GHETTOPOLY: OUTRAGEOUS, SARCASTIC, HYPERBOLIC, AND FUNNY
Last week, before the game hit the national TV networks, I discovered Ghettopoly. At the official web site (http://www.ghettopoly.com) I found details and pictures, which, I freely admit, had me laughing. Here is a game that uses sarcasm, hyperbole, and stereotypes to blast away at the images of ghetto subculture perpetually portrayed by urban black hip-hopsters, gangstas, rappers, and anyone else. In fact, when interviewed, the author, David Chang, said he wrote it after watching 2 months of MTV videos.

However, it seems that not everyone has the same sense of humor. Although the game appears to have been shipping since at least July, the proverbial shit hit the fan this weekend with each cable new network trying to find as many folks as possible to slam it as racist, offensive etc. But dissection of the game reveals that there is nothing being parodied that hasn't already been around for years in the Rap and Hip-Hop MTV culture.

Game pieces include a cannabis leaf, a pimp, a ho, a bag of crack, and other assorted items. So what was Jay-Z singing about on "Big Pimpin?" And what's Lil' Kim singing about when she says "lick my crack." Sorry if you're offended, but you only have to listen to one Lil' Kim track to realize where SHE'S coming from!

Biggie smells and Tupac Shakur are dead rappers, murdered (allegedly) by gang rivalry in a world wear guns, drugs, bling-bling, and girls are seen as marks of status. Thanks to the MTV culture, these guys are now portrayed as folk heroes - not thugs - with movies, documentaries, and induction to the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame to back up the mythology. And Ghettopoly is offensive?

MTV Cribs is a show that allows stars to brag/gloat about their possessions - how big their crib is, how many rooms, how much it all cost, how many cars they have - and all thanks to the record-buying public. This blatant display of excess hasn't been seen since the "Greed Is Good" days of the 80's, yet here it is again and now it's OK because it's urban rappers from the 'Hood. And Ghettopoly is offensive?

Lil' Kim sings about sex, sex, and more sex, in multiple positions with multiple partners, trying to make it sound like it's OK as long as she is in charge - hey, she's calling the shots so it's OK to behave like this. And Ghettopoly is offensive?

Folks, if rappers want stuff, Lil' Kim wants to sleep around, MTVs want to show cribs, and Shaggy wants to be having sex with a woman "buck naked on the kitchen floor," that's OK by me. But if that's OK for them, stop whining about a game that mocks the very stereotypes they reinforce and get a life. Ghettopoly is NOT reinforcing racist attitudes; it is clearly parodying them as seen through the eyes of how ghetto life is portrayed on television - and much of that coming from the very folks who are complaining.

David Chang has been subjected to a barrage of complaints from professional talking heads to the point that he's probably scared. On Fox TV, he was asked over the phone why he didn't come into the studio to debate the game with an NAACP official and the Fox teams folks. The implication here was that when Fox says jump, you jump, and folks who don't must have something to hide. But maybe, just maybe, he's afraid of the media circus, where the professional pundits would eat him alive and laugh as he crumbled.

And a final twist: as I write, the Ghettopoly site is no longer available. Freedom of Speech? What's that?