Respect...

Where Respect is Due
written by K Billy

I don’t mind 4 Bars at all. Yes, his opinions get lots of discussion on the message boards here, but usually for good reason. His post today was just as brave as Monday’s and while they – both posts – represent two different schools of thought, one can’t deny the relevancy of both, especially considering the climate of today’s hip-hop.

That being said, it’s tough to vouch for everything that comes out of the south. Much of it represents lots of things that hip-hop, let’s call them, “purists” abhor in their music and it’s been that way for a while (look up “Uncle Luke,” for example). Lots of it gets plenty of radio spins because people like to party, but one can’t ignore the gems present as well and it must serve to remind us of why the south cannot be forgotten in the foundation of hip-hop.

I just had the pleasure of watching a video for the Bun B ensemble track “You’re Everything.” It is, at once, and ode to the hometowns of the rappers present on the track (Rick Ross, 8-Ball, MJG and David Banner make appearances) and a nod at what they believe the south truly represents: a strong familial quality and to deep rooted pride in the strength of togetherness.

The soul-drenched chorus is a sonic feast (the sample is classic Jodeci track: “Cry For You.” Heavy!) and really lends itself to the meaning of the track. I have to take a minute to talk about that choice. Mr. Lee pulls out a classic ballad about longing, love and an unrestrained passion for the supposed female object of the song and flips it to represent the same thing, but about the South; an inspired choice, to be sure.

Bun B starts the song off with a verbal lashing to those who don’t give the bottom of the map its due in the hip-hop landscape and proceeds to do his absolute best to murder the Mr. Lee-produced offering and he succeeds. Launching himself into a dissertation on what the “Dirty South” really is, Bun B rhymes:

15s bammin’
and the base keep kickin/Cadillac do slammin’
on dem 4-4’s tippin/We ain't trippin just flippin’/these haters dip when they see us (when they see us)/Cause they can neva’ beat us, best us, or be us.

Truly makes me long for the days of songs like Biggie and Jay’s “Brooklyn’s Finest.” Hell, even “Déjà Vu (Uptown Baby)” from Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz, would do. I say that because just from the way that Bun feels his city, Port Arthur, Texas, you can understand his passion with his region, a passion that I’m sure all of us has felt at one point or another. It doesn’t end there, however, because Officer Rick Ross smothers the cut as well with his molassess-like baritone.

The highlights are in the bars that David Banner and the 8-Ball, MJG tandem serve. While Mr. Bannes growls:

Mississippi's my home/’Til I'm dead and I'm gone/I know I put it on my back, held dat bitch up alone/With no label b-backin’/Pride split into fractions

The Memphis duo give their own monologues that invoke that love and dignity that the south really does reperesent. 8-Ball’s verse is not so much a verse as it is a nod at ever southern artist that has made a significant mark in the game as we know it: UGK, OutKast, the Geto Boys, Lil Wayne, T.I. Three 6, So So Def and Jermaine Dupri, Chamillionaire, Rap-A-Lot records; the list goes on and on and MJG then throws himself right in with a dirty south grammar/history lesson :

Everything that I been raised to love/The wheels that my grandmamma gave to us/ racial profilin’, police harass are regular days to us/You say door, we say do’
You say four, we say fo’/
You say whore, we say ho’
You want more, but we want mo’

The dialogue will never end between the northerners and southerners over who is doing more and why the other isn’t and it’s a good dialogue. What all us fathful listners must not forget to do is appreciate all the good about what hip-hop is and what it’s become: a multi-coastal, multi-lingual (if you can understand 100% of southern slang and you’re not from there, then kudos to you), beast of a phenomenon. Songs like this one remind me of how much good does come out of the area below the Mason Dixon.

Sometimes you have to listen just a little harder to appreciate it.

{I thought I would throw on the Jodeci sample as well, for good measure.}