I must admit.  When I first heard that ESPN had recruited Lil Wayne to guest blog for them, I honestly only logged on to spit venom.  Its no secret that I am clearly not a fan of Weezie especially of his most recent material.  The Nation often questions why I hate on today’s “emcees.”  For many artists its because I’m a product of the Golden Age and am to a great extent biased.  However as it relates to Lil Wayne, my criticism almost entirely is of the fact that I can’t understand a word the dude says.

That however is on wax.  As I’m learning through his blogs he actually does have some insight.  Although its possible, its a lot harder for Wayne to appear half drunk, high and incoherent through written text.  It such a breath of fresh air to actually understand him, that is granted you believe he doesn’t use a ghost blogger.

In my heart of hearts I’d like to believe this is real.  Not only is it a great marketing tactic for ESPN for reasons I mentioned in my previous blog, ”Lil Wayne’s Blogs A Hit For ESPN.Com. Gets Network’s Logo Tat’d on His Arm” but its actually entertaining.  I feel like sports more often than not caters to the white beer drinking fat bellied fan.  For a split second, Lil Wayne changes all that.  He makes sports relate to Hip Hop.  From the days when my man Phife from A Tribe Called Quest used to rock a fresh jersey in each one of their music videos Hip Hop and Sports had an intimate relationship.

Perhaps corporate America has overlooked us fans because of they believe, as I have, that the modern hip hop culture is not to be taken seriously.  Do they believe that we don’t represent viable economic buying power?  Is it because we choose to watch our sports in our living rooms instead of a sports bar?  Is it because we choose to buy Hennesey and Grey Goose instead of the Coors Light and Budweiser beers that support these sports as major sponsors?  Maybe they honestly believe the only reason we buy and wear sports jerseys is in response to fashion trends.

That all may or may not be true but one fact remains, black athletes represent a majority of the playmakers in America’s major sports.  In addition, who relates to the rich, flashy trendsetting persona of today’s hip hop artist more that young black athletes.  Lil Wayne’s blog is the realization of that association. Every week its complete with shout outs to the likes of the NBA’s Chris Paul and the NFL’s Dwayne Bowe, A nod to up and coming MLB rookie David Price and even a dig at the Backstreet Boys.

So although I’ll admit, I initially only read the blog for venomous material for Highbrid Nation, Wayne has made me a believer and more importantly a reader.  Shout to ESPN for the creativity and shout to Weezie for doing something DIFFERENT.