Taken from Realityisreal.com

You know I was gonna speak on this shit! I went and saw “Transformers” last night/this morning at midnight. It wasn’t fucking with the first one, but it’s was a cool action movie. Like another “cool action” movie however, one of the characters was absolutely horrible. In the last Transformer movie, they had a “black character” named Jazz. He was the tough-guy black stereotype,  and in the end, (spoilers) he tried to step to someone he couldn’t handle, and was ripped in half. This time around, it was 10 times worse, partially because there was 2 characters, partially because these  characters sucked. Mudflap and Skids. I could get into both, yet it’d be unnecessary, the one pictured above (skids) is bad enough. First of all the gold and silver front teeth…I’m not even going there…you can see that for yourself. For those who haven’t/aren’t going to see the movie, Skids (pictured above) and his twin brother Mudflap, are the ignant niggas. The spend the whole movie calling people bitch asses, pussies, and fighting each other. The worst part of their movie role however, was when asked to read something written in what was assumed their language, their response….(pause for dramatic effect)….”Uh, we don’t really do much reading” Word?

I was pretty sure the Transformers were originally an American creation, considering the leader of the good guys (autobots) Optimas Prime, is a big rig truck. However, when I got home after the movie, I had to research the character “Skids”, I figured at some point, he was thrown into the Transformers during some Japanese take on the characters. In Japan they have  tendency to stereotype “black” characters with reckless abandon. While it doesn’t make it right, it can be said they mainly due this because all they have is what they are given by TV, which, is often the various stereotypes that end up popping up in Japanime, and other forms of Japanese entertainment. I was wrong. Skids has been a character in the Transformers since the 80’s, however, the movie take on the character is completely brand new. The original Skids character was an absent minded scientist. He was a recreation of one of the original Autobots ever, and often tried to avoid fighting. Later on, in the comic book, he became a Autobot scientist who refused to fight. During a battle, he went MIA, and stayed with a women who was a car enthusiast. This gold toothed character…? Completely new! So new in fact, the original concept art for Skids, was sans gold tooth…

Hey, that character doesn’t look like an ignant nigga, it looks like a redneck! Exaclty. These movie companies continue to pull this bullshit. You’d figure a while after Jar Jar Binks, these stereotypical characters would vanish, however, due to the huge support of nerdom, they continue to appear. Apparantly, the Transfomers have more of a following than I thought, I should up 11:20 to catch the midnight show, and I was forced to sit in the very front. There was already a long line for the 12:45 show. With all those people there to see the movie, I’m pretty sure I was one of the few offended by Skids.

Uncategorized

              I remember I used to want to be a journalist, now it appears they want to be me.I’m chilling at the crib yesterday, watching some Sportscenter, post-Lakers championship and I get hit with the final straw. They announce after the break, they have Shaq’s thoughts on Kobe getting a ring. Semi-interesting I thought, however; something told me not to expect “The Big Washed Up” in the studio.  Of course not, that’s so yesterday. Why would they actually interview somebody? They didn’t even have the decency to snatch his quote from somebody else’s interview. By the year 2011, interviews will cease to exist, “journalist” will just snatch quotes from Twitter.

               I understand it’s a recession and all, but how much does it cost them to get somebody on for an interview? Nothing and or next to it? So the true culprit has to be laziness. What are  you guys even paid for? Shit, I could surf twitter and snatch opinions all day. This isn’t the first time ESPN has done this, I’ve seen them do it all week. I go on-line and check the hip hop sites, and they’re snatching comments from corny rappers about their opinoins on Jay Z’s “Death of Autotune” track. Look, I understand blog sites doing it, bloggers ARE NOT JOURNALIST! So while some of them may get the chance to do interviews, most don’t. Most bloggers don’t have the pay, credentials, respect. or credibility  ”journalist” do, so if they decided to throw up some twitter comment and ACT like it’s news, it’s whatever.  However, if I go to ESPN and see a news article filled with Twitter comments, and see a by line that reads “J.A. Adande” or a name of another established journalist, I’m calling up Lebron’s management and asking for an intervivew. Shit, if they’re gonna be all in my territory, I should start trying to invade theirs.

Stop Cooning

Uncategorized

               You gotta love it. Read more…

Uncategorized

              
               It’s OK Chucky…. I understand you. I understand you want to be the guy whose not supposed to get the girl, who gets the girl.  So while superstars and soon-to-be superstars flirt with ol’ girl whose ta tas got exposed (the second one), you throw your name in the hat…who knows, maybe you’ll have a shot. I understand you want to be the misunderstood “artist”, who, years from now, people will JUST start to understand your music. I understand you want to take ”different” to a whole ‘nother level, to where you may not sell records until AFTER you’re showered with critical acclaim and awards.

I understand you are fucking retarded and you need to quit.

               Really, this cat is in the wrong business. Had this been like emo-rock or some shit, he’d be thrown virgins for the rest of his life, but this is hip hop…and even worse, MODERN hip hop. Modern hip hop where rappers use the robbery of Young Berg to show how “gangsta” their city is. Look, I understand shit is fucked up out there in Detroit, but every time somebody brings up the robbery of Young Berg….it loses 2 points on the “We getz it in meter”.

               Truthfully, I don’t know what’s worse, all of Charles Hamilton’s bullshit (all of it, not just this situation), or the fact that cat’s actually try to get W’s off him. Whose worse, the Clippers, or the team that bragged that they beat the Clippers? Honestly, I gave Souljah Boy credit for making Charles Hamilton look like an idiot, because I don’t expect that much of him. However, when the likes of Rhymefest, and all these other cat’s started “going to war” with Sonic F Hamilton…I had to turn my head. Now cat’s are threatening him because he said Dilla executive produced his album? Check this out, either this is some of that spaced out bullshit where he claims the spirit of Dilla came in the lab and executive produced his album, which shouldn’t be taken seriously and just translates into “I’m influenced by the way Dilla put it down”, or; he actually puts Dilla’s name as executive producer, and in turn, Jay stays paid. (or at least his people do). The fact that muthafuckas is calling dudes Mom’s and asking her if she knows him and making threats, just makes muthafuckas look retarded. Of course she doesn’t know Charles Hamilton, I don’t even think Charles Hamilton knows Charles Hamilton.  The fact that every page I look at is really reading into this shit just shows that right now, hip hop has nothing going on. September 11th seems so far away.

               If this were the American Pie universe, Charles Hamilton would not only do Weezy numbers, he’d have his multiple Grammys, but it’s not. This is reality, and right now in hip hop’s section of reality, it’s cool to be a goon, not liking=hating, and in a recession, people spend 400k for a big ass chain that reads “Big Ass Chain”. What more can I say?

Stop Cooning

Uncategorized

My artist JYoung The General asked me what I thought about Jay-Z’s latest song, “D.O.A. (Death of Autotune).” I wasn’t crazy about it, but I didn’t hate it either. I figured this argument that he broke down was pretty interesting, though. Let me know what y’all think.

–

The golden rule about being a member of any bandwagon is that you must know precisely when to co-sign the craze and when to jump and move to greener pastures. That being said the latest move by Jay-Z to jump ahead of the curve is the latest strategy for one of the genre’s pioneers to remain relevant and invoke conversation amongst the hip-hop community.

Jay-Z’s new single “Death of Autotune” carried out its purpose swiftly and effectively, something akin to Paul Revere informing troops of the British’s impending arrival, aimed to inform the masses that a shift from the current rap sound is neccessary — ending with a musical eulogy to the musical effect’s prominence. The problem here is beyond the song’s inherently pretentious nature. Declaring the death of autotune is as futile as the ill-begotten attempts of various influential African-American leaders to bury the n-word a few years prior.

The similarities are striking; PR-driven quick fix attempts to win brownie points with those unenamored with the current state of our culture, while offering no pertinent solutions to deep complex problems that truly plague our culture’s growth.

Autotune, the rap Frankenstein, has grown larger than life over the last few years and if you listen to your local urban FM market you’re bound to hear at least one song showcasing effect unless it so happens to be the Quiet Storm hours of night. As the game’s Frankenstein, the reality here is that as the effect helped create stars like T-Pain, every lazy A&R, talent scout, and record label honcho looked to capitalize on that success — thus creating a monster.

People really are missing the point here.

Why do purists and old heads see the Autotune as the problem, knowing damn well that the greater powers that be have been fucking up the balance in music way before the 12-year-old effect was even born? Furthermore why is Jay-Z, a man who held great power and ABILITY in his time at Def Jam, so off the mark with his current critique of the game? The conglomerization of the media can be pinpointed as the true driving force behind the Autotune craze. Record labels push songs they want the masses to hear, and the thousands of Clear Channel-owned radio stations pump them out like the various assembly lines in my Detroit hometown pump out the newest brake pad. That redundancy, paired with the sad reality that a dynamic sphere of sound found on the radio in decades past has been relegated to a state of follow the leader — each subsquent copy-cat of that hot sound even more nauseating than the last. Autotune doesn’t set that precedent, people do. People like Jay-Z — and the last I checked there was no movement to reinstate the Native Tongues era during his stay as President of Def Jam. Labels are still fucking up by refusing to go overtime to break fresh new music into the scene, and thats an inherent problem with the industry that will exist after autotune, or any other impending trend, dies.

Thats what makes the song pretentious. A man of great clout who had the opportunity to be a forerunner of a creative U-turn in the game through corporate means chooses now to label himself as a noveau-Moses delivering us to the promised land away from Autotune. Surely, that comes off a little bit ingenuine when looking at mismanagement of various Def Jam non-autotune acts of quality under Jay’s stead. Don’t want gimmicks? Support those who don’t rely on them. Preaching that we go back-to-basics is cool if there’s an effort to follow through, but relying on rhetoric only makes the message come off as self-serving and there’s enough of that in the game already.

To even suggest that autotune is really the creative downfall of the game. There’s hot music being made with the effect every day. When I say hot, I don’t mean popular but quality music. Some people pull autotune off well, and in other cases…well there’s Ron Browz and DJ Webstar who both should be subject to death by musical firing squad. The deeper issue i have with people blaming something a tool meant to correct one’s pitch (which in essence means it’s an aid for the game, not a negative) is that the mindset here seems to serve nothing more than the widen the ever-disive gap between fans by proclaiming that one particular sound is not “real-hip hop”. Take an industry wide poll of R&B singers and harmonizers and a fair amount of them will tell you that when used correctly the effect makes that song much stronger — that also goes for ALL genres in rap/r&b, and all music in general.

In the end though, I’m not mad at Jay. The game needs these declarations and events to happen so that we can critique the game and look toward the future. I give him props for creating the discussion neccessary for this blog to have purpose, that being said here are some alternative songs/slogans I’d get personally get behind, that are far more damaging to the game (and as a result will go unchecked because of how many top stars it benefits).

Death of Payola
How about we put an end to the pay-for-play BS that puts untalented people with deep pockets in the drivers seat and open the lane up for true talent to shine through on radio. Then people can build the momentum neccessary to actually balance the game out by giving consumers options as opposed to selling spots to the highest bidder. That goes for all these promoters charging artists to open for whatever out of over the hill out of town they shelled out 5 g’s for to bring to their club. Artists do YOU a service, and no new talent should be paying to perform unless it’s a festival of Rock The Bells/Summer Jam proportions. Paying dues is not a literal statement.

Death of the (Undeserved) Co-Sign
A concept that needs serious re-tuning, because while the industry is telling the young broke cats trying to get heard to pay dues, some people are also punching v.i.p. tickets for people with no track record. The game thrives on networking, but its unnerving to see emcees who haven’t shown and proven get a certain amount of clout with having anything official. Nepotism is acid to structural integrity as well, so people should rethink putting on their boys/friends/homies as well if they just aren’t up to snuff. i wont name names of people in the industry i think this applies to, because frankly a diss wont stop the phenomenon. A GOOD co-sign goes a long way, and the proper type of big-upping will elevate a talented superstar to a position he’s not only deserving of, but ready for (i.e. Drake: rapidly-growning fanbase, performance skills, star potential regardless of how you feel about the music)

Death of Death
Hip-hop’s not dead or dying, and things don’t need to die for the game to change. There just needs to be a more balanced representation of the culture. Downplay kill what’s oversaturated in rap; don’t kill it.

So regarding Autotune, in the words of Jay himself on “Success”…

“LET THAT BITCH BREATHE!!”

Literature, Music

               Is this thing still on? Na, I’m just fucking around.  I’ve been absent from here for several reasons. Partially because I’ve been busy, mainly though, because I already see what’s happening. I’ve been on this joint off and on for a long time, and even I have to acknowledge that this particular section of HHDX, is the house that Mek built. With dude’s abscence it  seems it’s only a matter of time before the lights get cut off. I refuse to be the last one in the spot yelling out, “Yo, check what I gotta say” when General Electric cuts the power, so I’ve gone and started something somewhere else. The plan is to occasionally post shit here I post there.  

               I have nothing but respect for everybody that makes this clock tick over here. I have nothing but respect for anybody whose ever took the time to read anything I’ve ever said over here, whether they commented or they didn’t comment. I have nothing but respected for everybody who took the extra time to comment on shit I’ve said over here, whether they disagreed or agreed. Honestly, I’d rather a cat disagree with something and bring valid points to the table, then agree because they think it’s the thing to do. Nobody is perfect, and I’m flawed just like all of ya’ll, and whenever someone disagrees and has valid points that contrast mine, I learn something.  I’ve never pretended I was anything more than anybody else. Shit, I’m the muthafucka who writes  for free, how smart is that? Anyway, I’m gonna try and get a picture an avatar up over here by e-mailing someone, and for those that didn’t get the links…

REALITYISREAL.COM…..bitches

Stop Cooning…ummm…Wednesday. Lakers in no more than 5

Uncategorized

(MTA  Lower Subway Fare Initiative) 

Early last month, we came with the idea to assist the New York City MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority) to keep the fare prices low.  The idea was brought to HipHopDX.com and we united with them to present and carry out the solutions to this problem.  I wrote about the issue in my last blog, in relation to being ‘Presidential,’ or thinking big:  http://www.hiphopdx.com/blogs/2009/04/the-continuation-of-the-art-3/.  The real issue was in showing how far Hip Hop has come, and what lies ahead.  Hip Hop is now a major factor in everyone’s life.   Nothing is perfect, so when we collectively do something right, it is something that we want to be known.  It is about business and getting things and this and that, but in this case, we just needed to share this idea.  It did not really cost anything.  We donated the time, just like www.hiphopdx.com did.  Many people (those that take public transportation) will benefit and this reach is a global solution.  Hip Hop became a global phenomenon as well, and allowed many to get their music out to people.  We have taken things to another level with this concept.    

At one level, this issue is seen as ‘activism.’  That is not the case.  It is common sense to have prices drop, instead of becoming higher.  When automobiles, computers, VCRs, et cetera first became commercially available, the price was high.  Things should become more affordable as the developing technology improves, and something as vital as public transportation is no different.  The NYC Subway system has had a lot of problems over the years, and this one was in need of a solution(s). 

I contacted the people that could make things happen, and decided to get ‘celebrities’ involved in advancing our idea as well—we’d assist in bringing companies together to ‘properly’ license MTA-logo merchandise that would subsidize subway fares.  This program would be carried out in other cities as well.  This was a form of ‘going green’ and everything in between.  We had the complete formula. 

The MTA was contacted and were cordial—one of their top representatives sent a brief letter acknowledging the validity of the idea.  I shall be following up on that more, and we said enough about the solution where we could be working with them now.  People that get paid to think of things like a ‘logo deal’ are not trying to hear me tell them what to do. I don’t want anyone’s job, yet if we can up with a solution that wasn’t know to those getting paid to think of things like this, what do we do?  They (certain MTA executives) fail to realize that this is not ‘me,’ but it is an idea that was made possible because of “Hip Hop.”  Jazz music was the same way—innovative.  Hip Hop is an innovator of ideas and culture.  We proved that by bringing this idea.  The idea was covered in the last blog I wrote (which is referenced above) and has been followed up on for the last few weeks since we posted about it.  HipHopDX.com gave full support and we shall make big moves.

I contacted some artists and that is where the issue got confused.  Celebrities will be utilized in this ‘campaign,’ but we have our own spokespeople and people that shall be featured in audio and video clips promoting and furthering the idea.  We shall link that information through www.HipHopDX.com. 

If we had the name support (Who is Ishmael El?  Nobody!), this would be on the way to being signed and done already.  That is what is wrong with the United States now—we no longer move on things and lead fast enough.  This was an easy call, and we’d be off to solving another issue. 

The issue is in us getting clothing manufacturers to come together and feature the MTA logo on selected items.  That will mean that a percentage of that item will go towards subsidizing public transportation.  We already have the basic blueprint in place and have contacted the people.  When we shoot the film and ‘market’ this more, you will see it.  For those in entertainment that have self-proclaimed clout, these are the moves that are important in the world today.  

This is not activism.  This is just another aspect of what Hip Hop has grown.  We market like professional marketers.  Those in Hip Hop have done that.  Now, we have taken a bigger issue and brought it first.  We contacted people’s representatives and they are moving like ancient Romans—late—as the downfall of an empire possibly gains momentum.  If that is not the case, that needs to be seen.  We are not complaining.  We are the ones doing the work, and these things will be seen sooner than later. This is type of move that was called for and this is the type of issue that needs more press coverage.  We contacted the traditional outlets and they don’t know.  Don’t get it wrong—we are NOT asking for acknowledgment.  We are doing this ourselves, but I’d be embarrassed to be a ‘shot caller’ and not know to make this happen in a New York minute.  It is taking us slightly longer, but should it really take long?  The MTA shall be contacted again, and I know the exact individual responsible.  But you know who is really responsible?  I am.  That is how I am carrying it.  Yet at the same time, I have reached out to those that should be aware of this. 

The world has made a shift.  We now have a world leader that can be claimed by everyone.  It’s not ‘black’ or ‘white.’  It’s more than that.  That particular leader (Barack Obama) asked for people to come up with solutions to problems, right?  Hip Hop has always done that, since the beginning.  Jazz has done the same thing.  This is just a small step that will become bigger and better things.  Hip Hop gets a lot of bad press.  I don’t want to start problems, but the news organizations that we contacted missed the story.  Who covered it?  http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.9027/title.elevated-track-and-hiphopdx-unite-to-lobby-lower-mta-fares.  This was a major move by HipHopDX.com.   This issue will be a lot of things and we ALL have even more solutions.  That’s the point—instead of always saying what’s wrong, we should fix things.  The Subway situation is a reflection of bigger things that need fixing and we can ALL probably come up with solutions to those things too.  For us though, we have a full amount of steps that we shall carry through.

The licensing plan was acknowledged by the MTA thus far, but we are the ones (Elevated Track Recording.org, HipHopDX.com, etc) that will be will be expected to show how it is supposed to be done.  The new video blog should be up and running soon.  We were finalizing our Production Crew and you shall see some video soon.  Keep in mind that there is plenty of time for us to focus on getting economics, et cetera (for our selves), but this is a bigger call. 

First off, I (Ishmael El) will host the video blog and fully explain everything is going on with the ‘MTA Save the NYC Subway Initiative.’  Other actions will be in conjunction with this strategy.  What is most important is in our realizing a set of basic principles:

-Marketing and business are great, but at some point, people must have a way that they can have extra income (saved public transportation fees) so that they can actually purchase consumer goods.    

-Making economics is necessary, but at some point, it is important to secure our collective interests so that we can all individually thrive.   Elevated Track Recording can do that, while we build the community-based projects that we have going on as well.

It was announced that the price (NYC Subway and Bus fare) would not be going up, yet the price is still going up .25 cents to $2.25 per ride.  Our ‘campaign’ initiative will be to lower the price completely.  We had to come up with a business solution to make it happen.    The logo deal will be a first step, and it is enough to get the issue properly addressed.  We will the face of the issue(s) on video and on this forthcoming blog, for now.  This is a major breakthrough and it is going relatively quiet.    Some major highlights are coming soon. 

Among other things, Ishmael El works with the not for profit community organization Elevated Track Recording.  The website is:  http://www.elevatedtrackrecording.org 

Uncategorized

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGW2V6rJV2w

Wrapping up this album has me real tied up and been going around doing these shows has kept me from getting at these games as heavy but I had to flip a review on Godfather II. You play as Dominic, the son of the dude you was going against in the first game. You start off in Havana where Michael Corleone is trying to split up everyone’s territories and trying to get everything set and taken care of until a revolution throws it all off. After a quick knock off of Aldo you’re promoted and now you’ve got to get New York City under control while spreading to Miami as well.

The cool thing about G2 is that you got more than just shooting up the other families, you can actually plan where you’re going to attack. There’s a map in the game which lets you check out everything you control and tells you who controls everything else. You can actually pick where you wanna attack using this map and then once you have taken control of a certain part of town you can use this map to keep an eye on it and send out some more people when you need some extra guns out a certain way.

Taking out a family isn’t simple in the game either cause you actually have to get each member of that family so you have to figure out where each one is and the way you’re gonna have to do that is by doing favors for people to get information. You’ll be busting heads and breaking into safes as favors to your informants and with each little assignment taking some time it can be a while before you get a whole family located and taken care of. As you go about trying to handle business you can use any of the weapons you’ve picked up along the way so golf clubs, bats, tommy guns, pistols, are all weapons you can decide to bust out and use as you want.

You won’t be solo while you try to handle business and you’ll have people in your crew with you that can help heal you or other people in your crew if they get hurt. The interesting part of your crew members is that they will do things on their own without you having to command them all in the time. In other games your crew members might just stand there and chill while they’re being shot at until you tell them to shoot back but in G2 you don’t have that kind of problem. There were times though where I noticed my guys going in the other direction than me and just not being able to keep up with me so it’s not all perfect with the other guys in your crew. With the different crew members you can also pick your own team so that they can pull off jobs the way you want them so you can add your own little flavor to everything and develop your own strategy.

But while you’re beating someone with a bat or have a pistol barrel down their throat you do have the cops on you watching you as well as all the people around you. You can’t just decide to pull out the golf club and beat someone in the middle of a huge group cause any of the characters in the game that aren’t part of your crew can be a witness and then you’ll have the cops on your ass making everything take a little bit longer. And if you’re not careful enough you may just get caught.

The controls are real easy and just picking up the game and learning how to play isn’t hard at all. This is cool cause some other games like this take a minute to get used to and if you don’t have the time you may just get tired of even trying to learn how to play.

One of the problems with this game though is that the missions you have to do start feeling real repetitive. You end up doing the same stuff a few times over which makes it so that the game doesn’t feel as fresh or fun at the end as it did at the beginning. There’s just more action and new stuff going at the beginning of the game then there is at the end. Another problem is the graphics which at times just don’t seem all that polished. The cars don’t have as much detail as I’d like and I’m definitely thinking I saw the car floating at a few times during the game. There’s just other little stuff that happens too like when some of the extra characters would just kinda go missing when they were just there a second ago and some real odd dialogue in the game.

I thought Godfather II was better than the first Godfather game and it’s cool to see the characters from the movie in a different way but at the same time it’s a lot to try to live up to the movies and the game doesn’t do it. The game is cool if you just want to control the family and enjoy games for their stories but if you’re picking this up because you’re a huge fan of the movie this may not be for you.

Thanks to everyone for showing support to Wetter which has been getting lots of love on the radio now and be sure to check out the verse I added to Tech N9ne’s Midwest Choppers Pt. 2. Category F5 in stores June 16th and we got a new video for Wetter dropping soon. My next single “On Top” featuring Akon should be dropping real quick too.

Chuuuuccchhh!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGW2V6rJV2w

Uncategorized twista category f5 godfather 2 video game reviews

http://www.xxlmag.com/online/?p=45041

So if you haven’t heard about it already, XXL is doing their first issue with all white emcees/rappers. So. I never cared about the “white” shit. Of course others see you as the “token dope white cat @ open mics/shows”, but all you know is the rush you feel everytime you hear your own voice through the speakers and you know it’s time to show everyone what you can do. When I was coming up in my local scene around 1993-1997, there where VERY FEW white cats who where in ATTENDANCE, let alone who where NICE. I started to notice as the years passed, more & more white emcee’s starting to come out the woodworks. Did I care? NOPE. As long as your nice I don’t care what race you are. No one should..,well, except the suits. They know young, impressionable white kids will probably pick up an album by an artist whom they can relate to before they pick one up from someone who if seen on the street walking, their mothers would probably clench their purse a little tighter and tell little “Timmy” to walk faster.

Fuck this rant.

Bottom line is some people where blessed with rhythm,cadence,vivid imagery, a knack/addiction to words (if you will), & synesthesia, (noun: a sensation produced in one modality when a stimulus is applied to another modality, as when the hearing of a certain sound induces the visualization of a certain color.) I feel blessed to have synesthesia. When I try to explain this to some people they have no fucking idea what I’m talking about. A few of my friends have it & I can tell by how they describe it (Tage & Catalyst(ODOT,MHz) both have it. Kanye West described it on his Diary back when MTV used to air that. Rakim described it to a T & Joe Budden sounds like he has it, (”I’m gifted/I hear sounds and SEE visions”). I bet Biggie had it. To me, basslines are blue in my mind & to give another example, the beat for “Glaciers of Ice” Raekwon) reminds me of emerald green. Kicks are usually round circles and snares can be a big square..ok I think I lost you guys. Bottom line is fuck race. It’s about talent, however at the same time to completely ignore one’s race is denying/ignoring a huge part of their culture & who & what help mold them into who they are today. As long as the MUSIC, I repeat the MUSIC, is being listened to & examined under a microscope MORE than the individual & his or her personal life, the sounds will prove who should & shouldn’t be recording their voice. Be it a black,white,asian,latino,middle eastern alf , alien or lil wayne. Thank you, Goodnight, GOD BLESS. www.twitter.com/COPYWRITE

Uncategorized Asher Roth, Beastie Boys, Cracker, Eminem, Hip Hop, Honkey, Ill Bill

Whats up yall? I know I’ve been gone for a minute when the blogs got converted over I got lost in the transition and had to catch up. Everything’s been good, I still plan on continuing the “Sucka Emcee’s” blog series especially after the inspiration I received coming home from NY and hearing Hot 97 all day. Also check out the new joint “Starter Jacket” if you haven’t already done so…

In the culture of Hip Hop its safe to say that we have connected with other ethnicities that we don’t see often in other genre’s of music. Hip Hop music is incorporated in most popular radio stations rotation or contain songs with some sort of hip hop influence. It has evolved to be more than just a ”African American” or ”Urban” thing, everywhere you look other ethnicities are (and have always been) adopting some form of the culture from Graffiti, DJ’ing and possibly the most popular out of all the elements Break Dancing. We have come along way as far as diversity but thats not to say that there aren’t still some restrictions on those who are apart of our culture.

The other day when Asher Roth was at Rutgers updated his Twitter saying “Hanging w/ some Nappy Headed Hoes” it immediately caused some drama. After he quickly apologized, tried explaining it was a distasteful ”joke” and later deleting everything all together but it was too late, the damage had been done (Life Lesson To Remember Kids & Future Rappers: Shit Travels fast on the Internet). Pretty soon comments were flying left and right and he began being compared to another controversial figure aside from Eminem…Don Imus. And what seemed to be a perfect start to a career quickly took a turn for the worst. 

Point blank what he said was stupid as hell, no other way of putting it. If no one is familiar with your style of humor its best to keep the joke to yourself or to those who understand it. Now I can’t say I’m a fan of his music (No offense, I havent heard anything that made me think he’s dope yet), nor am I excusing his comments at all but I will say that I dont believe he meant it the way people are making it out. I believe that we as a people magnify what white rappers/white people do or say in relation to African Americans and immediately associate alot of different things with whites such as being racist. Its like our sensativity which under most circumstances is strong, we allow to somehow become fragile. its similar to if one of your family members says something about your mom its a joke but if a friend or someone you aren’t as close says the same thing you get a little offended (or you kick their ass). I highly doubt Asher Roth would be that bold to be openly racist on Twitter. 

But being a white rapper is like being on probation when everyone else is completely free. They aren’t able to get away with the same things we are allowed to say (which is damn near everything under the sun). We never said Jay doesnt like whites when he said “crackers gon act like I aint on they ass” or Wayne when he said “I open the Lamborghini, hoping them crackers see me” and these are just the popular songs, Plies had a chorus that said “Pussy ass cracker give a nigga 100 years”. My question is would we allow a white rapper to make a song saying “Niggers gon act like I aint on they ass” or ”Pussy ass Niggers give a cracker 100 years”? Of course not. 

I’m not saying be offended by Asher Roth’s comments, in fact you should be upset but at the same time we should be just as offended by some of the same things these other rappers are saying as well. Not just in the context of race but the derogatory language toward women (even though there are some bitches in the world, all women are not bitches), the acceptance of feeding our communities poison as well as the violence against eachother.

Alright…I’m off the soapbox. Next week I’ll be back with the Sucka Emcee’s List

Add-2
www.myspace.com/add2
www.twitter.com/ADD2theMC

Uncategorized