HIP-HOP ARTIST SLAGS A COLLEAGUE, THE LEAFS LOSE A LEGEND, AND NO VIKING FUNERAL
Vol. 1, No. 29
In this edition, your concerned correspondent wonders what’s up with Kendrick Lamar attacking Drake, reflects on the legend of Paul Morris, and reminds folks to smile in the face of adversity.
This week: a 6-minute read plus a 3-minute attached video
HIGH SCHOOL DRAMA
Consider me confused.
I didn’t watch last Sunday’s Super Bowl game, and I don’t feel the least bit bad about that. From what I understand, those of us who chose to take a pass on the game didn’t miss much. It wasn’t, shall we say, a barnburner. Nor have I read much about it. The game, I mean. What I have read a lot about was the half-time show, specifically the performance by an American hip-hop artist named Kendrick Lamar.
I recognize I am likely in the minority here, perhaps even in a minority of one, but this guy, and the almost universal praise heaped on him in the popular media, deeply disturbs me. I just don’t get it.
I confess I’m not a fan of hip-hop music. I don’t particularly mind it because it obviously holds appeal for a lot of people, but it will never be on my Christmas list. I also accept that from a cultural perspective, hip-hop artists are influential, particularly within the African-American community in the U.S.—and I suppose here at home, too. I can respect that.
But here’s where I have a problem. Maybe you can blame it on the fact I grew up in an era where the Beatles sang “All you need is love,” but the message Lamar traffics in is everything but that. The worst example—and by that I mean the one I am most familiar with—is a song called Not Like Us. In it, Lamar uses the lyrics to attack a Toronto hip-hop performer named Drake. You’ve probably heard of him. In it, Lamar criticizes Drake for lacking a ghetto upbringing like the one Lamar had in Compton, California, and therefore is “not like us.” Evidently, this is a bad thing. He attacks Drake’s family and, perhaps worst of all, infers Drake is a pedophile. Lamar altered his accusatory lyrics slightly at the Super Bowl, but still made reference to how his criticism “struck a chord / but it’s probably a minor.”
All of this is being celebrated in American media, both large and small, mainstream and social, as a successful takedown of the Canadian artist. “Everything about the performance,” wrote one Washington Post columnist, “evoked memorable cultural moments.”
I guess you had to be there.
If this whole deal sounds to you like needless and juvenile high school drama, then at least I’m not alone. Drake is suing Lamar’s ass, and his record company, but knowing the libel and slander laws in the U.S., it will probably amount to very little. In the meantime, Drake’s reputation is in the dumpster, and it remains to be seen if it will ever recover. That, I’m saddened to add, seems OK with the average American hip-hop fan.
COYNE THE CULPRIT
In last week’s newsletter, we wrote that someone recently—and I apologized because I couldn’t remember who—wrote that in the wake of American threats of tariffs, Canada should adopt the mentality and self-defence strategies of the hedgehog. You know, all spikes and stuff, and more trouble than it’s worth.
Well, it was Andrew Coyne, a political columnist for the Globe and Mail.
VOICE OF THE LEAFS
“Toronto goal scored by No. 18, Jim McKenny. Assist No. 24, Brian Glennie. Time 18:49.”
Distinctive. Never hyped. Never overshadowing what was happening on the ice. It was a simple, clear narrative of record for a singular moment in any one of the 1,585 hockey games Paul Morris called at Maple Leaf Gardens between 1961 and 1999.
Paul Morris died last week at the age of 86.
Whether you watched the Maple Leafs at the Gardens or at home on TV, Paul’s voice is one of your lasting memories, as much as seeing the maple leaf at centre ice. He was part of that experience for 38 seasons, until the Gardens closed and the team moved to new digs.
You can still hear Paul’s pre-recorded voice whenever the Leafs play another Original Six team, calling out “last minute of play in this period.”
God bless him.
FLY ‘EM IF YOU GOT ‘EM
If you’re like me, you get a kick whenever Canada’s former prime ministers agree on anything. Well, the five who are still alive today have joined forces to urge Canadians to fly the flag to celebrate our country in the face of what they termed the American president’s “threats and insults.”
Yesterday, Feb. 15, was the 60th anniversary of the Canadian flag’s official unveiling. I was in Grade Seven then, and the memory has stayed with me because that day I also learned that Nat King Cole had died. But we digress.
The idea of flying the flag on Flag Day was born in the fertile imagination of Jean Chretien, who enlisted the support of Stephen Harper, Joe Clark, Paul Martin and Kim Campbell to help sell it. “We call on our fellow Canadians to show the flag as never before,” said their collective statement. “We all agree on one thing: Canada, the true north, strong and free, the best country in the world, is worth celebrating and fighting for.”
So let’s have at ‘er.
By the way, my favourite Nat King Cole tune, appropriate for the occasion, is here. Music by Charlie Chaplin. Lyrics by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons.
MORE ‘DEAR TERRY’ LETTERS
Re ‘We All Have Our Dave,’ Feb. 9. Hi Dad. Good old Timothy Dalton. I wanted to give him a Viking funeral when he died, but it was too icy for me to get down to the banks of the North Saskatchewan River that time of year. I had to settle for dropping his cardboard coffin (gently!) off the Walterdale Bridge. I can tell that story now because the statute of limitations on “dumping dead hedgehogs in the river” has probably passed. Carson McConnell, North Shields, UK
Re ‘ Desperate Times. Desperate Measures,’ Feb. 2. Canada used to be an industrial country, Terry. Now it is a consumer country. We need to get back to industry and make things for ourselves rather than just buy them from others. Windsor used to have a hundred tool-and-die shops. Now there are a half-dozen. Dick Wood, LaSalle, Ontario
If you want to drop me a note (and risk me publishing it here), just reply to this email or, if you prefer send it to mysundayreader@gmail.com.
THIS WEEK’S SHAMELESS PLUG
Hey, we’re still offering $3 off the retail price for our first book, The Puck Talks Here, a biography of former Tilbury car dealer Peter Pocklington, until the end of February. “A lively insider’s read,” wrote the Toronto Star. It’s yours at terrymcconnell.com for $12.95 for the paperback, or the ebook for $4.95. Sorry, shipping is extra. We take Visa, MasterCard or PayPal. And I thank you.
See ya next week. / T.
© Terry McConnell, 2025
Please note: Artificial intelligence was not used in the preparation or writing of any part of this newsletter.