Spring Break Forever: Where my dogs @?
May 23rd, 2008 by negashi armada of supreeme in Negashi Armada of Supreeme
By Negashi Armada of Supreeme (Winner’s of CL’s 2007 Best Hip-Hop Group That’s Not OutKast)
DISCLAIMER: When you read my spiel, don’t go calling Fox News because all of a sudden CL is a radical news organization furthering the sick twisted liberal media’s mind control over the people. Because they’re not doing that at all. The views expressed here do not reflect CL, Crib Notes, or anyone but me and possibly Bizzy Bone. I am out of control and way to young and dumb to be allowed a public forum for my not so humble opinions. I hope you will still take them seriously, consider them and research some of my FACTS for yourself.
Hey wassup, my name is Negashi Armada and I am a member of the extremely un-famous yet critically acclaimed rap group Supreeme (Supreeme Supreeme). But that’s not what this is about. This is about attempting to expose possibly groundbreaking connections between race, class, gender, climate and … music.
I’ll make hierarchical music lists that may upset people, I’ll talk shit about musicians I know personally (but only from a creatively critical standpoint), and I’ll try to not get beat up by some gangster rapper that I might run into someday. Hopefully I’ll inform you on a bunch of music you don’t know anything about but will love. I think I’m really smart, but I’m really immature and I’m Ree De La Vega’s brother so feel free to hate.
Welcome to SPRING BREAK FOREVER.
WHERE MY DOGS @?
So let’s get into something racy. The other day I was chilling with some friends of mine, all of whom were white (don’t worry race will become significant). They ordered Amores Perros on Netflix because it was cool, hip and foreign and all the things the artsy kids love. Little did they know the movie was about dog fighting and featured a lot of dead and bloody dogs. Instantly all but one of them began freaking out and going on and on about how they’re “sooooo not down with dog violence.”
Now, all of these Sierra Club bouncers are all really big fans of films like Pulp Fiction, No Country For Old Men, American Gangster (except for when the dog got shot) and Blade Runner. The aforementioned films feature man’s true best friend (and worst enemy) getting shot in the head with weird cattle air guns, dudes getting their eyes gouged out, people getting “medieval on that ass,” and a man burned alive and then shot to death.
One of the Amores Perros viewers pointed out the paradox and thinly veiled hypocrisy of her fellow onlookers complacency and comfortability with violence against humans vis a vis their disgust at the mutilation of canines. So I began thinking, damn, what is it about dogs and white people? What is it about dogs and black people?
You’ll have to excuse my immediate jump to a racial divide, but it’s just that black people (including me) weren’t really that freaked out by Michael Vick, even though I condemn what he did vehemently. I just think instead of jail they should’ve made him fight two pitbulls in hand-to-paw combat live at the Georgia Dome. For most white people I knew, Michael Vick might as well have been — gasp — Reverend Wright or that sick dude from Austria with the dungeon!
When did this divide occur? Perhaps it’s because Islam reached Africa before Christianity and Muhammad wasn’t “down with dog violence.” But he definitely wasn’t down with doggy webcams or Pets are People, Too either. Also, there was (and still is) a greater wolf population in Europe than Africa as well as the particular offshoot that we know today as domestic dogs. And during slavery, runaway slaves were chased by vicious dogs and often chewed up pretty bad before being lynched and/or mutilated.
Perhaps because disproportionate amounts of black people are the victims of violent crime in this country (well at least according to the Bureau of Justice website statistics), black people are just a tad bit desensitized to the plight of lesser creatures. Who knows?
The relationship between black people and dogs gets really bizarre. We address our comrades as dogs and “dog hoes out.” Does this speak of some animalistic properties we and society attribute to ourselves? I don’t know. Sometimes, I wonder if Caucasian western Europeans and their descendants have a culturally-based need for a creature that is their inferior in terms of intelligence, superior in physicality, yet fully submitted to their will. With the abolishment of slavery and the proliferation of real live science, people are slowly beginning to abandon the idea of the dumb Negro athletic-champ beast and dogs actually are faster, stronger and dumber than all of us.
But then again dogs can’t really be a replacement for slaves because to beat them with whips and what not would be deplorable and inhumane.
OK, so I was pretty much done with this, but then I talked to my homeboy Chandler — a white person and expert on being white — about the dog thing. He brought to my attention the inherent innocence of an animal. To do something cruel to something so innocent is simply detestable in his opinion. I respect that and agree but what about chickens! Children! Cows! Pigs!
DOG THINGS I’M NOT DOWN WITH
Doggie webcams
Groomer Has It
Unleashed pitbulls and rottweilers roaming around College Park apartment complexes in the early ’90’s
Racist dogs at Atlanta festivals
Dog fighting
Dog abuse
Dog breath
Dog overpopulation (or overdogulation)
Racist Dog the Bounty Hunter
Racist Dog the Bounty Hunter’s son snitching on his own dad for being racist
DOG THINGS I’M DOWN WITH
Ginger & Tia (my best canine friends and my homeboy Sam’s dogs)
Air Bud (all of them)
“Atomic Dog” by P funk
Snoop Dogg
“Me and My Dogs” by Mavado
Wolves look tight and girls with eyes like wolves are tight
How confused they look sometimes (dogs not girls)
Doggystyle
“Old King” by Neil Young
“Anytown” by Reagan Youth
“Ask Dem Hoes” by Lil Wayne
“Derek” by Animal Collective
… I’m on the fence about dogging girls out because I have little sisters.
P.S. DMX! What an ingrate. The man built his career and image around dogs, claimed them as his best friends at one point even, and the man gets caught having a nonstop cocaine puppy carcass party. Man, I really liked his first album and he even made me soften up on dogs a little.
Send to a friend:
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Racist Dog the Bounty Hunter
Racist Dog the Bounty Hunter’s son snitching on his own dad for being racist
LMAO!!!
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:32 pm
i love black people
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:42 pm
chicken, children, cows, and pigs are ugly. that’s why.
white people have the need for “a creature that is their inferior in terms of intelligence, superior in physicality, yet fully submitted to their will” ?what are you saying? counter-productive/intuitive alert. come on, now. race race race.
we will converse later.
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Negashi…Nice work for your first blog. Keep doing your thing son. Can you or anyone for that matter answer me this? What is to be said about our society when a dog, or cat for that matter gets stuck in an undersirable place (tree, sewer, hole, etc etc.) and seemingly the town mayor and 5 fire trucks come out to save the poor creature from the jaws of death within a matter of hours. We’ve all seen it on tv. On the other hand, when some human beings (black people effected by hurricane Katrina for example) were stuck in undesirable places (rooftops, chest deep water, bridges)it took nearly a week to get the most basic resources to those people…
As much as it troubles me to say this, part of me feels like blacks are still considered by some to be less than human. (Let’s not forget that for a long time, if you were black you were not a “whole” person, but instead 3/5 of a man). I still feel like that bullsh*% is so ingrained in the fabric of this country, that when an “animal” like Mike Vick abuses animals himself…the outrage multiplies. “Civilized”
human beings like Don Imus and Bill O’Reilly would never do such things right??? But in the grand scheme of things, what is more hurtful to the greater American society…An multi-millionaire entertainer athlete such as Mike Vick doing some dumb sh*% in his spare time, or men who claim to be journalists and authorities using their platforms to perpetuate lies, racism, stereotypes, and hatred to millions of people each day??
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Dude i dont really think that…yet. I just think its a cultural possibility. Im just pondering. But yeah DJ REB BULL ur boy DJ SATAN (me) def wants to hear more from u.
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:54 pm
that last comment i made was for DJ reb bull not bryan. btw. thanks for the love tho. im gonna chill out on responding (for a while) so it doesnt look like im fluffing my comment numbers.
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:59 pm
points well made but as a black person (morningside raised of course, but still bonefide negro) I must say it is very easy to attribute these varying views to race. Michael Vick freaked my black ass out just as much as any of the white people I know. Nature vs. nuture…I think these differences should be attributed more to background than literal black vs. white.
May 23rd, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Have you seen the video of the dog that walks on his two hind legs?
It might change your perspective a bit.
May 23rd, 2008 at 4:11 pm
“Wolves look tight and girls with eyes like wolves are tight”
…soooo Nigga C
May 23rd, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Very refreshing to read. Definitely an interesting perspective on the matter at hand….
“Unleashed pitbulls and rottweilers roaming around College Park apartment complexes in the early ’90’s”
haha
May 23rd, 2008 at 5:39 pm
well-
i prefer lemurs- always…
May 23rd, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Negashi, I love you.
May 23rd, 2008 at 6:24 pm
I agree with Killah Cam. I think it’s more a question of culture than race. Some cultures advocate using dogs as protection (or even sport), while others prefer dogs as companions. If you imagine a sweet, lovable dog like your Bingo being beaten and electrocuted, you’ll likely have a visceral reaction. But if you instead envision Spike, the aggressive guard dog, you’ll probably be less sympathetic. However, since culture corresponds closely to race, it’s not surprising that reactions towards animal violence can divide down racial lines.
May 23rd, 2008 at 9:23 pm
I’ve often wondered about the association of dogs as black men and B’s as black women. Nice work you did on the references to the past and slavery…which brings me to the question…because the black race was treated like animals-caged up and owned, have we become what we were called…what we feared? Native Americans thought the white race was a supreme God of war…boy, they stepped up to the plate.
May 24th, 2008 at 1:07 am
I feel you on the topic. The other day I actually got into an argument with a female, who is white, aabout pitbulls. I told her that black people have had bad experiences with pitbulls and dogs period because in the 1950’s, 60’s, 70’s, and even 80’s have been controlled and even attacked by vicious dogs. During that time nobody really were not paying to much attention then because they felt as if it was justified and the norm because to them it was essential to keep order in their eyes. I even explained to her that I was chased by a pitbull just because I walked in front of a mans home in Mississippi, who happened to be..white. I am not saying that I dont love dogs because I have 4 of my own, but when does the rights of a dog over shadows the rights of a man.
I have heard more people complain about cruelty to animals and more outraged about Vick then there were people outraged about the Katrina victims. Its only a couple of weeks had passed after Katrina hit did people start turning a deaf ear to the survivors. Yet it has been almost a year since Vick has been sent to jail and people are still taking about it as if it happened yesterday. So tell me when did “Man’s Best Friend” become more important then “MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS”.
Let that marinate.
May 24th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
for the sake of preserving our friendship,
don’t blog about my living room.
because i’ll bring it up
and i will win.
ps
watching an animal die in some violent ass movie is much sadder than watching a human die. do I have to have an explanation? Maybe it’s just because the dogs i’ve always been around are way sweeter than most humans.
..because I’m white?
did you grow up around violent dogs?
we’ll talk later.
May 24th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
mississippi,
Anyone i would ever want to associate with would fully agree with you - dogs rights obviously do not come before man’s. We put them to sleep if they bite someone.
Even Chandler would agree.
And anyone who is more enraged about Michael Vick than Katrina is just watching fox news too much and their mother still folds their underwear.
May 25th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Good post dog
May 26th, 2008 at 9:21 am
I wrote about this as well, bro.
Here.
http://cantholdmytongue.com/2007/11/15/151/
When an interrogator tortures a suspect for extended periods they both suffer. The torture victim is damaged psychologically and physically. The torturer, the oppressor, is damaged psychologically. He loses his humanity in the torture process.
This is what has happed to white folks vis a vis white supremacy’s centuries long global reign. White folks have lost their humanity in the subjugation and oppression of people of color.
To make up for this loss, they subconsciously go overboard in their affection, protection and care for non-humans, pets most particularly.
I’m not saying whites have lost the human touch towards people of color only. Most whites have the damnedest time connecting with any other human be he/she Black, red, brown, yellow or even white.
Oppression is a dehumanizing process for both the oppressor and the oppressed. I think that in the end, the oppressor loses more of his/her humanity than does the oppressed.
That is why white people can vote for a guy that will kill millions of humans but want to castrate a football player that owns a dogfighting ring.
The pathological wage of whiteness on full display.
May 26th, 2008 at 10:23 am
<3 the DMX afterthought….You’re amazing Negashi…Saludos desde Granada!
May 27th, 2008 at 9:56 am
big ups keep it coming
show last night was fye
May 27th, 2008 at 10:02 am
I think it is stupid for the fire department to get a cat out of a tree, although I have never seen that nor have my four firefighter buddies.
The difference between a Katrina victim and a pet in a tree…. one has the intelligence to protect itself and the other is a dumb animal which relies on others for it’s welfare
May 27th, 2008 at 10:20 am
DMX = rap’s favorite outrageous drug user.
Negashi = rap’s Chief Wiggums.
May 27th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
why white people love dogs: Wishbone
May 27th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
i have a lot to say about this. some of it is good and some of it i’m gonna yell at you about. we’ll talk. miss you
May 28th, 2008 at 10:06 am
I have had this conversation numerous times, why animal abuse garners more outrage that child abuse, murders, etc. I think Chandlers point at the end of this post hits pretty close to home, for me at least, animals are innocent…