Character assassination?

Don't pretend to be hip on the hip-hop scene, but apparently it's a big tiff in the Big Apple as the rap artist known as KRS-One "Hits Back at the New York Daily News" over an earlier Rush & Malloy gossip report that chastised him for "defiling the memory" of those killed in the 9/11 attacks.

The article allegedly "accused KRS of siding with Al Qaeda, the terror organization that is blamed for orchestrating the deadly attacks," according to AllHipHop.com, a website billing itself as the most dangerous web address in the world.

KRS had this to say in his defense:

“Like everyone I was shocked to read that I and other African-Americans actually ‘cheered when 911 happened’ and that I have ‘declared my solidarity with Al Qaeda. When I read my words taken out of context I was shocked and disappointed that the Daily News would go this far to assassinate my character and distort my views.”

To further clarify, he added, “I was making an objective point about how many Hiphoppas as well as the oppressed peoples of the world felt that day. I am a philosopher and a critical thinker, I speak truth and I urge people to think critically about themselves and their environment. ..."

Just to be sure he was understood, KRS restated his position:

“I was just as saddened as everyone else on 9/11. However, for many of us that were racially profiled and harassed by the World’s Trade Center’s security and the police patrolling that area as well as the thousands of American protesters that spoke out against the World Trade Organization months before in Seattle, Washington there was a sense of justice, a sense of change, a wake up call watching the twin towers fall.”

A sense of justice?

Nearly 3,000 people die and he detects "a sense of justice"?

You don't need a character assassin when the character willingly takes a flying leap off the Cliffs of Logic!

NOTE TO PERSONAL JOURNAL: No wonder I'm not hip.
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UPDATE: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16 ... 7 p.m.

Got to read "the rest of the story" and have decided that I'm okay after all, and this guy KRS-One is not. From Knight Ridder Newspapers more on his original spiel:

Parker also sneered at efforts by other rappers to get young people to vote."Voting in a corrupt society adds more corruption," he added. "America has to commit suicide if the world is to be a better place."

Truly, unbelievably despicable.