S. Samuel
Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons has come to the defense of Hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow after she caught heat for dropping the N-Bomb over Twitter last weekend while attending Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch the Throne concert.
Rather than slam Paltrow, Simmons pointed out the positive influence hip-hop has on people of all cultures.
“There is something truly inspiring about black culture and black music, hip-hop culture and hip-hop music,” he wrote in a blog post. “No matter what color skin you might have, there is an overriding good effect that this music has on you. It is contagious. It was this explosive expression that spread out of the inner cities of America into the walkmans of kids like Gwyneth Paltrow during their childhoods in 1980s and 1990s. It allowed white kids to begin to sympathize with the plight of many in black America. And these kids have overwhelmingly become progressive in their politics and their social concerns. Having any Hollywood starlet at your concert was unimaginable, and having her quote your lyrics as a badge of honor that she was hanging out with you, you never would have dreamed of that – until your poetry hit the market and changed the world. So, for Gwyneth to tweet out her excitement about hip-hop taking over the planet is a good thing. She didn’t mean any harm, she just was trying to ball so hard, and like Jay-Z says, “motherf*ckers can’t fine” her.” (Global Grind)
The movie star’s controversial tweet made headlines over the weekend.
Gwyneth Paltrow has Tweeted her way into a swirl of controversy. The actress, who is very open about her friendship with Jay-Z and Beyonce, was invited on stage in France this weekend to join the rapper and Kanye West during an encore performance of their popular single, “N*ggas in Paris.” But when The-Dream snapped the following photo of the actress, her reply set off a firestorm on the blogging site: “N*ggas in paris for real,” Paltrow wrote. (The Hollywood Gossip)
She later addressed the tweet while singer The-Dream took the blame for putting out the remark through her phone.
It didn’t take long for backlash from angry Tweeters to start rolling in, prompting Paltrow to do a little backtracking. “Hold up. It’s the title of the song!” she wrote on Sunday. Producer The Dream (real name Terius Nash) leapt to Paltrow’s defense as well. “FYI, sorry for the confusion. I typed ‘N—– in Paris for real’ from Gwen’s phone, my bad,” he tweeted about his concert-going experience. “Please excuse it! We were lit.” (Us Weekly)
Along with Paltrow and Dream, other Paris concertgoers included Jay’s wife Beyonce Knowles-Carter.
Jay-Z and Kanye West have had plenty of celebrity-filled crowds during the U.S. stops on their Watch the Throne tour, but for international shows The Throne are kicking things up a notch. They touched down in Paris Friday night, performing while Beyonce, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kelly Rowland, Justin Bieber and Spike Lee looked on, and “N—as in Paris” producer Hit-Boy crowd surfed and became the second guest to ever join them on stage. Beyonce was absent from The Throne’s London shows (while she was prepping for her four blowout performances at Revel in Atlantic City, we assume) but she made it to Paris where she hung with her girls Gwyneth and Kelly, cheering her husband on. (RapFix)
