YA HEARD: Bad behavior of big stars

“Everybody’s at war with different things... I’m at war with my own heart sometimes.”

— Tupac Shakur

Wow, how exciting was last weekend? Between Serena Williams’ moment at the U.S. Open and Kanye stealing Taylor Swift’s moment at the VMAs, it was quite eventful. Let’s start with Serena first. I
must say that, like many others, I was truly surprised at her behavior. I didn’t catch the tennis star cursing out the official live, but even the clip made me a little uncomfortable as I watched the replays on
numerous networks. To be honest, it looked to me as if Serena may have been dealing with some issues off the court. I do not know what was going on in her life at the time, but it must have been heavy.
However, I will say that whether you admit it or not, I’m sure many of you have wanted to tell someone off in the way that she did on plenty of occasions.

The look in her eye made it obvious to see that she had snapped. Granted, it was not the right time or place for such antics, but I can’t be too mad at Serena. Her only mistake was actually acting on the
impulse that she had — the same impulse that many of us refrain from acting upon every Monday through Friday in between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Kanye proves once again that he is out of his mind

Now as for the boy Kanye West — and I do mean boy — he is in serious need of a spanking. I’m being serious here; someone of 60 years of age or older needs to put this guy over his or her lap and go
to town. His audacity to blatantly interrupt Swift’s award-acceptance speech was shameful and another slap in the face for hip-hop culture. In saying that, I also want to make it clear that I do not agree
with some of these individuals who have tried to make the incident bigger than it actually is.

This situation was nothing more than an out-of-control egomaniac who overstepped the boundaries once again. I’ve read some blogs that have made this issue out to be everything from a black and white
issue to some sort of religious warfare. The bottom line is that the man needs to get some professional help if he hasn’t already.

The dramatically extreme patterns in his behavior over the years are beginning to look like calls for help instead of publicity stunts. Yet, as I’ve mentioned before, society usually rewards this type of
behavior, and I’m sure he’ll see a slight increase in album sales this week.

Religious hip-hop; if it walks like a duck…

Last week I touched on the story of the former Ruff Ryder artist Jin who is now a devout Christian emcee. I also revealed that there has always been something that has rubbed me the wrong way when it
came to Christian rap. Let me start off by saying that it’s not at all a Christian thing that I have a problem with; it’s just that most religious hip-hop music that I have heard has been of the Christian faith.

The combination of hip-hop and church just doesn’t blend seamlessly in my eyes. Hip-hop’s brash, cocky and attention grabbing qualities are in stark contrast to the religious humbleness of the church.
For a lot of these religious hip-hop acts, it seems that in one breath they are rebuking the worldly ways of hip- hop culture and then imitating the culture in the next.

Many of these acts say that they are using hip-hop as a medium to spread the gospel to individuals that can only be reached through hip-hop. That thinking is twisted, as it may be hard for someone to
digest an artist that is mimicking hip-hop, but at the same time trying to distance him or herself apart from it. Ask me and I’ll tell you that hip-hop is hip-hop; either it’s hot or it’s cold, good or bad.

Religious hip-hop should not get special attention just because it is of a somewhat religious origin.

Now there are a few authentic religious emcees that I have come across, and I stress the term “few.” Those emcees are simply telling their stories and testimonies through the form of hip-hop, and in that
small detail have separated themselves from the other 90 percent of what I see as contradictory religious hip-hop artists. When an artist is expressing him or herself, it is easy to digest and wrap your
mind around.

On the other hand, it’s just as easy to detect a gimmick that is being used to obtain fame. Reality has shown me that this rule holds true both inside and outside of the church … ouch, how dare I?

‘Till next week, Peace!!!

Dennis Winn can be reached at 703-200-4928 or YaHeard40@gmail.com.