Commentary by H.G. Listiak

Wednesday 10/15/2003

Welcome to my world, where the rift between the black clergy and the pro pimp rap culture shuffles into the world of parlor games. Now we have a board game called Ghettopoly, a ghetto spin on one of America's oldest and most popular games, Monopoly. The game features places like Cheap Trick Avenue instead of Boardwalk, and instead of Reading Railroad, you've got Hernando's Chop Shop. The black reverends are outraged as the 'playas', acting like pimps, have game cards reading, 'You've got the whole neighborhood addicted to crack. Collect 50 dollars.' The game board, with properties including Westside Liquor, Harlem, The Bronx, and Long Beach City, has squares labeled Smitty's Triple-X Peep Show, Weinsteins Gold and Platinum, and Tyrone's Gun Shop. Players draw hustle and ghetto stash cards, with directions like 'You're a little short on loot so you decide to stick up a bank. Collect 75 dollars and steal money if you pass Let's Roll.' This is just another one of the thorns in the side of the black clergy. We've already discussed the energy drink Pimp Juice and the movie with the little 9 year old boy who pushes his hos and crack around the hood. The clergy and the N.double A.C.P. have been trying to quell the rising tide of pimp glamorization, but it's one step in baggy pants forward and two backwards. So being on the outside of the situation, I have to ask myself, what's the point? Is this recent gush of pimp rap culture just commercialization, or is it some kind of veiled agenda toward diversity? Or is it, to push the limits, to see how far it can go? I wish I knew. If there is a message here, I'm not getting it, as I see it ... I'm H.G. Listiak.