Fresh off the presses from AllHipHop.com
Bad Boy South artist Yung Joc is well known for catchy hits like "It's Goin' Down" and "I Know You See It", but today (May 2) the Atlanta native will step out of the spotlight as he and others honor an exceptional group of elementary, middle and high school students from Atlanta. The Choose Success Awards will honor and award students from Atlanta Public Schools and Dekalb County Schools who have made a difference through community service and who have also made significant improvements in school.
This is a microcosm of what's wrong with the black community. Black folks who are presumably educated, and whom I assume should know better, in a city full of black professionals, can find no better role model to present an award for academic achievement than Yung Joc?
Before you start branding me bourgie, or even worse, a rap hater (which I admittedly am), let me make this clear: I don't blame Yung Joc for this. Hell, I did the motorcycle dance just like everyone else for a hot minute.
But seriously, I don't think anyone in their right mind looks and him and thinks "scholastic achiever". I could be dead wrong on this, but I doubt it.
I know that kids are kids, and as such, they don't think long term, and would rather be entertained that educated. They simply don't know any better. But the adults who organized this should know better. With all the problems of self esteem, misguided role models, and "smart is white" that plague school kids, do you really need to celebrate their achievements by having a rapper hand them an award? Is that really the most appropriate thing? Since the topic is academic achievement, wouldn't an engineer, or a pediatrician, or a CEO of a real business be a better representative of what you're trying to uphold than a guy whose entire claim to fame is "meet me at the traaaap"?
Again, I don't blame Yung Joc. I thought his "prom tour" last year was pretty clever marketing. I blame the idiots who thought this was a good idea. Our community's biggest problem is that we value style over substance to a self destructive degree. The folks who organized the Choose Success Awards need to heed the not-so-kind advice of Judge Joe Brown.
Do Better.
Please.
