Last year, the NPR show “Fresh Air,” as part of a week-long celebration of 50 years of hip-hop, played a bunch of great interviews from their archives.
Well, mostly great. At the link, portions of interviews with Questlove, Chuck D, and Diddy. It’s a study in contrasts. Questlove’s and Chuck D’s interview segments are both fascinating, full of insights about music, culture, etc. But Diddy offers little insight other than, I saw some other guys who had a lot of money and power and great stuff, and I said to myself, I want that, so I worked damn hard to get it, Etm.
But then, Diddy wasn’t happy merely to be seen dressed in his hippest finery on the beach at St. Tropez. He had to publicize himself being photographed while strolling with his “Personal Umbrella Holder (PUH)”. First time I saw that was enough to convince me, “what a dick.”
I never saw anything to convince me otherwise, but it wasn’t clear until recently just how horrendous a dick he was.
Most saddening is how many people played along with this, and how big money convinces so many to debase themselves and to abuse and degrade others.
