The Epitome of The "S" Word

This is the age where the word “Swagg” or “Swagger” is SO overused and misused. The notion of just having swagger is overrated because so many people have the idea that it replaces having talent. It’s really been embedded into the minds of newer Hip Generations that “Swagg” is the end all to be a successful rapper. I even heard a radio promo a while back where they were looking for new artists and the actually formed their mouth to say “Everybody knows that the industry is based on swag”! Just to let the uninformed know, it’s not a replacement but an enhancement and a quick fix for a more serious underlying issue – Whackness! I will check into rehab after this for saying the S word so much. It’s out of hand and must be stopped. All it really means is to have style and presence.

Camp Lo is still one of my favorite duos of all time and had the S word and rhymes to pass around three or four times. I don’t know anybody who doesn’t remember the song that put them on the map “Luchini – This is it”. That came out and it was so awkward because it didn’t fit the mold for anything that was going on at the time. There was Wu Tang, Death Row, Bad Boy, Master P, Redman and others that made Hip Hop balanced. What made it awkward was their delivery of their subject matter. It’s heavy on inference and metaphors. To really understand some of the things that were going on, it was mandatory to listen a few times. There were back stories and heavy references to diamond heists and other hustles and scams hence, the album title “Uptown Saturday Night” which was a 70’s movie starring Bill Cosby and Sidney Portier who had to outhustle the big time hustlers in the city.

Bronx bred MC’s Sonny Cheeba and Geechi Suade shoot slick talk in its purest form. The wordplay these two cats have is superb and it’s matched with the swagger (in its intended meaning). It’s the kind of music you really want to listen to because there’s always a new jewel to find with every repeat. I listen to it and hear about weed selling, champagne popping, and endless women, but it’s presented in such a sophisticated way that you don’t sit back and think to yourself “I’m too old to be listening to this goofy isht”. It’s some cool isht. Beyond that, these cats spit hot fire like Dylan, Dylan, Dylan. I remember pulling up at a grocery store parking lot blasting this and the white guy who was parked next to me was getting into his car and just stopped. I got out and the first thing he said to me was, “It’s not just every day that you hear somebody ridin’ around bumpin’ Camp Lo”. I wasn’t surprised that he was white at all because of the four people that I’ve had a Camp Lo conversation with in the past few years, two of them were white. I was more surprised how random it was that somebody recognized it and made an extra effort to speak on it.

I don’t know the back story on the politics of their industry business dealings and why they have at least four studio albums that with the exception of “Uptown Saturday Night” received little to no mainstream buzz. A damn shame in my opinion because if we talk about Hip Hop duo’s of all time, they’re in the top 5 hands down if the criteria is based on solid material. They also released the “Short Eyes” EP in Japan that I heard about way after the fact. That’s how you get things done; send it overseas where people appreciate you. I say, when you get a chance look these cats up and YouTube them so you can get some spiritual enlightenment. All aspiring MC’s, take note and I’m not gonna tell you not to bite because I don’t think that this can be recreated, but I will say use this as how to guide to marry skill with the dreaded S word.

As always, TELL SOMEBODY and check the archives below this post. Friend me on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/Marcus.Obrien2 and Follow me on Twitter at @TheMarcusObrien

Cool Breeze-Whatcha Really Know About The Dirty South?

A few posts back, I posted a GRIMEY mixtape song by Acrite called “Get Em Up”. I’m almost positive that you don’t know who he is so look in the January archives to find the video link. But there was another song on the mixtape where he jacked Cool Breeze’s “Watch for the Hook”. The lyrics, CRAZY, but it made me think about Cool Breeze and how he had one of my favorite Highway CD’s of all time. See, I’m a guy that likes to see the land and get into the landscape and enjoy the sites and stop in on places I might not see any other time. I’m talking about places like Americus Georgia, Dothan Alabama, and Bradshaw Maryland. But anyway, I refuse to get on the highway without this CD because it’s just one of those albums that you just ride to.

Cool Breeze, Cool Cutta or Freddy Calhoun if you wanna go deep with it,is 1st generation Dungeon Family, (See the Archives for Aug 2, 2009) and an MC that is awkward in the sense that he doesn’t fit the mold of what most think a southern artist is. The first thing is that he didn’t curse on the album which is a rarity in Hip Hop. Maybe I had an edited version, but it was still hard as hell. There was dope slanging, car jackin’, plenty of slanguage and references that only people who are from ATL or who have been there for a while would understand and appreciate; However, the themes were universal because the dude is dope. The second thing is, my man is nice; he doesn't fall into the sometimes hypocritical view that is given of the South. You know how it goes, it rocks the club and everybody has a good time but at the same time “it’s garbage” conversation. Cool Breeze came from a camp of real rhymers and it shows.

His album, “East Point’s Greatest Hits” hit home for me because I lived in East Point for a while after I moved to Atlanta before moving to Jersey. East Point is technically a suburb of Atlanta but not really. Depending on where you’re at in the city, you may be across the street from the Atlanta or College Park city limits – both of which I once lived. From beginning to end, it hits hard. From the funky, funky, funky intro to the end, my man doesn’t just give you the average southern song that the industry feeds us; he gives classic ATL hustler/grown man talk with tight rhymes. This is the cat that actually coined the phrase “The Dirty South” on the Goodie Mob song “Dirty South” from the “Soul Food” album. My favorite song on the album besides “Watch for the Hook” and “Butter” would have to be “Hit Man” feat E.J. the Witchdoctor. The Organized Noize Production is superb like always. Yeah, It’s an old album but it’s definitely one that deserves at the very least a look on You Tube and a search on Amazon or I Tunes. Of course I’ve got a video, but do me a favor and TELL SOMEBODY about the site and follow me on Twitter at @TheMarcusObrien and friend me and like the page on Facebook.

See the archives below this article and comment by signing into Gmail or use “Anonymous”.

Say It Ain't So Kim!

I just want to believe that Lil' Kim is telling the truth about these "Black Friday" mixtape sales. I like Lil' Kim and she seems to be down to earth and respectable outside of this extremely strange issue that she has with Nicki Minaj that some people are calling an obsession. While listening to Power 105 New York, on air personality Charlamagne Tha God made the obsessive reference by saying that "when Nicki Minaj said 'which bitch you know made a million off a mixtape' that she decided to do that". He went on to talk about running with the "Pink Friday" theme and turning it into "Black Friday" which was entertaining as it flowed with his ribbing of Kim and could used to demonstrate obsessive behavior. The obsession theory could be thrown out there as one of those ridiculous conspiracy theories like the every successful entertainer is part of the Illuminati, or "there are 27 diamonds on his watch which is the date that an Egyptian ruler died so that means that he is claiming to be the ruler of a new dynasty" but there have been some instances that play into the banter. To Lil' Kim's defense, what she did makes sense in the spirit of Hip Hop Battles. Kim took the idea to rebuttal and refute.

Now that I've shed some of my thoughts, (and they are simply my thoughts) the point of this all is that Lil' Kim claimed to sell over 100,000 copies of the mixtape for $9.99 on Pay Pal in a little more than 24 hours. The price makes a difference because that is where the Nicki Minaj million dollar mixtape bitch reference enters the arena. The simple math of 100,000 x 10 = $1,000,000 gives fuel to the "obsession" fire because a parallel to Nicki is created with that. The disbelief of this feat takes a front row seat at the arena when a reported Pay Pal representative stated that one million dollars worth of transactions would trigger an audit by Pay Pal and shut down her site, and also that the site had only been visited only around 24,000 times. With that math every person who clicked in the site would have to purchase 4.16 albums. The representative did not specifically deny or back up Lil' Kim's claims, but if that information is accurate, it would be tough to believe that things happened the way her camp claims.

I have no personal stake in any of this, but it's Hip Hop, and I live for Hip Hop talk barbershop style and "this isht smells funkay". Yes, I meant Funkay with the ay cause that means a little more than funky. As I stated in previous articles about this, I don't understand why so much effort was put into this battle by Kim in the first place. But more than that, almost a year later with no significant progress, I don't know why she's still pursuing it. This would be the time to put out an album on her own accord while people are watching her and give her die hard fans something. To be real about it, "Romans Revenge" was a massacre. Kim's reply was solid and respectable, but not strong enough in my opinion. Right then is when she should have either let it be or maintained an onslaught all of the way until now; not sit back and then months later "here comes the mixtape". That's whack! She should have been killing her every Friday until "Black Friday" to put some pressure on. Nicki had no pressure and that's why no one has heard much from her about Kim since "Roman's Revenge. Again, I love Kim but, this is not a good move for a veteran and I hope that these numbers weren't skewed as the reports have been and that she just puts out some dope music.

As always, TELL SOMEBODY! Sign in with your Gmail account or leave a comment under "anonymous". Follow me on Twitter at @TheMarcusObrien

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Imjussayin

Imjussayin

A quick thought for the moment. Do you remember when people were hungry, you know starving? When everything wasn't so effortless? Every beat didn't take "about 5 minutes" to make and people did write rhymes. A time when you could hear in someone's voice that they meant what they said and it wasn't just cool to say, or people had their own style and it wasn't cool to completely sound like the next one because "that's the way the industry is movin' now"? What about when edgy was cool and it was alright to just spit and spit hard; not tough guy hard but be a beast without a dozen pauses in the rhyme like "Ah, Yeah, and other time wasting tactics. (See 6 ft. 7 by Wayne to see how to thoroughly GO IN). What about when cat's held the microphone like it meant something. You know, get in a stance like it was all out warfare instead of wobbling back and forth, and bouncing on one foot like a toddler about to piss on themselves. I quit downing people for what they do to make it in life; however, these are a few things that I'm tired of now. Right now is just a boring time in Hip Hop and it gives me too much of an opportunity to notice some of the ridiculous antics that go on. If this offends anyone I don't necessarily apologize, but it is a wake up call that I'm not the only one who feels this way so do something fly to prove us wrong. PEACE
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Lyrical Combat (Hip Hop)

Send something fly and I'll post it!