Hail to the [Fill In The Blank]: Fight For New D.C.

At the "Racist Stereotypes and Cultural Appropriation in American Sports" Symposium at the Smithsonian's Museum of the American Indian on February 7th, one of the top issues was the nickname attributed to the team that has been in my hometown of Washington, D.C. since 1937: "Redskins".  Apparently, there were many people who walked into this symposium donning team apparel with a sense of pride in their local pro football team.  However, many of those people walked out with heavy hearts and regret once they realized just how "racist" and "demeaning" the term is to the Native American culture.  Furthermore, not one person in the audience stood up to defend the name--including any member of the franchise because no one answered the Smithsonian's invitation to participate.  I would have not only attended the symposium if I knew about it beforehand, but more important, I would've been in the majority of those who had nothing positive to say about this long-standing nickname.

Scribbler's Throwback of the Week: Lyn Collins, "Think"

So I've decided to start this new thing on my blog where I try to feature a song at least once a week that has been sampled in classic hip-hop and R&B songs or gave a much-needed boost to an otherwise dud.  (Keyword: "try".  Although this blogging thing can be highly therapeutic, it can also be time-consuming--especially since I'm a step away from being a windbag.  I know, I know...some of y'all are like, "Ummmm, 'a step away from being a windbag'? Dude, you're already there!")  There might not be a better song to kick off this post than with a song that I mentioned on my Facebook page the other day: "Think (About It)" by Lyn Collins.

Dirk Scribbler's 1st Annual Grammy Wrap Up

So I totally didn't plan on watching the 55th Grammy Awards last night.  I tend to have a love-hate relationship with award shows: I hate to love them because there are often so many disappointing moments.  However, Mrs. Scribbler convinced me to watch them--truthfully, she had the remote and wasn't gonna win that battle.  I must say that I ended up enjoying some very stylish folks strut their stuff on the red carpet and, subsequently, the actual Grammy Awards itself.  My issue regarding some of the coverage was that folks were "riding" certain artist's you-know-whats because they are who they are.  Therefore, a Grammy wrap-up wouldn't be complete without the more-self-proclaimed-than-world-renowned music aficionado in Dirk Scribbler giving you his take.

Note to Randy Moss: "We Don't Believe You, You Need More People!"

So the blog title is the first of two quotes by my favorite rapper of all time, Jay-Z.  We’ll get to the other one later.  Anyways, I’m sure that most football fans by now have heard about those interesting comments from San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Randy Moss during Media Day for Super Bowl XLVII.  Just in case you’ve chosen to tune out the world for a few days, here’s an excerpt: