The worst hip-hop album of all time

On today’s look back at 2006, number 93 will focus on the worst hip-hop album ever made.

If you look up the word “hate” in the dictionary, you will see Whitehaven graduate (and presumed rapper) Jason Harris’s mug next to the definition of the word.

OK, don’t get me wrong, the guy has serious flow, but around the underground rap scene in Memphis, Jason Harris calls himself “Da Hater”, which is his display name on Myspace (he’s one of my friends on Myspace).

In all of my years as a hip-hop fan, I had never seen anybody hate on everything that walked on one album (think:Saigon).

Which was the case when I heard the album after getting it at the Memphis Music and Heritage Fesitival in Peabody Place back in September.

A week later, I went on his Myspace page and left a comment about the worst hip-hop album of all time and said that he should stick to teaching (he was assistant football coach over at Whitehaven) and stop hating on the world around him.

Or else they will drop a big gallon on Haterade on him.

This is really getting old and no one’s doing anything about it

Okay, it’s been three years since I graduated from Whitehaven High School, so I really can’t tell you that we didn’t have any type of gangbanging and severe violence in my 13 years of schooling in the Memphis City Schools.

But I know for one thing, the current rash of violence in the city’s high schools (Kingsbury, Treadwell, Craigmont, and Trezevant) in the last two weeks has raised the ire of parents, community leaders, paper crusaders, and even people who remember school as a place to learn about the world that they live in.

Not to learn the in and outs of the criminal justice system.

In the last week, there’s been 24 arrested at Craigmont High, six others at both Treadwell and Trezevant High, and a shooting during a middle-school football game at Kingsbury High School.

And we’re just starting the month of September.

Just last night, the principal at John P. Freeman Optional School said that a gang-prevention presentation (one that I remembered when I was at Fairview Junior High School) wasn’t needed for her school.

And I will admit this because I knew people that went to Freeman, that there’s not a huge gang problem at Freeman like it is at other middle schools around the city. 

But from what I saw on the news last night, the students there know people that are in gangs like the Vice Lords, Bloods, and Crips.

Meaning that they are very well versed in knowledge about what goes on in the rough and tumble streets of Memphis.

When asked about having something like that at Freeman, the students (not the principal) wanted something like the same thing I remembered when D.A. Bill Gibbons came to my junior high school back in 1997 and 1998.

The reason why we have these programs is because children at this age (12 to 15) are more than likely to be recruited for gangs.

It was also the same age range that Tyrus Williams, a student at Westside High School was killed a few years back by a gang who sadly, took the name of 50 Cent’s crew, G-Unit.

Everyone thinks that violence is a new thing in the Memphis City Schools.

Which is so untrue.

In all five schools that I attended, I saw at least one fight.

I even saw three fights in one day when I attended Fairview in the mid-90’s.

And none of them reached the level that the fights at Craigmont reached last week.

The high school I graduated from, Whitehaven High School,has more gangbangers than anything, yet over the last two years the accolades that some of the students have received since I left with my graduating class have been overshadowed by the fact that Whitehaven High School, like most high schools in this city and country, has a very big gang problem.

But no one seems to be doing anything about this at all.

You have some people saying, “Transfer them to a different school.”

Some even saying that violent students don’t need to return to the Memphis City Schools.

But here’s one thing that people have forgotten.

The students that cause these problems are witnessing the same type of behavior from their parents and peers in their own neighborhoods.

It does not, people, start at Trezevant/Craigmont/Melrose/Whitehaven/or any other high school in Memphis.

It starts at the parent’s homes in Binghampton/Hyde Park/Smokey City/Orange Mound/and other neighborhoods around the city.

So if you want to think of a solution for this growing, although unseen problem in the city schools, knock on every one of those parent’s homes.

And then see for yourself the root of these chidren’s behaviors.

Till then, just keep thinking of solutions.

I’ll be waiting for your next big idea tomorrow.

So much in the afterglow, so much to savor

Saturday afternoon, while I was on my way to the Heritage and Music Festival in Peabody Place, I made a point to stop by the corner of South Third and Union Avenue to kill time before the start of my shift down at the fesitival.

Of course, the corner where those characters you read about in both this blog and the morning counterpart throughout the course of this summer was empty while the Redbirds closed out the season in New Orleans, except for those tourists that were taking pictures no more than a hundred yards from where I was standing, which happened to be behind the same section where a lady friend and I stood on Feb. 16th.

The Entry Plaza, the same place where I serenaded a girl (no, not the chocolate cutie), took countless pictures, admitted to the chocolate cutie that I liked her, and got annoyed by an old friend from my days at the North Shelby Times was filled with silence and a very slight breeze coming in from the northeast.

As I looked out at the same backdrop that I saw from my perch in the broadcast booth this summer and around the same place that myself and the rest of the gang roamed during the summer, I thought those great moments that I had, many of which made this same blog during the course of this season.

There was my first attempt at talking to the chocolate cutie on April 19th when the Redbirds faced Oklahoma, right after getting in a picture with Michelle (the one I went to school with), three days after finding out that my old friend (by the grace of God) was a Redhot.

The most bizarre inning in the history of Memphis professional baseball on May 3rd when Kevin Estrada hit a routine single, setting off the most bizarre single in the history of baseball.

Long before Miss Candy and Sharika came in the booth, there were two other girls that shared the mic with yours truly, Sabrina and Katie on May 6th when the Redbirds faced the Iowa Cubs.

And brought new meaning to the name Buck Coats (for goats).

There was the start to what was to become one of the cutest stories in the history of Memphis professional baseball on May 21st when a very chocolate and cute girl along two of his goofy friends got in a picture together.

The same picture that prompted me to change my home run call, a call that would later become about as famous as David Kelly’s home run call.

There was the secret admirer note on May 24th when the Redbirds faced Tacoma that I gave to Michelle (the one I went to school with) and the serenade to that Redhot (not the chocolate cutie).

There were emails from my big sister Krystal, the Good Reverend Doctor’s appearance in the broadcast booth on June 4th when the Redbirds faced New Orleans, humorous station idenitification breaks, spotting dimepieces from my booth and commenting about them on the air to our listeners.

Of course, who would have thought that on the same day that I admit my feelings for the chocolate cutie, that in the bottom of the ninth inning Mike Rose would allow me to say the now quasi-famous home run call?

3-2 to Rose……………..Swing and a pop fly……..back and you can say goodnight, Miss Candy, it’s……a…….goner!!!!!A goner for Mike Rose!!!!!!!

And my other “big sis” Abbey was in the engineer’s chair when that happened.

There was the amazing foul ball catch made by the Isotopes’ broadcaster in the booth on June 25th when it became public knowledge that I liked the chocolate cutie and of course, my two friends from high school, Michelle and Sharika were there to cause the usual barrel of laughs for me in the broadcast booth.

And the chocolate cutie’s appearance in the press row area after the game, which led to me thinking that some fireworks are about to come on July 4th.

Of course, nothing will ever top the record-setting night on July 4th when the Redbirds faced Nashville in front of 18,302, a record for Memphis professional baseball.

And for the first time in the long history of baseball here in this city, a very chocolate and sexy girl shared a microphone with an aspiring writer/broadcaster to become the first broadcaster’s crush to ever grace their presence in the broadcast booth in the 129-year history of Memphis professional baseball.

Here’s a piece of trivia. Which Sounds and Redbirds players that were batting on July 4th when Miss Candy was in the broadcast booth were in the lineup on August 27th when the Redbirds and Sounds faced each other?

Rico Washington and Vinny Rottino.

Of course, the magic of that night is something that no one will ever forget and it’s something that will forever be a part of Memphis professional baseball history.

There was the numerous misadventures of Michelle (the one I went to school with) and Sharika (who was on the other microphone that special night) causing mischief, prayer lists for both Michelle (the one I didn’t go to school with) and Kelly as they did those awful Europop songs at the Kids’ Camp, eating lunch at the Bon Ton and going down to the store to get women advice from Amber and asking Steve about his Fantasy Baseball team.

Wise centerfielders, getting spooked by the chocolate cutie and Sharika during the game on July 20th against Round Rock and facing the entire Ballpark Gang, wind advisories, and my very first walk-off home run call on July 30th when Bo Hart came up to the plate in the bottom of the 16th inning.

The 2-1 to Hart……………….Swing and a long to left field…………This might go……………..Goodnight, Miss Candy, It’s……a……..Goner and a Redbirds winner!!!! Bo Hart wins it on a solo shot in the bottom of the 16th inning for the Redbirds by the score of 9 to 8!!!!! 

There was Coke-stained scorecards, smuggled chocolates, therapy sessions for myself, Mr. Goodbar candy wrapper sightings in my neighborhood, conversations with Miss Melissa during the break in the action, and oh yeah, learning that anyone who was taken up under the God Hitter’s wing, you have to take heed to his advice.

It hit me on Saturday morning as I headed out the door that this was going to be the last Redbirds musing of 2006.

Of course that was the same feeling that I had when on the final day of the season, I found out that after all this time, the chocolate-covered cutie did in fact have some feelings for me.

And go down in history as the hottest Redbirds near-couple of 2006.

And close out the summer of Doc Hancock and Miss Candy.

Yes, it was a forgettable season for the Redbirds down at the corner of South Third and Union but the memories that I have from this summer and especially this season will never ever go away.

And a whole lot to savor.

But as you know folks, April’s not far away.

Til’ then, y’all be good okay kids?

See ya next year!!!!