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Thursday, Nov 26, 2009
Everything that rises must converge: These days black Snoop and the white Chicks are all part of the same big megastar aristocracy.
Oct 11, 1999 | Top 40 radio used to be a big tent. Not big enough to include Captain Beefheart, but still, it was a hell of a lot more eclectic than today's specialized air play menus. Happily, bookstores are unaffected by this stultifying trend -- you can re-create that bygone musical banquet with judiciously selected celebrity bios.
New this week on the "Can't-
You might call Snoop Dogg the same thing he calls himself, but you'd better not unless you're a) black, or b) not planning to testify at any future O.J. trials. Suffice it to say that the audio version of "Tha Doggfather" ought to be read by Mark Fuhrman. "Truth comes in many disguises," claims Snoop, "even a skinny nigger with braids from the east side of Long Beach, California ... I just tell the truth and let you motherfuckers sort it out for yourselves."
Dixie Chick Emily Erwin pretty much agrees. "Our clothes are just another way to express ourselves," she says.
Cordazar Broadus, aka Calvin Broadus, aka Snoop, came from the 'hood, and he's proud of it. "I never thought of my hometown as a place I had to escape from," says Tha Doggfather. "I'm part of it, and it's part of me."
The sisters who make up two-thirds of the Dixie Chicks, Martie and Emily Erwin, are from Dallas, and chances are they're proud too. Who wouldn't be? Dallas, Collins reveals, is "Famous worldwide as the home of television's Ewing family."
Right away, the different approach taken in these volumes asserts itself. Snoop Dogg, with help from ghostwriter Davin Seay, tells his own story: "The family I came up in, the homies I ran with, the secrets I kept and the lessons I learned."
Collins, on the other hand, is not a member of the Dixie Chicks. In fact, it's not clear that he's ever met the Dixie Chicks. He tells of the interviews they've given, the records they've released, the thank-yous they've written in liner notes. Plus a lot about Barbara Mandrell. Collins really likes Barbara Mandrell. Dedicates the book to her, even. "Like Martie and Emily ... Barbara Mandrell was a child prodigy who came from a musical family ... When she first arrived in Nashville -- Music City -- at the age of 20 in 1968, Mandrell didn't look like the revolutionary leader who would fire the first shot in a war that would open a huge musical door for female country acts."
Yes, revolution was in the air in the early '80s, with Barbara "Che" Mandrell on NBC and Ronald Reagan in Washington. "You got the L.A. riots with Reginald Denny and Rodney King and all the other shit that comes down when a society gets sick in its soul," Snoop reflects. "And there's more than enough blame to go around. Sure enough, Ronald Reagan was an asshole who didn't give a fuck about the poor black man ... But what about the brothers themselves? None of them ever want to cop to the hard truth that it wasn't some politician that burned down the ghetto, got all the bitches pregnant and all the youngsters hooked on crack."
So the parallel destinies of these musical superstars take shape. The young Erwin sisters take violin lessons that will eventually help them score in a country trio. Snoop Dogg loses his virginity as part of a threesome. The Erwin girls join a group called Blue Night Express, playing bluegrass. Young Snoop joins a group called the Rolling 20 Crips, snatching purses. (Remember, Snoop lacked the Erwin sisters' formal musical training.)
