First off, watch both videos and give a listen before you read the rest of this…
Part I
Part II
Done watching? Yeah, I’m still laughing my ass off as well. Does Lil Bow Wow really expect people to believe that he’s “hard” even though we’ve watched him grow up in front of our eyes? He’s been a successful artist since he was prepubescent and has the hit list and bank account to prove it.But somehow in the mean streets of Hollywood, on the set with Cedric the Entertainer or on tour with B2K and Marques Houston he learned to be tough and aggressive. WHO DOES THIS ‘Lil’ MF THINK HE’S FOOLING!?! And I hate to waste so many words on a character such as Lil Bow Wow (‘Shad’ is so gangsta) but he’s a microcosm of the problem.
Then there is Mr. Carter “harder than them other boys…” who apparently is a murderer on several accounts and will do it again if you let him…on wax. Really, who do these mfs think they’re fooling? Sadly, our youth; I’ve had two different conversations with teens and college students who truly believe that these rappers who claim to tote “birds” and ‘slang that ye’ aren’t f’n cartoon characters. I’m appalled and disappointed, cause honestly, Lil’ Wayne is a very talented rapper and Lil Bow Wow is also a young man with a lot of musical potential; Sadly, though, they’ve been infused with the “-er” gene as well or at least caught a case of it. I’m speechless, ya’ll got anything for me in terms of consolation, cause I can’t even listen to Lil Wayne records anymore without getting legit pissed off when he says some ‘murderous’ shit. I just wish Pimp C was still here to call these ‘Lil’ Characters out. R.I.P. Sweet Jones, BEEEEEEEITCH…
--Four Bars
14 comments:
Pimp C be a trill ni99a/polo, f that hilfiger...
R.I.P...
Yeah guys like Lil' Wayne kill me with that stuff. It's one thing to do it in a rhyme, that you can cover up as entertainment, its a completely different thing to do it in a formal interview. Say he were to get into "Cassidy-type" trouble, what is his defense going to be? "I don't really kill people, I know what i said in Vibe and XXL and The Source but I didn't do it."
With Bow Wow, I gotta have dude's back. If that were Jeezy or 50, people wouldn't have said anything about him getting upset and wildin' on dudes but because he's (Lil') Bow Wow, he will never get taken seriously. Now its hard for me to feel bad for anyone with that kind of money but it must be tough working on your craft and knowing that you will never receive the same type of respect as your contemporaries simply because you started your career when you were 12 instead of 18 and don't rap about "killin' n***as and movin' weight".
... Now having said that, OMG that was funny. I loved how he wanted to set it on Toure (this is real talk!) and then told his body guards to "handle that", classic!
Man have i been impatiently waiting to speak on this topic. First off I'm gonna address Bow Wow, who is definitely going through an identity crisis. We definitely know your history, watch you grow up the same fashion we watched Jaleel White (Urkel). This tough street image is not you,and to top it off no real man, or real thug, walks out of a situation to come back because your body gaurds are present. I personally developed a sorta hate for Bow Wow after watching this. And for him to get madd over something Omarion brushed off shows maturity. Dudes like Bow Wow look up to TI try to talk like them and all that, i know he writes your new rhymes (Hence the "NEW" image) but you are not him. Bow wow was never a rapper to me. He was a good entertainer who had a great memory because if we say he was a good rapper then we are saying JD is a great rapper. Now some respect Bow Wow for tryna man up and write his own rhymes. But I don't because he still doesn't write all of his rhymes. Personally if Bow wow was a Black Belt and won UFC for 4 straight years I would never believe in his "Gangter". Like Jay said "We don't believe you, you need more people".
And Wayne.. man that's pure ignorance. First off he grew up before our eyes as well, and even his homies said he wasn't built like that. And if you are a murderer as you say, why broadcast it to everyone. I don't care about your history im listening to your lyrics. And you shot yourself in front of a mirror so i really don't believe you. Not too many people i know join gangs when they are grown men. Truthfully alot of the dudes that are really succesful in the industry that are affiliated (Other than West Coast rappers), they are not out glamourizing that lifestyle.(ie Jay-z, Puff)Idiots like wayne are the reason our youth do the dumb stuff they do.. It's easy now a days to pick up a gun and Kill cuz thats what weezy said. But growing up i was taught how to fight by all the OG's around my way. And true OG rappers (MOP) told me how they was stomping dudes out and shooting the hands instead of a gun. People used to be like "Imma snuff him when i see him", not "Imma pop him". Come on you don't have to be a conscious rapper to be socially conscious and responsible for what you are saying and the image you portray to the youth that are so easily influenced. One more thing when these rappers say I ain't a role model it's the parents job, most of these idiots are parents, and Wayne stays with a cup of lean, smoked out and talking reckless about women. And I know i see hiom with his daughter everywhere. Am I right.. These Dudes need to grow up. But I do roch The Carter II hard LOL
"I Believe that the fans are more to blame for the downfall of Hip-Hop than the artists."
Are we indirectly encouraging this kind of reckless behavior if we all bought the Carter 2, downloaded his mixtapes and hype the release of the Carter 3? Is it possible that Wayne feels that keeping this "super-gangster" image is some how the right way to go if it enhances his album sales?
I believe we are all at fault if we hate how he his ruining the reputation of young black males but then rewarding him by giving him our $15. I'm not saying that i have the answer because i'm definitely part of the problem as well.
But we can't have it both ways, we cant continue to "support" this behavior, and then call Bill O'Reilly a bigot when he rips on Hip-Hop. I mean could you imagine what he would do with that audio?
I don't have the answer but we definitely need to work on a solution
We are completely hypocritical when we sit here and rip on Lil Wayne but LOL about still supporting his record sales. When I first read believe I really disagreed that the "fans are more to blame for the downfall of hip-hop" but this is a perfect illustration of how that is possible. It's like calling R.Kelly a sick molestor but being the first to bump "Go Getter," singing along with the hook. People try to use powerlessness as a copp out for not taking action. The reality is though, we DO have the power to change this. Like JusHH said, I don't have the answer either. But even just a forum such as this is working towards something cuz its gives us the oppotunity to bring problems like this to light. THIS is definitely a problem...I have NO words for that Bow Wow sh**
I agree that the fans are part of the problem... but the point is there is a major difference between someone who is looked up to by the youth telling a story given their experiences and what they've seen in there environment, but also giving consequences and other routes to go. And then there is the person looked upon as Cool that tells the youth that they still slingin still doin XYZ when there aint no way possible they can do that and still make so many songs.. The Carter II if you listen didn't have messages per se but it had music that wasn't boastin about violence but was still good music.. Once that was a success that's where the garbage rap came in to play for wayne...most of us talking are 25 plus and support good music.. We are educated people and had positive people to look up to even in negative circumstances. We understand the difference and have enough knowledge to read thru lines..Hence this site. My personal opinion is these up and coming rappers make music like Joe camel ads. They promote negativity and use it to lure in the youth who will pay allowance money for this than adults who know the true value of a money and will buy something for the house than a CD if its not up to par....
Anyone who's seen Brown Sugar knows the reference Ren and Ten, the Hip Hop Dalmatians. Bow Wow gets as much respect as a gangster as these dudes get as real emcees. He's right up there with the p**** wet rhymes of Foxy and Kim in my opinion. And that's cool if that's what he do, cuz LL never had a problem rhyming about ladies and needing love. But Bow Wow should never compare numbers with Jay on any level, no matter how many concert halls he sold out that year. Cuz quite honestly he'll be remembered by most for his role in "Like Mike" before anybody mentions his latest album. And what I love the most is the ambivalent desire to get played on MTV and be on TRL, yet still try to portray this image of a hard dude. Bow Wow, if you want to beat down the doors of 1515 Broadway in Times Square, just know that its worlds away from Soundview. So when dudes in Far Rockaway and Pink Houses can't feel you it's within good reason. And its definitely a bias based on the fact that he made his debut damn near in diapers. But its a reality he has to deal with. And we all know he's not hard because we saw him grow up. So he has to take the responsibility and be mature enough to accept it and move forward from there.
"these up and coming rappers make music like Joe camel ads"
I couldnt agree with this more!
Oh and I actually liked that song he did with Ciara cuz it was just a cool song to listen to, plain and simple. THAT gets respect, even if it doesn't get played on TRL.
Man that song with ciara was fire to me, I aint even gonna front.. I was boppin to it all day...
But What Bow Wow really needs to understand is that everybody isn't AI, meaning everybody can't crossover.. He needs to stay in his lane... but to say he wants TRL and then try to thug out his image just tells me has no clue what's goin on and who he is..
I'm not sure how i got to the point in my life where i'm defending (Lil') Bow Wow but here it goes.
I don't think Bow is trying to be something he's not. to me he sounds like any 20 year old would sound if they got pissed off about something. Plus i think he's got a complex that has been developed over the last 5 years of hearing people completely disrespect him. How many rappers have dissed Bow Wow to make a punchline pop? I mean 50 said he got "guns the size of Lil' Bow Wow." That's gotta do something to your mental man.
So i'm not gonna get on him for wanting to beef w/ Toure over his line of questioning because if Toure was interviewing someone else, he wouldn't have thought of doing it.
Plus I think Bow Wow knows his lane and his music really isn't that bad. (I had to review it for another website that i used to write for) I think he's gotten to the point where he's stereotyped by so many people and they won't let him out of his box. He's in a bad spot as an artist but he's kinda rich so he'll be aiight in the end. (lol)
He is pretty rich... he should leave rap alone and do movies... I kinda liked roll bounce...Plus he's still at that age he can play a high school kid...
haha i love the convo...
ps i still havent purchased a lil wayne cd to this day
A lot of these guys are just playing to an image that generates the highest soundscan numbers. It's very upsetting that these guys have to rely on fabricated character traits thought up, in many situations, by the people who avoided those neighborhoods their whole lives, in order to be well-received in the larger hip-hop fandom. We are going in circles and it's very naive to place the onus on one half of the scale. This is an all-encompassing responsibility that either we all must accept or deal with and ignore.
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