View From the Phlipside - Snoop Dogg

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, Radio, the Movies and more. I love them and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View From the Phlipside.

When I saw this story I knew I wanted to share it but the longer I looked at it the more I thought “How to even begin”? Let’s call it the transforming power acceptance. So it’s kind of like a fairy tale.

Once upon a time there was a boy named Calvin. Calvin sang in the church choir as a boy but ran into some trouble when he grew up. He spent some time in jail. When he got out of jail a big producer heard him do his music thing and signed him. Calvin played up his criminal background early in his career and sold a lot of albums. And I do mean a LOT of albums. But as Calvin got older he saw that being a gangsta held him back from being some other things he wanted to be. So Calvin started going more mainstream in his life, became a certified youth football coach, did some acting and made some commercials. He still had the occasional run in with the law but eventually became the spokesperson for an anti-crime campaign.

Sounds pretty weird right? The Calvin in question is better known as Snoop Dogg and everything in the story is absolutely true. Snoop is now the spokesperson for the Norton anti-virus software anti-cyber crime campaign called “Hack is Whack”. Would be rappers get the chance to do an anti-cyber crime rap with the grand prize of two tickets to a Snoop Dogg concert, the chance to meet the man and his management team and a new computer.

Some folks will just shake their heads and think this is a terrible thing. Others will see it as a bit ironic. I think the reality is that we’re just watching a cultural process at work again. Elvis started at the edges of polite society. Remember he was thought so vulgar that the Ed Sullivan show refused to show those waggling hips. Within 15 years he was a lounge act in Las Vegas. Those rebellious rock stars of days gone by? Late middle age to early senior citizens with stock portfolios and retirement funds. It doesn’t work on everyone. Although even folks like Iggy Pop seemed to have mellowed a little as they’ve aged.

Most of us pushed back at least a little when we were growing up. Most of us settle in as we get older. Gangsta to pimp to youth football coach to anti-crime spokesman. The overwhelming force of acceptance tends to grind the edges down, even on Tha Doggfather

Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY.  You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010