been accused of being a thug, I was a thug. I have been fired from a job for being black, and no I am not exaggerating. I have been both accused and convicted of crimes. I have never had the priveledge of being requested to speak as a guest at a university.

I also do not own a pair of Sean John Jeans. I have not bought a pair of AF1's in over a year, and I don't even know what the hell L-R-G stands for, I'm still wearing FUBU.

As much as I'm not Scoop Jackson, I'm also not Calvin Moore, and for all of Scoop's accomplishments neither is he, and Calvin Moore, to a point, agrees more with Phil Jackson, than Scoop Jackson.

When Calvin Moore and I were in high school, I was one of the hip-hop kids, and Calvin was one of the "do-gooders". He wasn't a nerd, not at all, but he had no interest to join me and my friends when we decided to break into cars, start gang fights, steal, get pissy drunk and smoke weed.

Calvin Moore's parents weren't about to let very much negativity into their child's upbringing, and while by hip-hop standards Calvin Moore's life may not have been bling-blingy, guys like Calvin Moore are the only salvation for the people Phil Jackson referred to as  a certain population in our society.

I'm not blaming rap music for any shortcomings I may have had as an individual, quite the contrary. I was a collegiate All-American athlete, who competed internationally for the United States in track and field. I played semi pro basketball and football in Europe, and represented the NFL at the World Expo in Seville Spain back in 1992. At various times in my life I have coached high school teams in football, and track.

My first job out of college was working for a record label in London, England where I lived for about three years, before I returned to the U.S. and had success as a concert promoter. My days as promoter took a serious blow when a kid was shot and murdered, across the street from one of my shows. I am old enough to remember Kurtis Blow coming out with an album, and unfortunately I lived long enough to have heard T.I.'s "Urban Legend", one of the CD's that Scoop says is in his CD changer right now.

The lines of communication that exist between the world of rap-music, and inner city criminals has always been as direct and accessible as Nextel walkie talkies. Early hip-hop wordsmiths, while providing bravado in their lyrical self indulgence, painted the dark side of the ghetto with thin fragile strokes, making sure that the kids didn't get it twisted. The message was I make money, because I am a supremely talented musician. That is no longer the message in today's hip-hop culture, and Scoop's neccessity to align himself with the blackness of America based on what he wears and what music he listens to is exactly the problem with black people today.

When there is a feature story on Jay-Z in Forbes magazine, Scoop sees an article celebrating the achievement of hip-hop in the world of business. I see a uniquely talented poet and lyricist, that used his talent to grandiose stories of violence and drug culture, and market decadence to our youths, while helping corporate America peddle more overpriced, status symbols that further exacerbate the get rich or die trying mentality that dominates the mindset of today's black youth. Status symbols like say...a three hundred dollar pair of sneakers.

So, now I'm player hating huh? Ni**a Puh-lease. As I previously stated, the lines between the world of rap music and crime have always been diaphanous at best. Who do you think financed all of the early rap record labels, and concerts, the YMCA? As for me, I've spent enough time in the judicial system to know that criminal activity isn't a game, and not at all as glamourous as music videos make it out to be. I spit on today's wannabe gansters, the fake one's on wax, and the fake one's in Sean John jeans as well.

Scoop wants to claim allegiance with KRS-ONE, well let me tell you son, The Teacher wasn't about all that b.s. you got on you back and feet. KRS-ONE tried to tell us way back in the days...self destruction, you're headed for self destruction.

 I wouldn't mind having Scoop Jackson's life, I think. I mean I'm sure he's getting cake, and all I see him on television all of the time. My brother and my cousin just got their master degrees as well so he should be proud of his work. But I think I would rather have Calvin Moore's life.

Coach Moore says his main message to kids is to set high standards, and be disciplined enough to adhere to them. The key word for Coach being standards, as opposed to goals, or dreams.  Being held to a higher standard means that your conduct, and interaction with your fellow man will be of the utmost importance in the way conduct your affairs. If you are a commendable person who works hard and people can rely on you, then success is a natural reward for living in such a manner. But who defines success.

The difference between the Scoop Jackson's and Calvin Moore's of the world is their definition of success. Scoop feels successful because he can wear hip-hop clothes to work, and listen to gansta-rap without letting it influence his ability to make sound decisions. Coach Moore would just as well wear an Army uniform and listen to the Isley Brothers. While both men have the right to enjoy the fruits of their labor as they see fit, Calvin Moore, everyday has to gauge his every move against the influence he will have on someone else's child.

I still listen to rap music. But there are very few current artists whose lyrics I can tolerate. It's not the rappers fault really, though. All artists should feel free to create whatever artistic endeavor they feel compelled to produce. What is sad is the choice of music and video that corporate America has decided should be marketed and packaged to our youth. KRS-ONE, Chuck D of Public Enemy, Rakim, these guys were and are the standard bearers for what is original about hip-hop and ghetto youth, not just in the beats and rhymes but in the messages. P-Diddy, Jay Z, Ying-Yang, are all examples of hip-hop run amok.

Do you all remember when Snoop Doggy Dogg (as he was called then) released his first album, in 1994? I remember it well. Every prime time national news desk ran stories about his violent background, derogatory lyrics, fouls language...etc..etc..etc... Ditto for Ice Cube, and Ice T. White America was determined no to let these thugs take over the minds of their children and ruin the moral fabric of American society .So when I see Snoop hawking Motorola at halftime of the National Championships, or Ice Cube's new Paramount Pictures movie release, or Ice Cube, playing a cop on Law and Order, I wonder, who caved in first? Where is C. Delores Tucker now? Whatever happened to Tipper Gore? The answer is no one did. When corporate America decided that there was more money to made convincing black kids to view crack dealing as a career option or a stepping stone to a multi million dollar rap career, then our entire community became walking, gun toting,  billboards of dysfunctional living, and that mindset will take decades to reverse.

One remote control flick to the thugs, hoochies, and gansta's on BET everyday...all day. It's not that whatever clothes you wear, or what music you listen to should define you, that will only happen if you let it. But just because you and some other dude wear the same clothes and listen to the same music does mean that you share any life values at all, and while Scoop can wear anything he wants to work, he can thank people like Martin Luther King Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Harriet Tubman, and other civil right leaders for that. I'm not giving P-Diddy, or Jay Z, or Master P credit for anything that Coke, Timberland, and Koreans in the ghetto hasn't done and that's primarily exploit the hood for profit.

While I respect Scoop Jackson's ability to wear Sean John and L-R-G- to work, I would rather see him in a suit. I would like for young black kids who aspire to be the next Scoop Jackson, knowing that they have to get up at four a.m. get a good day of research in, double and triple check sources, write, re-write, re-write some more, make phone calls, all the things that have made Scoop the award winning journalist that he is. I don't want the kids thinking that in order to be a guest columnist on Rome is Burning you can act like Young Jeezy (do you see Jim Rome wearing Sean John on his show?).

I grew up admiring the late Ralph Wiley, just because he was the only regular black face I saw in Sports Illustrated, and Dick Schapp, who I thought was the smartest sports guy ever. Today, I enjoy watching John Saunders, who is rapidly approaching Schapp-like greatness, and James Brown who still looks good in a suit.  I'm sure that Stephen A. Smith would be more comfortable in a Rockawear velour doing his show, but there is a professional standard that he is obviously trying to reach, and trying to force hip-hop, disguised as blackness, down the throats of a diverse audience is probably not going to help his cause.

If Scoop wants to point the finger at a Jackson for backstabbing black people, he should look at Michael Jackson, the biggest case of hating black skin that I've ever known. Yet when this child molester, excuse me alleged child molester, was forced to go to trial for his acts all of the sudden black people wanted to rally around him like he was some martyr for African Americans. Screw Michael Jackson, and OJ Simpson. They never wanted anything to do with black people until they got in trouble and then they wanted us to rally behind them. We, black people that is, excused their warped behavior and used their plights as forums to shout about racial injustice, sort of like we're doing with R. Kelly right now. The same relationship is occurring right now with rap music and black people. We as a people are so starved for a success story that we openly support a medium that moved from one of social conciousness and positive youthful rebellion, to a smorgashboard of lust, greed, crime, and thuggery that even Al Capone could be proud of. That what's the majority of today's hip-hop acts are nowadays, training guides for white America on how to treat ni**as.

Unlike Phil Jackson, Calvin Moore doesn't have to worry about enforcing a dress code, or what his players have in their headphones, the only thing his players listen to is him. Why not? When your coach is a Major in the Army, a war veteran, and former basketball player, as well as a church going family man, you don't have to worry about his credibility when he tells you that a certain population is going through some serious changes right now, and they are not all good. Calvin Moore is as credible a source about black youth in America if not more so than either Phil or Scoop Jackson, even if he's wearing a pair of Levis.