War Chest

I was on my way home for lunch today and I popped in an old Kanye West cd to entertain me all of the 3 minutes it takes me to get home from work. As I listened to Kanye and his hip-hop-styled bravado, I couldn't help but think when he would be next. For some odd reason, America loves a rising star just as much as she loves a falling one and it will only be a matter of time before Mr. West is no longer on the giving end of the media's attention and is transferred to the receiving end. Practically every media darling, at some point, ends up a media disaster. Poor Britney Spears, if she sneezes more than twice it makes the news.

Black celebrities have been on the receiving end a lot lately. From Michael Vick to T.I.;Michael Jackson to Oprah Winfrey, the attacks seem endless. My hope is, all of these artist and celebrities have built up a war chest to help them through tough times. There's a line in one of Kanye's old songs where he talks about going to Jacob the Jeweler as soon as he got his first advance because he wanted to shine. I can understand wanting to spoil yourself when you get a little money-hell, even I like to reward myself when I get paid, but my hope is that the allure of the fancy cars, houses, and jewelry does not trump the need to protect yourself when the invaders hit your beach front. And make no mistake, they're coming. The object of the game should not be just to get rich but to remain rich. And to do so, one must have a war chest-funds socked away to get you through a full frontal assault, regardless of where it comes from. And I have to reiterate, it will come. Dionne Warwick, Wesley Snipes, Mike Tyson, Sean Combs, all have had their turn in the hot seat. All of them have racked up attorney fees that dwarf what most of us earn in a lifetime.

This country loves a good scandal-because secretly I think most of its citizens are envious of the success of others. It's the crab in the bucket mentality. We love to hear the worst there is to know about the private lives of celebrities. The raunchier, the better. There's no question that some of these idiots deserve the negative attention, but most are just caught up in tabloid journalism that could not exist if Britney Spears wasn't improperly raised as a child-or if Mike Tyson would take his medication regularly. These rags are like a monster with an insatiable appetite who won't leave Tokyo alone. And our need to see someone tumble from an imaginary pedestal fuels the fire.

Suffice it to say that the only solution is that consumers stem their desire for such nonsense, but they don't call them consumers for nothing. They aren't thinkers, they aren't producers or doers, they're consumers-mindless gluttons who will devour anything placed before them-and we've all been there at one point in time (most of us are still there). But this post was not supposed to be an indictment on the media, it was supposed to be about the necessity to protect yourself when you are on the receiving end of a negative media campaign that may surround a law suit or criminal charges. Anyone around a celebrity who is worth anything would strongly advise that individual of the need to build a handsome war chest so that when the animals attack, like the spinning records of a top-shelf DJ, you life doesn't skip a beat.


TPOKW?