No one on the corner got...

Swagger like Puff??
written by D.O.T

In today's declining rap game "swagger" has taken over lyricism. Before you had to either be a dope MC or lyricist to be considered one of the best. On the new T.I. track "Swagger" P. Diddy was left out. The funny part is I didn't even notice. I'm sure you didn't either! Anyways, Diddy himself didn't hesitate to let the public know he wasn't feeling' the fact that he was left off of the track. Besides the gunshots and Diddy saying bitch and motherF#$*#$ too many times for me to count, I'm not too surprised by Diddy's rendition. Lol.

I wonder if Diddy is directly sending shots at the artists on the original "Swagger" track or just everyone in the industry. Nonetheless Diddy's "Swagger like Puff" is extremely entertaining to me. Diddy had so much time on his hands that he made 2 versions of his video. One in the studio, then one riding around in his jeep! (immediately after leaving the studio)

Either way, I actually agree with Puff. No one FROM the corner has a swagger like Puff. You already know that no one ON the corner has a swagger like Puff, or any other rapper cause if they did they would be OFF the corner! I was talking with some friends about who has more money, Diddy or Jay? We couldn't come to an agreement…Anyone have the answer???

Check out the video and you be the judge...

"They see me in the streets they be like yo he..."

Nice
written by JusHH

“Switch” had my boy saying this about Lupe.

I said this when I heard Canibus rip “Beasts from the East”.

When I heard Illmatic for the first time I proclaimed this about Nas.

I said this about Big L after “MVP” dropped.

Lil’ Wayne, Eminem and Common have all been given this title.

Most recently, I was in the whip listening to Wale’s mixtape and in my New York vernacular I said, “son, dude is nice.”

Remember being nice? For those that are unfamiliar, if a rapper is considered “nice”, he or she has shown exceptional lyrical skill. While nice is not limited to rappers – Lebron James is nice on the court – we will just talk about this in Hip-Hop terms. It’s funny, with all of the phrases and words that have lived and died, Nice somehow kept its magic. Calling a rapper nice today, means exactly what it did 15 years ago. The word never got overused and I never really saw it get applied to rappers that didn’t deserve it. Perhaps, being called nice is the highest remaining compliment that a rapper can receive.

There was a time where being nice was the only pre-requisite for success. This is before the marketing, ringtones and politics that go on today. When a new rapper came onto the scene, people only cared about one thing, “is he nice?” That time period spoke to purity in the game that I feel is lacking today. I know I get labeled as a “dinosaur” when I start talking like this but I believe that your status as an emcee should be based on some kind of meritocracy. I’m not talking about any financial or SoundScan status. Joell Ortiz wouldn’t have went triple-platinum in ’94 either but at least back then he would have gotten his proper respect as a talented emcee rather than just some dude who can’t get a hit club record. There used to be a higher value placed on pure talent. No one expects Joell to get more airplay than that new Jeezy anymore than they expected Tribe to get more spins than Hammer. The difference was Tribe still got on the radio whereas Joell is limited to random internet streams and downloads. We now live in a world where your swagger or material accomplishments have trumped your skills on the mic. Just being nice on the mic isn’t enough anymore for a person to want to hear your music. You need an image. You need a gimmick. You need an arrest record.

So yeah, the demand for being nice may have changed but what it means to be nice and what it takes to be called it hasn’t. And because of this exclusivity, you’ll notice that the nice one’s never truly go away. It’s why people will still discuss Joe Budden’s potential comeback and never utter the name of Young Dro. It’s why The Roots still get shows till this day but Mike Jones probably couldn’t sell out his High School gym. See when you’re known for an image or gimmick, as soon as it wears out - people leave. As soon as someone else comes with a better image or gimmick – people leave. But when you are nice, you will always have fans. You will always have that core base that will never leave your side because they still anticipate what you might say next. It’s why despite making poor studio albums, Jadakiss still has a career.

True greatness can never dissipate. It can’t be marketed. Hell, it can’t even be beaten by time. Rakim will always be mentioned, no matter who’s currently on top and selling records. Platinum sales and million dollar videos never meant much to me. I never bought an album because I figured that 999,999 others would. I buy albums because I want to hear what you gotta say next. I want to be amazed and entertained. I want that fanatic moment and deep down, we all do. Those moments stick with you. When you heard Jay-Z on “Brooklyn’s Finest” or Mos Def on “Definition”, it never leaves you. I promise, 10 years from now Lupe Fiasco will be mentioned and Rick Ross will not. Because someone somewhere will talk about the moment they got put on to Lupe and say…

Dude was nice.

Thugged out....

Thuglife Worldwide
written by 4bars

I thought I wasn’t gonna have a post this week cause I’m in Puerto Rico (“Oh you mad cause I’m styyyylin on you…”) but my vacation has served as inspiration. Daddy Yankee recently made headlines with a surprising endorsement of John McCain in the upcoming presidential election but his video for “Pose” clued me into to something I wasn’t fully aware of: the hip-hop “thug” image has spread world wide.

I kind of ignored it before but the signs have always been there. During Wu-Tang tours in the 90’s, Method Man proclaimed that the Asian hip-hop fans were more down than those in the US. The domination of suburbanites on dance competitions like “Best Hip Hop Dance Crew” further shows the infiltration of hip hop but I always wonder how the lifestyle has not just been mimicked but also improved upon.

The “Pose” video has constant images of “gang members” united behind Yankee and the featured artists on the song. They all wear white tees, red tees, black tees; honestly if you mute it, it looks like you dropped Daddy Yankee in a Young Jeezy video with light-skinned extras, it blew my mind. My girlfriend remarked, “thug life Puerto Rico huh?” and all I could do is laugh because it honestly looked just like the “New York” video with Ja Rule and Co. from a few years ago. From the iced out chains, tats, dark shades, tees, doo-rags, right down to the stuntin on rimmed out 4 wheelers a la Ruff Ryders, my question is simply, is this healthy?

Rappers have clearly become worldwide stars allowing them to tour in places as far away as Nigeria. But has hip-hop had the same effect on foreigners as the constant bling images that are plastered on MTV have on suburban kids who have little or no interaction with African Americans themselves. Is this what the world sees as hip-hop? (sigh) I hope not. Bars

Daddy Yankee - Pose

You sucker mcs...

“D” is Never Dirty, “MC” is Mostly Clean
written by Doesn't Matt R'

Run DMC was added to the ballot this year for the Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame. If they are voted in, they will be only the second hip-hop act after Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five to be inducted. Obviously, this is a big honor. It’s nice when people finally get their due. I hope they get in. I wish them nothing but success. Hopefully, they sell a ton more of their records and some kids will know “Dumb Girl” without having to learn it from Jigga. But is this as positive as it seems at first glance?

Nowadays the idea of Run DMC seems pretty tame. After years of gangster rap, their shtick may seem soft. Every group from that era tried to get in on the new gangsta attitude (including Hammer) and their “Never let a punk get away with murder, gunshots, gunshots, all you heard-a—OOOH, whatchu gonna do” was a far reach from their classic tracks. But these guys were the sh*t. Today, Run is not known as the bad motherf’er whose house we’re always in, rockin' Adidas, and Walking This Way. He’s the semi-goofy, reverend/reality show Cosby carbon copy, who is constantly engaged in some sort of shenanigan. He’s a good role model, so let him stay on TV and make his money. But hip-hop is a counter-culture. Or was one.

Is there anything more mainstream than a Hall of Fame? The very essence of it revolves around the approval of so-called experts. The problem with experts in these genres is that they mistake the ability to catalog music (or movies, or art, etc.) with the idea that their taste is more valid than somebody else. Yes, it is impressive that you can commit facts to memory, but it does not make an opinion any more valid on an aesthetic level. I’d much rather listen to an album myself, than listen to someone else’s reaction. Especially since these days it is common practice for reviewers to “skim” an album for their review. But that is a story for another day.

Hip-hop’s initial appeal was that it didn’t have the mainstream approval and didn’t seek it out. It gets very sad when in later years it can appear that the only reason it didn’t care about approval was because it wasn’t getting it, whereas had it received a thumbs up immediately, it would have been a lot more forgiving of Hammer’s actions (aka Selling Out). It seems like there are more and more artists who are celebrated for the same practices that Hammer was crucified for. Endorsement deals, getting paid vast sums of money for “popular music” over true hip-hop, novelty soundtrack songs. And don’t tell me that it’s a quality issue, because there wasn’t much change in the overall quality of his music before and after. It was just easier to like him before the mainstream reaction was to reject him.

Where is the artist who is going to stand up to the approval and not be afraid to look ungracious? Some of these guys aren’t afraid to look ignorant, uneducated, perpetuate a criminal lifestyle. So why is it so hard to say, “f- you mainstream. I’m not being ungrateful here because I worked damn hard for this. And I’ll be damned if I let you make my art form a commodity. I’m still gonna get paid, but not on your terms.”

Punk rock started off the same way. It was a counter culture that became an industry. And what happened? People sold out, others “bought in.” The true artists declared it dead because it no longer stood for the values of which it was formed. A new generation took over, uneducated in its true meaning and corrupted it to their own agenda (racism, hatred, neo-Nazism). Now today, it isn’t totally gone. There’s a small underground scene and every once in a while a new band will come out with “punk influences.” The new hip show will make it cool for high school kids in 2008 to listen to 70’s punk, totally invoking the spinning in graves of anyone involved in the actual original scene. Is this where we are heading? Are we there already?

Congratulations to Run DMC though. It’s just important to keep in mind that there is always more than one way to look at any given situation. We write the history of these events after they have already unfolded, once the outcome has been established. Then most of the other plausible outcomes slowly drift out of memory.

Remember who started this Nyquil thing...PTM!

Nyquil Mixtape of the Week – (noun) A group of five (5) songs that you are currently sleeping on. Either you've never heard them or forgot how much you really love them. Regardless, you need to brush the dust off your CD rack and play them or add them to your collection.

1. "Beasts from the East" – Lost Boyz ft. A+, Redman, Canibus
Do I need a reason?


2. "Draped Up" – Bun-B
Not always a fan of the screwed up sound, but this is how you do it.


3. "Playboy" – Lloyd Banks
He had so much promise at this point in his career. Gravity is ill.


4. "Mr. Slow Flow" – Evidence
One of the best albums of 2007.


5. "Get Money" – Sheek Louch ft. Jadakiss
I just dig the feel of this track.


Come back every week for a new mixtape!

The Fiasco...

Lupe the Great...Mostly
written by Just K

In terms of raw talent and ability, I can’t really think of anything Lupe Fiasco is incapable of doing. The MC out of Chi-town has taken time to go way over the general listener’s head (see: Dumb it Down), then was kind enough to come back to Earth to allow us to process his music (see: Intruder Alert or Hip Hop Saved My Life). He can do the braggadocio, he can tell stories, he can make social commentary, and he can do things in song that I probably can’t even fathom. His lyrics are filled with intricate wordplay and well-placed metaphors while never losing focus of the actual song topic. As for flow, put him on any beat and he’ll ride it like it came with handlebars. He can do it all. Lupe Fiasco is like a rapping machine.

Therein lies the problem.

Aside from Rosie on the Jetsons, Johnny 5, and the Terminator (and that wasn’t even until the sequel), when was the last time we really fell in love with a robot? Wall-E didn’t even do as well as most Pixar flicks. The one thing that Lupe lacks is emotion in his voice and delivery. He’s a far cry from being the hip-hop version of Ben Stein (see: Lloyd Banks or Fabolous), but I’ve never actually felt anything from a Lupe song other than wow, he can spit or cool, that’s a different topic. Evoking a real feeling is what separates the huge superstars such as Jay, Kanye, Wayne or T.I. from young Fiasco. Even on a song like Fighters, it was his lyrics and not his actual presence on the song that brought us to what he was going through.

Everybody’s had that moment with their favorite artist when they can say yeah, they were really feeling this song when they recorded it. For me it’s Jay – Soon You’ll Understand or Where Have You Been, Eminem – The Way I Am and anything about Kim or Ms. Mathers, Andre 3K – Return of the Gangsta, Kanye – he’s emotional all the time so you can pick a song, Nas – One Mic, and the list goes on. I just can’t find THAT song for Lupe.

So continue on, you phenomenal MC, you. ‘Cause every song you do I feel you, I just don’t feel you.

Easy Access...

www.Wackness.com
written by JusHH

Not too long ago I talked about how downloading music on the internet ruined the experience that I used to have on the Tuesday’s that albums were released. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not a 65 year old grandfather – I love the internet. Surfing the net is one of the first things that I do when I wake up and one of the last before I go to sleep. It’s hard to remember how it was before I got my first taste of the internet through my AOL dial-up account. Hell, without the net, there is no JusHH. Having said that, I’m debating as to whether Hip-Hop would have been better off without the internet.

It’s no doubt that the internet has given us fans unlimited access to artists and their music. With only a few clicks we can listen to their latest song, read an interview and watch that video on YouTube. The problem is this unlimited access has officially blurred the line between fan and artist. With today’s technology, it’s just too damn easy for anyone with a computer to effectively become a rapper. Before the internet, in order to get heard, you had to get put on by someone with connections. This meant you had to show and prove just to get in the door. And if you couldn’t rap, well then, you just didn’t get heard. Today, everyone is a f**king rapper – everyone! Everyone has a myspace page that you just have to listen to. Everyone has a ridiculously hot fire mixtape that you just have to buy off them on the train for $5.00. Everyone has their own rap video/ DVD combo. It’s out of control how bad it is because 90% of these guys suck. Now I have to spend 10 minutes sifting through the garbage on Allhiphop.com just to find a decent song by an artist. It’s been said ad nauseam that Hip-Hop is dying because there is no more quality music. I say the problem is different, Hip-Hop is dying because it’s flooded with all these horrible rappers who would normally be fans but the internet allows them to put their music in front of us. Without this access, these dudes would be relegated back to their proper places of rapping their sub-par rhymes in the shower or over their instrumental CD in the car. Everyone isn’t meant to rap. Period.

But the internet doesn’t just annoy me with the wack rappers; it also makes me dislike emcees that I actually enjoy listening to. Rappers used to make albums and if they did other songs, it was usually features on other people’s albums. Now with the internet, you can make a song and within 24 hours it can be in front of thousands of people. And these songs can be produced, mixed, mastered and put out at rapid speed. So what do you get? Rappers you like putting out 50-100 songs a year. I don’t care how much you enjoy a rapper, eventually you’re going to get tired of hearing him. Chicken Alfredo might be your favorite food but if you ate it for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday for a year, eventually it will make you sick. It takes the exclusivity out of each rapper’s verse. Then when the album finally drops, there’s no anticipation, no urgency because you just heard 12 new rhymes from the dude two weeks prior. How many times have you said to yourself, “damn why couldn’t the song on XYZ mixtape been on the album?” (c. Lil’ Wayne) Or how mad do you get when you cop said rapper’s official studio album only to realize that his mixtape that you just got was way better? (c. Fabolous, Jadakiss, Cassidy, Jeezy, etc.)

The internet is great when it comes to getting new information on the newest artists. Without it I wouldn’t have been able to see that ridiculous video of Kanye and Hov doing that one verse of “Jockin’ Jay-Z” or laughed my ass off at “Lookin’ Ass N***a” by Hot Stylz. I just wish I could develop some kind of spam protector to help eliminate all of the rappers and their respective songs who should be working at UPS. I need to be able to tell the difference between The Cool Kids and Ace Hood. Seriously, it’s a shame that I know I’m missing some quality out there because I just don’t have the time to deal with MC Such and Such’s version of “A Millie” or Lil’ Murder Mo Pete’s latest “Snap, Drop and Stop.” And for rappers that I love, just slow down. Do a few features to keep your name out there but save those high quality verses for your albums.

So the next time I go online, and go to one of the 10,000 Hip-Hop websites out there, you will now know why I sometimes hold my breath and peek through one eye as I click on the “new audio” section to see what’s out in the streets.