LL Cool J: Bitter Old Man

When two employees enter a job, neither one of them should have a mindset of complacency inside of their head. There should always be a hunger to climb that corporate ladder, because no matter what your status is, if you’re not the head man in charge, you can be kicked right off.

If second fiddle is ok with you, then at least understand you should always have some level of paranoia about your status. Understand that no matter what you have done for your company if the right person wants you gone you can leave. So with that thought in hand you should know everything you need to know to keep your situation at float. If you fail at that, don’t blame others for your failures. Its doesn’t take a genius to figure it out; it’s just a common sense thing.After years of faithful service to Def Jam records, LL Cool J seems to be fed up and ready to leave. When asked why, he cited the current Def Jam president (Jay-Z) as his main reason. Saying, “How am I gonna re-sign with competition, I’m not an idiot. I can’t depend on that man to promote my record while he’s somewhere writing rhymes. … I’m LL Cool J. I ain’t doing that, B.” Then just recently in the song “It’s a Queens Thing” he went on to throw some subliminals:

“I don’t slide like Usher, I don’t make no bands, I ain’t a frontin’ ass coward, I don’t rig Soundscan./ I wish Rick and Russell was back, I miss the old Def Jam. ‘Cause them new monkeys act like they don’t know who I am./ The promotion and marketing wasn’t worth a damn. /Now they on the balls again ‘cause 50’s my man? It’s a Queens’s thing, doofy; this is how we do…”.

After so many words being tossed in the Def Jam President’s direction from mister Todd Smith, its hard not to see that he may just be little bitter.

Lets think about it though, does he have a reason to be? LL’s first studio album came out in 1985, it is now the year 2007. Over those 22 years he has released 12 studio albums (including upcoming release Exit 13), won two Grammy awards, and has starred in several movies. Despite all of this success, LL has never introduced any artists, or even showed an interest in the industry outside of selling records. Like it or not this was one of the main reasons Jay-z was given the position of President and not him.

While one was taking his shirt off in countless videos and expanding towards an acting career, the other was building his empire, signing quality artists, and becoming a global icon. He has surpassed LL in almost every aspect of Hip-Hop. The nail in the coffin was him (Jay-z) being given the oh so glorified President position at Def Jam.

So now after his last album did less than stunning numbers, LL is angry all of a sudden and has a problem with Jay-Z? For a man of 39 years old who has been in the industry for over twenty years, and has such massive status why would you rely on another man to make your album sell?LL is right when he says he is one of the best to ever do it, and he is the reason Def Jam made it through those infant stages, but this is 2007 and what he did for Def Jam is nothing but a fond memory. Other than his album sales he has not really brought in much revenue for the label nor has he shown that he can build revenue from anything other than himself.

He’s Hip Hop’s very own Jose Canseco, as he has the ability to hit a home run (when it comes to record sales) but other than that he’s pretty useless and as the years go by every power hitters’ numbers will diminish. Knowing this, why would Def Jam put in an exuberant amount of money into his album, seeing that it was the most poorly received album from LL since “14 Shots To the Dome”. With a general album consensus rating as low as 2/5, does that sound like a home run hit to you?

What is LL really angry at? Is he mad that, in less time, President Carter has the position that LL was promised so many years ago? If so he has no stable ground to stand on. Promises are broken everyday, credentials influence those in power, and these days ones’ money making abilities are the only thing that guarantee results in this industry.

Should Jay Z have given his last album more attention, better promotion, and a “Kingdom Come-like” marketing plan? Probably, but if your going to get a Kingdom Come” marketing plan you have to pull in Kingdom Come” numbers, and the last time Mr. Todd smith went double platinum it was 1997. Combine that with declining rap sales, and the marketing plan used on his album made sense financially. Its been a little over a year and the album “Todd Smith” has only managed to go gold. Those numbers have nothing to do with a marketing plan, but they speak volumes about his popularity.

Yes LL is bitter, but honestly from the facts stated above he really has no right. He’s not a superstar in the Soundscan, he has never really seem to show the corporate skill, or desire to be an executive, and to be quite frank his last album sucked. He did more for hip hop than any one that I can think of, because in all honesty if he does not sign with Def Jam, Jay might have never comes into, half of the people who are here now might not be where they are.

He had an eleven year head start and still managed to fall behind. Don’t get mad now, its too late. He had his chance, but opportunity sped right past him, and from what it looks like, he probably just licked his lips and left it be.

Make sure you check out condron.us

Lil Wayne…Mr. Over Rated

This is an editorial that is a long time coming, something that honestly I wanted for a long time to say, hopefully people will read this in its entirety and then leave their oh so educated opinions. If not then hey it comes with the territory of writing. Now after stating all of that let me begin with the statement that should rock this website to its foundations… Lil Wayne is over rated.

Lil Wayne is currently leading the new school when it comes to artist who have the image, the fan base, the record sales and the respect. He is the artist that everyone else seems to base their skill level at, his name on a track is considered gold, him as the headliner for a concert usually means that it will sell out, and fans of all corners can be heard all over quoting some of his most outrageous lines. If Jay Z can best be compared to Jordan (not saying that he is) fans have built Lil Wayne to be the LeBron/Kobe of the new era of hip hop. His last three albums have sold so many copies and received so much critical acclaim that some fans will go as far as to say that he is best to ever do it dead or alive.

To Wayne’s credit he has produced music at a pace that I or anyone in this world has never seen, in his time active as a mainstream force he has produced five albums and over ten mix tapes (Mixtapes that are fully developed and averaging 15 songs per mixtape). Along with these mixtapes he has been featured on countless tracks and remixed even more songs than anyone that I can think of. Wayne has literally lived in the studio and birth’s bar after bar and track after track.

So now that we have finished giving him his due justice lets take a look at why I think he’s over rated. Most Wayne fans will tell you that lyrically he is a beast that his metaphors are amazing and his punch lines will leave you hanging in amazement. So I listened to a couple of Wayne albums in order to give a proper and fair synopsis those albums were Tha Carter, Tha Carter II, 500 Degreez and Lights out.

After listening to these four albums here are two things that I noticed right off the top on 500 Degreez and Lights out, Wayne’s flow is choppy, his lyrics on many of the songs are elementary and although he does show plenty of promise it is clear that he has yet to harness that. From Tha Carter to the Carter III you can hear a drastic improvement in lyrical skills, song content and flow. But even with this vast improvement he still continues to be eons below what the cream of the crop offer.

Weezy

Lyrically- Wayne offers a highly animated delivery that is built with one part drugs other part bravado he sounds convincing so even when he’s talking about absolutely nothing in particular an UN attentive fan will be convinced that he has just said the hardest line of the year. As one Defsounds.com Exec said, Wayne’s flow is a collage of over exaggerated ER sounds, and a barrage of syllables. Break down some of his tracks and it’s obvious that what he’s saying isn’t as impressive as it comes off to be in the beginning. Heavy on Similes, with a sprinkle of a metaphor here and there, Wayne can make your head spin at times with the amount of words that he can put together as well as the internal rhymes that he incorporates into almost every verse. But when looking at overall complexity, wordplay, consistency in punch lines, vocabulary, and then being able to put all of that together Wayne is good, actually he is above average but he is still a step or three away from the elite.

Songwriting/Making ability.

Every elite rapper, at least in my regards, has had the ability to consistently put out good songs. Wayne has the uncanny ability of murdering tracks that he is featured on taking the song from a 5 to a 7 with his simple sixteen. When it comes to his music, he definitely has his fair share of hits, but nothing timeless. Ten years from now no one will remember Lollipop, Dick Pleaser, or Go DJ. Its not that there bad songs, but do you honestly see yourself listening to lollipop when your 30 years old, if so then your one of the many few.

Wayne also seems to have a problem staying on topic with his tracks and is known to wander off straying away from the original thought; this also takes away from the consistency of his music. How can you ever put out a classic album if you can’t even stay on the same subject for more than two bars, and no matter what some fans may think Lil Wayne does not have a classic album, not even one that can be considered a near miss; If you want to talk about quality albums, Wayne did not have one until 500 Degreez. Tha Carter was his coming out party, Tha Carter II was his “This was not a fluke album” and Tha Carter III was a disappointment if you consider the amount of time he had to perfect the album, and the amount of hype that was behind it. All of the best rappers have at least one Classic album to stake claim for, Wayne has none. One of the things that both help him and hurt him is his song writing style. Yes it’s cool to have the ability to make songs without writing them down, but not everyone should do that. That’s like writing a thesis paper and not having it proof read. Wayne will hop into the studio spit a quick sixteen and that will be the end of it. Imagine if he wrote his rhymes down and took out the time to really dissect what he was saying, allowing himself time to go back and edit, then he really would be a beast, but instead he just goes in spits the rhymes does not seem to put much attention to it after wards, and flies high with all of the inflated critical acclaim.

What It All Boils Down To

Wayne is a one of the best in the game, this can not be denied but he is the Joe Johnson of Hip Hop, Immensely talented, but still having many holes in his game that have yet to be addressed. He at times slurs his words which can take away from his live performances, he is not as versatile on topics as many would like to lead you to think (but neither is Jay-Z, and nor was Biggie or Pac), and to be honest some times he just makes absolutely no sense, and will waste a good beat with horrible bars. When you put him up against other artist in the game old and new, there are just way too many who in a one on one battle could easily beat or even destroy him. He is in the top 25 alive easy but top ten or top five I beg to differ. Lil Wayne has plenty of time to change my opinion, but until he starts writing his lyrics, lays off the drugs, adds a couple of more things to his lyrical handbag of tricks, stays on topic, and broadens his subject matter he will always be that great player who you would love to have on your team, but would trade away for a Kobe, Lebron, Wade, or Chris Paul in a heartbeat. There are no Kobe’s or Lebron’s in the rap game, we might have a Dwayne Wade but it’s definitely not Mr. Carter He’s still got a ways to go.

http://www.defsounds.com/articles/Lil_wayne_one_of_the_most_over_rated_rappers_of_all_time

Whats The Big Deal About Drake

Being the open minded hip hop fan that I am, I always try to broaden my horizons and try out new music. Whats the point of music if you only stick to one genre or one artist, that’s how I have always felt. So when friends suggested artist to me I listened. My girlfriend at the time used to rant and rave about Joe Budden she would go on about how great he was, and how deep his lyrics are; so in an attempt to shut her up,I gave him a listen and I’ve been a fan ever since. Several friends who roam the forums on this site were constantly posting up songs from wale so after listening to a couple of single tracks from him, I purchased one of his mixtapes and found myself thoroughly impressed. It is through these experiences that I have learned to trust the judgment of my friends when they suggested an artist, because nine times out of then they were usually right.

So when several friends approached me ranting and raving about this new artist who comes from the show Degrassi who raps and sings, I found myself instantly interested. The idea of having a rapper who could also sing and incorporated both talents into his artwork was something that both intrigued and impressed me. It is very rare that you can find an artist who can do both and still make it sound good, and as we already saw from Black Ty or whatever he called himself it isn’t as easy as some may want you to think. So with the intentions of only hearing good things, I purchased two mixtapes. The two mixtapes were So Far Gone, and Comeback Season. After listening to both mixtapes and listening to them more several times actually ( I kept falling asleep while listening to them) I have come to the conclusion that he is not that good.

Now before the Drake fans and future Stan’s jump on my back about this, let me say why. Lyrically Drake isn’t bad at all, he actually offers some pretty good lyric to some of his tracks, but when broken down he doesn’t spit anything that is overly impressive, granted that I am only judging from two mixtapes but his subject content is pretty shallow, he sticks to the topics of clothes, money, cars, bitches, and more clothes. He has a good voice and its very smooth and enjoyable, but once again its nothing to rant and rave about as he seems to have little range and sounds the same on almost every track that he sings on. One thing that I will say that he definitely has is the image, he has the clothes down pat, his image transfers through all of the regional cultures of hip hop and because of his exposure on Degrassi he will if he hasn’t already slip right into the pop spotlight if given the right push.

But to have people rant and rave about how good he is and how great his songs are.. well I just don’t see it. Someone told me that lyrically he was the best new artist out right now, after listening to him that was clearly false, someone else said that he was the first artist who sung and rapped on his music, and anyone who has any knowledge of Hip Hop, and music in general will be able to tell you that this statement as well is completely false. Drake really brings nothing new to the game, besides a new pulse to replace the one of the expired artist that is no longer relevant to casual listeners. In an industry full over over rated artist who are actually well below average, I think that fans and my friends included may have made the mistake of overrating an average artist. If this were basketball, I would compare him to Jamal Crawford, he’s good but I would never make him my franchise player.

But enough about what I think, what do you guys think. If you think he’s better than what I’ve stated please let me know why, and if you have songs or mixtapes you would like to suggest go right on ahead and I’ll be sure to check them out. Please do it respectfully and remember this is just my opinion, just because I think he’s over rated does not necessarily mean that he is.

Oh and just for fun, here are some other artist that I think are over rated

Wiz Khalafia

Kid Cudi – But I like a couple of his songs

Charles Hamilton – I started off as a fan, but after listening to a couple of his mixtapes I’m a bit unimpressed

Young Jeezy – I love his music, and I’ll be the first one to put on his last album on full blast, but I never understood why he blew up the way he did

Lil Wayne – I know I’m gonna have to put up another blog to explain this one, so just wait patiently for that people.

Lloyd Banks – He’s all punchlines, and repetitive flow

Papoose – I started off a huge fan but now he bores me

Juelz Santana – One of my favorite rappers but seriously he is not that good lyrically.

The Old Drake

Are You Man Enough

I’ve never known a world were complacency was the point of success, and in the world that we live in now, I am sad to say that many of my african american men are sitting back relaxing and enjoying the fruits of their hand me downs. 51 shots burts through a bullet and tear through the fiberglass of a car in the process they, shatter the skin and slice our hearts. but instead of fighting to dodge those bullets and find ways to improve, I seem to see a world were we as men enjoy the maximum of nothingness, Mental slavery is powerful because it rapes our souls and poisions our minds without us ever knowing it. The Men of this campus and then men of this world who live in our generation need to find it within their apathetic souls stand up and re enter the fight that our forefathers died in. if this dosent happen the bullet holes will continue to peirce our souls, burn through our cartilage and rape our woman. so my question to you boys is….. Are you really man enough.

Six Year Old Boy Raped And Murdered

I’ll have a reaction to this a little later

Did T.I. Snitch His Way To Freedom??

For a second, ignore the fact that this is a Hip-Hop website…. during this period, close your eyes and imagine that you are a judge in the court of law. Now imagine that you had a suspect who was caught purchasing several illegal weapons. Incorporate the fact that he is not allowed to purchase or own any fire arms because of past offenses. But before you jump to any conclusions, also remember that he is a convicted felon who has had serious run ins with the law on numerous occasions. To most people, the decision would be simple. You would give him a heavy sentence. If only life worked this way! Instead of you giving this man the jail time that many would expect him to receive, he cops a plea deal where he could do as little as two years. Does anyone find this a little strange……..

All About Sex

Can you feel the passion? The lips touching, hands caressing, the friction of the hips, soft moans of pleasure escaping the room. Can you feel the fire and desire of that moment, when two become one, like the missing piece to a puzzle? When physical contact is the only way to show that person how you feel about them, so with every kiss stroke and massage your intent is to show them that they are the only person you are thinking about. If your message is clear, the results can be mind blowing, you and your partner will be engulfed in the height of passion, and the after effects of disbelief, but if your message is cluttered, rushed or boring, you may find yourself in the dreaded circle of failure; playing back every moment of the two minute disaster that you call sex.

Sex, many have had it yet few truly understand it. Sex is possibly the most practiced act in America, even more than lying, and illegal downloading, yet so many people are afraid to talk about it. It has become more of a national past time than the World Series and the Super bowl put together, but people still shun it with a rapid pace. Let us lay down the facts, the pros and the cons of sex. We’ll start with the pro’s, it feels good, when done with the right person at the right time, it can be a connection deeper than the physical brand, it can bring life’s biggest joy to the world (children), and it is an expression of love and affection, but for every pro there are ten cons. It can be mentally and emotionally destructive towards those who are not ready for it; it can cause sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancy, or can be used as a form of blackmail, or payment. If someone has low self esteem, sex can be the temporary confidence booster for that individual, but unfortunately just like drugs, sex will only fill that empty void for so long before that individual has to jump to the next partner to feel complete again. So just as great as sex can be, it can also be amazingly self destructive.

Sex for all its worth has the uncanny ability to bring out all types of hidden personalities in people that you may have never expected. For example, the usually quiet and withdrawn Tameka might be the aggressive and overly confident mistress when the mood is right, whereas, the outspoken and smooth Anthony might be shy and submissive. The guy that does the most bragging about his sexual adventures could be as experienced as an infant is in long jumping. Sex brings out so many different personalities, reactions and tall tales. From men lying about their penis sizes, to women being dishonest about their history, and it is that reason that sex is such an amusing topic to talk about. The conversations can vary from personal experiences to sexual urban legends or horror stories of S.T.D’S contracted. Stick four young adults into a room, and bring up the subject of sex, the conversation if allowed and if in a comfortable area, can flow for hours. Then ask those same people what they think about global warming, and the conversation will probably die within ten minutes if it does not turn into an outright Bush Bash (George Bush) .

Then with all the free speakers that we have on the subject of sex, there are the types that feel that anything even remotely suggesting any kind of sexual action is a problem. For example, about five years ago, a commercial for a children game was pulled off of television networks because of its suggestive nature. That game was Mr. Bucket, anyone that is familiar with this game knows that the issue with this commercial was the song. “Im Mr. Bucket, you put the balls in my mouth”. Now to the average child there is nothing offensive about this, but to millions of angry parents this song was evil and sending the wrong message. The smallest thing such as a guy and a girl holding hands or flirting on a television show can rile aggravate and push these people to petition at just about any time. The only difference with their conversations would be that, they would speak on how negative the portrayal of sex is in America, but with all of that complaining and petitioning, how many of these activist are actually virgins themselves?

Sex for the past twenty or thirty years has not only been a controversial topic, but a marketing scheme, an addiction, a fad, or just something to do when your bored. The beautification of it will probably continue until a new fad erupts, but until then sex and all things about it will be displayed all across our television screens, our bulletin boards, our conversations, and obviously our lives. Sex and everything about it. Whether it’s multiple hours of passion or multiple minutes of awkward thrust and heavy breathing, sex is hear to stay. So instead of bringing a deaf ear to it, become more receptive and let’s see if we can at least learn how to have it in our lives without so much reckless abandon.

Nigger

Years after slavery has been abolished, the word still haunts us. The soil covering both Malcolm’s and Martin’s grave’s have settled, but the word is still a burning fire in so many bellies. We have almost full control of popular culture, but our attitudes and persona’s still display the behavior and mannerism of the word. Our artist sell millions of records every year and impose their opinion on a million more every day, but so many of them seem to not care about their own people, or where they are heading. The blood diamonds with hundreds of murders that rest on their Negro ears seem to be more important. Staying fresh and making that money, seems more important. Like it or not they truly do represent not just themselves but every black man and women, but a lot of times they can barely represent themselves, prancing on video screens degrading women and doing the coon dance that good old uncle sam loves to see back in what many in the south consider the good old days. With a chance to help outlaw the word that has haunted us for so many years we as a people have instead adopted it as our own word, and what do these new leaders do, nothing they embrace it. Once again satisfying the many who want to keep us down.
No longer are we in chains, the whips are nothing but a painful memory, they lost the power to leave the mark of ownership across our backs, the days of Jim Crow laws are long gone and deceased, but yet as recently as the 2000 census it showed that their were more African Americans dying then being born, there were more black males going to the Penitentiary than the university. Everyday at least one African American goes to jail. While 50 Cents raps about how he’ll kill a nigga for some cash, another soldier is taken out of the streets. While Akon and Snoop Rap about how bad they wanna Fuck you; the STD rates in our communities are at an all time high and growing. The leaders that we hear so much about in our history classes are nothing but that, a history lesson, and the ones who attempt to be leaders are looked upon as uppity or overbearing. Icons like Jay-Z, Jim Jones, and Nas have taken over. It seems as if the dream lifestyle to many blacks these days is to have enough money to eat sleep and get fresh. Over achieving is left for those who have no lives, so they are considered nerds and rejects of this oh so cool community. lyrics like ” Cant Pay My Rent everything in my mamma name, but im hood rich lalalala” (cash money millionaire) endorse fashion, beautify bad credit, and complacency. Outside of these three basic things nothing really seems to matter of high importance to us.

Through my young eyes I have to say that we as a whole ( Blacks, African Americans, whatever you want call it) are now more than ever the true epitome of a NIGGER.
“Historically, nigger defined, limited, and mocked African Americans. It was a term of exclusion, a verbal justification for discrimination. Whether used as a noun, verb, or adjective, it reinforced the stereotype of the lazy, stupid, dirty, worthless parasite. No other American ethnocentrisms carried so much purposeful venom, as the following representative.” With the Knowledge of what this word means I will be the first one in this article to try to outlaw this word from my vocabulary, I will lead by example, I will not just write about it I will act on it, so today February 21 2007, I vow to Outlaw the N word From My Vocabulary. If I could effect everyone’s opinion on this Venomous Vile word I truly would but my words are not as strong as I want them to be. The Verbal Hammer that I slam against the pavement with every word that is typed on this once blank computer screen is not enough to influence the mass of impressionable minds that use this word with leisure and justification, I do not have that coveted Icon status, (at least not yet). So my words will mostly fall on deaf ears and selectively blind eyes, but If the true trend setters were to stand by me then something could happen.

We have so many opportunities in our music to speak against the word, and uplift our culture, but rappers seem more concerned with criticizing Oprah and making dis tracks, then sparking a change or even a positive thought. Ludicrous, T.I, Cameron, Jim Jones, Busta Rhymes, 50 Cents, and so many more stars use the word so loosely. Like it or not these stars are the role models of our communities, there are not a lot of kids who want to grow up and be like Bork Obama. However, I can think of at least twenty kids who want to grow up and be just like Jay-Z, men who started to add the color pink to their wardrobe and wear it openly because of Cameron, teenagers who write poetry because they read 2pacs “The Rose That Grew From Concrete”. Their actions and their words affect us more than we could ever realize, and many of them take these titles as role models seriously and strive off of it. But in order to be a leader, and role model, the first thing you need to teach your mass of followers is how to respect themselves. In order to do that you must practice what you preach, which means you cant go to a high school in your community and tell the kids there to stay in school, and then in your next single your singing about selling coke and shooting at people. You cant tell the community how much you love your mother but in your next video you have women prancing around like sexual objects and calling them Hoe’s. You cant tell us how much we need to grow as blacks and uplift and then turn around and rap about how this Niggah aint better than you. If you continue to contradict your words then the ones that follow you may never be able to see the light. Their goals will remain, eating sleeping and staying fresh. Their Vocabulary will continually be Filled With Niggah, Bitch and Hoe, doing nothing but verbally and mentally hanging themselves as well as everything that our forefathers/mothers fought for.

I don’t mean to throw all of the blame on our artist, they are not the ones that made up the word, they are not the ones who beat us, hung us or even chastised us, they didn’t put the jagged and rusty Dagger of Oppression in our backs, but they haven’t tried to pull it out either. I’ll still think Jay-Z is one of the best to ever rap even if he uses the N word. I’ll still scream out Ballin at the top of my lungs when that song goes off in the club, I’ll still love hip hop with all of my heart, at this point its not a choice its just natural for me, but the next time someone out side of the black race calls me a nigger I will not get mad I will not get offended, no matter how it was intended. I have no right, because now matter how it is spelled, Nigger, Niggah, Niggaz, it all still means the same thing. If I am to get mad at Billy Bob for calling me a nigger, then I might as well be mad at everybody who as ever called me nigger, black, white, green, yellow, famous or not. Including DMX, Jay-Z, Nas, 2Pac, Jim Jones, and the whole Roster of Hip Hops Heavyweights.
Maybe Jim Crow was right, Maybe we are Nothing But Niggers. Lazy, Ugly Violent, Simple, Flashy, Self Indulgent, with no long term plan or goals, forgive me for saying but I know a lot of black people who fit that Category, so hey I guess where Just Niggers. Tell me Hip Hop are we?

The Definition For Nigger Was Taken From “Dr. David Pilgrim, Professor of Sociology, and Dr. Phillip Middletown, Professor of Languages and Literature, Ferris State University. Sept., 2001” http://www.thenewrepublic.com/061101/driver061101.html], September 7, 2001.

Do I still love her

by LYRICAL THOUGHT

I remember the sad day’s when I was a prisoner in my own house, the only escape I had was my music, I lay on my back stare at the ceiling and just let the music flow through me, Too Shorts “back in the day” “2Pacs keep your head up”, and the notorious B.I.G. “suicidal thoughts” were some of the songs that help me through my tough times. When I wanted to hear about the struggle, all I had to do was pop in my N.W.A cassette. Not every story was the same, but I could understand and respect everyone because they all had something unique to say and they all had their own way to say it. Some artist spit fast like Jay-Z (when he first came out) or some spit with a calculating flow, so you would be forced to pay attention (like Rakim), some rhymed with intelligence and Vocabulary, while others kept the profanity and bravado at an excess. I ate slept and breathed hiphop it was all that I ever needed to get through the day’s. For me 94-99 was the golden age, but just like any relationship things began to lag a little bit.

I was in love, I cant lie. I remember the day it became essential to my soul. I was in my boy’s “Kwane” room and as usual he and I were creating our own label and making up play artist to work on them. We would create three to four artist give them name’s Bio’s and then start writing the songs for their albums. I remember on that specific day I was working on a group called 911 and for whatever reason I just couldn’t think of anything to write for there album. I remember sitting on the bed groaning in frustration and tossing my pad to the side, I was ready to just give up on the whole concept of the album.

After letting me sit and be lazy for about five minutes Kwane snapped me out of my procrastination and suggested we listen to this new tape he got earlier today. There was nothing else to do, and as far as I was concerned, writing this album could wait so I agreed. It was some new rapper, a guy that I had heard about on the radio a couple of times but never really listened to, his name was Biggie Smalls, and the album was “ready to die”.
Sixty minutes of Pure Fire by the end of the first side of the cassette I was so inspired amazed that all I could do was just sit with my boy Kwane and wonder aloud why I had never heard him before. Every song from beginning to end was just so much better than anything that I have ever heard, but there was one song above all others on that tape that was able to shoot me with the cupid arrow that would make hiphop and I musical soul mates, forever connected..

 

“It was all a dream I used to read Word Up magazine” for you true hip hop fans and even the casual one’s you know that line can come from only one song Juicy. Kwane and I must of played that song a million times, but it just never got old to me, hearing his lyrics, what he had to say, and what he went through made me feel like I could relate to him, I could hear the emotion in his lyrics and it made me respect his story and want to support him so he could continue to succeed. By the time we went through every song in that album I was hooked, in my young mind I felt that if I could connect with biggie so easily through his music, and hear his story, then I should explore other artist, hear their stories and look for that same connection through their lyrics.

Before you knew it I was engulfed in this thing we call hiphop from 94-99. I must have just engulfed myself in hiphop, Kwane and I would take turns buying the newest albums, if we didn’t have the money to buy the albums we would just record the songs when they played on the radio. Hot 97 and The Source was the end all to be all at the time. Since we couldn’t afford to buy the source all of the time we would go to the library and read whatever issues they had there. It seemed like everyday I learned something new about hiphop, and everyday my connection with it grew stronger. Through some of the hardest times in my life, hip hop was always there for me. There were times when all I really had was hiphop.

I still love her, I always will its not something that I can just turn off. Hiphop is my first and last, the alpha and omega, she has changed in ways that I may never respect and understand, she may have lost her way, just like I did at times, but throughout the changes when things seemed grim she always fount a way to reach me. I almost turned my back on hiphop it just seemed like the love that we had before was gone, and that she had changed to much for me to accept, but like other relationships, the promise of improvement kept me here. So now that the relationship is once again on life support, I sit here and have to ask myself, do I still love her?

I remember the first time I really stepped away from hiphop, it was after I had heard a song which I felt just had no point (sipping on some sizzurp) after all of these years of hearing songs and lyrics that challenged me mentally and made me think about life and the culture that I lived in, hip hop was beginning to play to a whole new beat. Everyone was a killer, or extremely rich. I went from being able to listen to a hole album from intro to conclusion and loving every song, to hearing albums where the only thing I liked was the singles. I guess my love just got obsessed with the money, hiphop went from just trying to get people to hear her voice to shooting for every dollar possible. I felt as if I didn’t know her anymore.

When she first entered my world, her she defined the lives and creativity of so many artist, and now in my eyes at the least she was just a reflection of a good marketing plan and strong singles. There was a time when rappers were judged by their lyrical skill, content, delivery, and flow, but now a rappers skill is based on their record sale’s, you can be a rapper who never wrote your own song, who never spit a hot sixteen, and as long as you could make a catchy hook and sell records you were in there. A love that I once thought was only shared between myself and hiphop was now being whored around for everyone to get a taste of. Lyrical trains of no skill and content were being ran through her and it was ok, my love almost faded.