Innocent Until Proven Guilty

“Your white friend said these n****s crazy, I hope no-one heard that, cause if they we gone be in some trouble.” – Drake – Marvin’s Room

By T33side86

Race and racial equality seems to have become a modern issue again, with two high profile racial abuse cases ongoing in the limelight of the Premier League, I’ve decided to blog about it, as you pretty much can’t ignore it at the moment.

The main issue I want to write about is John Terry, defender, and captain of England and Chelsea Football Club.

In case you don’t know the background, Terry was apparently accused of using a racial slur against black player Anton Ferdinand, and opponent during Chelsea’s fixture on 23^rdOctober 2011.

The accusations were leveled at him following a video which emerged, with no audio, but his lip movements seemed to mimic what seemed like the words black and c**t. Anyway, since most people already know most of the background, there’s no need to dwell on that.

After months of waiting, with no apparent decision in the pipeline, the incident has been taken to court. In my view, this is an issue that is bigger than football. Now, Terry is innocent. Present tense. Until he’s tried, and sufficient evidence has been considered, and if the outcome of the trial is a guilty verdict, then he is still innocent, and he must be seen as innocent (UK Laws).

This is from a purely legal viewpoint.

In terms of the England team, I think he should never have been re-issued the England Captaincy. Despite whether they should or not, kids look up to the likes of Terry, and thus he should be a positive role model in his position. The Wayne Bridge/Vanessa Peronccel incident was enough alone to justify him being outcast from England permanently.

It is clear that Terry’s moral compass is way off the mark, so to find that he did indeed use racist language would not be so much of a surprise. However for the time being he must be considered innocent. The man himself is a total disgrace in the way he behaves off the pitch, and this is something which doesn’t need proving in court, it’s something we all know.

A man should only be given so many chances, and Terry is fast running out.

Up and Coming Stars In 2011 Part Two

Kendrick Lamar- Is the first rapper in our Up and Coming series to make the list is an artist you have to watch out for. Lamar states that his influences growing up were Tupac Shukar, DMX, Nas, and Kanye West. This year has been a busy year for Lamar who made the XXL coveted freshman cover as well as appear on few tracks where he steals the show on Jay Rock ‘Hood Gon Love This and Game’s The City.  As well as appearing on Dr. Dre Detox album (if that album ever comes out). Also this year Lamar released a digital album Section.80 which was well received by critics.  Lamar is also working on a joint project with another XXL freshman cover alumni J. Cole. Known for his deep subject matters and complex rhymes Lamar is one of the many new talents emerging from the West Coast.

If that wasn't enough check out the YouTube clip when Game and Snoop Dogg passes the torch to Lamar

If you haven’t already go check out Section.80 which is one of the best rap album this year available on ITunes

Twitter.com/kendrick_Lamar

The Weeknd- Up and coming R&B singer Abel Tesfaye is another emerging talent coming from Canada who goes by the stage name The Weeknd has caught a lot of people’s attention with the release of ‘House of Balloons’ and just recently ‘Thursday’ which are part of a trilogy with the final mixtape being’ Echoes of Silence’ expected to be released in the Fall. The Weeknd has received a co-sign from Drake which has gotten him more exposure lately. Drake also mentions that The Weeknd will be on his next album Take Care coming out in October. With an wide open and ever changing R&B scene The Weeknd will be a major player in R&B this year.

Cope The Weeknd mixtape from his website:

The-weeknd.com

Twitter.com/theweekndxo