Please help me- I just watched "It's hard out here for a pimp" get an

[Guest]

Had a great day, took it easy, went out to the range, cooked some nice hot curry for dinner and sat with the family to watch the oscars- only to see some gangbang lookalikes get an oscar for a "song" titled "It's hard out there for a pimp". Ladies and Gentlemen, are there among you those who would like to settle in a new land, far from this filth? We are assuredly pandering to the lowest common denominator in our "culture" in this country.It makes me sick.

[Guest]

You do realize that the theme from Shaft (titled: "Theme from Shaft") won the award in 1971. I think your about 35 years too late to lament this new fangled pandering to the lowest common denominator.

For the sake of comparison here are the lyrics to two songs that have won the oscar for best original song:



Who's the black private dick
That's a sex machine to all the chicks?
SHAFT!
Ya damn right!

Who is the man that would risk his neck
For his brother man?
SHAFT!
Can you dig it?

Who's the cat that won't cop out
When there's danger all about?
SHAFT!
Right On!

They say this cat Shaft is a bad mother
SHUT YOUR MOUTH!
I'm talkin' 'bout Shaft.
THEN WE CAN DIG IT!

He's a complicated man
But no one understands him but his woman
JOHN SHAFT!

-----



[Chorus 2X: Shug - singing] + (Djay)
You know it's hard out here for a pimp (you ain't knowin)
When he tryin to get this money for the rent (you ain't knowin)
For the Cadillacs and gas money spent (you ain't knowin)
[1] Because a whole lot of bitches talkin *expletive deleted*it (you ain't knowin)
[2] Will have a whole lot of bitches talkin *expletive deleted*it (you ain't knowin)

[Djay]
In my eyes I done seen some crazy thangs in the streets
Gotta couple hoes workin on the changes for me
But I gotta keep my game tight like Kobe on game night
Like takin from a ho don't know no better, I know that ain't right
Done seen people killed, done seen people deal
Done seen people live in poverty with no meals
It's *expletive deleted*ed up where I live, but that's just how it is
It might be new to you, but it's been like this for years
It's blood sweat and tears when it come down to this *expletive deleted*it
I'm tryin to get rich 'fore I leave up out this bitch
I'm tryin to have thangs but it's hard fo' a pimp
But I'm prayin and I'm hopin to God I don't slip, yeah

[Chorus]

[Djay]
Man it seems like I'm duckin dodgin bullets everyday
Niggaz hatin on me cause I got, hoes on the tray
But I gotta stay paid, gotta stay above water
Couldn't keep up with my hoes, that's when *expletive deleted*it got harder
North Memphis where I'm from, I'm 7th Street bound
Where niggaz all the time end up lost and never found
Man these girls think we prove thangs, leave a big head
They come hopin every night, they don't end up bein dead
Wait I got a snow bunny, and a black girl too
You pay the right price and they'll both do you
That's the way the game goes, gotta keep it strictly pimpin
Gotta have my hustle tight, makin change off these women, yeah

[Chorus]

Now tell me honestly, which of these two songs shows more than ten minutes of effort on the part of the person that wrote it?

The Academy Award for music in a motion picture might well be the most irrelevant award that has ever been handed out in public.

[Chris Rhines]

I'm sure you know exactly where you made your mistake.  Why were you watching the Oscars, when there's a whole universe of more productive things to spend your time on?

- Chris

[Azrael256]

Tokugawa, I don't have a television.  Ok, that's not really true, I have a 19-inch Funai that is taking up a substantial amount of useful space on my dresser.  I think I have a remote for it, too.  It might work, it might not.  I wouldn't know.  It hasn't seen any use in several years.  I actually had to be told that the oscars were on tonight.  While there will no doubt be many people discussing it around the proverbial water cooler tomorrow, I was a bit too busy writing a paper and socialising with some friends to watch television.  I do an awful lot of that these days.  I read, write, shoot guns, and talk with friends.  It's amazing how much truly free time I have now that I don't watch television.  So, while people jabber on at length about some TV program that I don't care about tomorrow, I'll be reading ahead into next week's history assignment so that I can do some very serious relaxing over spring break.

Turn off the tube and go read the Japanese history books that you so obviously enjoy.

[Balog]

You do realize that in the not too distant past real live humans fought to the death against either animals or other gladiators for entertainment, right? That entire religious sects were based around drinking and having orgies?

Too long ago? Well, only a couple hundred years ago slavery was rampant. Brothels were a fixture of life in the "Old West." In South America the local Indians were still being sporadically hunted for sport into the early 1900's.

Only worried about things going on right now? The flesh trade is still live and well, esp in former Soviet contries. It's estimated tens of thousands of young girls are lured with offers of work then forced into prostitution. China still has it's "family control" measures of forced abortion and sterillization.

All in all, there are a lot worse things in this world than a bunch of idiots who get paid to play pretend giving a ugly little statue to someone for a bawdy song.

[grampster]

It's amazing to me that a substantial number of people in this world, especially the "civilized" West,  continue to believe that Man is inherently good.

[Mabs2]

Love the planet--hate the world.

[Guest]

thanks to all for restoring perspective- i guess the thing got to me precisely cause I do NOT watch the TV except for PBS. (which is another story, I can't believe how dumbed down the "science programs are getting...

[K Frame]

"It's amazing to me that a substantial number of people in this world, especially the "civilized" West,  continue to believe that Man is inherently good."

Hear hear!

Man is inherently the most abhorent creature to ever inhabit this planet.

[Stickjockey]

I must agree with Chris Rhines. I just don't understand the fascination with a watching a bunch of people who make a living pretending to be someone else patting each other on the back for the job they do.

[StopTheGrays]

"Done seen people killed, done seen people deal"

Uh...does that mean he HAS seen people being killed or that he WILL NO LONGER see people being killed? Ditto with "deal"

I did not have an ebonics class in high school so I a not 100% certain what the artist is trying to say.

[Winston Smith]

Done= "I have" in that context.

I have seen people killed, I've seen people deal.

[Nightfall]

It's amazing to me that a substantial number of people in this world, especially the "civilized" West,  continue to believe that Man is inherently good.

I've always wanted to believe that the good guys are the majority. That most people, even if by a small margin of majority, are moral. But every day that I get older, more evidence presents itself for the opposite case. Concepts like courtesy and honor are lost on most people that I meet. People treat each other like ****, and sometimes it often seems magnified when they deal with the opposite sex. Women decidely not being treated like ladies, for example. Looking for a cause, I'd have to say parents who think raising a child means making sure they have food and TV.

[Elmer Snerd]

http://www.john-ross.net/mtv.htm

[XLMiguel]

Well, Hollywood decided it'd rather pander to the urban blacks more that to the gays this year.  Though I enjoy movies, the way Hollywood thinks they have anything to do with real life continues to amaze me.  The dreamweavers think there's socially redeaming merit in making up nice stories about how they (people who are way over-paid to play make-believe for a living) see an idealized world rather than actually doing the heavy lifting that fosters real social change (i.e. real work).  What's the cause du jour, today (penguin rights?)

[Standing Wolf]

I'll stick with Bach and Beethoven, thanks all the same.

[...has left the building.]

Yes, turn on your TV at your own peril.

[Art Eatman]

Oscars?  The Oscars were on the telly?

Gee.  I missed it...

Art