PAUL WALL and my favorite rapper RAEKWON travel to Africa to witness firsthand the mining process in the global diamond trade. I thought it was fitting that a Wu leader would make this trip since the Wu were the rappers that first used the word ice to represent diamonds and their lust for the semi-precious stones. PAUL WALL seems like a good choice for this journey as well since his claim to fame in most rap music circles is the fact that he used to make tooth veneers out of semi-precious metals and stones.
VH-1(the home of Hip-Hop video programming) will begin airing one of their original series rock-docs tonight called called ‘Bling’d: Blood Diamonds and Hip-Hop‘ that documents the rappers trip to Sierra Leone in Africa. I will admit to you that I am a little nervous about endorsing this show based on all of the other trash content that Viacom broadcasts when Hip-Hop is concerned, but I will give at a shot for at least tonight. I’ve seen outlets that have recently blamed Hip-Hop music for the global obsession with diamonds as if the conceit only began when kids from the Bronx dreamed of living lavishly. People are quick to forget television programs like ‘Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous’ which documented all the things that the rich do with their money, but never once illustrated how the rich exploit the poor to gain their wealth.
I can’t believe that this journey won’t transform these artists as humans. Maybe they will make better music because of it. If PAUL WALL learns to rhyme from RAEKWON then this could be the best thing evar. I knew there was a reason we asked PAUL WALL to put our website name inside of his grill.
