The Most Defensive Award

The Great Wall between artist and fan has been graffed on, urinated on, and ultimately knocked the hell down thanks to the internet. Artists see the internet as an antiseptic means of communicating with their fans on their own terms -- i.e. without having to face them. Unfortunately, the meeting of the fragile egos of both artist and message board poster alike does not always yield productive results. On the contrary, it usually gets mad ugly. The demands of webfanatics inevitably prove to be too great for the artist, and the 'net result is a whole lot of miscommunication, severed relationships, and caught feelings all around. The GB's find this very entertaining and have thus created an award dedicated to the sensitive artist on the web, the Most Defensive Award.

The inaugural Mos Deffy goes to Questlove of The Roots and Okayplayer. The Roots' drummer has a long history of being the starting catcher for the All Feelings Team, hyperly defending everything from Phrenology, to crossover attempts, to his love for Northern State. Nevermind that most of the people on the Okayplayer boards are suckups who would willingly accept a 26 minute psychedelic instrumental Roots jam in the ass if that's what he wanted to put out. No, it's the critical fans that get his 'fro wound up.

So, he finally decided that the four people on there who had critical opinions and dared to post them were just too much for him to bear. He employed a famous message board tactic, and all-time favorite of the GB's, the Farewell Post. When asked if he wouldn't be posting anymore, Brother Questionmark Asylum responded in the affirmative:

all the time i tell cats--if you hate it here so much...why come? more than that...i kinda have an actual life--like socially. i'll still be around, but come on--even y'all can admit that the psychological effects of every move i do getting talked about can be a pain in the ass.

and i just don't think mothfuckers round here know what constructive critisism is. either you get cats that blame you for being given a short show time or if they provide you with bad speakers. or if you don't happen to do the song they would like to hear--then all of a sudden your show sucks.

or since you didn't follow up your last shit with more of the same shit then all of a sudden you fell off. i can take and appreciate an explanation---but then every 2 seconds a mofo is ambulance chasing every post you on to make sure you know you suck....

or why work with this group?

i'm really in a new phase (see the believer) now. i havn't abandoned the place....but there is a world out there and i refuse to make priority being on this site 5 hours a day...specially if i have to provide the news round here (i can see it now...."song titles for tipping point", "why can't they just name this album something regular like CLONES or THE BLACK ALBUM)

funny shit was i didn't even think y'all knew i aint posted on a regular basis in 2 weeks.

This is what it looks like when Questdove cries. An unfortunate result of this is that resident Okayhater fwmj has also dropped his own Farewell Post. Citing irreconcilable differences with the okay's, your boy said it best:

there is absolutely no logical reason for a grown man, 10 years my senior, to leave his own website because of a few people (and apparently, namely me since y'all keep tryin to make me famous) with unrelenting opinions about his most recent work, some of his more questionable business moves, backdoor hating on his ex-co-conspiritors, peers, and contemporaries, and backpeddling on previously held and quite sound ideals.

i don't come here now and didn't come here in '99 to ham it up with ?uest. being starstruck is not me. i came here to talk about music from time to time with folks i might grow to respect. but i realise there are many more people, mostly johnny-come-lately Roots fans (or johnny-come-lately rap fans in general), that are here to ham it up with ?uest/kiss ?uest and Co's ass than there are of me.

....

p.s. holla at them emails if you want a real ass opinion by someone that has nothing to gain by kissing your ass and not that of a 'Yes Man/Rider'. p.p.s. people should pay me to be a 'No Man'

Now, we all know how the Farewell Post goes. A poster vows never to post again, only to lurk for a period before finally giving in and posting. They always come back. Although, there does seem to be something different about this particular case. The departure of fwmj leaves the Okayplayer boards in even worse shape than before, if you can imagine such a thing. fwmj is needed there, now more than ever. If he is serious about jetting, he will find that he is welcome here at the GB.

Big ups to Questlove for taking home the first Mos Deffy. You can put it next to your Grammy.