As Mayor As He Wants To Be

2 Live Crew rapper Luther Campbell is among the eleven candidates in today's special election to replace recalled Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez, who was booted from office in March for (among other things) daring to raise property taxes in the face of a massive budget deficit.

RELATED: Back when I worked for a Miami-based music distributor, once a week I had to visit the Liberty City office of Campbell's label. Even after my 20th visit, he always acted as if he'd never seen me before. Pissed me the hell off.

Will The Music Press Yawn About Tyler, Another Viciously Homophobic Rapper?

Rising rap star, music press darling, and Coachella 2011 "breakout artist" Tyler was the subject of a lengthy and fawning New York Times profile published last week. His new album, Goblin, debuts today.

“Goblin” is spiteful, internal, confident, vitriolic, vividly bruised stuff, a shocking — and shockingly good — album that bears little resemblance to contemporary hip-hop. It has more in common with the stark, thick-with-feelings independent rap of the mid-to-late-1990s and also the improbably rich-sounding minimalism of the Neptunes in the early 2000s. For every caustic rhyme about violence there’s a pensive, unexpectedly gentle production choice to go with it. Unlike the maximalism of hip-hop radio, you can feel the air in these songs, the gasping for breath.

But what the Times misses is that their new hero is viciously anti-gay and litters his multiple daily Twitter updates with references to "faggots" and "homos."
Another recent Tyler tweet: "Just walked into Abercrombie with my sister cause she wants a shirt. It smells like faggot in here." We'll have to see if the music press and promotion machine cares about this at all. Goblin is pegged to debut at or near the top of next week's album chart.

(Tipped by JMG reader Roman)

Tweet Of The Day - Chuck D

While I disagree with him in this instance, I quite like Chuck D, even if he's the man who gave the world Flavor Flav. One of the most thrilling (and honestly, terrifying) shows I ever attended was a late 80's Public Enemy gig in Miami.

Russell Simmons For New York Marriage

Tweet Of The Day - Chris Brown

Convicted domestic abuser and pop star Chris Brown took to Twitter today for some gay-baiting of a rival rapper, who is responding in kind. Brown follows up with: "I'm not homophobic! He's just disrespectful!!!" Ho hum, nothing to see her, really, although you can bet this exchange makes TMZ etc. We sure didn't expect to see #homothug as a trending topic.

In-Flight Gay Wedding Rap

From SAS Airlines' in-flight gay wedding.

(Tipped by JMG reader James)

The Dangers Of Nude Modeling

One of the pitfalls of nude skank modeling is one day you might end up in a bathtub at a Diddy release party with your hair on fire while some douchebag rapper wannabe drones on about his fly lifestyle.

(Via - Gothamist)

No No No No No No NO!

Former JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater fancies himself a rapper. Here's a snippet of his single, I'm Steven Slater, Bitches. Make it stop, please.

Liberty University's Rap Anthem

If he hadn't already been found face-down in a pool of his own gravy, I'm betting Jerry Falwell would take a dim view of all the dick-grabbing. Right Wing Watch provides a partial transcript:

Follow Christ 'cause he knows best,

And this school is so blessed,

Only college in the whole country with a Snowflex,

Perfect is the aim and you should expect no less,

If college is a watch, Liberty's a Rolex.

Tweet Of The Day - 50 Cent

Multiple felon and rapper 50 Cent (real name Curtis Jackson) also recently tweeted a photo of what he said was a machine-gun attack on a gay wedding. Despite his frequent calls for violence against gay people, he is considered a rising star as an actor and has recently been a guest on popular talk shows like The View.
His performing career aside, Jackson is worth hundreds of millions thanks to his stake in VitaminWater, which was sold to Coca-Cola for $4B. He also has his own fragrance line, a five-year sneaker deal with Reebok, and his own imprint at Time-Warner Books. Pressure need to be brought on these companies about working with vile creatures like Curtis Jackson.

RELATED: One of my favorite Twitter accounts is English50Cent, which translates his rap-speak tweets into grammatically correct English. 50 Cent: "you fine ass freak bitch where you at. you on line hoe this pimpin over here. You fucking wit me or what?" English50Cent: "You are sexually attractive but absent. Use a horticultural tool on this. Are you toying with my affections?"

Cazwell - Ice Cream Truck

It's no I Seen Beyonce At Burger King, but at least there's lots of eye candy. Probably NSFW!

Snoop Dogg - Oh Sookie

Towleroad tips us to this unexpected Snoop Dogg tribute to True Blood's Sookie Stackhouse. Some commenters on YouTube are outraged because Snoop is supposed to be a Crip, not a Blood.

Eminem Endorses Gay Marriage

"I think if two people love each other, then what the hell? I think that everyone should have the chance to be equally miserable, if they want." - Rapper Eminem, telling the New York Times that he's matured and become more tolerant. Eminem is now more progressive on LGBT rights than his one-time Grammy performance partner Elton John, who after Prop 8 passed said, "If gay people want to get married, or get together, they should have a civil partnership." But let's definitely not forget Eminem's long track record of anti-gay lyrics, which he now dismisses as "what I was feeling at the time."

Rap Riot At South Street Seaport

Last night a free concert by Canadian rapper Drake drew several times the capacity at Manhattan's South Street Seaport, prompting the NYPD to cancel the show over safety concerns. You can guess what happened next. Lots more videos at Gothamist.

Quote Of The Day - Wale

"One thing I stand for is hip hop music. And hip hop music knows no race, no color, no age, no gender, no sexual orientation -- none of that. So, the most important thing about it is the music, and if it makes the people feel happy, that's what we hear. I will say, sometimes in this business you get aligned with people that don't understand that, or don't necessarily have the same beliefs that you do. And I apologize for not, you know, having my best foot forward to understand the people I'm in business with. And I'm going to do better. As we all do. People we -- everyday we got to get better. So, I apologize on behalf of my team, for not being the way they're supposed to be." - Hip hop star Wale, speaking to the crowd at DC Black Pride. Wale's management had canceled his appearance, claiming they didn't know it was a gay event. Apparently Wale then overrode their decision and performed anyway.

Major Embarrassment For CNN

OMFG. Faces are red at CNN today after the network played a rap song containing the word "nigga" during a human interest piece about an elderly black woman who still drives her car at the age of 103. The network returned minutes later to offer an apology. My guess is that the producer who selected Coolio's Fantastic Voyage had only ever heard the "clean" radio version.

Rapper Cancels DC Show: I Didn't Know Black Pride Was A Gay Event

Popular rapper Wale has canceled his scheduled headlining appearance DC's Black Pride. Because he didn't know it was a gay event. Via the Washington Blade:

Black Pride organizers were startled this week when they received two e-mails from Wale’s agent, one saying the rapper had to cancel due to “family obligations,” and the second saying he didn’t know Black Pride was a gay-related event when he agreed to appear. “We were clear about what kind of event this is,” [organizer Earl] Fowlkes told the Blade. “After doing this for 20 years, we certainly don’t want to put ourselves and the artist in an uncomfortable situation by not telling them what we are. “We’re Black Gay Pride, and the people coming out there are members of our community,” he said. “We made that very clear.” Fowlkes said Black Pride officials believe homophobia was the underlying reason that Wale cancelled his appearance. He said Wale’s agent has refunded an advance fee that Black Pride made to book the rapper, but noted the group is considering taking legal action for what Fowlkes described as a breach of contract.

Organizers say they had carefully vetted Wale's music for signs of anti-gay lyrics and found none.