I have often been described as the king of analogies, using them when trying to find the right words to describe a situation or feeling.

I will use one now to describe the "mixed" feelings about the acquittal of Sean "Puffy" Combs last week. 

It was like the feelings a man who hates his mother in law might have as he watches her go over a cliff, but in his Mercedes Benz.

While I could never rejoice or feel good about any black man going to prison, I have to say I was not only surprised by the verdict, but also by the hero status Combs has received. 

Here is the bottom line. 

Three people who had nothing to do with any of the players in this drama were shot.  

The bullets were real, not figments of someone’s imagination. 

They could just as easily be dead. They were shot by someone who was in Combs entourage because of a dispute related directly to him. 

The young rapper was said to be upset that someone threw money in Combs’ face.   This apparently caused Jamal "Shyne" Barrow great distress, so much so that he felt the need to pull a semi-automatic handgun from his waistband and fire.  

Combs fled the scene with then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez in his Lincoln Navigator. 

The driver of that vehicle would say that Combs and his body guard offered him money and a ring to take the rap for the guns.

Some jurors said they believed Combs had a gun, but they didn’t think the prosecution proved their case. 

I still can’t understand why someone who has so much to lose would gamble on even being around someone who could cause you that kind of grief. 

This guy didn’t grow up a "banger".  He was raised by a very strong woman, in Westchester County. 

But somehow he has managed to create the bad boy image, not only to the tune of $300 million but also to the history of a criminal record that includes his participation in the assault of a record executive just a few months before the Club New York shooting in 1999.

During this whole thing, Radio DJ’s could be heard all across the country saying "pray for Puffy", "pray for Shyne" but very little of "pray for the victims". 

And the same radio personalities, many of whom call anyone that disagrees with them a sell out — or any number of names — forget that they are part of the same "Media Money Machine." They often like to trash talk about, like some foreign power seeking to take over the hip-hop nation. 

If one of their relatives or friends were at the wrong end of a bullet fired in the name of some useless macho street code created by aura of a certain artist, I’m sure their opinions would be less slanted and certainly less self-righteous.  After this, I’m sure I’ll be the next target of the morning drive banter on the radio, but I’ve learned that some — now let me repeat this – I’ve learned that some of them would talk about their own mothers in a negative way if it meant keeping ratings high and the laughter loud.

I am not an enemy of rap — far from it.  In fact I would not be where I am today, doing what I am doing now if it were not for hip-hop.  My broadcast career started as a DJ too many moons ago to remember.  I am, however, an enemy of violence, especially violence against our own people and it’s glorification in any form.   Those mixed feelings often come into play in my heart, when in the middle of a CD, or single I like, I hear lyrics that appeal to the baser instincts of us all. 

Sean Combs should not go to prison for carrying a weapon if he didn’t have one.   Nor should he go to prison simply for being a person who markets himself as a tough guy and a conduit for some of the more negative elements of hip-hop.

If there were a prison for incredibly stupid people or incredibly stupid behavior, he should get about 1 to 5 there.  Why?  For allowing people into his inner circle that jeopardize everything that he has built. Combs has been quoted as saying that our own Russell Simmons is the Godfather of rap and a man who laid the roadmap for others to follow.  Well then Sean, follow the map.  With the exception of some allegations of drug use in his early days, you don’t hear a peep about Simmons getting into that kind of trouble.  He knows he has too much to lose by even associating himself with bad news.

I really hope and pray this is the last time the son of Janice Combs will put his mother through this. I also hope he will use his freedom, to pass on the lesson he says he learned to young people, who for some reason, see him as a role model.  If he goes back to the self indulgent, self promoting path that got him in trouble the last time, then like the line in one of his songs says, you can hate him now.