Does Keyshia Have An Attitude Problem???...

Ordinarily, I would have missed out on the news about Keyshia Cole, because I usually switch back and forth between the Tom Joyner Morning Show and Steve Harvey's. But anyhoo, while I was surfing the net, I came upon a celeb blog that mentioned the tension-filled radio interview 92Q from Baltimore had with Keyshia. Before listening to the interview for myself, I read the comments from others. Some said that she was ghetto, rude, unprofessional, and a whole host of other things. And at first glance, their assessment seemed on point.

Then I listened to the interview. I was left wondering whether we listened to the same interview. The way folks were talking, they made it seemed like she cursed them out and said some offensive comments. But that exactly wasn't the case. Yes, Keyshia was concise with her answers and vague altogether. But I didn't find her to be as rude as others pointed out. The crux of the whole flap seemed to be that she seemed not to want to be there doing the interview as DJ Mar.c Clarke indicated. I will say that he handled the interview for the most part right. He explained the importance of an artist needing to have the right attitude and how they depend upon their fans for success. But lawd have mercy was his lecture long. He drove home the point correctly the first time around, but kept driving, driving, and driving. *phew* *lol* And fortunately, Keyshia understood his point and apologized.

I never just see things from the surface though. Instead of thinking of this young woman is a ghetto chick as others have labeled her, I wonder what it is about our culture that doesn't understand the plight of others. I'm the kind of person who doesn't want to write off our young folks. I'm just not ready to do that. I feel that sometimes these young folks go through so much roughness and hard times in their lives that they honest to goodness don't know any better, don't know how to maneuver around tricky situations, and don't know how to articulate their feelings in a manner people can understand them. People living hard lives don't have the luxury of talking about what they feel. They just try to live the best way they know how. As far as Keyshia is concerned, from her reality show I found out that her mother has been in and out of jail and that she doesn't know much about who her father is. So, it appears that she and her sister have had to raise themselves, which speaks volumes. I'm not going to say that I grew up hard, because I didn't. One of my parents and their siblings grew up tough as orphans from a very early age. Other people just don't understand what it is to not know where you are going to lay your head at night or where your next meal is going to come from. So folks will just as easily just label someone ghetto and leave it at that. But I will say that I am very grateful for the folks who did help my family along the way, because I wouldn't be where I am today without them.

When people make comments about Keyshia being unrefined and rough around the edges, they don't take into account how blessed they are to have had a mother and/or father or grandparent or aunt or uncle to raise them in the proper way. Yes, I'm saying it. If you had structure in your life, that's a blessing, because those who didn't have it are having to play catch up after having 18 years or more. In Keyshia's case, she show that she cared by coming back to the interview and changing her tune. There is hope for her.

This blog entry really isn't just about Keyshia. It's about our youth. Could you imagine someone putting a test such as the GRE, GMAT, or LSAT in front of you without you having the benefit of having the appropriate lessons taught to you? Well, that's what we are doing to our young people when life tests them. No, I don't have the answers as to what we should do. I just hope we will try to be more compassionate, understanding, and patient with people who have rough childhoods. We just can't throw folks away.

I'm running late again. I have to run. Have a great day. : )