Cholesterol Minded?

(sorry stole that title from some cat on okayplayer)

What I want you to do is count to ten.
Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two
On one, you will be asleep - one
I cant wake up -KRS-One

I really hope I'm dreaming.

Hear that sound? Its the sound of hip hop's death knell. Hip Hop is indeed dead!

When I checked my email this morning and saw that KRS-one was going to be on Celebrity Fit Club I was a bit taken aback. So much so that I started to write a rather dismissive missive (yes that rhymes) called 'Fat's gonna getcha' in response to the news but then I stopped. Actually you can do some really cool parody stuff in this regards with some of his song titles; Cholesterol Minded, Fat's gonna getcha, You must Burn (those calories), the Fridge is over.

But I digress.

Krs-one, the Teacha, the Blastmaster (and for any of you aspiring Krs-one dissers remember blastmaster does sort of rhyme with fat bastard just in case you ever need a cheap shot in a freestyle battle) a hip hop icon is going on celebrity fight club? Author, Guest lecturer at Universities around the world, Founder of H.E.A.L and the Stop the Violence Movement, the Temple of hip hop organization. The cat has done it all.

You must learn, My philosophy, Boom Bap, Hip Hop vs Rap, Outta Here, Criminal Minded, Stop the Violence, Self Destruction, the Emcee, Love's gonna getcha, Jack of Spades, Still #1, South Bronx, The bridge is over? One of the greatest freestylers ever, a legend in concert! And as an aside let me say that one of the coolest movie scenes I've ever seen is that one in Clockers when the lil kid with the gat in the paper bag is rolling up on his bicycle while Outta here is blasting in the background. Wicked!

Ok I'm resisting the urge here to just blast the Blastmaster about this whole celebrity fitness thing and its mainly cause I used to really respect this guy. It wasn't just the music, it was the image. Krs has always been unorthodox, he walks to his own beat, he can be dismissive, he can be arrogant, he can make lofty claims and contradict himself, but aside from his music, he seemed to be a man of principal. I respect that cause in today's society its hard to find people who have principal!

Wont say I've always agreed with everything he's ever said. Actually he lost me way back in the days with the black drug dealer song (wow was that like 93 or something) and since then I've always questioned much of what he says but still I had respect for the cat.

He also lost me with some of his recent comments regarding 50's new album being better than Kanye's, his adding Lil Wayne and Chingy to his Stop the Violence Movement and his bigging up some of these new cats who are clearly crap but like I was arguing with my boy yesterday maybe there is method to his madness.

Now I'm clearly a jdid old school loving hip hop fan. I honestly aint feeling 99% of what these cats claim is hip hop these days. I can't seriously listen to the ay bay bays and superman's and that other stuff without nostalgia for the old days and fear that the future and indeed the present are both dimmer than a 20 watt light bulb.

However that's me I'm set in my ways, that's how it is. However my argument over Kris' recent actions was that maybe just maybe he realizes that each new generation puts a different spin on its music and that maybe the way to impart knowledge to these young cats is to reach out to them instead of always criticizing. Maybe that was his plan. Not sure its going to work with these knuckleheads but I was trying to not be harsh on my man and probably being somewhat of a Krs apologist especially since I now realize he's doing tracks with G-Unit. Maybe that explains the 50 Cent comments (what are the odds that Krs joins G-Unit?)

Anyway I also realized my issue is not that Krs is overweight although for a man who claims to be a vegan and once rapped strongly against meat (The cow doesn't grow fast enough for man, So through his greed he makes a faster plan, He has drugs to make the cow grow quicker, Through the stress the cow gets sicker, Twenty-one different drugs are pumped,Into the cow in one big lump, So just before it dies, it cries, In the slaughterhouse full of germs and flies) way way before it was cool to be vegetarian you would have thought that he would have taken better care of himself. Naa cant diss the bredren cause he packed on the pounds. Happens to the best of us. He's overweight, he recognises he has a problem he's dealing with it. Kris has had a hard year too and maybe Marley's heart attack was a wake up call so props for trying to do something about the fitness.

So no that aint my issue. Plus to be honest I really don't think he's that big. Bigger than before but still. Naa my issue is not that he's tackling his problem its how he's tackling it; on a reality show joint on Celebrity Fit Club.

Way I see it if you've got a problem handle you business but yo you're telling me that you cant hire a personal trainer or dietitian and do this on the low? There are tonnes of ways to tackle this problem and it doesn't have to be public. And if you wanted it to be public and make a statement maybe about blacks and obesity still no reason to go on a reality show with b and c listers. Helll this show is just two steps away from Flavor of Love man.

The only reason to do this in a reality show format is cheap tawdry publicity and that Kris is definitely not a good on you. So shame on you sir. Bad bad move.

Oh well maybe this is strange twisted payback for throwing Prince Bee off the stage back in the day.

Of course we gotta pay rent, so money connects, but uhh
I'd rather be broke and have a whole lot of respect
It's the principal of it,......
For those who pose lyrical but really ain't true I feel
"Their time's limited, hard rocks too"
Time's Up - O.C