I’ve been asked by more than a few people for my take on the Adult Swim network show, The Boondocks. I intentionally waited to write about it for two reasons:

1) I wanted to give the show enough time to establish itself so that I could make an accurate statement about how I feel about the show. Nothing is worse than people saying something is geat or un-great after two episodes, and then the total reverse happens leaving you feeling like a motherless child.

and;

2) I think Aaron McGruder is stealing my ideas. I have no definite proof of this, but I swear if I see one more episode that looks eerily similar to some shit I’ve done before, alluded to in conversation, or written about, I’m going to be upset. All I know is that if a “Starbucks Is The Man” reference gets made…well you will be reading about me in major news outlets as I will have beaten Aaron McGruder down on a busy Los Angeles street while Mexican’s stand by and sing “Peanut Butter Jelly Time” in banana suits.

So what is my take on the show you ask? Actually, you probably didn’t. However, being the self-proclaimed sexxiest man in blog business, I’ll assume that you wanted to know my opinion. Bump that, you were DYING to know my opinion.

Here it is…the moment of truth…are you ready?…can you feel it…can you feel it…can you feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel iiiiiiiiiiiiit…

I’m undecided on the show.

Now see, it isn’t that I don’t think it’s a good show because I do. When the show is good, it’s great. But there are episodes that kind of leave me feeling kind of, you know, bleh. I’m okay with missing episodes. I’m not dying to see any new episodes either. I will say this though, I think Aaron McGruder is a genius at satirization of pop-culture. For instance, the “Gangstalicious” episode was one of the funnier moments on television ever and I’ll be damned if he didn’t perfectly capture everybody’s feelings.

Though I really didn’t see the thug love scene coming.

The “You Can’t Turn A Hoe Into A Housewife” episode? Fuckin’ classic. That episode had me laughing throughout. Mostly because the shows had many elements of truth involved. They were what he does best, satire. Between “A Pimp Named Slickback”, the Pimp Prayer, the characterization of the video hoe, etc, I felt McGruder nailed that entire episode. It even spawned one of my favorite lines of all time…

“Game recognize game, granddad…and you lookin’ real unfamiliar…” - Riley

[***Sidenote: Anybody else notice how Huey isn't even really the central character on the show? In the strip, Huey is the central figure and everything revolves around him a good 90% of the time. In the show, Riley's character is way more interesting, as is Granddad, or even Uncle Ruckus, who to me, is the funniest nigga on television. When he was singing about slavery in the "Gangstalicious" episode I almost lost it. THAT was the best ignorant song I've ever heard. It's just interesting how Huey doesn't seem to be the main character. Just a thought... ***]

In fact, here is an excerpt from Uncle Ruckus song while he was mopping the floor in the hospital:

“other folks talkin bout save me,
wasn’t nuthin wrong with slavery,
least we got good food back then uh huh uh huh,
white man sure could be your…oh” - Uncle Ruckus

But despite all the good episodes, we do get some less than stellar episodes. I know many people loved it, but I just didn’t like the “Nigga Moment” episode at all. It wasn’t funny to me and pretty much had no point aside from going the extra mile to show some real nigga behavior. For some reason, I just wasn’t feeling it. The episode where Huey was putting on the school play, though funny at points (especially the beginning Kwanzaa scenes) seemed to totally mail in the ending.

I’d also like to say that the rampant, gratuitous use of the word “nigga” doesn’t even bother me. Now, hearing MLK, Jr.’47 refer to black folks as “niggers” did bother me. Some heard him say “nigga”, after re-watching it, I hear him talking about “niggers”.

Which brings me to something else. I noticed that McGruder caught a lot of flack for his characterization of MLK, Jr. ‘47. Well, I think that shit was damn near right on point. And the subtle digs at his family were great. I myself have jokingly discussed how MLK ‘47 would feel if he were to come back nowadays. I’m with McGruder, he’d be called a terrorist and he’d be pissed off at the where we are. And much like I always scream, he’d also think BET was the worst shit to happen to black folks since Oprah. Which is another reason why I think McGruder is jacking my shit. Those are mostly jokes by the way…mostly.

I know many folks have been turned off to the show because of his use of the n-word, and I understand that. Admittedly, it can be a bit much at times. It seems like he almost goes out of his way to use the n-word at times…then again, a nigga like me does it all the time too. Shit sounds like something I’d say or write. I’ve also heard folks mention that the show is important…eh, I’m not sure I’d go that far. Is it edgy? Yes. Is it funny and thought-provoking? Yes. But will it change the way anybody looks at themselves? No. And I think that’s due to the fact that I believe anybody watching the Boondocks, on their own accord, is already the type of person who would engage in self-reflection or the state of Black America anyway.

So that’s my stance in a nutshell…I really don’t know how I feel about the show. Is it good? Yes…at times. Other times it just isn’t even interesting to me. I’d hate for the show to lose its time slot though, because I think the good definitely outweighs the less than good. And besides, where else am I going to get a good dosage of Riley and Uncle Ruckus. I think what McGruder is trying to do is great though in that he has managed to take something that grew a cult-following and turn it into an at least relevant show and window into one man’s opinion on race relations and Black culture. Who else has been able to do that and not go the happy-go lucky route? That part is very important. He’s damn near my hero…if it wasn’t for the eerily familiar feel I get while watching the show he’d be my idol.

You know, right after Marvin The Martian.

By the way, I think Riley is my alter-ego…in fact, I think I’m a mix of Huey and Riley…I’d just rather be Riley…he’s funnier. And besides, I’m a pseudo-gangsta anyway.

But I’m sexxy.

And quite frankly, that’s all that matters.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 18th, 2006 at 2:11 pm and is filed under A Life In The Day of Panama..., Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.