Articles

Bling-bling, rap culture rob blacks of Ali types

Opinion by Kamau Bobb
Published on: 05/12/06

I drive a 2003 Mini Cooper. I recently went to an Atlanta body shop to get it fixed and had to navigate through a maze of Mercedes and Porsche vehicles to get in.

The shop owner saw me looking at the cars and said, "That's one of Too Short's," naming a popular rapper. He showed me pictures of his work for other celebrities such as producer Jermaine Dupri and football player Shannon Sharpe. His secretary had a picture of herself beside actor Tyler Perry's Rolls Royce.

The owner said a lot of his work is for athletes and rappers. He gets their business from a local stereo shop that recommends him for body work. Some of his clients install $40,000 sound systems and then come to him for body work. According to him, some spend nearly $100,000 on aftermarket effects for their cars.

He told me all of this as if he was impressing me. He was.

Extravagance is awesome by definition. Many of these celebrities are fantastically popular and their lifestyles are public in the extreme.

What is conspicuously missing from their public personas is a cause. Very few of them have taken a decisive public stand on any of the assortment of issues that are strangling the black community.

There is an emergent political wing of the hip-hop movement. Its sincerity, however, is questionable.

Those at the forefront remain awash in three-quarter- million-dollar watches and half-million-dollar rings.

They set a weak example of a lifestyle based on concern for the well-being of the black community. They are like those in Kahlil Gibran's book, "The Prophet," "who give little of the much which they have - and they give it for recognition."

Many others in this black celebrity clan are completely immersed in vacuous consumption and narcissism. Where is our Muhammad Ali?

In 1974, Ali spoke about the most lucrative title fight in history at the time.
He said he was fighting for "black people who are living on welfare ... black people who don't know no knowledge of themselves, black people who don't have no future."

His famous resistance to the draft was an example of a young black celebrity whose identity was not consumed by consumption. He sacrificed all of his wealth to stand by his people.

He did this at a time when he was at the top of his career and stood to lose the most. His later fortunes are a testament to his talent and an affirmation of his character. He was a soldier, in the spirit of the Nation of Islam, for the betterment of the collective black condition. His celebrity was only incidental to that core identity.

Our current crop of celebrities are soldiers in the spirit of Narcissus, for the betterment of themselves and their principles are only incidental to that core identity.

In a world of black fame, diamonds and millions, I am utterly inconsequential. I continue to stand up straight, however, propped up by my faith in the legacy of the black community, my pride as a black man and the example of Muhammad Ali.

By the way, the repairs for my car were $196.53. Ouch!

Kamau Bobb is a Georgia Tech graduate student.

Copyright 2006. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. More information: www.ajc.com.

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