Read A Book

What does Jesse Jackson dislike more than being faithful to his wife? Apparently BET for making a video to the song "Read A Book." This controversy did not made its way into my scope until today because, as a general rule, I stopped watching BET a few years ago.

Backstory:
Bomani "D'mite" Armah, who is not a rapper but a poet with a hip-hop style according to his website, came up with a song entitled "Read a Book." Armah is a youth counselor in the Washington D.C. area and interacts with young people on a regular basis. He came up with the song as a way to parody the "crunk" style made popular by Lil' Jon and provide social commentary on the current state of popular hip-hop music. One way or another someone from BET heard the song and approached Armah about doing an animated video. This clip explains the how the song came about.


So where does Jesse Jackson come into the equation? That's what I said too. For some reason people seem to think that this video is a public service announcement meant to get kids to read. Here is the actual video. BE WARNED THIS IS TOTALLY NOT SAFE FOR WORK.


Anyone who thinks this is seriously meant to be a PSA needs to reevaluate their sense of humor. It's a satire on "urban" culture. SATIRE. As in not meant to be taken seriously. As in not a PSA.
It's without question eons better and not nearly as embarassing as Ms. Peachez chicken song.


The story has made its way into the LA Times and the New York Times.
When I initially heard the song title the first thing that came to mind was Bun B's line "Go read a book you illiterate son of a bitch and step up your vocab." Oddly enough it is in the song "Big Pimpin'" by UGK and Jay-Z. Bomani's remix for "Read a Book" samples the line.

Listen to the remix, read what Jesse Jackson's PUSH Coalition thinks and watch more interviews on his MySpace page.