Poolside Observations: A Dad and his Kids

I'm sitting out by the pool of my apartment (thank God 4 my Treo), and I saw a father playing with his sons. I thought this was an observation worth sharing, so here goes.

There's a black man playing in the pool with his 3 sons. Now it is sad that this should even be including in my observations, but let's be really. That's a rare occurence in our communities. Growing up in high school, I recall being one of the few whose parents were still together. And one commonality between my peers whose parents were or weren't together was that none spent lots of quality time with their fathers. Whether they were working all the time, locked up, out of town, or just absent, the quality time just wasn't there. So to see this black father happily spending quality time with his sons impressed me.

What was even further impressive about it was the way he was with his kids. He wasn't overbearing. He wasn't nonchalant. He wasn't uncaring or unconcerned. He was the perfect combination of a father: fun and playful, yet stern. He taught them and played games with them while disciplining them and making sure they respected him and each other. And he was not underprotective as it is stereotyped most dads are nor macho. He was very watchful of his sons, making sure the youngest didn't venture too far in the deep side and that they didn't hurt one another with their horseplay, and he allowed them to be kids and have feelings. He made me sit back and examine my parenting skills. I do well, but there are things I can...I will do better. I must say he blessed my soul. I wish all black boys had fathers like him.

No More Cris' for Hip Hop

Frederic Rouzaud, the president of Champagne Louis Roederer (the maker of Cristal) recently expressed to the Economist that he wasn't exactly pleased with hip hop's consumtion of the it's champagne Cristal. Since the mid-nineties, when what appears to be the never ended bling-bling era of hip hop began, Cristal along with a number of other expensive, luxurious products (i.e. Dom P., Moet, Maybachs, Cadillac, etc.) have received an priceless amount of free publicity. So Rouzaud's recent comment in the name of Cristal is naturally seen as a stab in the back. Hip hop, being the global trendsetter that it is, undoubtedly made Cristal a household name, which ultimately affected its sells, at least among its urban consumers. I know when I decided I was going to ball out of control before my college graduation and buy a couple of bottles of champagne I went with Moet because I had heard the free advertisement it received from hip hop. I mean what else do I know about expensive champagne???

Having African American's build a brand (or a nation) on free advertisement (or labor) and then turning around and saying that you don't want them to consume your product (or saying that they are only 3/5 of a human being) is nothing new. Timberland did it. Tommy Hilfiger is also rumored to have done so. And now Cristal. In this situation, I am extremely proud to see hip hop step up and say, "Heck naw, shawty." Jay-Z, probably the most respected and influential man in hip hop today, has publicly called for a boycott of Cristal and pulled the brand from his chain of 40/40 nightclubs. (Go Jigga!!!) Cristal was also noticeable absent from the 2006 BET Awards, according to AOL News reports. This is extremely unusual because for the past 10 years every major name in hip hop (Jay-Z, Tupac, Nelly, R. Kelly, Kanye West) have given the brand free publicity via their songs.

However, the question remains, is urban entertainment industry (hip hop, sports, etc.) large enough to affect Cristal's pocketbook. I personally hope so. I'm tired of people disrespecting me and my people and having little or no consequences. I want Cristal and Mr. Rouzaud to sincerely regret the comments made and realize that we (African Americans) will not sit by passively as we, our voices, and our consumer dollars are repeatedly unacknowledged and disrespected. Even more, I wish we would stop making other folks rich and start producing our own quality stuff and bring these big $$$ back to the 'hood. I say lets get our own. Keep as much $$$ as possible in our own community and stop making unappreciative buttholes rich. Just a little food for thought. Check out the AOL news article @ http://news.aol.com/entertainment/music/articles/_a/jay-z-puts-a-cap-on-cristal/20060705065709990001