abouthiphop

Like rappers, there are a plethora of hip-hop producers out there.  If you were to ask the average hip-hop head to name off some of the best producers hip-hop has ever had, they would be less than average if they were to leave out the Neptunes….or if they didn’t say Pharell.

These dudes have been making HITS for a hot minute!  Some of the best songs have been produced by the Neptunes.  Before them, no one produced songs like them. After them, no one produces songs like them.  Some try, but they don’t quite get it right.  So this is just a recognition of sorts, to some of the best producers that Hip-Hop has EVER had.

Young Jeezy is one of the few rap artists that can rap about gangsta shit, and it’s still tight!  In fact he’s the hardest out right now!  Some others do alright, but they don’t do it like my man Jeezy.  Anyway, he made this song My President.  He released it way before our current President was even elected.  Now had Barak Obama not been elected, then he would’ve been talkin’ about his presidential rollie or something!  This is one of the beautiful things about Hip-Hop that I love, and I know others love too!  We predict the future!  Good lookin’ out on the video too!

Most of us know JadaKiss, Sheek Louch, & Styles P. and that they got their start under P.Diddy’s Bad Boy label, back while Biggie was still around.  Due to some unfortunate difference, they separated from the Bad Boy label.  The Lox no longer wanted to be on Diddy’s lablel, so Diddy put a choke hold on the group financially.

Because of that, The Lox only released 2 total albums as a group.  Each member has done several of their own solo projects.  Their Ruff Ryders release, We Are The Streets, was one of the best albums released that year and it seemed as though the Lox were ready to get that continuous spotlight. 

The point I really want to make here is that had P. Diddy let go of his choke hold on the Lox, Hip-Hop might sound a little different than it has over the past 7 years or so.  I really believe that they would have some real influence in the rap game.  They were on their way…..Too bad that money always has to ruin things

 I have agreed that it is necessary for Hip-Hop heads to be aware of the billboard chart and how the top 5 rappers are doing on it.  Last weeks list has the same artists as this weeks list with just a small fluctuation in position.  Country artist Taylor Swift and R&B Queen Beyonce have been dominating the #1 and #2 spots on the charts for the past few weeks, so it doesn’t look like we will have anyone at #1 for a hot minute.  With that said, here are our top 5 Billboard charting rappers for this week… 

# 41 Plies - Da REAList

# 25 Ludacris - Theater of the Mind

# 23 Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III

# 17 T.I. - Paper Trail

# 5 Kanye West - 808’s and Heartbreak

 Kanye and Luda, are the only 2 that have held their positions!

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There really is no question with this battle.  Freeway was trying to win with his endurance, but not one of the verses he spit had a chance. 

The first time I saw this, I was like whoa!  This is Hip-Hop in it’s purest form. A head to head battle. No Beat! No idots trying to make something more of the situation. Just two MC’s going at it. When rappers got problems with each other, unless it’s real beef, should settle their differences this way.  It would be a fair and square way of settling things.

Canibus might be a good opponent for Cassidy. It would have to be a rapper with a bigger vocabulary or one that is on Cassidy’s level with the punchline flippin’. They never went at it in song as far as we know.  There really isn’t a reason to after this one though…

In the past few years, music fans have been much more accepting of their favorite artists going moving into other forms of entertainment.  In Hip-Hop, if we go back 12 years and think about rappers who were in movies and TV show’s, there are only a hand full of rappers who’s record sales did not suffer due to their involvment with TV and Film. Rappers like Tupac Shakur, LL Cool J, and Ice Cube seem to have been the only rappers that could still sell after showing their acting skills. Nowadays, it’s a frenzy!  Rappers are in movies, TV sit-coms, Reality TV shows…it’s crazy!  One of the BEST on-screen rappers of all time is Snoop Dogg.  If Uncle Snoop wasn’t a rap artist, he could very well be a comedian!  His show Fatherhood is some of the best TV I’ve seen as of late.  I was skeptical at first, but have been hooked ever since I got to sit down and watch a full episode.  Snoop, when you retire from rap, please continue to bless us with your on screen presence. Thanks!

I was going to title this post, “Rappers in the Top 50 of Billboard” but there are only 5 of them so I just name it Top 5 Rappers.  Most Hip-Hop fans don’t keep up with Billboard.  I mean, it just hasn’t meant much to us over the years.  Rap artists pay very close attention to it, as it is a reflection of how many records they’re selling.  For an artist to be in the top 50 of this list, means that they’re doing pretty good, but if you follow Billboard at all, you know that positions change rapidly from week to week. So with out delaying your time any further, here are the only 5 rappers in Billboards top 50.

# 32 Plies - Da REAList

# 25 Ludacris - Theater of the Mind

# 22 Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III

# 13 T.I. - Paper Trail

# 5  Kanye West - 808’s and Heartbreak

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I know that there are plenty of real street dudes in Hip-Hop….

I also know that there are a bunch of phonies!  Without getting into it too much…Hip-Hop is starving for something different.  I mean, rappers don’t have to, and shouldn’t try to be what they are not.  Look at Eminem, who is one of the best!  Pharell…they didn’t come out and follow suit 100%. You don’t have to either!

As long as you make good music, you will have an audience!  You do have to make your efforts to maximize revenue, but other than that, it’s really not that hard to develop a following.  Especially with the internet and places like SoundClick.com, Myspace.com, and Reverbnation.com. So….

Basically, do you!  It is the only thing that will help you in the long run…..

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There are a number of battles that have occured throughout Hip-Hop whose rightful winners haven’t been properly crowned.  The most obvious of these battles is the one that happened between LL Cool J and Canibus. 

It all started as a misunderstanding from some rhyme Canibus spit about borrowing the mic that is tattooed on LL’s arm. LL spit a rhyme about Canibus in the same song, and even though Canibus changed his verse, LL didn’t change his.  As any rapper would do, Canibus had to defend himself which he did very well.  So from “4,3,2,1″ to “The Ripper Strikes Back” LL’s status in Hip-Hop kind of made people disregard whatever Canibus came out with.  Canibus’ material was better than LL’s if you go back and review it now.  We all like our favorite contender to go out undefeated, but this is one battle that LL Cool J lost.  The only one…but one nonetheless!!

Now it makes sense, but it just isn’t right that the industry hasn’t shined more light on the Midwest Hip-Hop scene.  Rappers in Chicago in particular.  I mean it is the 3rd biggest city in the country. Chicago is really like the capitol of the Midwest.

See, artists in Chi-town don’t get as far without being on the in another part of the country. It’s true!  Twista is one of the best rappers of all time and he still isn’t as popular as he should be. 

Common has been in the rap game for a while.  Twista has as well….

Neither of them have got as popular as they could have.  You could probably say that Kanye West is an exception, but he came up under Dame Dash, Jay-Z, Rocafella.   Meaning that he didn’t come up straight from Chicago like say, Twista.  There are other notable, Chi-town rappers who were putting it down before today. Once the Midwest gets their time to shine is when the rap game will change.  The Midwest sound is the future of Hip-Hop.  How long that will take to come is the only thing that can’t really be determined. 

Pretty much all rappers and rap fans respect a rapper that can use huge words in their rhyming vocabulary.  Their use of words sort of sets them on a different level as far as talent goes.  But something I’m wondering is why that doesn’t convert into popularity? 

Rap music fans are not loyal….There are us dedicated rap music fans, then there are those who just grab what’s hot on the radio…When is the last time we got to hear some one in this category of hip-hop get consistent spins on the radio?

One of the obvious reason’s that vocabulary rich rappers get the respect without the popularity is because…..

Many, respect the talent and think it is amazing, but have a difficult time understanding what a rapper is saying.  Typically if a person can’t understand what they’re listening too they won’t listen for long.  I mean….we’ve seen rappers like Common spit a more commercial rhyme for the radio and features for popularity’s sake.  Not that there is anything wrong with that in any way. Common still gets the respect and he’s got the popularity as well.

Most people don’t even know these two had a battle.  Mostly because it wasn’t as serious and drawn out as other battles have been.  Also because this was probably the easiest battle Jay-Z ever won in his whole career.

Now some make think that it’s pretty odd, due to the fact that 50 Cent blazes every MC he goes up against (even though he may not always win the battle), but it’s true….50 Cent lost this battle as if he was stepped on by a 50 foot Giant.

Bank when 50 was still unknown by most of the world, he took shots at Jay-Z as well as other artists to try to get everyone’s attention.  The song was called, “How to Rob”……….His line for Jigga went, ” Jigga, what did ya sell, like 4 mill/ You got somethin’ to live for/ Don’t make a nigga send 4 thru dat Bently coupe door/”

Then at summer jam, Jay-Z saw 50 Cent back stage and they had a conversation.  Jay-Z told 50 Cent that he didn’t like that record, then smiled and told him that he loved the record!  Jay-Z told him the record was hot, but he had to spank 50 for that.  So 50 Cent was like, Aiight! 

During Jay-Z’s performance, he killed 50 Cent with one line that basically won the battle.  “I’m about dollars, what the f–k is 50 cents!”   BATTLE OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

50 did try to come back on a mixtape using that “Guess Who’s Back” beat, but it was too late!

Music in general is all about painting a picture with words.  This is why they call rappers, singers, and rockers, artists.  Their art is painting visual pictures that match the mood of the music in their backgrounds….

In Hip-Hop, there have been some great artists!  Nowadays they aren’t as frequent as they used to be.  Rappers are too concerned nowadays with showing their strengths instead of their insecurities.  But there are still some great creative artists in the rap game right now. 

Kanye West is a very notable artist and narrarator in his music.  NaS is a another great narrarator and story teller in the world of Hip-Hop!  Slick Rick was one.  Snoop Dogg is great. 

This is really what I love about music…The ability to be able to put on some headphones, close your eyes and get lost in the world of whatever is on your mp3 player!

Ok….

So am I the only one who thought that this song was more comedy than serious?  I mean, it’s no secret that rappers and police have not had such a good relationship throughout time.  When I first heard this song, it seemed more like Lil Wayne is mocking the police.

Then, the more and more I listened to it, the more serious I realized he was trying to be here, but even still….

The song is hilarious!  I think the fact that he even did a video to the song made it even more funny to me! 

Like a Cop Car!!  LMAO!

At any rate, here is the video, if you haven’t seen it yet…..

Glad to see that we are keeping up efforts to use other avenues to keep hip-hop in front of peoples faces….

And what better way than a movie about one of the best that EVER blessed the mic, Notorious B.I.G.  I admire his flow style which hasn’t been able to be duplicated, also his humbleness.  I mean, what rapper do you know that would ever just let someone slander them and their people 100,000 different ways, and not say nothing about it?  This by no means showed any weaknesses in Biggie.  If anything, it showed power!  He didn’t take the easy way out….

Regardless of all that though, BIGGIE IS ONE OF THE GREATEST RAPPERS OF ALL TIME, and he wasn’t a malicious human being.  He was extremely intelligent, and I am just glad that I had the opportunity to be a fan of his before all of the drama between him and Tupac, and before he passed away!

Can’t wait to see this movie…..But really I’m a DVD junkie, so I can’t wait to add it to my huge collection of hip-hop related DVD’s ya dig!  Anyway, everyone knows that to me, the Greatest Rapper of All Times is Tupac, but I need to give credit where it is due!  R.I.P. to the late Great Biggie Smalls!

Commercial Hip-hop used to be about something.

Remember the “Fight The Power” Days?  Some of you are probably to young to remember that.  Those of you who are young, don’t have a problem with all these rap songs about dances and stuff, because that’s what you are growing up with and that is what you can relate to. 

Us older rap fans who have been around for more than 10 years, have seen the various changes that Hip-Hop has gone through and when it comes to commercial rap, even though the beats are still good, the content is garbage.  For those who think I’m just talking about gangster rap, you’re wrong, because we get tired of all these rappers saying the same thing too! For nearly 20 years all gangster rappers have been saying pretty much the same thing. Pretty pathetic!!!

 Music, especially hip-hop is about creativity. No genre of music exercises the different elements of the english language like rappers do….or are suppose to. A rap artist is suppose to be a wordsmith, regardless if they are recording something for the radio or for an underground mixtape. All album sales have been suffering but hip-hop record sales have declined moreso because people get tired of hearing the same crap!

Rap artists, executives, producers, A&R people….please do something about this!

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Some people think that the underground is the best place to find Hip-Hop music in its purest form, and I really have to agree.

Commercial rap is watered down overall, with the exception of a few signed artists out there.  There are 2 kinds of artists in the underground…those who are just playing with music as a hobby, and those who are really trying to go somewhere with their music. Here, we would never mention a rapper that isn’t serious about their music.

In part two of the Best Unsigned Rap Artist of 2009, we want to talk about the self-proclaimed Incredible Hulk of Rap…Kaution.

Kaution is a young rapper based out of Las Vegas, Nv and let me tell you, homie’s style is bonkers.

This guy raps with lots of passion like the late 2 Pac with the punchlines of Cassidy.  If this guy keeps doing what he is doing, he will get signed no doubt about it. We came across his myspace page

  www.myspace.com/delvonrandle2yahoocom  

CHECK OUT HIS MUSIC AND TELL US WHAT YOU THINK!

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So I was just thinking about fair battles across the board of Hip-Hop and I was thinking of some good matchups that would probably never occur but would be awesome to see.

Obviously Common and Talib Kweli have similar styles and they are both supreme lyricists in Hip-Hop.  It’s really hard to say who would win this one because both of their styles are so versatile.  I’ve heard them both go hard, go lyric for lyric, be concious, rap fast, so on and so forth.  Common has obviously been around a lot longer than Kweli but this would be a battle for the ages….as long as it stayed a friendly battle.  We all know about Common’s not so friendly battle against Ice Cube, Mack 10, and WC, so we know he has it in him to go that route.  But it would be funny to see these two beefin’ when we know what kind of artist they are, and it’s not gangsta!

So taking everything into consideration like experience, versatility, track record, lyricism, delivery, etc. etc….

We’re going to have to say that the winner of this battle would be Common by split decision!

So, the real money in hip-hop is made by the music producers aka the beat makers! 

Almost everyone will agree, even people who don’t listen to hip-hop, that hip-hop has the best beats.  I guess it’s just something that made hip-hop different from the get go….I mean, every different genre of music has its own unique musical sound, but NO other genre emphasizes the music part, the way hip-hop does.

Thinking about that, I guess it makes since that people who listen to other types of music don’t like hip-hop because they don’t pay attention to the beat more than they do what a person is saying over the beat.

Anyways, it’s crazy that some of these guys are making $10,000 + per beat, and it only takes them 5-15 minutes to make a beat…..Can you say, “Less work - More Cash!” 

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Many lovers of music hate rap because they cannot relate to what a rapper is saying, but when they realize how talented these artists really are, they are in Awe! What people can’t understand about rappers is how quick their minds are.

It may take a whole day for a singer to record a song, where as a rapper will come up with the idea, the beat, and record his lyrics, all within 15 minutes.

NOT to discredit the even more talented sober rappers, but most of these artists are able to do what they do because of the drugs they take on a daily basis. I’m not talking about no vicodin or lower-tabs, I’m talking about marijuana, exstacy, cocaine, barre……..

Rappers go into the studio zooted, or they go there and get zooted while they’re there. If you took the drugs away from many of these guys, they wouldn’t be able to function musically! I don’t condone drug use…I don’t knock it either, but is it fair that Joe Blow couldn’t get any radio spins because soberly he doesn’t have the same swagger as Blow Joe who is on his way to rehab?
Industry heads don’t care if a person is killing himself or if they are killing other people as long as the records are selling.