dre helped knock down a big old wall that allowed many a gangsta to escape ghetto life…

I would like to make one thing clear before I post this comment. I have no problem with Dr Dre. I think it’s great to celebrate his birthday. My issue with it has simply to do with the way it is done, nothing else. Now, having said that:

Am I the only person who finds this whole Dre day celebration offensive???? Not because of the concept itself mind you, but because of the way it’s executed. A celebration of Dr. Dre’s music on his birthday that includes listening to his music, hanging out and watching local DJ’s is one thing. Said celebration also including white Midwestern kids drinking 40’s participating in activities such as “40oz Ring Toss, Chronic Photo booth, $20 Sack Pyramid, Midnight Leaf Drop, Gangsta Rap Karaoke” is the lame ass part. Talk about helping to promote stereotypes. Will they also being handing out “black face” makeup at the door? Yeesh.

For G_D’s sake people. Why is it so fucking hard for white people to act normal when it comes to any part of black culture? You wouldn’t see this shit at a similar celebration for a white artist. Will the next step be a birthday celebration for, say, Johnny Cash where people come dressed as rednecks, donned in the confederate flag and speaking in faux southern drawl about marrying their cousins? Why not? Isn’t that what true country music fans do? Aren’t they all ignorant rednecks ?
Oh wait, I forgot. Country and Bluegrass are trendy now amongst former punk rock kid scenesters. Additionally, as Johnny Cash was white, it’s not quite as hard for these dumb asses to make the cultural leap out of their own context to relate to his. Even if he was someone who was born in an entirely different era, to poor sharecroppers that skin color goes a LONG way towards make white folk feel at ease. They don’t feel the need to put on a silly costume to celebrate his music.

Being a fan of music is one thing. Trying to co-opt the culture that the music came out of is just retarded. I think the most telling part is this: Pay a quick visit over to the page for Dre day found at http://www.myspace.com/FEBRUAR Y18ISDREDAY. Scan the people who have friended it. It’s a sea of pretty damn white faces. Now in all fairness I’ll admit I didn’t comb the page completely. If a profile picture wasn’t of the person, I didn’t take the time to click on every one and double check. But in my defense, there are 196 people on there at last count.

If these kids wanna force themselves into black culture so bad, how about giving a cut of the door to a small indie hip hop label? I found a whole list of ‘em at http://www.hiphop-directory.co m/Record_Labels/index.php- being pretty ignorant of the music biz in general, I couldn’t really tell you which ones are putting out the best stuff or which is the most worthy of donating to. Perhaps one of the folks who spent time constructing nonsense such as “the chronic picture booth” could devote their time to researching this instead.

In conclusion, I would like to say that if you like Dr Dre’s music, great. Go to Dre Day, and wear what you would wear to any show, and drink what you would normally drink. Have a good time, Sláinte. But speaking as a white Minnesotan, please do your best to not act like a dumb ass and promote stupid stereotypes. The End

ok………first of all….i gone and seen a lot of blogs about our dawg dre day…..a lot of people r talkin shyt bout….all about his “soon coming” Detox….but i say dat Dr.Dre is a muthaf**kin producer….he produces music…n if he wants to make an album….dats also up to him…but remember he doesn’t do music…..he makes it.

i think this is very well written! great!

But, Sarah, those people were having a good time. And you don’t have what it would take to stop them. And you really got off on that bit about the “rednecks”, didn’t you? You forgot to mention NASCAR.

Lobsters, I found your comment confusing- are you making fun of me? Do you think I’m poking fun at “rednecks”? Clarify please.

Sarah sarah sarah

Why do you assume white people are co-opting culture? When Dre came out I was a white youngsta influenced by the videos and album art, I drank 40z and smoked weed. That is part of my youth, part of my culture. Black people don’t live in a bubble and neither do white people we have grpwn up together incluencing eachothe. I think it is cool to have fun and make a Dre Album come to life. Sorry if I don’t want to have a regular club night experience. You are acting racist by stereotyping what white people get out of the experience. What is white anyway? If my grandmother is black but I look white am I allowed to kick it like that? Are black rock groups co-opting white culture? Use you brain, their are all kinds of racist things going on in the world that are really important and need attention.