200 person fight at the mall of america? (Minneapolis, Duluth: big house, buy)

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

I'm I the only person on this forum who thinks that Lil' Wayne Lyrics speaks volumes about an (extremely) broken culture?

[Chelidoe]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

I'm I the only person on this forum who thinks that Lil' Wayne Lyrics speaks volumes about an (extremely) broken culture?

I think you are the ONLY one who can understand Lil' Wayne's lyrics. lol

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by Chelidoe

I think you are the ONLY one who can understand Lil' Wayne's lyrics. lol

I've never even listened to Li'l Wayne. I don't know what songs he has come out with.

[demtion35]

There was the incident involving an off duty police officer where he had been drinking in the mall and was drunk. He made it out to the parking ramps where his car was and pulled out his service weapon and started shooting the ramp up.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by green_mariner

I've never even listened to Li'l Wayne. I don't know what songs he has come out with.

I've never even heard of him until this mall thing

[skihikeclimb]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

W

Now look at the high performance cultures that have entered MN like the Chinese, Vietnamese, and Russian. These minorities came here with nothing yet inside of a 1/2 of a generation, they are high producers. It's the culture.. Go right ahead and hum these lyrics LIL WAYNE LYRICS and tell me that the inner city Black culture isn't broken. Hundreds of youth came to the MoA to listen to this crap.

I happen to agree with some of this. Plenty of immigrants work hard and do well regardless of their background. They work hard and get college educations and do what they need to do.

Meanwhile the culture of hip hop thug life and ghetto mentality is destroying both black and white youth. Notice I said both. Its not a racial issue.

[Globe199]

Originally Posted by skihikeclimb

I happen to agree with some of this. Plenty of immigrants work hard and do well regardless of their background. They work hard and get college educations and do what they need to do.

Meanwhile the culture of hip hop thug life and ghetto mentality is destroying both black and white youth. Notice I said both. Its not a racial issue.

I'm sorry to have to say it, but the above post does absolutely nothing to foster a discussion on the real issues involved in this situation. Rather, it seeks to mute the forum. I'm not picking on you, skihikeclimb; your words could have been copied and pasted from a million sources. To me it's just another indication that our society is unwilling to confront the facts of the matter because they are inconvenient or politically incorrect.

I watched a couple of the YouTube videos before they were removed. I was really hoping to not see what I saw, but it was there, plain as day. I'm guessing the videos were removed at the behest of law enforcement since they're probably considered evidence.

From a business perspective, this problem will only get worse. There may be ways to mitigate the risks in the short-term. But ultimately, Brookdale is the fate of probably every shopping mall, especially in cold climates. Malls will eventually fail to compete with the internet; they cannot survive as simply a warm place for "youths" (a loaded term if there ever was one) to loiter when school's out. Throw in the spectre of violence, and the people who go to malls to actually spend money will flee.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by golfgal

I've never even heard of him until this mall thing

I've been sort of "overexposed". I don't listen to Li'l Wayne. My music interests consist mainly of old school R&B(Earth Wind and Fire, The Jackson 5,Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, The Brothers Johnson, The Temptations, The Stylistics, The Gap Band, Debarge, Peabo Bryson,etc) and some classical(Vivaldi, Shostakovich, etc). Some other music I listen to includes the likes of UB40, Bob Marley, and generally, music from nations outside of the USA. I know more songs made by the Finnish folk band Varttina than I do anything by Li'l Wayne. I basically avoid his music as much as I can. Because I'm Black, some people have looked at me like "you don't listen to the latest rap music?"

Personally, I find rioting over a Li'l Wayne concert stupid. It isn't the only time people have rioted over music. In 1991, there was a riot at a Guns N' Roses concert near St. Louis.

[Globe199]

Originally Posted by green_mariner

Personally, I find rioting over a Li'l Wayne concert stupid. It isn't the only time people have rioted over music. In 1991, there was a riot at a Guns N' Roses concert near St. Louis.

There WAS no concert. So ask yourself honestly: were they really rioting over music? Were they REALLY rioting over music? Maybe that started it, but is that what fed it?

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by green_mariner

My music interests consist mainly of old school R&B(Earth Wind and Fire, The Jackson 5,Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, The Brothers Johnson, The Temptations, The Stylistics, The Gap Band, Debarge, Peabo Bryson,etc) and some classical(Vivaldi, Shostakovich, etc).

I love your taste in music. I grew up on Earth Wind and Fire. I own every album.

Let's contrast the lyrics.

Shining Star from EW&F:

You're a shining star
No matter who you are
Shining bright to see
What you could truly be

See
Earth Wind and Fire- Shining Star - YouTube