To get into the proper mindset for this article, I recommend you immediately put on Kanye West’s Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix).
That’s because this article is about the decision of my neighbor, Jennifer Connelly, to join the cast of The Blood Diamond with Leonardo DiCaprio. I know that The Blood Diamond sounds like the 14th entry in the Witchboard series or something (although I have a sneaking suspicion that franchise has reached that number already), but it’s actually about a smuggler who specializes in conflict diamonds – the precious stones that pay for civil wars, genocides and terrorism. There’s this whole thing where he meets a farmer whose son was killed in one of these conflicts, and it’s being directed by Edward Zwick, so you just know that it’s going to be a sensitive exploration of a non-white issue solely through the eyes and actions of a cracker.
There’s no word on what role Connelly will play, but I would like to see her put on a couple of pounds and return to looking like the picture on the right hand side of this page.
Good Morning, this ain’t Vietnam still
People lose hands, legs, arms for real
Little was known of Sierra Leone
And how it connect to the diamonds we own
When I speak of Diamonds in this song
I ain’t talkin bout the ones that be glown
I’m talkin bout Rocafella, my home, my chain
These ain’t conflict diamonds,is they Jacob? don’t lie to me mayne
See, a part of me sayin’ keep shinin’,
How? when I know of the blood diamonds
Though it’s thousands of miles away
Sierra Leone connect to what we go through today
Over here, its a drug trade, we die from drugs
Over there, they die from what we buy from drugs
The diamonds, the chains, the bracelets, the charmses
I thought my Jesus Piece was so harmless
’til I seen a picture of a shorty armless
And here’s the conflict
It’s in a black person’s soul to rock that gold
Spend ya whole life tryna get that ice
On a polar rugby it look so nice
How could somethin’ so wrong make me feel so right, right?