WW: Right.
RB: —I think that he just started going along with it. You know, every article he’s frowning . . . he has a doo-rag on.
WW: Yeah. Right.
RB: He has a skully on. Like, come on. Like, you know what I mean? Since when? You came into this game as Slim Shady, you know, cross-dressing and—
WW: Right.
RB: —being the funny guy.
WW: Right, right.
RB: Now all of a sudden he’s gangsta.
WW: Yeah. He’s got a clothing line coming out too. Slim Shady Wear.
RB: Slim Shady Wear?
WW: Yeah.
RB: I mean, you know what? That’s a smart business move, because as big as his brand is, of course he’s gonna want to expand it. So, I can’t be mad at that. It’s just that, is it good for our culture?
What we do know is that corporate America and Madison Avenue are heavily influenced by hip-hop—just turn on your television and check for the commercials.
Now you have pundits and talk show hosts like Bill O’Reilly talking about it and coming down on corporations who support certain rappers. In 2002, Bill O’Reilly, on his O’Reilly Factor, began a campaign targeting Ludacris and his endorsement of products like Pepsi. He called for a boycott of Pepsi for being “immoral” for allowing a “gangsta rapper” like Ludacris, whose lyrics are damaging to society, to endorse its product. After that, Pepsi fired Ludacris as a spokesperson. That’s powerful.
And as long as corporate America can turn from Ludacris to Justin Timberlake and affect the same people, then it will. And if rappers want to satisfy corporate America, then they have to water down what they put out. You’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t. If you keep it too real, then you have to answer to corporate America because it’s frightening to the masses.
Rapping about a Maybach Benz is keeping it real for the 50 Cents, the Jay-Zs, and the Ja Rules. For others, rapping about murder, murder, kill, kill, may be keeping it real too. But if you’re rhyming about Glocks and killing, don’t expect to be the new face of Tommy. That’s real too. While keeping it real sells, it’s a lot easier to sell it when the face of the salesman is less threatening.
WW: I don’t see where the hood is really buying Eminem music. I think that is the rest of America that is buying Eminem music.
RB: But once we stamp him, that’s when it’s okay for, you know, the rest. . . . See, ’cause everybody watches what we do.
WW: Right.
RB: Make no mistake. The way we dress, what we drive, how we talk.
WW: Yes.
RB: They watch what we do because it’s in our culture, our blood, to bring this, you know what I’m saying?
WW: Yes, yes.
RB: They did it with rock music. I mean, you see the billboards. Before anybody did anything, Elvis did it first.
WW: Right.
RB: I mean, that gotta be a smack in the face to any person, and not just of color. Just anybody—
WW: Yeah.
RB: —that was into rock music, you know what I’m saying. Imean, come on, Chuck Berry. Elvis just basically, just took his whole style.
WW: Right. Now you can understand why Little Richard has always been so—
RB: I mean, Little Richard, so, you know, it is what it is and we gotta recognize it. I don’t think we could stop it. I think we just need to worry, you know, because . . . supporting each other, because if you look at independent record sales, they are not doing well. Never mind major record sales. Independent record sales aren’t doing well. So, we just gotta be more responsible for ourself and once we stamp this kid, once we get behind him, then that’s when it all happened. And, see, I don’t wanna sound like a hypocrite, but, you know, it’s like, The Source magazine found him an unsigned hype. Um, they gave him two covers, and I’m gonna be honest. I, you know, I don’t get into the covers and I don’t get into mic rating, uh, you know, I just, I have my opinions.
I wonder where hip-hop would be without Eminem. And I question whether he has made the game better for everyone. I know Benzino is clear about it, but again, I have mixed feelings. I see the color lines being blurred every day around the music of hip-hop, and I smile. I see young people from opposite sides of the track—both racially and economically—finding a common bond around hip-hop, and I smile. I think racism is real, and in many ways hip-hop and rap have gone a long way toward exposing how silly racism really is.
But I also understand the need and the necessity of keeping it authentic. Hip-hop, in many ways, is a movement, and the catalyst behind the movement must not be distorted.
RB: You can best believe if hip-hop was in the sixties, then, you know, Malcolm, he woulda been Pac. At the end of the day that’s why Pac was so important. It’s like, yeah, you can reap the benefits, we can shake our ass and rock the party, but we gotta keep it real, man. Because, you know, when you sit in front of BET, these kids could be in the projects sitting in front of BET and they looking like everything’s right, and if they see me with the gold and everything and the jewels and the diamonds, they think everything’s right. And I’m the first to let them know it’s not right. I’m still in the struggle too. I’m still trying to sell records. My heart is in records. The Almighty RSO was way before The Source magazine was developed.
WW: Damn right.
RB: So, you know what I’m saying? I been into this game for the love of it, man. From day one. And a lot of people would say, well, Eminem’s opened up a lot of doors. Man, naw, we’ve opened up the doors.
WW: Right, right, right, right, right, right.
RB: He’s shutting ’em.
WW: Yeah.
CHAPTER
5
Negroidian
One of the questions I always ask my guests is “How much did that cost?” I love to find out what entertainers do with their money, how much they paid for their houses or cars or rims or clothes. I love to know what a new artist does with his fat advance check and to find out whether he tricked it out on jewelry— which would be very Negroidian.
I coined Negroidian as a way to explain all of the crazy things done in entertainment—particularly in the world of hip-hop— with money and behavior. I originally made it up to describe actions and behaviors that are characteristically black. But Negroidian is beyond race. Negroidian is a culture.
Negroidian is universal. If you get an IRS return and you go and blow the entire check on a necklace or a big screen television instead of investing that money, then you are Negroidian. At least stash most of it away for a rainy day—after all, if you’re getting a return check, it’s your money, it’s not free cash or a bonus that the government is giving you. It’s the money that you overpaid on your taxes that the government is giving back to you.
By the way, all of that money that the government pays millions of people back in returns, you had better believe they have been collecting interest on that money over the year. So why go and blow it as if it’s free money? That’s money you worked for that the government has benefited from. Why not go ahead and make that money work for you?
But we live in a Negroidian society. No one thinks like that. For most of us, “extra” money burns a hole in our pockets; we have to spend it. Now, how we spend it will determine how Negroidian we are. A rapper who gets an advance check for three hundred thousand dollars and blows the whole thing on a new Benz is super Negroidian.
Negroidian behavior is not all negative. There are times when I look at Negroidian acts and I pump my fist and cheer. Some people can be perfectly Negroidian and get away with it. Kimora Simmons having three Bentleys is very Negroidian. But Kimora Simmons can afford to have three Bentleys and not worry about the mortgage not being paid or her children’s school tuition getting behind. So, while I may call her Negroidian, I say it with a chuckle and a “You go!”
R & B singer Blu Cantrell, however, talking about spending seventeen thousand dollars a month on her lapdog is very Negroidian, and I mean that in every negative s
ense. Blu Cantrell bought her little dog a diamond collar and a whole host of Louis Vuitton accessories, as well as satin sheets and all kinds of other doggie items. Now, I understand people loving their dogs and all like that, but Blu Cantrell is one of those artists who needs to save every penny they get. Spending thousands on a dog when you’re not certain that you will get that next check from your label is very Negroidian. And dumb!
But the most Negroidian person I have ever interviewed has to be Baby from Cash Money Millionaires. He has a chinchilla bedspread in his bedroom and forty cars—very Negroidian. He walks around with thirty thousand dollars in cash in his possession instead of collecting interest in a money market account— very Negroidian. And while he can afford to do this, is this the smartest thing to do with thirty thousand dollars? Buying forty cars, is that the smartest use of money? Does he really need a chinchilla bedspread?
Baby: But you got some people could do it and some people can’t do it. Some people can afford it—
WW: That’s true.
Baby: —and some people get put in jams.
WW: Yeah.
Baby: I’m one of them cats that can afford it. I can live my life how I want to.
WW: Yeah. Damn sure can.
Baby: Believe that.
WW: So, do you have houses on both coasts? Do you have an apartment here in New York?
Baby: Nah. I’m planning on getting me one, ’cause I’mma move my office up there by Universal. But I got one in Miami, one in Atlanta, one, New Orleans. I’m kinda cool, but I gotta get me a spot up here.
WW: Yeah. Let me see what all you’re wearing on your wrists. Uh, what is that?
Baby: You know.
WW: Okay. Yeah, you’re crazy, crazy with it. What kind of watch is this?
Baby: This a Iceman watch, you know what I’m saying?
WW: Iceman watch.
Baby: Yeah
WW: It’s very nice.
Baby: Iceman watch with a Jacob piece with a Jacob bracelet with some Jacob earrings.
WW: I have to tell you something. Your watch is very understated.
Baby: Excuse me.
WW: For, it’s understated for you. Like I, you know—
Baby: I mean it’s a everyday piece. If you clown, you catch a . . . I mean, this everyday. Fifteen for everyday, Ma. I mean, how many people could rock a hundred and fifty, two hundred G’s on a everyday basis?
WW: What is that?
Baby: That’s some of people houses.
WW: Yes. You have two hundred thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry on. Period.
Baby: And I do at least half a million every time I come out. But I kept it kinda low.
WW: Geeze. Donatella Versace’s got this thing where she says no less than fifty thousand—excuse me, no less than fifty carats every time she leaves the house. You know whether it’s all earrings or—
Baby: Yeah, she a bad bitch.
When Baby, aka Birdman, came to the studio for an interview in 2003, I ran his pockets—made him empty them right there. And he had thousands in cash and a check and a couple hundred thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry.
WW: How much money did you put up there on the table?
Baby: I came with like fifty. I was just trying to buy the bar. I was having fun.
WW: Can I see what’s in your pockets right now? Can you empty your pockets?
Baby: Real talk?
WW: Yeah, let’s run your pockets. And don’t leave anything in there, okay, ’cause there’s not a thing that you can do right now . . . look at this, fellas. And he’s turning his back as if to say if you take it I’m still wealthy.
Baby: I got more money with me. I got at least thirty cash with me.
WW: Okay, here’s somebody, I have a counting machine here. This is a hundred-dollar stack. How much money is this right here? Oh, my gosh! This is still in the band from the bank?! This is another hundred. How much money is this right here?
Baby: Altogether, that’s gotta be a forty piece.
WW: Yeah, or fifty. I give you fifty.
Baby: Easy.
WW: Okay, I’m gonna tell you this right now, everybody. I’m stacking up a hundred dollars and it’s stacking up three inches. Three inches of one hundred dollar—
Baby: No, we call ’em . . . let me put you up on some game.
WW: Okay.
Baby: We call them wider than a Whopper, but high as a Big Mac.
WW: I like that. Baby, I’m going shopping. How much you need? Wider than a Whopper but high as a Big Mac.
Baby: (Laughs.)
WW: Look, you got the twenties laying in your pocket like these are pennies.
Baby: They cool. My brother just gave me them.
WW: This is your brother?
Baby: Nah, Sugar Slim. He ain’t make it.
WW: Hi, Sugar Slim. Now, what else is in . . . here’s a check.
Baby: Yeah.
WW: Can I see how much this check is for?
Baby: That’s a little lightweight.
WW: I just pulled a check out of his pocket, it was sitting there . . . $66,666.67! Paid to the order of you, Money Mack Music?!
Baby: Yeah.
WW: That’s you?!
Baby: That’s part of me.
WW: DDB Worldwide Communications on Madison Avenue.
Baby: She disgusted with it, too, huh?
WW: Let’s see what else is in your pocket.
Baby: I’m good. You drained me, baby girl.
Walking around with more than a hundred thousand dollars in your pocket. Now, that’s real Negroidian! On one hand it’s very comical. On the other hand, there ought to be a law against it. I have no problem with him having money, but he had not a single credit card in his pockets or wallet. Not even an American Express black card, not even a platinum or gold card. That’s not just Negroidian, that’s plain old niggerish. There is no other way I could put it. And it’s very stereotypical. It’s right up there with people who only use money orders to pay their bills and stand in line every two weeks at a check cashing joint to cash their check. There is no excuse for not having a checking account in this day and age, with all of the banks offering free checking. And there is no damn excuse for walking around with a hundred thousand dollars in your pocket and not have a single charge or credit card. That’s the rich man’s version of money orders and check cashing. And it’s just niggerish.
While I enjoyed my interview with Baby, running his pockets and finding all of that cash was disappointing. There is no possibility of my being envious of that kind of lifestyle. And I am no way near as wealthy as Baby. As a taxpaying American citizen, there is no part of me that applauds or appreciates the way he handles his money. It’s nothing to be proud of. On a scale of one to ten, with ten being the saddest, that’s a ten.
And of course, as I talk about him and talked with him, I saw his home celebrated on MTV Cribs. I saw some of the forty whips, I saw the sixty-thousand-dollar chinchilla throw on his bed. On some level I can appreciate that. Anyone with a chinchilla bedspread has mad money. But to see it walking and talking in a pocket was another thing.
We can thank MTV Cribs for taking Negroidian behavior to an all-time high. It has put that mentality on display for all to see and all to compete with. From Master P’s gold ceilings in his mansion and the custom-made, tricked-out, Gucci-interior Mercedes that he purchased for his son, Lil Romeo, who wasn’t even old enough to drive, to Missy Elliot’s Lamborghini bed that cost something like $100,000. Just Negroidian. And then there was Sisqo (whatever happened to him?) with his house with the huge basketball court out back. I would love to see a follow-up on Cribs to see who still has their homes and who was fronting all along. It’s very Negroidian to front—to act like you have everything and really have nothing. To drive a Bentley and rent a house or an apartment is Negroidian.
I can appreciate the hustle and all of the posturing people do to have the look of luxury, to appear to have all of the trappings of success. You cannot be a platinum
-selling artist and not have certain things, at least that’s what the game says. So you do what you have to do—even if you don’t have it.
I never used to think that way, but as I get deeper in this game myself, I realize the importance of having the trappings and all of the so-called tools of the trade. As I look at myself, I must admit that I, too, am prone to Negroidian behavior. But I thank my husband for that. He brought the Negroid out in me. Kevin is from Brownsville, Brooklyn. He comes from the streets, and as a self-made man he has a unique perspective on the game that we’re in and the expectations that accompany it. He offers me interesting insight into things that I would not normally think about myself because I was not brought up to look at Negroidian expenditures as being something of substance.
Prior to meeting my husband, my Pathfinder was fine. I had investment property in Florida and I had a little money in the bank. But when I met my husband, within the first eight months of dating, out went the Pathfinder, replaced by a sporty new Benz, and within minutes of that we got a Range Rover to add to the collection.
Yes, I have three Birkin bags. Three. That’s very Negroidian, and it’s a little embarrassing to admit. But I do have an explanation. When I wanted to get one, there was a huge waiting list, especially after Sex and the City made it very popular. Actually, Sex and the City was responsible for women getting their bag game together. And bags are my weakness. I put my name on the list. It took three years for my name to come up, and I got my bag. It was black. Ugh! Birkin bags come in so many beautiful colors, and I would have wanted any color but black. But after a wait like that, I took what they gave me.
Shortly after this, I knew someone who was going to Paris, and I asked them to stop in Hermès and pick me up a Birkin bag in blue. So I shelled out another six thousand dollars for that bag. (Oh, yeah, they cost six thousand dollars.) And then I had to get a red one because I love the color. So I have three and they are my most prized possessions. I use one of my Birkin bags five times a week. Ironically, the black one is the one I use more than any of them. They still captivate me. I don’t consider them really Negroidian, I planned and plotted for each one and I wanted them. And I like that you can’t just pick up a knockoff Birkin bag on Canal Street in New York, where you can get every other kind of knockoff. I have to be current.
The Wendy Williams Experience Page 7