Ratchet, Ridiculous, & Sublime: What’s Happening in My World & Yours

So much craziness is happening I thought I’d do a lighthearted recap of the latest Ratchet, Ridiculousness and Sublime.

Ratchet:

 I’m going about my pandemic life of deciding if it’s safe to eat in my favorite restaurants in person again and laughing at the CDC for wanting us to trust non-vaccinated folks to use the honor system about wearing a mask. When, for no reason at all, Kwame Brown’s name was thrown around during the ‘All the Smoke’ podcast, hosted by ex-NBA players Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, whose special guest was Gilbert Arenas.   

Who is Kwame Brown? Well, half of America was asking that question. Not anymore. Brown, the number one NBA draft pick of the Washington Wizards in 2001, had a respectable NBA career, but not a top draft pick worthy one, according to Barnes, Jackson, and Arenas, who half-heartedly joked about it on the podcast.

Brown, minding his business got wind of the slander, and then the commotion ensued.  Brown clapped backed at Jackson and Arenas, but skyrocketed from shame to fame after his verbal takedown of Barnes after Barnes went on ESPN’s The Jump and spoke about the dust-up with host Rachel Nichols.  

 If you look up “don’t come for me unless I send for you” in the dictionary, you will see a picture of Kwame Hasani Brown decked out wearing a fedora and smug grin. Let’s just say that people will cite Brown’s name with the likes of rapper Nas who ETHERED Jay Z in 2001, and Pusha T’s lyrical smackdown of Drake in 2017 when the top diss tracks are mentioned. Except Brown isn’t a rapper. But he delivered his diss in a melodious southern twang cooler than a breeze after the sun has set on the banks of the Mississippi River.

 Brown labeled Matt Barnes ‘Rico Suave,’ ‘Becky with the good hair’, and ‘Finger Wave,’ to name a few. He DRUUUUUUUUUUUUG Matt Barnes for almost twelve minutes. If he didn’t have time, he made time that day and talked about everything from Barnes’ baby mama leaving him for his friend Derek Fisher to his ancestry, to his podcast. He uttered, “I’ma let you live for a little bit, because I got somewhere to be,” and ended with a wicked, deep in the throat laugh that either scared you to the point of peeing in your pants or intrigued you enough to stalk his internet footprint to see if he was single. I’m not going to tell you which one I did. (P.S., He’s married.)

Barnes emerged days later with a weak rebuttal.

And for those who made fun of Brown’s “southern” twang calling it country, The Root’s Michael Harriot schools you on the history of the “southern twang” for folks who think it’s country.

What else.  

Ex-rapper Joe Budden, the host of the hugely popular Joe Budden Podcast, fired longtime friends and podcast co-hosts Rory and Mal during a podcast episode, then snatched the video and put it behind a (PATREON) paywall. Anyhoo, you can still catch glimpses of the firing on the internet. Both sides vehemently deny any wrongdoing and are defending themselves everywhere (I listened to them so you wouldn’t have to). It appears ‘Mo money, Mo problems’ caused the beef and the firing. I’m leaning Team Rory and Mal because it seemed like all they wanted was honest accounting since they’re paid via a percentage and not salaried, but things went left when they questioned the numbers.  

Ridiculousness.  Nikole Hannah-Jones, MacArthur Genius Grant recipient and Pulitzer Prize winner, was denied tenure by her alma mater UNC-Chapel Hill (even after the board initially approved it), due to right-wing pressure because of the 1619 project she authored. Hannah-Jones was offered a Professor of Practice position with an option for tenure review in five years.

Random: J Cole’s new music, ‘The Off-Season.’ dropped.  Haters gonna hate.  The reviews have been decent, although the” street” reviews are lukewarm. Many believe although Cole enlisted outside producers such as Timbaland and Jake One, the beats still feel like they came from J. Cole’s production stash. Apparently, that’s not good because his beats don’t stand up to his rhymes’ level, and sometimes vice versa. That’s the streets talking, not me.

Sublime:

Musical legend Merry Clayton, widely known for her searing vocals of the Rolling Stones’ ‘Gimme Shelter,’ classic has new music out titled ‘Beautiful Scars.’ It will take you to church without setting foot in the building. The now seventy-two-year-old Clayton survived a near-fatal car accident in 2014 that cost her both legs. When informed of the amputations, she said, “Really, did anything happen to my voice?”

 ‘Beautiful Scars’ is a masterpiece.

And CeCe Winans latest ‘Believe For It, (Live), has dominated the gospel Billboard charts since its release in March.

More sublime:  

Books:  Liberte by Kaitlyn Greenidge, Caul Baby by Morgan Jerkins, and the newly released memoir ‘Punch Me Up to the Gods,’ by Brian Broome will keep you engrossed.

TV: The Upshaw’s on Netflix is fun (even with some tired, stereotypical tropes).  The Equalizer starring Queen Latifah on CBS and Mare of Eastown on HBO are excellent. I love good female-led detective shows. Back in the day, you couldn’t call me when ‘The Closer’ with Kyra Sedwick was on. 

‘This Lady Called Life,’ the Netflix Nigerian romance drama, made me laugh and cry.    

And Entropy Magazine published my essay about my complicated relationhship with motherhood here.

What’s Ratchet, Ridiculous and Sublime in your world?  Drop a note in the comments.