In-studio footage from former Aftermath artists Busta Rhymes, Stat Quo and Bishop Lamont. I have my dislikes with Busta the artist, but Busta the philosopher is a truly enlightened individual.
1) Busta brings up a great point that I've always wondered about. Ringtones, or snippets of songs are $3. Whereas an entire song from iTunes is 99 cents. That makes absolutely no sense. Just the way the fee structure is set up encourages ringtone rappers as opposed to artists.
2) Youtube is both a gift and a curse to artist since it has allowed them to bypass the major label dependency on video budgets. But at the same time, the quality of end product is decreased and the industry has been watered down since anyone can become a rapper in their bedroom.
3) Piggybacking of #2, everyone knows at least one person in real life that thinks they can rap. And there are enough avenues to make a little piece of change in the rap game. It's only a matter of time before the industry totally revamps and abandons the major label set-up or the major label set-up collapses and forces change.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Hard Out Here For A Pimp
Ummmm
1) I've heard of robbing a bank before to get cash, or even a gas station or convenience store. But this lady walked up to the McDonald's drive thru. She couldn't have made off with more than like $73.50 tops.
2) Panties on your face? You have money to buy gloves to cover your fingerprints but not a ski mask? At least something to cover your blonde hair with? The only thing worse than panties on your face is that stupid mask R. Kelly started wearing after he ate a 13-year-old girl's asshole out on camera. Yeah.
3) She was gully about it though. Reaching in through the window, straight to the register? BAWSE. I haven't seen gulliness like that from a female since "The Wire" went off the air.
1) I've heard of robbing a bank before to get cash, or even a gas station or convenience store. But this lady walked up to the McDonald's drive thru. She couldn't have made off with more than like $73.50 tops.
2) Panties on your face? You have money to buy gloves to cover your fingerprints but not a ski mask? At least something to cover your blonde hair with? The only thing worse than panties on your face is that stupid mask R. Kelly started wearing after he ate a 13-year-old girl's asshole out on camera. Yeah.
3) She was gully about it though. Reaching in through the window, straight to the register? BAWSE. I haven't seen gulliness like that from a female since "The Wire" went off the air.
Mood Music
Every now and then you hear a song that just hypnotizes you. The epitome of mood music. I don't know anything about the lady who sings it, but her voice is amazing. I guess I'm in whatever kind of mood you need to be to dig this song, because I've played this song about 30 times in the past day or so. Enjoy.
Bonus
Here is song by Mississippi rapper Big Krit that samples the above song. Also, I included another song that uses a cool Adele sample.
Bonus
Here is song by Mississippi rapper Big Krit that samples the above song. Also, I included another song that uses a cool Adele sample.
Everything Based
That’s it. I can’t sit around anymore and watch people bash the homie Lil B anymore. I just can’t. Yall have called this dude a retard, basehead, faggot, homo, everything but what he is: a rapper. When you strip back (pause) all of the extracurricular stuff he has going on, what matters is that he’s a rapper.
Lil B is one fourth of the rap group The Pack. They had the smash single “Vans” and had major regional success in the West Coast market. All four of these guys rap over spaced out beats about stuff your average teenager would: looking fly, spitting at girls, partying, whatever. But it sounds pretty good, especially due to Young L’s production. After their LP dropped, each went and did some solo work on the side. Other than Lil B, the Young L album is worth a listen. Lil B’s first projects were in the same vein as the Young L album in terms of spaced out rap, but somewhere along the line he chose a different path. Before long, he chose to add the Based freestyle to his repertoire.
Before I go too far, let me define based, from the mouth of Lil B himself:
Based is all about opening up the mind and letting whatever come out come out. Sure, this is probably derived from baseheads and drug addicts rambling, but let’s look on the bright side here. Is Lil B a base head? No. Does he look like he participates in recreational drug activity? Yes. Most people that work jobs that don’t require random drug screenings use recreational drugs. Some people who do get drug tested still mess around with drugs. It happens.
Lil B enters a based mindstate – take that how you want – and proceeds to just let words spill out. When you take away sensors and allow subconscious thoughts to spill out, it can lead to repressed thoughts emerging. A lot of that deals with sexuality, since we as human beings are carnal creatures. What that means in layman terms is that Lil B mentions getting his dick sucked and fucking bitches an awful lot, with his trademark line being “hoes on his dick because (fill in the blank as to why he has all of these hoes on his dick”. He even went as far as to say “Hoes on my dick because I look like Jesus”.
No seriously, he did.
But the thing is, when you just have an outpour of words without quality control, you’re bound to say some wild stuff. So this has led to songs where he calls himself a pretty bitch, a faggot, a lesbian. You name it, he’s said it. And he looks like Matlock. Go figure. But you know what happened? People started to accept these random outbursts on record and actually embrace that he was free to say whatever he wanted to say. He is completely at ease and accepted when rapping about those topics, and he’s gaining lots of mainstream exposure a lot quicker than he did while he was rapping straight edge. Being an attention starved kid, he seeked out this attention and began a headline grabbing moves, with the sole purpose being garnering attention.
My biggest gripe is that people listen to these based freestyles and automatically assume they are songs. Lil B has released 2 albums, available on iTunes and Amazon, which are fully composed songs. There are no “Hoes on my dick” lines that fill the records. These are crafted in almost the same vein as The Pack songs. However, these records don’t garner any type of buzz or publicity. In this day and age, good hip hop is frowned upon. So what choice does that leave him if he has dreams of reaching an even bigger stage? Gotta supply the demand, unless your name is Lupe Fiasco.
At some point, once he’s reached his peak, he probably will return to making hip hop tracks. Maybe not. But one thing’s for sure: he knows exactly what he is doing. Only Lil B knows what’s in store for Lil B.
Bonus:
I’ve included some of the better songs from Lil B. Songs, not based freestyles. If you still wish to ignore that this kid is a halfway decent rapper that is just doing all this for a show, do your thing.
B.O.R.
D.O.R.
I'm God
Real Life
Thank You BasedGod
Myspace
Lil B is one fourth of the rap group The Pack. They had the smash single “Vans” and had major regional success in the West Coast market. All four of these guys rap over spaced out beats about stuff your average teenager would: looking fly, spitting at girls, partying, whatever. But it sounds pretty good, especially due to Young L’s production. After their LP dropped, each went and did some solo work on the side. Other than Lil B, the Young L album is worth a listen. Lil B’s first projects were in the same vein as the Young L album in terms of spaced out rap, but somewhere along the line he chose a different path. Before long, he chose to add the Based freestyle to his repertoire.
Before I go too far, let me define based, from the mouth of Lil B himself:
Based is all about opening up the mind and letting whatever come out come out. Sure, this is probably derived from baseheads and drug addicts rambling, but let’s look on the bright side here. Is Lil B a base head? No. Does he look like he participates in recreational drug activity? Yes. Most people that work jobs that don’t require random drug screenings use recreational drugs. Some people who do get drug tested still mess around with drugs. It happens.
Lil B enters a based mindstate – take that how you want – and proceeds to just let words spill out. When you take away sensors and allow subconscious thoughts to spill out, it can lead to repressed thoughts emerging. A lot of that deals with sexuality, since we as human beings are carnal creatures. What that means in layman terms is that Lil B mentions getting his dick sucked and fucking bitches an awful lot, with his trademark line being “hoes on his dick because (fill in the blank as to why he has all of these hoes on his dick”. He even went as far as to say “Hoes on my dick because I look like Jesus”.
No seriously, he did.
But the thing is, when you just have an outpour of words without quality control, you’re bound to say some wild stuff. So this has led to songs where he calls himself a pretty bitch, a faggot, a lesbian. You name it, he’s said it. And he looks like Matlock. Go figure. But you know what happened? People started to accept these random outbursts on record and actually embrace that he was free to say whatever he wanted to say. He is completely at ease and accepted when rapping about those topics, and he’s gaining lots of mainstream exposure a lot quicker than he did while he was rapping straight edge. Being an attention starved kid, he seeked out this attention and began a headline grabbing moves, with the sole purpose being garnering attention.
My biggest gripe is that people listen to these based freestyles and automatically assume they are songs. Lil B has released 2 albums, available on iTunes and Amazon, which are fully composed songs. There are no “Hoes on my dick” lines that fill the records. These are crafted in almost the same vein as The Pack songs. However, these records don’t garner any type of buzz or publicity. In this day and age, good hip hop is frowned upon. So what choice does that leave him if he has dreams of reaching an even bigger stage? Gotta supply the demand, unless your name is Lupe Fiasco.
At some point, once he’s reached his peak, he probably will return to making hip hop tracks. Maybe not. But one thing’s for sure: he knows exactly what he is doing. Only Lil B knows what’s in store for Lil B.
Bonus:
I’ve included some of the better songs from Lil B. Songs, not based freestyles. If you still wish to ignore that this kid is a halfway decent rapper that is just doing all this for a show, do your thing.
B.O.R.
D.O.R.
I'm God
Real Life
Thank You BasedGod
Myspace
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Queen of Sanity
It’s great catching up with old friends. Whether they’re old friends from high school, college, or whatever, seeing someone again is always a great event. Sometimes though you have grown apart from that person. You get one on one with that person and realize you don’t have any common interests, and it just feels like talking to a stranger. Not the case for me though.
I hung out with some old college friends recently and it was a great time catching up. Reminiscing about good old times. Talking about being adults in the workforce now. Quote of the night was “I used to laugh at farts and now I laugh at tax code jokes.” It’s such an accurate representation of where we find ourselves in life and times of reflection with friends and libations are something everyone should experience. One of the guys there just got engaged recently so he’s adapting to the whole joint living thing. He hadn’t been that far removed from his past girlfriend so we asked why they were no longer together. His answer was simple: “She’s crazy.”
Dude said all his friends thought she was crazy but he didn’t believe them. He let her meet his parents and his dad pulled him to the side like “Son, she’s crazy.” But love is blind. The guy needed to see it for himself. He said that his girl would start arguments about when, not if, they have kids whether they would go to private school or public school. But nothing prepared him for the moment that they decided to call it off.
He said shortly after they broke up, she started sending him crazy emails and text messages. She would call his friends and try to turn them against him. She would still send him random presents and gifts in the mail, something that almost sabotaged his relationship with his current fiancé. He even called him once and said that while talking to her mother, they had come to the joint conclusion that my friend was depressed. I wish I could make that up.
The highlight of the craziness moment was when she sent him a book titled “Good Guys and Bad Guys”. The book had certain passages and lines highlighted in them with tabbed notes in the margins of the book. And inside of the book was a handwritten note from the girl’s mother detailing why the girl and my friend were meant to be together. That’s beyond ridiculous in every sense of the word.
That girl must not have any real friends. Thankfully, my friend has friends like me that let him know that chick was crazy. We didn’t get around to describing HNH in detail but I’m sure he would instantly become an avid supporter of my theory were I to divulge it with him. This is just confirmation that most females are nuts, but I won’t stop loving them though.
I hung out with some old college friends recently and it was a great time catching up. Reminiscing about good old times. Talking about being adults in the workforce now. Quote of the night was “I used to laugh at farts and now I laugh at tax code jokes.” It’s such an accurate representation of where we find ourselves in life and times of reflection with friends and libations are something everyone should experience. One of the guys there just got engaged recently so he’s adapting to the whole joint living thing. He hadn’t been that far removed from his past girlfriend so we asked why they were no longer together. His answer was simple: “She’s crazy.”
Dude said all his friends thought she was crazy but he didn’t believe them. He let her meet his parents and his dad pulled him to the side like “Son, she’s crazy.” But love is blind. The guy needed to see it for himself. He said that his girl would start arguments about when, not if, they have kids whether they would go to private school or public school. But nothing prepared him for the moment that they decided to call it off.
He said shortly after they broke up, she started sending him crazy emails and text messages. She would call his friends and try to turn them against him. She would still send him random presents and gifts in the mail, something that almost sabotaged his relationship with his current fiancé. He even called him once and said that while talking to her mother, they had come to the joint conclusion that my friend was depressed. I wish I could make that up.
The highlight of the craziness moment was when she sent him a book titled “Good Guys and Bad Guys”. The book had certain passages and lines highlighted in them with tabbed notes in the margins of the book. And inside of the book was a handwritten note from the girl’s mother detailing why the girl and my friend were meant to be together. That’s beyond ridiculous in every sense of the word.
That girl must not have any real friends. Thankfully, my friend has friends like me that let him know that chick was crazy. We didn’t get around to describing HNH in detail but I’m sure he would instantly become an avid supporter of my theory were I to divulge it with him. This is just confirmation that most females are nuts, but I won’t stop loving them though.
Rose That Grew From Concrete
"Some how, some way, we gotta make it up out this life"
In this day and age negativity outweighs positivity. You can go to WorldStarHipHop.com and find a multitude of videos where niggas act like niggas. I haven’t been to WorldStar in about a month or so but I’m willing to bet that there’s a video where some people are fighting, a video with Kat Stacks, some diss record, a video where somebody holds 18 guns at a cameraman, and a video where some half nekked woman bounces her ass to some corny rap song. If I’m wrong, forgive me. But I doubt it.
You would never find a video like this on the site.
This is Deonte Bridges, valedictorian at Booker T Washington High school in Atlanta, Ga. He is the first black valedictorian in more than a decade at the school. He has amassed over one million dollars in scholarships. I repeat, he has amassed over $1,000,000 in scholarships. I just like writing that out. And these are academic scholarships, not athletic scholarships. Not knocking people who use athletics to enhance their education but it’s a difference and that difference should be appreciated. Deonte is an inspiration to me that there are children out there who are doing it the right way and not trying to be a hood star. If you don’t get moved by his speech, you don’t have a soul.
In this day and age negativity outweighs positivity. You can go to WorldStarHipHop.com and find a multitude of videos where niggas act like niggas. I haven’t been to WorldStar in about a month or so but I’m willing to bet that there’s a video where some people are fighting, a video with Kat Stacks, some diss record, a video where somebody holds 18 guns at a cameraman, and a video where some half nekked woman bounces her ass to some corny rap song. If I’m wrong, forgive me. But I doubt it.
You would never find a video like this on the site.
This is Deonte Bridges, valedictorian at Booker T Washington High school in Atlanta, Ga. He is the first black valedictorian in more than a decade at the school. He has amassed over one million dollars in scholarships. I repeat, he has amassed over $1,000,000 in scholarships. I just like writing that out. And these are academic scholarships, not athletic scholarships. Not knocking people who use athletics to enhance their education but it’s a difference and that difference should be appreciated. Deonte is an inspiration to me that there are children out there who are doing it the right way and not trying to be a hood star. If you don’t get moved by his speech, you don’t have a soul.
Monday, July 12, 2010
It's A Recession
These hoes really grind my gears. Wait, before I start going, let me get some theme music.
OK, that’s better. Where was I? Oh yeah.
These hoes really grind my gears. And I’m not even talking about promiscuous females. As I’ve laid out in a previous post, hoes, as defined by the principle of HNH, has many different definitions. The particular definition I’m talking about on this glorious occasion refers to female who make stupid partner choices.
I’ve been alive 22 years, and I’ve been a man for about 10 of those years. I say that because until I went to high school I had no clue about how male/female relations worked. Sure, I knew that a penis going into a vagina caused a baby, but that’s about all I knew. Sure, some of my middle school friends had girlfriends, but it was nothing more than someone you bought chocolate milks for during lunch. Nothing serious.
I went to high school and I learned about how men are supposed to try to compete for the female’s affection and attention. And that those who don’t have to compete, those who get chicks throwing themselves at them, they don’t value vagina. It’s like if you’re LeBron James, and you’ve been told that you are the best thing since sliced bread since you’ve been in 7th grade and you’ve had your practices video tapped, you’re probably not gonna take criticism well. Same thing.
After learning that not all pursuits of pussy were created equal, I began to notice that this was because of women and their perceived self-worth. Even at that age, I was able to pick out that some women would do anything, and I mean anything, to get and keep a man. Whether that was doing his homework, letting him smash raw even though she didn’t want to, letting the homies hit, whatever. I thought that was a product of females being young a dumb, and wanting to one-up the single ladies at the school. Actually, this phenomenon continued as I got older, just got that the situations that females were putting themselves through got progressively worse.
I’ve encountered ladies who have been mentally abused, sexually abused, physically abused; you name it, it’s happening. However, I rarely see these women leaving the relationship. A dude can go out and have an out-of-wedlock kid, and the women will take the dude back. Unbelievable. But I think the worse sin is women who let some dude just shack up at her place. No job, no car, no nothing. Other than a dick and some tattoos. I’m talking straight Jody/Yvette type shit going on. There was a time when I thought it was something wrong with me, and that I couldn’t find the right woman for me. Then I realized that the average female is just dumb a pet rock.
To me, vagina is the most precious resource on earth. Men fight over it. Wars were fought over it. People have died over it. Laws were created to enhance it and protect it. People go to college to study it and appreciate it. Yet most of the people who own one don’t embrace it and the power that it possesses. It’s like a superstar athlete that has confidence issues. He has all the physical tools to succeed, but mental hurdles stand in his way. That’s what I see when I look at females. That’s the only reasonable explanation for why women keep putting up for no-good men. Maybe when they wake up and realize what they’ve been settling for. But until that day occurs, it’s gonna be the same broken record over and over again.
Bonus: The above theme music with actual lyrics posted on it by none other than Freddie Gibbs. Why not.
OK, that’s better. Where was I? Oh yeah.
These hoes really grind my gears. And I’m not even talking about promiscuous females. As I’ve laid out in a previous post, hoes, as defined by the principle of HNH, has many different definitions. The particular definition I’m talking about on this glorious occasion refers to female who make stupid partner choices.
I’ve been alive 22 years, and I’ve been a man for about 10 of those years. I say that because until I went to high school I had no clue about how male/female relations worked. Sure, I knew that a penis going into a vagina caused a baby, but that’s about all I knew. Sure, some of my middle school friends had girlfriends, but it was nothing more than someone you bought chocolate milks for during lunch. Nothing serious.
I went to high school and I learned about how men are supposed to try to compete for the female’s affection and attention. And that those who don’t have to compete, those who get chicks throwing themselves at them, they don’t value vagina. It’s like if you’re LeBron James, and you’ve been told that you are the best thing since sliced bread since you’ve been in 7th grade and you’ve had your practices video tapped, you’re probably not gonna take criticism well. Same thing.
After learning that not all pursuits of pussy were created equal, I began to notice that this was because of women and their perceived self-worth. Even at that age, I was able to pick out that some women would do anything, and I mean anything, to get and keep a man. Whether that was doing his homework, letting him smash raw even though she didn’t want to, letting the homies hit, whatever. I thought that was a product of females being young a dumb, and wanting to one-up the single ladies at the school. Actually, this phenomenon continued as I got older, just got that the situations that females were putting themselves through got progressively worse.
I’ve encountered ladies who have been mentally abused, sexually abused, physically abused; you name it, it’s happening. However, I rarely see these women leaving the relationship. A dude can go out and have an out-of-wedlock kid, and the women will take the dude back. Unbelievable. But I think the worse sin is women who let some dude just shack up at her place. No job, no car, no nothing. Other than a dick and some tattoos. I’m talking straight Jody/Yvette type shit going on. There was a time when I thought it was something wrong with me, and that I couldn’t find the right woman for me. Then I realized that the average female is just dumb a pet rock.
To me, vagina is the most precious resource on earth. Men fight over it. Wars were fought over it. People have died over it. Laws were created to enhance it and protect it. People go to college to study it and appreciate it. Yet most of the people who own one don’t embrace it and the power that it possesses. It’s like a superstar athlete that has confidence issues. He has all the physical tools to succeed, but mental hurdles stand in his way. That’s what I see when I look at females. That’s the only reasonable explanation for why women keep putting up for no-good men. Maybe when they wake up and realize what they’ve been settling for. But until that day occurs, it’s gonna be the same broken record over and over again.
Bonus: The above theme music with actual lyrics posted on it by none other than Freddie Gibbs. Why not.
Issey Miyake
I don’t think I’m the only one who’s tired of the current state of hip hop. I feel like nothing that occurs these days would surprise me. I’m sorry, but the bar has been lowered so far that almost nothing seems ridiculous anymore.
I was sent this video recently:
It’s clearly a satire of Waka Flocka Flame, Gucci Mane & OJ Da Juiceman, and that thing they call music. However, you listen to the parody verses and its not a whole lot of difference between this and what’s being played on the radio nowadays. Outrageous.
I came across this video the other day. Here is a clip of Pill and Freddie Gibbs talking about verses that mean something to them.
Pill, no fault on his part, recites his own verses and why he thinks they are noteworthy. Freddie, on the other hand, spits a verse from the late great Pimp C. It’s one thing to hear a classic rap verse, but it’s another thing to hear one of your favorite rappers rapping said verse. You gain a newfound respect for new artists that pay tribute to artists that came before them and influenced their style. I definitely want to see Freddie prosper. He deserves it.
As a bonus, I’ve included the original version of the UGK song, Freddie’s Pimp C tribute song, and Bun B’s autobiographical song detailing the rise to superstardom of UGK. Country rap tunes.
I was sent this video recently:
It’s clearly a satire of Waka Flocka Flame, Gucci Mane & OJ Da Juiceman, and that thing they call music. However, you listen to the parody verses and its not a whole lot of difference between this and what’s being played on the radio nowadays. Outrageous.
I came across this video the other day. Here is a clip of Pill and Freddie Gibbs talking about verses that mean something to them.
Freddie Gibbs + Pill = 3:16 from Yours Truly on Vimeo.
Pill, no fault on his part, recites his own verses and why he thinks they are noteworthy. Freddie, on the other hand, spits a verse from the late great Pimp C. It’s one thing to hear a classic rap verse, but it’s another thing to hear one of your favorite rappers rapping said verse. You gain a newfound respect for new artists that pay tribute to artists that came before them and influenced their style. I definitely want to see Freddie prosper. He deserves it.
As a bonus, I’ve included the original version of the UGK song, Freddie’s Pimp C tribute song, and Bun B’s autobiographical song detailing the rise to superstardom of UGK. Country rap tunes.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Ebony/Ivory
*Old article I wrote about a year ago that I felt like digging out of the archives. Sue me.
I guess you could call me a fan of hip-hop. My iPod isn’t full of strictly Black Star, MF Doom, Immortal Technique and others, but I do rock with some boom bap sounds. Although I’m guilty of riding out to Yo Gotti & Gucci Mane (who isn’t?), I do switch up my long rides on the interstate and zone out to “The Infamous”, “Food & Liquor” and “Rock Box” from time to time. In fact, I have been scouring the internets for classic hip-hop tracks that I have either forgotten about or haven’t heard at all and been deprived of. The last three finds to date are Onyx “Last Dayz,” Big Pun “You Ain’t A Killer” and Canibus “Second Round KO.” It puts my soul at ease when I decide to finally cave in and play “Swag Surfin.”
However, in one of my recent searches for new material, I stumbled across an artist named Big Sean.
(I don’t think I would like him as much if he were Lil Sean or Yung Sean, but maybe that’s just me). Big Sean is a rapper in what seems like a great situation music-wise until you realize his fatal fault: he’s black.
Before you bite my head off, let me make my point first. Big Sean is a rapper that’s signed to Kanye West’s label GOOD Music. He’s down with the guy who put out musical classics such as “College Dropout,” “BE,” and “Get Lifted.” He seems a surefire winner, with his witty punchlines and knack for using his cleverness and inventiveness to say things that you’ve never heard before and instantly make you rewind your iTunes to catch that musical magic once again*. He has a very smooth delivery that doesn’t really stand out, but he brings the heat lyrically so you can overstep this minor knock. He achieved marginal success with his song “Getcha Some” that was featured on Kanye’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” mixtape. This dude looks to be well on his way to developing into a great artist. Except he’s black.
Upon first listen to his material, you feel as if you’ve heard his flow before, and the answer is you probably have. There’s another witty rapper with a smooth delivery that has a couple of marginal hits under his belt. He has also featured on a prominent mixtape with a prominent mixtape DJ. He drops lines that are littered with double meanings but doesn’t really have any great songwriting skills.
He goes by the name of Asher Roth, and some of you might have actually checked out his debut album a while ago. He kinda sprung outta nowhere with that DJ Drama-assisted mixtape and his college classic called, appropriately “I Love College”. He has signed to Interscope, one of the largest record labels in history, plastering his face everywhere and he’s on every MTV station promoting himself and his brand. But you won’t see Big Sean anywhere on this channel. Because he’s black.
When you listen to both artists together, there are seemingly no differences between them other than subject matter. I won’t cover that in this blog because that’s more of a sociological thing, with Roth hailing from suburban Pennsylvania while Sean was raised in the city formerly known as Detroit. They have similar strengths, weaknesses, flows and song-writing shortcomings, so what separates them really comes down to one significant difference: marketability. In this day and age, the music industry is not about artistic integrity anymore**. It’s all about making a dollar, and Asher Roth excels exceptionally well in this area because of the accessibility he has to white avenues of promotion. He can get headline New York Times articles just for the fact that he’s a white rapper with actual skills, but raps about white people stuff. Big Sean’s act, while being great from an artistic standpoint, is like beating a dead horse in terms of the music industry. Big Sean is like a poor man’s, less violent version of Cassidy, with more personality than Lloyd Banks. Therefore, he’s not going to have any students at UPenn checking out for him anytime soon (shout outs to Elmo). Even Kanye realizes this, who has put all of his effort and backing into promoting Big Sean’s label mate Kid Cudi, who has that crossover appeal evidenced in his smash hit “Day n Nite.” Cudi isn’t a great lyricist or a great singer, but he does have an ability to make catchy tunes that can crossover to the MTV crowd. Sean doesn’t. Because his music is too black***.
If instead of rapping about getting money, looking fly and fucking bitches he rapped about studying for GMAT’s or doing case races, he’d be onto something. But if he wants to ever reach super stardom, he’s going to whiten, I mean, lighten his music up a bit. The sake of GOOD Music rests on his shoulders.
*On a YouTube freestyle, he drops the line “Call me Bobby Fisher ‘cause I felt on top of chess today and made a couple checks today.” That one line made me a fan, as it was a breath of fresh air to see somebody thinking outside of the box and bringing something new to the table. Here's a dope Big Sean freestyle.
**I’m sorry, but hip-hop in the form that we knew growing up is dead. And it’s not coming back. Never. There’s simply too much money to be made in this industry for execs to cave in.
***Wale is running into the same problem, which is why he’s just saying fuck mainstream and doing music that he wants to make for his fans. I’m sorry, but someone with aspirations of having a #1 commercial album doesn’t do mixtapes with 9th Wonder and Young Chris. Just saying.
I guess you could call me a fan of hip-hop. My iPod isn’t full of strictly Black Star, MF Doom, Immortal Technique and others, but I do rock with some boom bap sounds. Although I’m guilty of riding out to Yo Gotti & Gucci Mane (who isn’t?), I do switch up my long rides on the interstate and zone out to “The Infamous”, “Food & Liquor” and “Rock Box” from time to time. In fact, I have been scouring the internets for classic hip-hop tracks that I have either forgotten about or haven’t heard at all and been deprived of. The last three finds to date are Onyx “Last Dayz,” Big Pun “You Ain’t A Killer” and Canibus “Second Round KO.” It puts my soul at ease when I decide to finally cave in and play “Swag Surfin.”
However, in one of my recent searches for new material, I stumbled across an artist named Big Sean.
(I don’t think I would like him as much if he were Lil Sean or Yung Sean, but maybe that’s just me). Big Sean is a rapper in what seems like a great situation music-wise until you realize his fatal fault: he’s black.
Before you bite my head off, let me make my point first. Big Sean is a rapper that’s signed to Kanye West’s label GOOD Music. He’s down with the guy who put out musical classics such as “College Dropout,” “BE,” and “Get Lifted.” He seems a surefire winner, with his witty punchlines and knack for using his cleverness and inventiveness to say things that you’ve never heard before and instantly make you rewind your iTunes to catch that musical magic once again*. He has a very smooth delivery that doesn’t really stand out, but he brings the heat lyrically so you can overstep this minor knock. He achieved marginal success with his song “Getcha Some” that was featured on Kanye’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” mixtape. This dude looks to be well on his way to developing into a great artist. Except he’s black.
Upon first listen to his material, you feel as if you’ve heard his flow before, and the answer is you probably have. There’s another witty rapper with a smooth delivery that has a couple of marginal hits under his belt. He has also featured on a prominent mixtape with a prominent mixtape DJ. He drops lines that are littered with double meanings but doesn’t really have any great songwriting skills.
He goes by the name of Asher Roth, and some of you might have actually checked out his debut album a while ago. He kinda sprung outta nowhere with that DJ Drama-assisted mixtape and his college classic called, appropriately “I Love College”. He has signed to Interscope, one of the largest record labels in history, plastering his face everywhere and he’s on every MTV station promoting himself and his brand. But you won’t see Big Sean anywhere on this channel. Because he’s black.
When you listen to both artists together, there are seemingly no differences between them other than subject matter. I won’t cover that in this blog because that’s more of a sociological thing, with Roth hailing from suburban Pennsylvania while Sean was raised in the city formerly known as Detroit. They have similar strengths, weaknesses, flows and song-writing shortcomings, so what separates them really comes down to one significant difference: marketability. In this day and age, the music industry is not about artistic integrity anymore**. It’s all about making a dollar, and Asher Roth excels exceptionally well in this area because of the accessibility he has to white avenues of promotion. He can get headline New York Times articles just for the fact that he’s a white rapper with actual skills, but raps about white people stuff. Big Sean’s act, while being great from an artistic standpoint, is like beating a dead horse in terms of the music industry. Big Sean is like a poor man’s, less violent version of Cassidy, with more personality than Lloyd Banks. Therefore, he’s not going to have any students at UPenn checking out for him anytime soon (shout outs to Elmo). Even Kanye realizes this, who has put all of his effort and backing into promoting Big Sean’s label mate Kid Cudi, who has that crossover appeal evidenced in his smash hit “Day n Nite.” Cudi isn’t a great lyricist or a great singer, but he does have an ability to make catchy tunes that can crossover to the MTV crowd. Sean doesn’t. Because his music is too black***.
If instead of rapping about getting money, looking fly and fucking bitches he rapped about studying for GMAT’s or doing case races, he’d be onto something. But if he wants to ever reach super stardom, he’s going to whiten, I mean, lighten his music up a bit. The sake of GOOD Music rests on his shoulders.
*On a YouTube freestyle, he drops the line “Call me Bobby Fisher ‘cause I felt on top of chess today and made a couple checks today.” That one line made me a fan, as it was a breath of fresh air to see somebody thinking outside of the box and bringing something new to the table. Here's a dope Big Sean freestyle.
**I’m sorry, but hip-hop in the form that we knew growing up is dead. And it’s not coming back. Never. There’s simply too much money to be made in this industry for execs to cave in.
***Wale is running into the same problem, which is why he’s just saying fuck mainstream and doing music that he wants to make for his fans. I’m sorry, but someone with aspirations of having a #1 commercial album doesn’t do mixtapes with 9th Wonder and Young Chris. Just saying.
Change Of Heart
It’s not often that you can hear a record and not display the hyper machismo that is so common in today’s rap game. Every now and then, you’ll hear a record that immediately strikes a chord with those listeners around the world. And even more rare, that video is given the decency to receive video treatment. Really really rare.
Well, this is one of those Leprechaun moments, where a record is actually given a video that is more than deserving. This is from Fly.Union rapper Jerreau, who hails from Columbus, OH. This is a narrative that basically details an honest male perspective of why sometimes “pimpin is more complicated than easy”. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy this joint.
P.S. If you haven’t checked out the five Fly U “Value Packs”, please do so. All 5 are great EPs. Fly Dot U, where dreams come true.
Well, this is one of those Leprechaun moments, where a record is actually given a video that is more than deserving. This is from Fly.Union rapper Jerreau, who hails from Columbus, OH. This is a narrative that basically details an honest male perspective of why sometimes “pimpin is more complicated than easy”. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy this joint.
P.S. If you haven’t checked out the five Fly U “Value Packs”, please do so. All 5 are great EPs. Fly Dot U, where dreams come true.
Pearl Vision
For those of you who know me outside of the blog world, you’ll know my favorite phrase by now: HNH. HNH means a lot of different things to me, but up until this point, I don’t think I’ve ever explained exactly what it means. And I never had a desire to. To me, HNH was something as more of an inside joke and a few privileged individuals that were privy enough to catch my explanation. Nothing more, nothing less.
It seemed like every time I would turn around, I would see something that just reeked of HNH or Ho-Logic*. First I saw this video.
Yes, that’s a Sean Paul reggae wannabe. Yes, those are big booty bitches. Yes, the big booty bitches seemingly serve no purpose to the song. They can’t even dance, just shake their body from side to side in such a way that would make Mark Madsen proud.
Shit like this brings credence to whenever I say “If I had a vagina, I’d be a millionaire by now.” I wouldn’t even need to resort to prostitution or fucking for career purposes. Just the presence of a vagina makes everything better.
Then I happened to catch this clip on Adult Swim.
Yes, this is a show created by T-Pain (!?!?!?!). Yes, the show is called Freaknik (again, !?!?!). It really shouldn’t surprise me that T-Pain would create another working girl anthem. This nigga loves strippers more than Fleece Johnson loves booty, and to him, booty is more important than both food and water. T-Pain proceeds to make the simp anthem**, complete with falsetto breakdown. Outrageous.
Then I saw this twitpic (NSFW).
Yes, that is a chick giving a blowjob. Yes, THAT IS HER BABY IN THE ROOM WITH HER. Yes, she is feeding the baby a bottle while simultaneously feeding herself hard dick and bubblegum. I would say “Where are this kid’s parents”, but it’s obvious her parents are trying their damndest to conceive another child. Well actually, no, because it’s no way you can have a baby out of your mouth © Jadakiss. That had me at an absolute loss for words, but still no HNH post.
Then I saw this video.
Yes, dude is breaking down bottom bitches and what not. Yes, he’s actually doing a pretty good job at it. But this dude is giving way too much thought to what had been oral history (pause) up until that point. The game is sold, no told.
I had weathered the ignorant information storm and was still without a definitive HNH post, until I saw this. Yes, that is a chick who’s a hooker. Yes she is HIV positive and has AIDS. Yes, SHE’S STILL WORKING AS A HOOKER AFTER COMING UP HIV POSITIVE. The video said she’s had 2 clients a day, 4 days a week for god knows how long. Let me break that down in terms that kinda make sense to me. That’s A) Hundreds of guys willing to fuck that nasty Camryn Manheim looking ass bitch, B) All of the guys were willing TO PAY HER for the sex, and C) hundreds of guys who probably rawdogged anal, which is the most likely way to contract HIV. Add that shit up. Yes, I could no longer hold my tongue regarding HNH.
HNH, which stands for Hoes Nigga Hoes, is the way people rationalize the decisions, behaviors and thought processes used to justify ho-like actions. I’m a firm believer that anyone who subjects themselves to the actions of the promiscuous or whore-like activity lives in an alternate fantasy version of reality where they truly don’t see anything wrong with that they do. It’s almost like they went to the LeBron James school of modesty where they truly feel like they have done no wrong. For every sane person who realizes that jerking off in a meeting is wrong, there’s someone out there running a strip club out of their own home. For every person who knows that groping is wrong, there’s someone out there trying to justify “Flirty Girl Fitness”. Even celebrities are getting caught up in the HNH madness. And it needs to stop.
This probably isn’t the first time you’ve heard me mention HNH, and it definitely won’t be the last. As long as people are claiming they can determine whether you’re a virgin by an arbitrary dot behind your ear. HNH: live long and prosper.
*I think Stefan could better explain Ho-Logic than I ever could, so I’ma hit him with the John Stockton bounce pass and hope he can finish the pick & roll basket, Karl Malone style.
**One could argue that The Dream is the simp anthem king, especially after songs like this. But that’s irrelevant for this article.
It seemed like every time I would turn around, I would see something that just reeked of HNH or Ho-Logic*. First I saw this video.
Yes, that’s a Sean Paul reggae wannabe. Yes, those are big booty bitches. Yes, the big booty bitches seemingly serve no purpose to the song. They can’t even dance, just shake their body from side to side in such a way that would make Mark Madsen proud.
Shit like this brings credence to whenever I say “If I had a vagina, I’d be a millionaire by now.” I wouldn’t even need to resort to prostitution or fucking for career purposes. Just the presence of a vagina makes everything better.
Then I happened to catch this clip on Adult Swim.
Yes, this is a show created by T-Pain (!?!?!?!). Yes, the show is called Freaknik (again, !?!?!). It really shouldn’t surprise me that T-Pain would create another working girl anthem. This nigga loves strippers more than Fleece Johnson loves booty, and to him, booty is more important than both food and water. T-Pain proceeds to make the simp anthem**, complete with falsetto breakdown. Outrageous.
Then I saw this twitpic (NSFW).
Yes, that is a chick giving a blowjob. Yes, THAT IS HER BABY IN THE ROOM WITH HER. Yes, she is feeding the baby a bottle while simultaneously feeding herself hard dick and bubblegum. I would say “Where are this kid’s parents”, but it’s obvious her parents are trying their damndest to conceive another child. Well actually, no, because it’s no way you can have a baby out of your mouth © Jadakiss. That had me at an absolute loss for words, but still no HNH post.
Then I saw this video.
Yes, dude is breaking down bottom bitches and what not. Yes, he’s actually doing a pretty good job at it. But this dude is giving way too much thought to what had been oral history (pause) up until that point. The game is sold, no told.
I had weathered the ignorant information storm and was still without a definitive HNH post, until I saw this. Yes, that is a chick who’s a hooker. Yes she is HIV positive and has AIDS. Yes, SHE’S STILL WORKING AS A HOOKER AFTER COMING UP HIV POSITIVE. The video said she’s had 2 clients a day, 4 days a week for god knows how long. Let me break that down in terms that kinda make sense to me. That’s A) Hundreds of guys willing to fuck that nasty Camryn Manheim looking ass bitch, B) All of the guys were willing TO PAY HER for the sex, and C) hundreds of guys who probably rawdogged anal, which is the most likely way to contract HIV. Add that shit up. Yes, I could no longer hold my tongue regarding HNH.
HNH, which stands for Hoes Nigga Hoes, is the way people rationalize the decisions, behaviors and thought processes used to justify ho-like actions. I’m a firm believer that anyone who subjects themselves to the actions of the promiscuous or whore-like activity lives in an alternate fantasy version of reality where they truly don’t see anything wrong with that they do. It’s almost like they went to the LeBron James school of modesty where they truly feel like they have done no wrong. For every sane person who realizes that jerking off in a meeting is wrong, there’s someone out there running a strip club out of their own home. For every person who knows that groping is wrong, there’s someone out there trying to justify “Flirty Girl Fitness”. Even celebrities are getting caught up in the HNH madness. And it needs to stop.
This probably isn’t the first time you’ve heard me mention HNH, and it definitely won’t be the last. As long as people are claiming they can determine whether you’re a virgin by an arbitrary dot behind your ear. HNH: live long and prosper.
*I think Stefan could better explain Ho-Logic than I ever could, so I’ma hit him with the John Stockton bounce pass and hope he can finish the pick & roll basket, Karl Malone style.
**One could argue that The Dream is the simp anthem king, especially after songs like this. But that’s irrelevant for this article.
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