Bo Speaks to Elliott Wilson…Once.

A while ago, I told you all that I would be posting an interview with XXL Editor-in-Chief Elliott Wilson. Elliott was doing interviews with bloggers to both promote his magazine’s compilation record and to make peace with those offended but this editor’s note that was pretty harsh toward bloggers. While he says he was only speaking to a couple of people, it came across as a spirited missive toward an entire group of people. I personally didn’t get too offended by it, but I did find it strange that someone would use such a forum for that reason. But to each his reach, ya dig?
Well, I never got around to transcribing the tape. That’s my bad. I got wrapped up in too many things and didn’t get around to getting that handled. For reasons you might be able to relate to, I had to take care of tasks that contributed to my nourishment before I could make a serious time investment in something that wasn’t going to pay. That was one of those prioritizations I had to make. In the process, I reneged on a promise to Elliott to run this interview, and I was wrong for that. Apologies to all affected.
But then something happened. I went to the gas station one morning to get a cup of coffee and saw the first issue of Eye Candy magazine. As you either know or can easily surmise, it’s an extension of XXL’s Eye Candy feature, which showcases women from videos that readers fervently request. The scenery’s usually nice, but it’s impossible to not question whether it’s cool to put a centerfold in that magazine. That really makes it hard to argue that the objectification of women isn’t particularly charactersitic of hip hop in a way that it is not inextricably linked to other genres. Arguments could be made in both directions on that one, but you have to ask a few questions about that.
Eye Candy magazine takes that to a whole ‘nother level. The first reading made me wonder why Harris Publications doesn’t skip the pretense, put the book in plastic, and just make it porn. I guess the book’s no more geared toward horndogs than Maxim or other men’s magazines, but that doesn’t make it particularly cool. A spread with five straight women in bathing suits answering a bunch of mundane questions, including favorite sexual position, made me take pause.
What threw me over the edge was the “tail of the tape” between Ki-Toy Johnson (from OutKast’s “The Way You Move” video) and Buffie Tha Body (from a slew of videos, including Tony Yayo’s “So Seductive”). The questions were about the quality of their faces, their bodies, skin tone…and their jobs. Ki-Toy runs a non-profit. Buffie’s gig is simply referred to as “stripper.”
I’m too tired to fully describe this, but there was an obvious juxtaposition between the woman a man would take home to mother and the woman a man would just want to fuck, preferrably if no one else knew about it. That whole line of thought about women makes me a bit uncomfortable, but I guess I’m fairly numb to judgmental behavior at this point. What really got me was how this ran in contrast to Bonsu Thompson’s statement in the editor’s note that his goal has always been to cast these ladies in the most positive light possible.
So, exactly how did that apply to Buffie in that case? It would be hard to argue that it went like that at all.
That little feature showed me that it might be time that I reconsider what I’m willing to tolerate on gender issues in hip hop. And I’m not trying to say that I’m angelic when it comes to these things. I’m pretty well known for my knowledge of gentlemen’s clubs across the country. After i heard about the “Tip Drill” video for the first time, I told someone to call me at 3am and wake me up so I could see it for myself.
I’m that dude…and Eye Candy still made me take pause. Take that as you will. But making me reconsider a lot of those things showed me that my issues with that magazine were more important than anything he and I talked about. ‘Twas time for the plan to change.
So I figured that since I had access to Elliott, he and I could talk about that, perhaps as an addendum to our as-of-then untranscribed interview. I sent him an e-mail explaining that I had not transcribed the interview, but that I would like to talk to him about Eye Candy before I proceeded. I told him that I intended to blog about the magazine, and I didn’t think it would be fair of me to do that without trying to speak with him. I couldn’t claim that I didn’t have his e-mail address or phone number, so I could not rail on the magazine in good conscience without granting him the opportunity to have his say. I asked him to reply to my e-mail by the close of business the following day or I would proceed without his take on things.
Elliott never got back to me after that e-mail. I gave a couple of days after the “deadline” I set for him to contact me, but still no word from him. I was okay with that. But I didn’t write about Eye Candy. That was partially because I was seriously busy–between holidays, travels, family deaths, and occasional sleep, it’s been a helluva couple months–and also because of professional concerns. Aside from this isolated dealing with Elliott, I have varying acquaintance with two writers listed on Eye Candy’s masthead. Through blogging and a couple of mutual friends, I have a friendly corresponding relationship with kris ex. And Khalid Salaam and I worked in the same office on campus when I was in college. I’d hate to overreact when I wrote something and slam those cats in the process, so I was content not to write about that at all to play it safe. These days, I don’t have the energy for straightening out misunderstandings.
So why am I telling you this now? Well, I was at Bol’s site this afternoon and saw something about the latest issue of XXL. It seems that Elliott is upset with people that did interviews with him but had not posted them. In fact, let’s get some good block quoting action going up in this piece.

First, I don’t think it would take anyone much courage to publish this interview. I wasn’t talking to Salman Rushdie or Sammy the Bull. I was talking to an editor of a magazine about his publication and issues relating to his business. That didn’t take much heart to do. As for the skills, I’m not sure that there’s a need to pick on anyone about how well (s)he types. It’s typing, man. And at the risk of sounding defensive on that one, he ain’t talking about me. I’ve been told I type like I’m possessed by a poltergeist. Anyone that IMs with me can verify that.
The last line was interesting. That was a reference to the many people who have commented on how loquacious the YN can be. Elliott can talk, but that’s not a problem. Interviewing folks is often like pulling teeth, so it’s cool to talk to someone you can converse with as opposed to having to interview. While that meant I had a forty-five minute tape to deal with–and who knows how many hours of transcription that would be without a fancy machine–it also meant I had a really interesting conversation.
So why’d we have to take it to the pages of the magazine? That’s a fantastic question. I’ll apologize to everybody about not running my man’s interview because I went back on my word, and that’s something I pride myself on not doing. That was a really bad look on my part, even if my plan later changed.
But let’s get real, folks. There’s no other reason for not running that interview than me getting swamped by my workload. Because of the work I do, I can’t predict what work’s going to look like. I start just about every week with nothing to do, and then I have to go find work as my stomach necessitates. Sometimes it’s a lot and sometimes it’s not. Sometimes–like right now–I’ve got a long-term project to get rolling that I can’t get off the ground that’s demanding an insane amount of my attention.
So since I was referred to indirectly in XXL, I figured I’d let you know why. And that’s even if you didn’t know he was talking about me (and chances are you had no clue at all, I know). Too old and too tired for huffy and puffy tough talk or typical crazy talk. But an explanation of sorts was in order.
So that’s what it is. Check Q and jimi for their interviews with Elliott. Pretty good stuff.
And at last, I’m done.