Letters from the Issue of June 24, 2004

Charlie Harris

Miami

And it's not sleazy either:This is in response to Mosi Reeves and Celeste Fraser Delgado's coverage of Memorial Day on Miami Beach ("Holiday In!" May 27). Lackluster and penniless in flavor, the mainstream hip-hop faction makes "Stuck on Stupid!" seem great. They've put the culture in a slinky see-through dress, placed it in platform high heels, and have it dancing exaggeratedly on an oiled stripper's pole. Rappers have given everyone the vision of hip-hop being an untalented zoo of morons!

Why is it that when the true form of hip-hop -- the B-Boy Masters Pro-Am -- gathers in Miami Beach each May, the police don't run for their electrifying Tasers? Never have I been to an underground hip-hop event and feared for my life. No one seems to have noticed that once Biggie Smalls and Tupac passed on, a superhighway was opened for all kinds of talentless idiots who mobbed the road and created gridlock.

Another point I'd like to pull out from under everyone's closed eyelids is the fact that none of these rappers pull this type of shit in New York. So why in hell should we let them come down here with that nonsense? Aaron Merriman's proposal ("Letters," June 10) to have them shut the fuck up is not enough -- and will never be enough.

Christopher M. Purrinson

Hialeah