Filed under: hookers, people from rhode island | Tags: crime, prostitution, rhode island, sadness
The anti-prostitution bill passed the Senate tonight. Here’s the Providence Journal story, and my (admittedly highly opinionated and angry) take. The governor will, I think, sign the bill tomorrow, and then it goes into effect immediately. That means no time for the women in the spas to find other jobs, or even look for them, mainly in a county pushing 14% unemployment and a real unemployment rate of over 21%. It also, of course, means a lot more rape and violence and women going to jail for non-violent crimes; the first offense is punishable by up to six months in prison. During the House committee meeting the other night, one Representative asked how much implementation would cost; nobody had checked. Later, that same Rep suggested job training, counseling and HIV risk education in lieu of jail time; he was told by the committee chairman that the state probably couldn’t afford that. But hey, they’re sure fixing that Asian spa problem! Right?
Filed under: design of a decade, lists, music | Tags: 2003, 50 cent, design of a decade, lil kim
[Onward with the good songs...]
8. Lil Kim featuring 50 Cent, Magic Stick
The early ’00s was the era of the hip-hop duet. Sean Paul and Tweet. Missy and Wyclef. Nivea and Jagged Edge. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.
But many a hip-hop duet was marred by the aggressive reinforcement of crappy gender stereotypes, particularly on female-fronted tracks where male guest rappers phoned in performances from some other studio in some other city. Tweet’s Oops (Oh My) is a great ode to self-love until Fabolous shows up and turns it into a song about facials. And Sacario’s dreary guest-rap transforms the spirit of Angie Martinez’s If I Could Go! from bouncy escapism to miserable self-delusion.
