I love Twitter.
I mean, I hate that it’s become a method for keyboard kings to spew hatred on a whim but if you can get past the nonsense, the application has become an amusing way to pass the time, interact with celebrities and see what people are saying about the important issues of our day.
Like naps.
Sunday morning, after having my coffee and rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I took to the app Elon Musk renamed X to see what was going on.
That’s when I found a conversation between two icons to remind me that we are all getting old.
Most of you know Chuck D. Chuck D is the frontman for one of the most influential hip-hop acts of all time: Public Enemy. They were one of the first, and certainly boldest, acts in their art form to include political and social message in their work. Spike Lee asked Chuck D to write a song for his brilliant film “Do The Right Thing.” Accordingly, Chuck wrote “Fight The Power” and the rest is history. “It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back” is routinely found on any list of merit as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time and “Fear of a Black Planet” remains a masterpiece and one of my favorite albums ever.
I still remember the day a considerably younger Partykiller and I walked back from Hyde and Zeke’s with a used copy of that and NWA’s “Straight Outta Compton.” From the moment we hit play, we wondered to ourselves what we were listening to. Theirs was a brilliant, new sound from a perspective we’d never heard.
I’m also pretty sure you’ve heard of Kareem-Abdul Jabbar. He’s the greatest college basketball player of all time by any standard, arguably the greatest NBA player of all-time and up until last year, the league’s leading scorer. In addition to his on-court dominance, Kareem has long been a force for progress and social justice. Seen below in one of the most iconic pictures of all-time, a young Kareem follows in the footsteps of giants, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown and Bill Russell, a role he proudly accepted and carries on to this day.
Abdul-Jabbar has written countless books, my favorite entitled Coach Wooden and Me, an outstanding retrospective about his time spent learning from one of the greatest college basketball coaches of all time. Kareem still writes to this day.
About naps.
You know you’re getting old when two men you’ve admired all your life, two men who have never for a moment backed down from a struggle and who have championed their cause for decades, are co-Tweeting about naps.
I guess that makes sense. They must be tired from all the bullshit.
As usual, Chuck’s got something to say, his initial Tweet about our aging presidential candidates referenced the importance of sleep, to which Kareem replied about his sleeping habits. While I also recognize the health benefits of an afternoon snooze, I couldn’t help but smile. This is just not something you’d ever think you’d see.
I sent a copy of the Tweet to my best buds who are all around my age. They CHUCKleD as well, all agreeing upon the need for proper slumber.
Croshere: Really are speaking truth But I hear ya
PartyKiller: I took one yesterday lol
DJ Arthritic Semitic: Ha! I feel that tho – never was able to get it done until recently, not bad!
Dr. Milhouse: I’m a full proponent of naps.
There was a time when both these men were, in a way, feared, Chuck D for what he’d say next and Kareem, who was the last person on Earth you’d want to cover on a basketball court. Welcome to the world of aging gracefully.
I tweeted back to both Chuck and Kareem shortly after reading their Tweets with the hope they’d respond. They have not yet but I’m still holding out hope.
One can only assume they were busy napping.
At my age Happy Hour is a nap.
Cheers !
What’s that, Deac?
Sorry, I was sleeping.