Listen, I know that my viewpoint when it comes to current day Hip Hop makes me seem like someones parent that can't let go of the "old days". Yes, I think that 90% of the people who consider themselves musical wordsmiths are nothing but modern day coons, flashing their watermelon grins to an accepting audience that is as clueless as Forrest Gump on Crystal Meth. Yes, I feel that most of the rappers who characterize themselves as "conscious" are just a few notches above being functioning illiterates, who couldn't speak articulately about a news item if you held a USA Today newspaper and a loaded 45 to their collective heads. And Yes, I distrust Hip Hop publications and most journalists, because like a house negro, they talk a good game but at the end of the day you can find their tongue up massa's ass literally and figuratively. But maybe I'm too harsh on Hip Hop, maybe I should adopt that horseshit "changing times" notion that every sub-par scribe this side of the equator tries to bombard us with? Maybe some of the artists that I give shit to like a colostomy bag, the artists that people I respect tend to like and I despise, maybe I'm just hating on that artist.. So over the past week or so I have given multiple listens throughout the catalogs of some artists that I think suck, but some of my peers feel are the "cats pajama's" so to speak. I gave it the old college try, tried to be objective as humanly possible and came to the conclusion that there artists still blow something fierce, like that superhero "Storm" at a fellatio contest. I just don't get why people would like these artists..
Cam'ron: When Cam'ron first came out with that "Horse and Carriage" shit I thought he was alright, but since then his music has been irritating like that pimple on your ass that you keep getting reminded of whenever you sit down. From the over-produced monstrosity of a track that he rhymes over, the elementary rhyme style that takes me back to Mrs. Wilson's 3rd grade class, not to mention a feeling of losing I.Q points whenever you see this cum-stain in an interview. Besides his lackluster rhymes and him being a Hip Hop abomination, what's up with dude's crew? Jewells Santana is one torrential downpour of wackness, and Jim Jones looks like some homeless guy that Cam'ron decided to give a contract to. Some people that I respect like these cats and for the life of me I don't know why, I don't know whether to end my friendships with these people or beat them upside the head with a copy of "Paid in Full" so they can regain some of their god given common sense.
Clipse: On one hand I have to give these guys love because they come from my area, and anytime someone can escape the Hampton Roads area to make a name for themselves I have to give them the proper respect. But on the other hands to call them average MC's seems like a compliment, their uber corny to me, and the image that they try to push upon their listeners that they are "drug dealers" just inspires giggles from your resident Throat-chopper.(yes, "other hands", I'm an Octopus motherfucker!!!!) I really don't think that these guys are the worst people to ever be behind a microphone, but some people online act like these motherfuckers are "A Tribe Called Quest" or some shit, slow down sugar-tits. I don't know these dudes personally but when I heard them say "I'm from Virginia, where ain't shit to do but cook" I just knew they were talking about their interest in the culinary arts and not cooking cocaine. Besides their drug history being as fake as silicone titties or my interest to cuddle post coitus, how long will the "we are drug dealers" charade go on??
Lil Wayne: No bullshit, I feel that Lil Wayne is this era's version of Robert Johnson, a dude who sold his soul to the devil where everyone thinks that this guys is good except for me. I'll give him credit, he seems very passionate about what he does, but then again I'm very passionate about shits that I take and I doubt anyone will buy a CD of that any time soon. I guess people aren't sticklers for lyrics the way that I am, but when I've analyzed the words that come out of Lil Wayne's mouth during one of his songs I always felt that Charlie Browns teacher had more to say. Like The Clipse, people that I respect like this Gremlin with a microphone and I just don't get. People please, enlighten me.
13 comments:
First let me say I love your blog. I found it through another black blog and I actually haven't been back to that one yet…
Alright, Cam’ron is wack I’ll give you that, but the guy has great production (IMHO) and he has some funny ass one-liners. When I download a Cam’ron joint I just want to be entertained. I’m not expecting any enlightening revelations from a guy with earrings the size of tennis balls and a pink mink, neither should you. He’s a clown in his own hood but makes decent enough music.
The Clipse are corny. The “I’m dope dealer” ploy has come full circle and now even the guys you picked on in school can pretend to be hard if they can string together rhyming couplets over the Neptune’s production. I’m with you on this one, they’re lame.
Now, Weezie F. Baby, I like the guy. He’s good. I’ll even say better than most, which I’m sure you’ll concede doesn’t exactly make him Rakim but he’s doing good right now. Have you heard the Dedication mixtapes? If not check them out, they’re available for free at a P2P near you. Maybe you’ll appreciate his ode to post-Katrina NOLA in “Georgia… Bush”.
I don’t necessarily want to hear “conscious” rap all of the time. Current rap is like that bad zombie movie you watch with your girlfriend, sometimes people just want to be entertained. This is entertainment, if you don’t like you can turn the channel. There are still guys like Lil’ Brother & Immortal Technique, Mos Def is still putting out material…
Enjoy & keep ranting
wow, its like you're in my mind or something. i feel the exact same way about camron and im from new york. hes just a nursery rhyme rapper. i think he should only appeal to 1st graders but for no apparent reason, he doesnt. my friends look at me like im crazy when i say i hate him and his crew but i really dont care i know hip hop and they're not it.
clipse?never appealed to me but im not in a rush too turn off a radio either...
lil wayne? hes a bit ok to me but i wish hed stop talkin bout how much cash and girls he got and rhyme about some good stuff. and his father needs to sit down...his "reign" is over
but ive written too much, good post...
I feel you about most of this gen's crappers. However, I have become somewhat of a fan of Cam'ron's, only for the fact that he and his Dipset crew really embody the essence of all things ig'nant with Hip Hop, past, present and dare I say future (Hip Hop is Dead?). Even his stupid ass ever present smirk on his face reads "I BE IG"NANT!!!" Now they are no N.W.A. (pre and post being blessed with Ice Cube's lyrical graces) but damn was N.W.A. the most ig'nant jigs of all time (at the time). Plus it helps that they had Dre's beats. It's crazy though, because I was listening to Niggaz4life yesterday and realized how dope Eazy E sounded (R.I.P.). It's all relative bro, even for my forty year old ass. That whole dipset shit reminds me of all that anti pop, punk shit like the Ramones and Sex Pistols from the '80s. It's all a pro/anti establishment mind fuck dude. Keep up the good work man.
Definitely cam lost a step since that second album but he used to spit some fire. His verse in banned from tv was pretty raw.
now Clipse are not the most lyrical cats in the game nor is there an album with more coke talk then lord willing. But Ill be danged if I dont consider it a near classic. If you want that coke talk they got it in spades. Not on the level of The Infamous but dang close.
now Lil Wayne is one of the few mcs who has actually gotten better. Even his verse on the chris brown song where he says Ima keep my jewels never know what you on Im akeep my shoes on learned it from a biggie song...classic. stop sleeping. now Baby is wack
I cant help you understand, cause they all are just pathetic to me. Im hard pressed to find a good mc these days. And I cant stand Jay-z lazy azz rhyming self (I just had to add that).. Just because he doesnt write isht down doesnt make him great, what the fcuk!!! Now Big on the other hand.. kept it interesting to say the least.
The most I can handle now are the instrumentals.
Makes life much easier
Toodles
Good post. I couldn't agree more.
@Jams-- Jay-Z doesn't write anything down because he's a biter. He doesn't write rhymes--he just spits shit somebody else wrote--usually lines buried deep in other MC's tracks so no one will notice. I hate that dude.
peep game:
http://maybeitshere.com/blog/2005/02/jay-z-im-not-writer-im-biter.html
Camron - His flow is annoying
Clipse- They could be good if they talked about other stuff than coke
Lil Wayne - He doesnt even write his own stuff. Ask Gillie da Kid. Gillie wrote Tha Carter and Tha Carter 2, Lil Wayne's best albums.
Jay-Z isnt even in my top 10.
I don't get it either HC, and agree with one who tries and i'd like to add that I sometimes feel that allot of rappers including JZ are basically not trying anymore. They are just mass producing nonsense
Yeeeah maan. I liked Cam'ron when he first dropped and had more weight on his body LOL. After getting with the ROC, I just couldnt vibe with him anymore.
He's lame now.
I feel the comment on how ol boy can't get into concious rap all the time & sometimes you just want to be entertained. THATS REAL.
I feel you on that maan.
I am a considered a concious emcee but then I got songs that don't mean nothing thats just funny you know. I can get into it as long as its not an overkill of profanity and misogyny. Thats why I like MURS (check him out) MURS 3:16....
Clipse- All I got to say is this. Proud that they are repping VA like they are but they front hard. Example grew up in va beach but filmed in norfolk to look hard. I can't respect that. Musically they have songs that I turned the radio up to though. The Funeral was my joint and I loved the video because Kelis's afro was hot!
Lil Wayne
I Read Your Blog Often, For Over A Year Now And Enjoy It, You Appear A Well Read, Learned Individual. That Being Said, I Noticed You Used The Word Coon, I Kind Of Grimaced. Why Has That And Jig Become The New School Cool? That Is Mad Offensive And Holds Extreme Racial History. I Read Blogs Where I Know There Are Whites And Uneducated Blacks Using It Like Thats Whats Up, But Its Dead Wrong And Its Usually Aimed At Southern Blacks To Dis A Small Group Of Southern Rappers But If You Peg One Person With That Hate You Peg Us All, And I Recall VA is A Southern State. Just My 2 Cents. Oh And The Funeral Clipse Were Those Dudes.
@Doc Flav: Hey Brother, I appreciate you checking out my blog and being a loyal reader, thank you so much. As for my usuage of the "coon" term, maybe you are right, it was possibly bad judgement on my part. I also understand where you are coming from about the offensive nature of said comment. I guess because of the nature of a lot of Hip Hop nowadays, artists willing to do whatever they have to do to get a buck, flashing their platinum encrusted smiles bringing me back to the watermelon grins and the blackface that mostly educated black folks had to endure in a racist Hollywood. Because the modern day minstrel show I see in a lot of Hip Hop nowadays, it brought me back to the term "cooning" that I heard from many older and proud black folks who used that term to decribe another black person trading in their integrity just for success.
Thank you for shouting back, Im glad you are wise enough to see where I was speaking from. I see your point as well, my issue just comes from some using not just the word itself, but as a blanket term and I know some are not people of color, makes of want to IM a throat chop quick and unexpected. lol! Good shit as always, keep it up, now off to read your latest entries.
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