Fabolous, Hip-Hop and Proper Spelling

I hope this piece was just a late April Fool's entry? I take particular offense at this because I grew up on hip-hop and was also a spelling bee champion (3rd place for NY State, at Madison Square Garden!)

Hiring Fabolous Disastrous for CCSU Spelling Habits

The time has come to holla back, CCSU young’n’s. Thanks to CAN and other CCSU officials, Noah Webster is rolling in his grave right now.

The booking of rapper Fabolous for this year’s Spring Week performer is downright ridicolous. The blatant disregard for proper spelling sets a poor example for students already living in an age of spell-check and common AIM and text-isms like “lol” and “prolly.” The endorsement of such blatant misuse of vowels could tarnish the university’s academic credentials and puts all students’ professional futures at risk.

Everyone knows that rappers and other musicians are role models to many kids in school; whether or not they should be is another matter altogether. Forget Mr. Fabolous’ laundry list of incidents in which he has run afoul of the law; his biggest crime is against the English language, and perhaps against young people who might be otherwise spelling and grammatically sound. Bringing him in to entertain students gives the message that this is acceptable, and this may be only the first domino to fall in a potentially frightening trend—I bet next year’s Limp Bizkit/ Puddle of Mudd show is already in the works...