Comments on: When it comes to rapping about the Pistons, Wale is better than The Game

By: Patrick Hayes

Patrick Hayes — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 03:35:29 +0000

First, I didn’t say he used the word ‘appropriately.’ Being a white dude, I’m not in a position to argue what is and isn’t an appropriate use of the word. I don’t, however, think that The Game was using it as a racial slur. That’s pretty obvious. Words have different meanings in different context.

Secondly, this is America dude. Get outta here with your censorship talk. I’ll let Luther Campbell and 2 Live Crew handle my rebuttal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEH_ms8d1ws

By: Jodi Jezz

Jodi Jezz — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 22:52:24 +0000

@Tom: Get off of Patrick’s penis and get a gf…
@Pat: I don’t make my opinions louder, my opinions are just more realistic than others…And apparently you are qualified to interpret his lyrics if you can make a decision if he used the word appropriately or not…The word he used should have been censored so stop trying to stand up for your co-bloggers mistakes…Listen Pat, I don’t care if other posters aren’t offended, I thought you(or Dan) would have enough integrity to censors words like that…I guess I gave you(or Dan) too much credit…

By: Scott Free

Scott Free — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 17:27:14 +0000

To get off the wussy “dirty language” conversation, I’m not sure if this is a reference to Rodney Stuckey… but Proof might have name dropped him a little here: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/proof/kurtkobain.html

Any rappers talking about the old 02′ Pistons squad? Sheed, Chauncey, Rip, Ben…

Also, I feel the urge to mention Tayshauns bit part in Snoop Doggs Hood of Horror

By: Ben Fridsma

Ben Fridsma — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 17:05:16 +0000

grow up all of you! Its a word! said by a black man about another black man. black call them selves the same word used. I like the post Dan, its interesting that my fav. player tayshaun wa used in a rap. And Patrick im with you 100%. and imo. If you dont like it, no one says you have to be a part of the website. just saying

By: Tom Y.

Tom Y. — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 16:35:22 +0000

@ Patrick: really wish I could rec this :)

By: Tom Y.

Tom Y. — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 16:32:31 +0000

Hey, just wanna say I totaly agree with this, kinda surprised about the complaints.

By: Patrick Hayes

Patrick Hayes — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:25:59 +0000

Shaq doesn’t really count as a rapper (although I admittedly bought Shaq Diesel when I was like 12), he also rapped about Ben Wallace:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/basketball/nba/09/11/bc.bkn.people.o.neal.ap/

By: Scott Free

Scott Free — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:25:29 +0000

Patricks right.

By: Patrick Hayes

Patrick Hayes — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:22:16 +0000

“I don’t know Pat, I speak the truth most of the time”

No you don’t. You give your opinion. Just because you tend to do it louder or more obnoxiously than other people give their opinions doesn’t make your opinion ‘truth.’

“Something I do know is saying disrespectful racial words isn’t cool, even if you re-post it”

Well, in the context of how The Game was using that word, I don’t think he was using it to be disrespectful. But you’ll have to talk to The Game about that. I’m not really qualified to interpret his lyrics.

“Come on, we’re all educated folks here”

That’s great to hear. This is how I’d expect an educated person would respond to this:

- Understand that this is a Pistons site that links to Pistons coverage anywhere credible. Understand that Spin Magazine is a huge national publication that just wrote about the Pistons in a story it gave a lot of play to on its website. Understand that as a Pistons site that links to national stories about the Pistons in well-known publications, it is within the realm of what we cover to post it. None of that means you have to like hip hop or like the post. But at the very least, I expect an ‘educated’ person to understand why it was posted.

- Understand that music of all genres is filled with lyrics that are potentially offensive to a variety of people. If you are offended by the lyrics above, I’m not saying you shouldn’t be. You have that right. But it’s still, as I said, a Pistons story in a national publication. Based on some of the other comments here, there are plenty of people who are fans of hip hop or at the very least found the article Dan linked to interesting enough that they commented and a few even offered their own research to find other Pistons connections to hip hop lyrics. An educated person would understand that no publication should limit itself to posting only content sure to offend no one. If we held ourselves to that standard, this would be a pretty boring site to read. In my opinion, part of what makes this site more interesting is the fact that we occasionally dig up off-the-wall posts like this that give everyone a break from just discussing a bad on-court product.

You have the right to not read the post. You have a right to be offended by it. You have a right to express being offended by it. But, if you’re the educated person you say you are in your comment, you should be able to understand why it was considered newsworthy enough to post, why the quoted song lyrics were not censored and that plenty of other educated people were not offended by it, as several of the comments in this thread show.

By: jerrific

jerrific — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 07:09:00 +0000

What’s with everyone getting offended with this post? They’re just quoting a lyric and staying true to what the artist is saying. To get offended by with that is to be offended by the artist, which I’m pretty sure isn’t what anyone is actually trying to say. They are just staying true to what was originally said. Also, in the context, especially with rap music, certain words aren’t necessarily as offensive as they might be out of context. Language doesn’t fall into these kinds of strict guidelines where certain words are always appropriate and others are always inappropriate. Context people, context. It’s a quote from a song. Chill out.