Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson and Joe Louis walk into a Philly YMCA to check out the up-and-coming boxing talent and give them a bit of encouragement.
A young man meets them at the door and says, “Sorry guys, you’re too old for this crowd, head back home.”
What?!?
Thankfully, that story never happened and never would have.
But something very similar happened this week in none other than Los Angeles following the Grammy Awards.
The U.K. Guardian called it “the moment when rap officially usurped rock as the most powerful force in music.”
They must be kidding themselves.
Paul McCartney, Taylor Hawkins from the Foo Fighters and Beck wanted to pay a visit to an after party hosted by rappers Tyga (pronounced “dumbshit”).
But the trio was turned around at the door leading McCartney to ask, “How VIP do we have to get? We need another hit!”
The denial was caught by TMZ cameras.
Another rapper attending the party, Bow Wow (formerly ‘lil Bow Wow – he assumedly grew up), explained the denial as “Maybe it’s the fact that we’re younger than Paul. And it’s the fact that we’re the new generation.”
Bow Wow’s justification is the mental equivalent of a product designer saying, “I have nothing to learn from Steve Jobs.”
For comparison, Rapper Tyga has had one album that went gold of the three that he has released. Gold certification means he sold 500,000 units. He’s also had eight singles hit Gold and Platinum certification.
McCartney has had 21 of his 24 albums hit Gold and Platinum in multiple countries. Sir Paul has sold over 600 million albums in his lifetime and even more singles.
The Foo Fighters have had all eight of their albums hit Gold and Platinum around the world and Beck has racked up eight certifications as well.
As for Bow Wow, the 28-year-old rapper has not had an album released since 2009.
Following the #OscarsSoWhite flap and Beyoncé’s Super Bowl performance, the black entertainment community has made a point to shun anything “white” including publications, companies and now music royalty.
In Tyga’s defense, the rapper later took to Twitter to say that he didn’t know McCartney had been turned away.
Here’s the video of the incident. Comment below:
