D. Black was featured on KING 5 evening news tonight. Watch the video here. (It’s funny hearing Dennis Bounds say, “Sportn’ Life records”. Don’t ask me why, it just is.)

UPDATE (10.8.09, 11:26am):

I just watched this clip again. While it’s great to see D. Black get some much-deserved local shine, this piece still unnerved me. Some things to consider:

1) Why did the reporter find it necessary to note that D. Black (an African-American man of notable physical proportion) was a former captain of the football team at Rainer Beach High School? Could it be because folks in Seattle still continue to base their perception of young black males on their athletic achievements at schools like RBHS? If Black were white, a member of a successful local indie rock band, and an alum of Sammamish High School, would they have also felt compelled to note he ran cross-country?

2) When the older photo of Black is shown, accompanied by a track from The Cause & Effect, the reporter’s voice takes a distinctly harsh tone, saying gravely, “But that positive message wasn’t always the case. This was Black a few years ago, spewing the standard rap line of money and fame.” It’s okay to prefer that D. Black be on a happier vibe, making music that can be played around children, uplifting his community, finding God, etc. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. Those are good things. But to subtly suggest that one version of Black’s music has more value than the other, without dialogue as to why, only serves to unfairly marginalize the gangsta rap image without exploring why that image has come to exist.

It’s pretty clear KING 5 likes the “new” D. Black. The irony is that the “old” D. Black still exists in some form. The memories and scars from a difficult past don’t just go away. The producers of this piece conveniently gloss over that history. It’s a shame, but not a surprise.