I am a Comptonite, born and raised. I am a Los Angeleno, a Californian, an African American, a human being. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am not patriotic in common ways, but I am loyal to where I come from. I remember growing up in a city that was a neocons’ worst nightmare. All these Black and brown people running around, a militarized police force, an attitude that we needed to be policed and corralled and ignored. I grow up and move to Chicago and lo, the same thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But we loved our own. We loved our heroes, we loved our sports teams, we loved our city. I was lucky enough to come of age in THE golden age of sports in Los Angeles. World championships in three sports. The Olympics. All amidst a backdrop with its soundtrack of gangsta rap and using sports as an escape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year, when my hometown Dodgers faced the Toronto Blue Jays, I saw it as fun and in no way an indictment of my loyalty. I am a big fan of Vladimir Guerrero Jr, having watched his dad toil in nearby Anaheim for many years, and so wouldn’t have minded Toronto winning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, as I said, I am loyal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was certainly aware of the parallels between this World Series and the events of the past two years between Drake and Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick is the hometown hero, a poet savant who simply pointed out that this Canadian dude wasn’t on his level and was faking a lot of culture bonfires which, in a genre that prides itself on rules of culture and some measure of gatekeeping, resonated in the chord of “A MINORRRRRRR”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was prepared to laugh this connection off; after all, neither Kendrick or Aubrey were putting on hats and adjusting batting gloves in facing down 98+mph fastballs and splitters with 15 inches of break. Neither was I. But I started to notice that not everyone saw it that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We gone beat they ass like Drake did Kendrick.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This bold statement, as wrong as it is, activated the hater in me. The latent hater, dormant since being reminded that all I ever wanted was a black Grand National last year, awakened, and it was ANGRY. ‘<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every Dodger win was proof that Kendrick was right. Every Blue Jay win was pointed to as proof that, somehow, Drake was better and more relevant and indeed won a rap war that culminated with Kendrick going in front of the world at the Super Bowl halftime and reminding him that a lot, A LOT, of people don’t like him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, with a Dodger win, and the marketing efforts of Nike and Major League Baseball are going to lead to another few weeks of charting for Kenfdrick’s knock-out punch “Not Like Us”, and the hater can rest again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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