The “M” Word…

Being a hip hop fan, there are trends and ideaologies that confuse me. They can even outright amaze me at how stupid they are at the heart of it. And there is a word that has gone from the depths of low brow humor to the heights of musical slander.

"Metrosexual" is the new slur of the millenium in hip hop.

And it's just plain ridiculous.

We all know how fragile the idea of image is in hip hop. Almost every MC has a smirk or blank stare on his face, and his posture suggests that he 'aint nothin' to f--k with'. Muscles bulging, swagger highly visible, he stands on a mountaintop daring all to challenge him. And the key weapon these days is to challenge his masculinity. While 'faggot' and 'homo' are still terms of choice for some MC's, others are resorting to using the term 'metrosexual'. The word, which originated in British slang is loosely defined as a term used to refer to someone who is too neat and groomed to the point of his sexuality being in question. Now rappers use it as a clever putdown, but it makes me laugh because it's almost childish in some cases. DMX saying something's wrong with Jay-Z 'cause he's wearing sandals is funny to me because it's not about the sandals. It's about Jay-Z making the amount of money he's made in business to the point where he moves in and out of the world of Wall Street and the world of the streets. This is while DMX is struggling to re-solidify his stature in hip hop right now.

Do I wear sandals?

No.

But am I gonna sit there and reassign someone's sexuality on something that is a matter of perspective? No. KRS One put it best: "The ancient Egyptians wore sandals and they were rulers. We need to get a lot of the name calling out of hip hop."

For me as a young Black man, I came up understanding style. My father, my uncles, almost every Black man I knew not only rocked suits but also they had the flyest attire. Silk shirts, porkpie hats, diamond pinkie rings. Some real good cologne and you were the toast of the town. That was your armor against a world that claimed you were three-fifths of a human being, not even worth considering. To this day, I treat myself right. I groom carefully, not obsessively. I have my many colognes because I like to smell good and I love when gorgeous women notice. And show their appreciation. I'll go get a massage from time to time.

To some that seems questionable. But after reading that the number one killer of Black men is this country is heart failure related to stress, pardon me if I choose not to add my name to that list. Do some people go overboard? Yeah, they do. I'm not exactly a fan of seersucker suits...too much Tennessee Williams for my taste. But if that's your style, do you. I'm not going to be like Beanie Siegel and try to clown Pharrell and Kanye for wearing Louis Vuitton driving shoes. Would he say that to Raekwon who is a Louis Vuitton connoiseur? Who knows? It all seems to be just another way to down someone while you're trying to get your own shine back. And it can backfire, as evidenced on Rizoh's The Rap Up where Beanie is seen hanging off of this dude's neck. Now some are looking at him with raised eyebrows.

The point is, 'metrosexual' has become a slur. A stupid castoff word used mostly to tag white guys who wore oversized canvas bags and indulged in facial peels as possibly gay in the wake of 'Sex and The City' has now become a new tool in the arsenal of hip hop put downs. And when you consider the source and how stupid it is, do you really want that word in your vocabulary?

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"When people say "Oh, no, no one snitches on the streets” and "There's a stop snitching code on the streets”, that's absolute bullshit. There's no "stop snitching" anything on the streets. Everyone's snitching. If you knew anything about the streets you would know that."

TSS Crew's DJ Sorce-1 recently spoke with Ethan Brown, author of Queens Reigns Supreme, who had a whole lot to say ranging from "Prince" Miller, "Supreme" McGriff, Irv Gotti as well as his next book. Take a second and peep their Smoking Session.