A Couple Things XVII

-- I was watchin the Colbert Report the other evening and my nigga Stephen hit us with this gem to end his lil intro-monologue:

"Within every man there's a hole the size of the truth! And I'm gonna jam it in there."

He murders me on a nigtly basis.

-- Jamie Foxx's reality show was about as wretched as you can get. two things stuck with me about it.

1) I like how people were circulating emails encouraging everyone to tune into the show as opposed to American Idol. It was the type of grassroots work that should be commended. If NBC did indeed sandbag the show, marketing wise, because Jamie didnt invite any white guest and Jamie had the balls to stand up to the execs then he deserved our support. too many times these network execs are worried about tokens and how ridculous would it have been if Foxx would have sung some ridiculous duet with Michelle Branch? Or if he had Steven Tyler and his french-fry-face prancing around the stage in leather leggins?

And yes it was historic for a black man to get a 2-hr variety show on NBC. and yes the black viewing pubclic should have felt some duty to suppot and show execs that they need to offer more of that type of entertainment.

But, you just know that MacGruder and Boondocks have to be licking his chops at parodying the concern for and support of a 1-hr variety show as opposed to the more serious ailments afflicting the community.

2.) Jamie Foxx is not a good artist and he sucks as a performer. both are hard to believe because, he's an above average singer and very talented musician, so how can he not be a great artist..and, he's a comedian and Academy-Award winning actor, so how can he not be a great performer.

I don't know...but I do know that great voices and the ability to play the piano doesn't mean great music these days. Alicia Keys is known to drop very mediocre albums laced with 2 or 3 brilliant records. John Legend's album was hot trash. But it's hard to ever really bag Keys and Legend because its so apparent that theyre wildly talented and they have the holy trinity: the voice, the song-writing ability, and musicianship. But they don't have THAT THANG.

Badu has That Thang. D'Angelo had that Thang. More than anyone doing it at the moment, Bilal has That Thang. I mean, give Bilal an hour-long special and the TV will meltdown.

Foxx, on the other hand, is ur average run-of-the-mill nigga when it comes to making dope music. He sounds like every other R&B dude.

Like I always get mad when people try to Michael Jackson on the same level or above Prince. Jax was an astounding performer and had a great vision for what would entertain. But musically, homeboy really wasn't all that, in hindsight. He did write and arrange some of his music, but Jax was that voice and them black loafers, gyms socks and highwater slacks. And his voice, might I add, wasn't all that after he grew up and then started having ridiculous operations to keep his upper register in tact. Prince, on the other hand, has to be one of the 10 greatest artists since the end of the Vietnam War. Maybe Top 5, in fact, let's go ahead put in him the Top 5. And thats because he had That Thing. Forget that he wrote and produced very ounce of his music. Plays the drums, guitar and piano. Most importantly, though, he had That Thgng. That Thang will make some arrange a song a certain way instead of chorus-verse-chorus-verse-bridge-chorus. That Thang will make someone add some percussion to a track because they think it'll create a certain mood. It's almost a mentality, it is a mentality.

Foxx's mentality is to make some ho-hum R&B, following the crowd. And that nigga claims to be Unpredicable. I know ur talkin about ur bed-game, but Nigga please! Emeril made roasted duck nachos on his show yesterday. That's unpredicatable. Foxx as a music artist is like a PB&J sandwich on some $.89 wheat bread.

And performance-wise...it was just a waste of time. ZERO stage presence and his lil life-story interludes were annoying and not funny. I believe we know all understand the relay he had with his grandmoms. And his Oscar speech was moving, as was Globe's speech. But I wasn't trying to sit thru a whole hour of some Mama's Boy ish. I wasn't on no: Make me laugh, Monkey! which is what white people like to do to blacks on TV. I wouldve been ashamed if Foxx came out there like a shufflin Sambo...but dude...gimme 10 breaks.

and finally, on a somewhat out the lane topic: I'm grow a huger fan of The Game everyday. not because he's a skilled emcee and definitely because he's got That Thang, he doesnt. I just like his MO. kool kat in my book.