Why Clyde Smith is a fag

On the outside chance that not all of you have been reading this shit since around the time that I graduated from college (going on a year ago now), and that you all don't sit around and search through every little nook and cranny of the Internet for hip-hop blogger-related controversy, I'm posting this recent exchange from Hashim's hiphopbloggers email group so that you can all get an idea of the kind of shit that I've been referring to in these last several posts.

Yes, there really is a 47-year-old white guy who has nothing else better to do than to try to get my site delinked from a few random, insignificant hip-blogs (as if that would really have any effect on me at this point one way or the other); no, this isn't the first time (not even the second time, actually) that I've made a supposed Ph.D look like a complete bitch via the Internet; and yes, Clyde Smith probably is crazy enough to walk into the Big Gay Mart one day toting a hand cannon and looking for "revenge."

This is the first message, from a week ago today, from Clyde to Hashim and, presumably, all of the other members of the hiphopbloggers group, myself included. Even though he swears up and down he's never done this before, Clyde Smith is back to emailing people, trying to convince them to drop my site from their blogrolls:

Re: your recent note on sexism

Glad to see you speaking out on sexism and I've noticed you mention the Essence issue and a couple of other things on your blog.

Hey, if you're all about stopping sexism and, possibly, homophobia and racism, why do you still link to B to the C? And what about your contributions to the comments on his website that I used to see back in the day? Do you not see how you've helped legitimate someone whose public values are antithetical to your supposed antisexist stance?

But then, I generally believe in taking care of business within our own networks, not necessarily before doing other things, but as part of our ongoing agenda. I guess most people just hold out for the big splashy victories.

What about it Hashim?

Your friend,
Clyde

And here's Hashim's response to Clyde, from later that same day:

Clyde Smith is now banned from the hiphopblogger group for violation of rule #5- "You cannot call out Hashim for any offenses, real or imagined."

Seriously though, that's a good question for me- if I'm speaking against sexism in pop culture and media, why do I tolerate and support a blogger who does it?

Some background for the folks watching at home: "B to the C" is Bol aka www.ByronCrawford.com, a hip-hop blogger who is known for his irreverent, crass humor. Some bloggers, like Jay Smooth, Oliver Wang, and of course Clyde Smith have taken down their links to his site and/or spoke out against Bol's antics. Other blogs, like Different Kitchen and Stinkzone still link to him and have even said that Bol is one the freshest, most interesting voice on a blog or even in hip-hop.

Where do I stand? Well...

1. I link to every hip-hop blogger. Some of those sites are really good, others kind of suck. I link to them as a service to other people who want to find blogs related to mine, not as an endorsement of the site's quality or content. If Hip Hop Blogs were a personal and not group blog then the policy for linking would be different and reflect more of my personal taste.

2. Bol is using satire, and he's really clever at it. Even with all that I said in #1, I probably wouldn't link to a site that obviously promotes sexism, racism, etc. So I still link to Bol because he's not promoting any of those -isms, he's making fun of them.

For instance, when Cam'ron says "no homo" in his songs and interviews he's revealing and spreading his homophobia. However, Bol uses "no homo" and has taken it to the Nth degree, sprinkling the phrase in every post to the point where it's absurd. Is Bol adopting Cam's homophobia? No. Instead through nuanced, witty, satire the kid is riduculing Cam! I like that. Plus it's funnier than signing a petition.

Recently on my blog I tried to satiarize Todd Lynne's complaints that his involment with Hot 97's Tsunami song has been taken out of context. I joked that Todd Lynne needs his own blog so he can fight back attacks against "over-sensitive Asians." People who understood that I was using Lynne's dumb excuses against him said the post was brilliant and hilarious. Other people who wandered in through Google and didn't get the joke said I was stupid and racist!

With Bol, I get the joke.

Hopefully that explains things and clears my sullied name!

-Hashim
www.hiphop-blogs.com

Note that never at any point (at least until just recently) was I informed that this crazy motherfucker was back at it, talking mad shit behind my back and trying to fuck with my site, which, as Jay-Z would say, is just like fucking with my money. Anyway, The Hip Hop Homo, clearly not satisfied with Hashim's response, strikes back with this:

Re: Hashim's Reply to the question of his support for byroncrawford(dot)com.

By the way, though this is personal, I think it's a useful topic for people to consider because it has revealed a split in analysis and perceptions on tactics, among other things. So I'm trying to focus on that rather than my distaste for someone I consider a total asshole.

> From: hiphopblogs@y... > Subject: RE: some questions for Hashim

> 1. I link to every hip-hop blogger. Some of those
> sites are really good, others kind of suck. I link
> to them as a service to other people who want to
> find blogs related to mine, not as an endorsement of
> the site's quality or content. If Hip Hop Blogs were
> a personal and not group blog then the policy for
> linking would be different and reflect more of my
> personal taste.

I hear what you're saying but I think it also bypasses the fact that you are responsible for the existence of Hip Hop Blogs and everyone associates it with you, at least those of us who've been reading it for awhile. I still view your contributors as contributors, especially since you ultimately take an editorial role as to what gets posted. Don't you?

Furthermore, as someone extemely savvy in how the Internet functions, to ignore the fact that you're giving link equity to the guy is to ignore your culpability in promoting him. However, given the following statements, obviously that's not currently a problem for you, though you should honestly acknowledge your role in his rise, cause you know how that works.

> 2. Bol is using satire, and he's really clever at
> it. Even with all that I said in #1, I probably
> wouldn't link to a site that obviously promotes
> sexism, racism, etc. So I still link to Bol because
> he's not promoting any of those -isms, he's making
> fun of them.

I think you've bought into a lie and his obsessive use of such terms, as you went on to describe the Cam'Ron no homo bullshit, denies the obvious fact, whatever else he's up to, he's creating a space for intolerance and his traffic has been on a steady upcurve for awhile. I know this from his sitemeter link which you can find on his site: http://www.sitemeter.com/default.asp?action=stats&site=s11mindset

Considering that he mounted a harassment campaign against Oliver Wang in which O-Dub regular received both harassing emails and phone calls during a period when he was not only completing his dissertation but maintaining a blog, working, spinning records weekly and having a baby, I wonder how you feel about your complicity in that?

Can you at least own up to the fact that he was harassing O-Dub and you helped? Or at least the harassing part? Or did you find that witty, satirical and amusing like way too many people who should be smarter than that.

>
> Recently on my blog I tried to satiarize Todd
> Lynne's complaints that his involment with Hot 97's
> Tsunami song has been taken out of context. I joked
> that Todd Lynne needs his own blog so he can fight
> back attacks against "over-sensitive Asians." People
> who understood that I was using Lynne's dumb excuses
> against him said the post was brilliant and
> hilarious. Other people who wandered in through
> Google and didn't get the joke said I was stupid and
> racist!

I got what was an obvious joke because of knowing you. But I wouldn't have recognized the Asian comment as a joke, just the get a blog part, if I didn't know you already. In fact, to be perfectly honest, my early reading of your blog, including during the Bol controversy, gave me the impression that you were not necessarily a very nice person. That's why I was so surprised to discover just how intelligent, thoughtful, sensitive, kind and generous you are.

I know I can easily be read as a much bigger asshole than I actually am if you only read the stuff that's readily available, particularly my political attacks.

Maybe you should take into consideration what your own writing communicates that is counter to your intent. I think a good journalist needs to consider that.

So people thought the Lynne post was brilliant and hilarious? What do these people spend the rest of their time reading? I mean, I think you're brilliant Hashim and you have your humorous moments but let's not go overboard.

Bol is a smart kid, in some ways, but I feel he's far overrated by people that seem otherwise insightful and intelligent. But he's more like an extremely weak version of Andrew Dice Clay than a potential Lenny Bruce or Chris Rock. His flashes of "brilliance" seem more idiot savant than truly intelligent.

>With Bol, I get the joke.

I think the joke got you.

> Hopefully that explains things and clears my sullied
> name!

It actually just reiterates what you've said all along. To be perfectly frank, you're not providing a service, Hashim. You're fucking up.

Sorry about the language, but this IS hip hop, yo. And I wouldn't even bother discussing it with you in a public forum if I didn't have mad respect for who you are and what I believe you're about.

Clyde
(hoping to not be excommunicated before my time)

That last comment just makes it clear to me what this is all about: Motherfucking jealousy. Clyde Smith, even though he yet again swears up and down that he never reads my shit, probably checks my sitemeter more than I do. The truth of the matter is that Clyde Smith all along has been trying to build some sort of hip-hop-based Internet business and has failed miserably. Despite the fact that he has a Ph.D (probably in some sort of gay dancing), he obviously knows nothing about hip-hop and next-to-nothing about the Internet.

Hashim:

Yikes, Clyde. Your first question was thoughtful, but this last reply was extra snarky for no good reason. But whatever's clever. You're right about Bol harrassing Oliver by posting his number and encouraging people to spam him. That was over the line, and I need to reconsider what to do about that (though I wonder what you mean when you say that I "helped" him do that).

I think you also need to reconsider your extreme and emotional reaction to Bol. He seems to really have you shaken up, which means that not only do you not get the joke, but you ARE the joke and don't even realize it.

For those keeping score at home, some more background info-

Since Clyde Smith de-linked the Byron Crawford site last year he has been the target of some of Bol's most viscious jokes. Other than Oliver Wang, I can't think of any non-celebrity Bol has ragged on worse than Clyde.

With that cleared up, I have some points about how you've been handling this, Clyde:

1. You created Bol.
For six months his site was just about a dude in the midwest who works a wack job, watches every Real World episode, and digs hip-hop. Peep those sitemeter stats- he didn't have any readers until you and others were outrageously outraged by his jokes and threatened to not link to him if he didn't clean up his act (which at the time I thought was so silly and arrogant on your part). From there he turned his site into a haterfest, hoping to bait more people into being awfully offended to the point where they too unwittingly promote his status.

So thank-you Clyde. Your continued spotlight on Bol has added to his aura, and given him motivation to be extreme every week. I wish you would focus more emails and posts on your site to harrassing people to link MORE to http://chaunceybillups.blogspot.com, governmentnames.blogspot.com, and houstonsoreal.blogspot.com. Recently Government Names complianed that with all of the great work they do, their highest traffic still remains to be the one controversal exchange they had with another blogger. Shame on you Clyde for perpetuating controversy as an effective form of promotion. Search Google for "apologevent" and get more savvy about how these things in the media work. I think a good journalist should understand that.

2. You're bugging out
When all the stuff happened to Oliver he said on Bol's site "I would be impressed and probably laugh if this attack wasn't directed towards me" and on his own site said "I have to admit Bol is genuis in a diabolical kind of way."

Jay Smooth said on my site that he still reads Bol's site and thinks that he's funny.

This is from two guys who were also targets of Bol's attacks. Compare their dirt-of-my-shoulder coolness with your frenetic crusade.

C'mon, Clyde. This IS hip-hop. Dude stepped to you. Step back at him. Talk bad about his mama or something. End this McCarthy-style blacklisting campaign you have aginst Bol. It's like now you have an issue with even the people who have loose associations with the kid. Either play the game or leave it alone.

Hashim
HNIC of hiphop-blogs.com

Even though Hashim is as wrong as usual on most points, his overall points are correct:

Clyde Smith = One Crazy Mofo

and

Sneaky Delinking Campaigns = Teh Ghey

Having obviously lost yet another battle, The Hip Hop Homo responds the only way he knows how - by lying and threatening people:

Last from me on this, I promise. Clyde

> Hashim said:
> Yikes, Clyde. Your first question was thoughtful,
> but this last reply was extra snarky for no good
> reason. But whatever's clever.

Snarky and clever, now that hurts!

I guess we just see this incredibly differently.

O-Dub delinked and made a statement about BC's blog which I hadn't been reading after checking it out and linking to it back whenever. I found his behavior objectionable in a way that caused me to delink and, because I'm a drama queen, made a big statement.

I briefly interacted with BC at his site after reading a few exchanges and realized there really wasn't anything of value there for me. So I stopped reading it and removed all posts on the topic at that time.

It's funny. I've read his stuff and it really seems so juvenile it doesn't bother me any more, so I'm not really that motivated by name calling towards me from somebody who would never say those things to my face.

And that was it for me. I've checked in from time to time but that was pretty much when I stopped reading most hip hop bloggers cause I couldn't really relate to their interests. And guess what? As soon as you stop going to those sites, they disappear from view. They just aren't showing up on anybody else's radar. So it's all good.

You mention people making public statements about being cool with BC. My understanding is that they wouldn't say that now.

OK. If anybody has a need to know or to continue this discussion, please email me directly.

Clyde
hiphoplogic@n...

That shit about O-Dub delinking and making a statement about me is such a huge, bold-faced lie that it deserves its own post. Obviously, at this point in the conversation, T3H had just assumed that I wasn't listening and therefore he could say whatever in the hell he wanted about me, which is, I guess, also why he figured he could threaten to kill me on his other blog and get away with that shit. Why in the world someone, let alone a Ph.D, would do some shit like that and never realize that it's out on the Internet for anyone, including law enforcement,to see is beyond me. But like I said, the motherfucker's obviously crazy.