Refinement with a Common touch

Our First Lady is hostessing a poetry reading at the White House. Guests (will the Obama children be attending?) will be treated to the ever elegant Common:

Whatup BIT*H? I'm Petey Wheatstraw
And you don't stop, with the heidi heidi hoe
Hi hoe, or bye hoe, if you're lookin for a sucker
(What are you?) I'm just another mother**ker
Pucker your lips, do flips like Mary Lou
Just because I f**ked you doesn't mean that I'ma marry you
Bury you, I will do, after, I bill you
Kill you, hoe, cause your sh*t smells like mildew

Now to those of us less schooled in the rich heritage of rap music the above lyrics may appear crass, sexist, violent, and even downright dumb but beauty is in the ear of the beholder.

Common (real name: Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr.) isn’t some run of the mill street thug. Heck, he’s never even killed anybody. Little Lonnie is the son of educator Dr. Mahila Ann Hines and former ABA basketball player turned youth counselor Lonnie Lynn. Not exactly the hard knock life:

Yo, I didn't grow up up po po but once you get grown and out on your own
Bills apon bills apon bills is what you have
Before you get your check than you already spend half
See I make money, money doesn't make me
I'm a reflection of my section and section 8

No, Common didn’t grow up “po po” or uneducated but nothing screams AUTHENTIC BLACK MAN like faking ignorance to make a buck off of people who did grow up poor and uneducated.

Some pooh pooh (not to be confused with “po po”) the rapper’s White House invitation on grounds that he has written glowingly about cop killers and killing President George W. Bush. As we all know, fantasizing about killing President Bush is perfectly acceptable (disagreeing with President Obama is haraam) and we should give the White House credit for making it clear that the President does not support killing cops (his position on Bush killing is somewhat murkier).

All and all I am sure it will be a classy event.