Greg Simms Jr.

Too many Black men Trojan horse their way into crafts they lack the talent for, relying on identity, hustlenomics and swagger instead of excellence. That’s slacker culture, and i partially blame The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air helped normalize that archetype Carlton represented the Black man who took his craft seriously, but we celebrated the slacker with swagger over the one who pursued excellence. Meticulous, disciplined Black men as “white” or “nerds” instead of people valuing their commitment That’s part of why Black culture lost some of its edge, it became fashionable to rely on charisma over mastery Then, when someone outside the culture comes in and executes at a high level, the same slackers who didn’t take their own culture and craft seriously rebrand themselves as Louis Farrakhan dismissing the outsider as a “culture vulture” instead of forcing an honest look at why they succeeded Instead of them admitting they’re sore losers they rebrand it as some identity based socially conscious crusade Where was that Farrakhan shit when you was too busy slacking when the culture was in your hands?

If you could greenlight one music biopic tomorrow, who are you choosing?