Yep, Noz is white

Combat Jack is my boy and all (no Birdman Sr.), but I'm not sure if I agree with most of what he has to say with regard to hip-hop blogging punching bag du jour Tom Breihan.

On the one hand, the guy does have some goofy-ass tastes in music. For example, can you believe he hadn't even seen the Last Waltz until a few months ago? It'd be one thing if he was black, since cultural illiteracy is one the things that seems to define our community, but for a crackety-crack that's just inexcusable.

What's worse is that he didn't even like it that much after he saw it. A few months ago he did a post on the top music films of all time and not only was the Last Waltz not number one, but it might not have even been on the list. Pshaw!

At that point, I was tempted to write an angry letter to the editor demanding that they only employ writers whose opinions agreed with mine at least 99% of the time, but then I realized only a stupid person would do something like that.

Seriously, who gives a shit whether or not Tom Breihan thinks Jim Jones is now a better rapper than Jay-Z (even though he's so right about that)? Maybe that's how cracka-ass crackas from the Maryland suburbs feel about hip-hop circa 2006?

I guess the issue is why should a cracka-ass from the Baltimore suburbs be writing about hip-hop for the top alt-weekly in NY, the home of (what used to be) hip-hop, in the first place, which is a point that was kinda glossed over in the Combat Jack piece.

The answer, of course, is that the dude has got skills. There may be any number of you d-bags with politically correct opinions with regard to hip-hop, but how many of you could come up with one, let alone hundreds of genuinely compelling blog entries? Let's face it: not very many of you.

And here's the thing: if you disagree, you're certainly free to give it a shot. As Jello Biafra would say, if you've got something to say, don't wait for Sassy to say it; get sassy and say it. No Jello Biafra.

If you feel like Status Ain't Hood is such a crime against hip-hop, call the Village Voice or one of these other companies and talk them into giving you your own blog (blogging independently is, of course, entirely out of the question). If you're at least half way decent - or a woman - I'm sure they'll give you a shot.

Not to let you d-bags in on any secrets (believe me, there's many), but XXL is always looking for people to blog here, albeit sans compensation. I know for a fact that Dallas Penn himself was one of the people approached about a position.

Take home point: This is not the 1990s - or even three years ago, for that matter. If you feel like hip-hop is being misrepresented on the Internets, it's on you, not Tom Breihan, to do something about it.