Two ex dope dealers turned gangster rappers, 50 Cent and The Game, yesterday made a show of shaking hands on a truce at Harlem’s Schomburg Center, complete with contributions to the Boys Choir of Harlem and a music program in South Central L.
A. A shooting war is bad for business, it seems.
Evidently, the “artists” and their corporate bosses imagined that a display of calm and charity might quell outrage over the feud that turned the sidewalk in front of Hot 97’s radio studio into a free fire zone and left a member of The Game’s entourage shot. Not quite.
Bygones don’t become bygones as easily as that for Emmis Communications, parent company of Hot 97, and Vivendi Universal, which is making a mint off the violence and misogyny of 50 Cent and The Game. Hot 97’s landlord, the carpenters union, certainly feels that way. wholesale jerseys To its credit, the union ordered the station to ban rappers from bringing their goon squads into its Hudson St. building.
Amazingly, Hot 97 says it hasn’t decided whether it will abide by the landlord’s rule, suggesting the station actually prefers to operate in an atmosphere of menace to supply “street cred.
” Which would be par for the course for a station that hosted “Smackfest,” a game in which young women slapped one another in the face repeatedly, with the specific goal of drawing blood. Emmis President Rick Cummings defended “Smackfest” on television Tuesday night as akin to celebrity boxing. It’s not. It’s degrading and should be criminal.
But at least Cummings spoke in public. Not so the leaders of Vivendi and its subsidiary, Universal Music Group. In an editorial Monday, we invited them to give their perspective on trafficking in music and videos that degrade women and promoting artists who promote violence. Then, we invited CEO Doug Morris to write an Op Ed piece. A rep offered instead to provide an article by hip hop mogul Russell Simmons, a senior member of the Vivendi stable or, possibly, Brooklyn’s own Jay Z. Then the rep said there would be no piece from Simmons or Jay Z. You can’t defend the indefensible.
21 days and counting
This newfangled open process for negotiating a state budget continues to produce results. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno pledged yesterday to pass their competing budget proposals next week far earlier than usual and begin marathon talks in hopes of reaching agreement before Easter.
A conference committee convened by both houses will then have only nine days to resolve thorny issues. But if all players stick to their aggressive schedule and bargain in good faith, New York has a fighting chance of getting its first on time budget in 21 years.
Granted, the process hasn’t been everything we would wish. Silver says his house will pass an informal budget resolution Monday rather than actual appropriation bills, as Gov. Pataki would prefer. But the important thing is for the Assembly to put in writing all the details necessary for an apples to apples comparison with the proposals from Pataki and the Senate. Silver promises to deliver just that.
Also, Pataki and Bruno aides have been meeting privately to work out what they call technical issues that will allow the Senate to pass its bills in compliance with the state Constitution. Closed door discussions do violate the spirit of openness, but purely technical talks should not derail progress. cheapnfljerseysonlinem At the same time, Silver has declined to engage in similar negotiations with the governor. If that slows the process, he’ll bear responsibility for hindering achievement of the ultimate goal. Which, to be clear, is a budget. By March 31.
Lance the collaborator
Lance Armstrong wears yellow jerseys, sells yellow bracelets and seems to have forgotten about the red, white and blue. Yesterday, the six time Tour de France winner from Austin, Texas yes, yellow rose country endorsed for the 2012 Olympic Games . . . Paris.
S. bid for the first ever Olympic Games in the Big Apple? Armstrong allowed, “In some points, New York deserves to have something as special as the Olympics.