Posts Tagged ‘Miami’

Posted at May 25, 2011 by Comments Off

Uncle Luke loses his bid to be Mayor of Miami

In news that should not surprise anyone, Uncle Luke officially loses his Mayoral bid. He came in at 4th place, receiving about 11% of votes cast, or 20,663 to be precise, in the Miami-Dade County Mayor election. Hiphop ain't doing so well in the political polls, I guess, with Rhymefest losing earlier this year. I still feel like Uncle Luke ran kind of a goofy campaign. I mean, that italicized "I'm Dead Serious... Are You?" combined with that mug? No wonder some people couldn't take him seriously. It's like he's parodying or satirizing the whole political process. He blasted his celebrity friends, basically demanding that they contribute financially to his campaign, over Twitter no less. Not surprisingly, it wasn't a very effective fundraising tool because he raised a total of $10k. Plus, he  just sounded a little wacky at the NCAAP forum clips I posted where he seemed like he was about to whoop some guy's ass. I'll probably receive hella heat for this, but I'm going to liken his campaign to that of like a typical Tea Party candidate. Before you completely discount what I'm going to say, lemme explain. To overgeneralize, all the candidates seem kind of loud, critical of the 'establishment,' have some ideas that might sound good but just aren't feasible (completely eliminating Medicare/Medicaide? #cmonson), but ultimately, are a little rough around the edges and seem a little ignorant of how the whole political system and process works. For example, Uncle Luke denounced special interest money, refusing to take it. Considering that he only raised a total of $10k, one could easily speculate that the special interest groups never paid him any attention to begin with because they didn't consider ...

Category : News,Politics
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Miami-Dade County, Uncle Luke could be your new Mayor…vote wisely

A few weeks ago, there was a NAACP debate at the New Birth Baptist Church in Miami that Uncle Luke Luther Campbell and seven other Mayoral candidates attended and participated in. Nothing about Luther's action make me think that he would be an effective legislator as the Mayor of anywhere, let alone Miami-Dade County. Maybe I'm just being negative, but I feel like he is a perfect example of a candidate who sounds good on paper, at least in the successful businessman in the private sector sense, but that he can't behave himself. We have seen, in Seattle, what happens when a Mayor isn't willing to work with his City Councilmembers. First it was over the budget, now it's this stupid Alaska Way Viaduct that is actually a monumental safety risk in the event of an earthquake that is long overdue. You know it's bad if the Governor is on his case about it. Luke almost gets in a fight, demonstrates how not to effectively legislate. Luke accuses candidates of buying off other candidates. Luke proclaims that all county electeds are crooks and he's the only African American who won't be bought off.   After watching these clips, in addition to what I observed in my post last week, I have to wonder how his campaign staff feels about ...

Posted at May 23, 2011 by Comments Off
Category : Editorials,News,Politics
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Uncle Luke’s campaign faux pas according to a former campaign manager

Yeah, Uncle Luke is still running for Mayor of Miami-Dade County, and as expected, isn't leading the pack of the other mayoral candidates. I'm going to stop being so excited about hiphop artists running for political office because it isn't working. And yes, I'm basing this of Rhymefest and now Uncle Luke. The last job I had was a campaign manager in a political race. As a result, I know firsthand how difficult it can be to raise money, but also that the harsh reality is that raising money is the most important thing for political campaigns. It sucks, but that is the way it is. The candidate who raises more money wins the election, typically. Not always, but typically. As such, I was going to write this post as an explanation as to not how to solicit campaign contributions, but then I decided that I would go in a different direction due to the fact I'm seeing some things done that I would not recommend based on my experience. Uncle Luke has two twitter accounts, apparently, so I don't know which one is official. @Luke4Mayor is linked to on his website, but then he also tweets from @unclelukereal1, and solicits campaign contributions from that account, and just generally says the most interesting things from that account. Enticing people to donate their hard-earned money to a political campaign is not easy to do, and it doesn't help to word things like this:   No word on how that Trick Daddy fundraiser went, but for all y'all contemplating ...

Posted at May 15, 2011 by Comments Off
Category : Editorials,Politics
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Chris Brown parties with Weezy for his birthday

And what did you do for your 22nd birthday? I'm going to hazard a guess that you weren't gallivanting around in a leather jacket...only. Or, you know, kicking it with Weezy. I vaguely remember going to Bar XV in Portland for my 22nd, and there were people there dressed as Stormtroopers... Anyway, Nigel D. of RealTalkNY was in the house at Club Play in Miami, and there are more pictures available here. Lil Wayne looks like he's laughing and then that other guy in the club owner, who is rocking that classic "dear in headlights look" that I have perfected so well. Looks like good times were to be had by all. Chris Brown also went back to a blond, maybe because blonds have more fun? I wouldn't know. I would never dye my hair blond because I would look horrendous. As a blond, though, Breezy did go Incredible Hulk on us and broke that window at Good Morning America before ripping his shirt off. But, he also did that sick music video for "Look At Me Now" as a a blond, so the jury is still out. Days before, in an act comparable only to Wyclef, Chris Brown tweeted a picture of himself sick in bed (remember that Wyclef tweeted that picture of himself in bed after "being shot") because he wanted to prove that he was ill. Breezy canceled a show in Australia at the beginning of the month, but I'm glad he was well enough to party with Weezy last night.

Posted at May 07, 2011 by Comments Off
Category : News
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Uncle Luke is as “serious as a heart attack” in his Mayoral candidacy

Apparently Uncle Luke AKA Luther Campbell's campaign slogan is, "Are you serious," and to answer his own question, yes, he's serious about running for Mayor of Miami-Dade County. While he has been talking about it for a couple months, he officially filed his papers over the weekend for his candidacy. I remember that Luke was discussing it at the same time as Rhymefest was thinking about his candidacy. Hopefully he fares better than Rhymefest at the ballot. Campbell actually makes some good points about running for Mayor, if you care to watch his above interview with WLRN. I always appreciate it when candidates aren't career politicians, and I like the fact that he's a successful businessman who is approaching the government as the poorly run business that it is. The old Mayor of Miami-Dade County was recalled in March (voted out in the middle of his term) because he raised taxes on citizens to give his employees a raise. I like how he causally says that he's going to rough up one of the Commissioners, after listing off the city officials he knows won't like him. I would imagine that Uncle Luke can't be any worse than the current Mayor since he isn't planning on raising taxes to finance raises for county employees. I might vote for him...it's certainly easier for me to say that given the fact that I'm not a Miami-Dade County resident. I think people do tend to ignore the fact that having no political experience can be beneficial. I mean, just look at the now former Mayor of Miami-Dade County.

Posted at April 18, 2011 by Comments Off
Category : Politics
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Uncle Luke announces his candidacy for Mayor of Miami-Dade County

Well, after weighing the options, Uncle Luke is in the running for Mayor of Miami-Dade County. He will probably do more than my Mayor, but that is not saying a whole lot.After running a campaign, I have to admire the people who run for office because I am about 99% sure I would never do that (it would take so much time away from blogging, among other things). Uncle Luke (or Luther Campbell as you will see on the ballot) sat down with the Miami New Times to chat about his decision to run. People sound like they are automatically discounting him due to his past ventures, but he seems like he has some passion and good ideas. Then again, he won't be my Mayor.I always think it's pretty fresh when someone has experience running a successful business decides to run for office. It is a little sad, but plenty enlightening, that that is so rare nowadays.However, I think Uncle Luke can pull it off. He recently chatted with the Miami New Times upon announcing his candidacy, and you can read the interview in its entirely here. You should know the drill by now, I'll include my favorite quotes for your entertainment.New Times: What type of campaign will you be running?Luther Campbell : Grassroots! I'll go after those voters who have registered but haven't been excited enough to vote. Barack Obama's crew in 2008. I am going after everybody from 18 to 50 years old. It will be just like music marketing. Fun. We will be having campaign parties before the election to get people motivated, get them behind something historical.Read on ...

Posted at February 03, 2011 by Comments Off
Category : Politics
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Rap & Politics: who to expect on some upcoming ballots

Rhymefest's candidacy for Alderman of the 20th Ward (essentially equivalent to city council) was put in question after the current Alderman Willie B. Cochran told the Chicago-Time that “the voters of the 20th Ward know the difference between a professional public administrator who's been doing an outstanding job for them...as opposed to someone who is a known hip-hop artist who degrades women and promotes violence in his videos.” Additionally, and more concretely, Rhymefest's residency was also questioned. Sigh. So let's see. "A professional public administrator" verses a "known hip-hop artist." In other words, someone who is a professional government worker verses someone who has established and been successful in a career in the private sector.Despite the accusations and pending case with the Chicago Board of Elections, Rhymefest has remained active in his campaign and community. He fed the needy in November and December, launched a program named "CPR" to encourage reading (I approve!) and hosted the Chicago Urban Education forum with a variety of guests like Dr. Cornel West. And let's not forget that Rhymefest kicked his campaign off with a Lupe Fiasco concert!Fortunately, Rhymefest fared far better than Wyclef in his respective residency dispute. He was cleared by the Chicago Board of Elections this week to be on the February ballot.

Posted at January 15, 2011 by Comments Off
Category : Politics
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