What Lil Wayne and TI Have Taught Me

Vince Young, who apparently was prepared to retire after his first season in the NFL, explained that he learned from the travails of other rich, young, black men to avoid the temptations that fame and wealth can bring:

“I have a stronger circle,” Young told the Web site. “Now I can handle this kind of stuff without it making me want to give up football. I learned that 24/7 I’m representing the Titans and, especially, the kids all over I am trying to influence. I look at my man Michael Vick. I learned from that. I look at Pacman [Jones]. I learned from that. I look at some troubles recently for rappers T.I. and Lil Wayne, guys I listen to. I learned from them. I’ve learned from my life.”

I understand what Vince Young learned from Michael Vick – don’t commit a crime that offends the sensibilities of the entire nation. But did he learn anything from Ray Lewis, who was involved in a fatal stabbing in an Atlanta club and got with a misdemeanor obstruction of justice, one year of probation and a 250K fine? I mean, Lewis did settle with the family of one of the victims for some 1 million dollars, and an undisclosed amount for another, but he’s still one of the most respected defensive players in the NFL. What did learn from Puff Daddy? After all, he was involved in the infamous night club shooting, hired Cochran and got Shyne to take ten years on weapons charges.

But he didn’t mention Puffy or Lewis, he talked about all the trouble Lil Wayne and TI have gotten themselves in. Young must have been referring to Wayne’s numerous run-ins with the law, including three arrests between July 2007 and January 2008 for drug possession and weapon possession. Of course, Lil Wayne hasn’t gone to jail or done anything more than post bail and pay some fines as a result of all these arrests and is perfectly able to delay the release of Tha Carter III without spending time in the Big House.

Hmm, so maybe Weezy isn’t the best example of a young, rich, thugged out black man who gets caught up in the law and whose career is ruined. TI might be a more convincing case. After all, he was caught trying to buy automatic weapons from a police snitch. Oh yeah, and he’s a convicted felon. Sounds pretty bad, like career ruining bad, right? Wrong.

Although he does have to serve 1,500 community service hours (that’s 62.5 days), pay 100,000 in fines, spend a year under house arrest and a year in the federal pen, we all know that he will be back soon enough. His career is hardly ruined, if anything, he’ll now have enough cred to produce cheezy, ubiquitous pop tunes like 50 Cent.

So was Vince Young trying to say that if you’re rich and famous, you don’t have to do time for killing people(allegedly), weapons possession or having drugs? And if you really get caught, you can pay a minuscule fine (most people get fines of 250K a count) and way less hard time (TI could have gotten ten years) than any normal person could ever expect in the same situation. But, hey, don’t do anything to dogs! It might ruin your career!