By Gyant
With all the barking that legendary rapper Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell has been doing about Lil Wayne and DJ Khaled and Diddy coming to the sunny beaches of Miami to soak up the tourism — but not giving back to the community — I have to ponder if he’s got a point, or if he just needs to sit down.
It’s clear that the 2 Live Crew founder is frustrated with big name rappers who continue to reap the benefits of the Magic City, but fail to give additional monies to the community programs. He said as much in a blog he wrote for the Miami News Times last week. A noble argument to have, though it may be a bit misguided.
While it’s a long standing argument that public figures — particularly rappers — could, and should, be doing more for the communities they profit millions from, I’m not all the way in agreement with the raunchy rapper turned political hopeful on this one. The old expression goes, “to whom much is given, much is expected.” But, where does it command that you’re obligated to give back to a community just because you frequent a city? Why does an artist have to pitch a tent in the hood and hand out material goods for it to be a celebrated charitable action?
While I firmly remember DJ Khaled being very involved in the streets of Miami back when he was on the come up in the game, in my opinion Lil Wayne and Cash Money make a substantial financial and taxable impact on the city with their mere presence at nightclubs, sporting events and restaurants. Not to mention Baby and Wayne own homes in the state.
Hate it or love it, but I feel the need to play Devil’s advocate on this one. While there may not be any direct charities or community programs on the business sheets of these entertainers, let’s not downplay what they do for the Miami-Dade economy overall.
Lil Wayne recently performed in Miami as part of his I Am Music II tour. With that he brought consumers and their disposable incomes, paying for parking, eating at restaurants, some out of towners even dropping down hundreds for hotel rooms. Surely the concession workers at the sold out arenas (many of whom live in the communities Luke wants these rappers to support) haven’t complained that Wayne isn’t doing enough for them. So in essence don’t they do a lot for Miami without all the grandstanding most people expect.
Without coming off as facetious, I think many of the ladies that are employed at the gentleman’s clubs that these rap stars frequent, namely Miami’s King of Diamonds, would agree that these rappers contribute handsomely to their livelihoods.
Luke’s argument seems to echo the protesters of Occupy Wall Street: The failure of multi-millionaire rappers taking advantage of their financially struggling fans to no end while forgoing the responsibility of being socially conscious. However, what about other noticeable entertainers who frequent the sunny shores of Biscayne Blvd? Why is the issue not also being raised with them?
While I can appreciate Uncle Luke’s vigor in trying to call out today’s entertainers for failing to do more, I have to ask that he sit down because his argument is a bid flawed and lacks any real point. They say charity begins at home. Well, if that’s true I think Luke needs to focus on his failure to support his own small community and mend fences with his estranged children who accuse him of being nothing more than a deadbeat.
One should always be careful about the stones they throw from a glass house.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment