New Life

Lately, I've been feeling really good about the state of Hip Hop. Although there have been some posers, some extremely whack people attempting to make us believe that they are dope, and styles have changed. In the past couple of months, I'm elated to see that "The great dumb down" has been put to the side for the moment and allowed some good stuff to get through the barrier. Raekwon, Drake and Rick Ross have solid albums out, Nicki Minaj is strangling every track that breathes, Joel Ortiz is using other people's beats as a punching bag, Kanye West, Game, and TI are back and Fat Joe has the best work I've heard from him in years. I remember I saw an interview with Joe and he spoke about being successful in the industry and he talked about making the radio hits to stay relevant. It is true, but resulted in certain songs that I didn't particularly care for. With this album, some serious, serious, heat. This is what needs to played on the radio in my opinion. Please don't ever believe that every time I turn on the radio I want to hear some cat singing a duet or pouring his heart outm I've got Al B Sure cd's and XM Satellite for that. I suppose that since sales are down that people are formulating a new plan making the music that we've been missing for the past few years. Hopefully this is a pattern that will continue for a while. Feel free to comment and tell someone to tell someone.

Identity Crisis?

In Hip Hop, MC's have always portrayed and beefed up personnas, created monickers and alter egos, and compared themselves to a person that they admire. Ghostface, out of admiration and respect for Slick Rick broke out the crazy merch, Wallabee's and ego for milleniums. In the case of Rick Ross, I'm completely unsure of his motivation. When he first came out, I was turned off by the song "Hustling" because of the references to knowing "the real Noreaga". The whole song was over the top, but I figured that maybe he is painting the picture of someone in that position. At the time, there was a reported 1 million paid to drug kingpen Freeway Ricky Ross by the rapper Rick Ross for the use of the name. Totally respectful and honorable if you ask me. The ironic thing is that Freeway Ricky is now suing rapper Rick for the use of his name and likeness. I've stated previously that I didn't care for his music much before, but in the past two years or so, he has stepped his game up tremendously and I actually like the guy's music. I just want to know if my man his having an identity crisis. The references to thinking he's Scarface, Al Pacino, and more recently drug Kingpen Big Meech of BMF fame and Ex leader of the Gangster Deciples Nation Larry Hoover (which by the way is my jam) are entertaining and hilarious, but make me curious again. Is this all for entertainment purposes or is he for real about portraying himself as some type of street kingpen. After unecessarily hiding the fact that he was a Correctional 0fficer, this is getting to be a bit strange. I love my fair share of drug music because of the life experiences of my peers, and I understand the references to these street heroes that the street deciples look up to because hearing those names in the music that you listen to is the ultimate motivation. Again, I just want to know if his motivation is to tell the story poetically, or is it a true identity crisis. As always, you're feed back is welcome and tell somebody.