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- » Name: J. Burnett
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hip hop • rap • t.i. • the dirty south
Why Think Let Me Do That...Jesus Approved Commentary
U.B.M.
Once upon a time I used to be just like you--minus leaving in my mom's basement. I came to DX read blogs, commented here and there and enjoyed the free content especially the pics of ginormous who-whos that can be found in the wonderful B&B section. Now, this is before I was granted this space to spew my invective, random fuckery and such. But what actually kept me coming back to this site for a long time was the blogger you love to hate, Meka Soul. What I dug about his blogs was that he was willing to take it where many of us wanted to take it but didn't have the squabbles to. You see some of us have that lil' man standing on our shoulders that says "hey, don't say that" or "whoa buddy that's politically incorrect" but M Dub my friends does not have that. Call it a gift and a curse but rest assure if he was hurting this site he'd be gone. But the truth is you sadistic phukks are just like me...You want to see what he's going to say next and despite your calls for his head you still frequent his blog.
I'm going to [II] this whole verse...Don't you know this man is the backbone of these blogging sections. He's single-handedly given HHDX's blogs an identity. No offense to any of the other bloggers contributions but who's delivered when Hip Hop has had the BIG headlines and when it's been in the Drought; summer, winter, day, night. Not me for damn sure. When Hip Hop gets wack, I get ghost until someone says or does some really stupid shit which typically doesn't take to long in the rap game (read: T.I., Beans, Prodigy, Remy, etc. nice jobs guys HH has been set back another few light years and Billy O has another set of clips to use when it's time to etherize HH culture). M Dot is one of the few cats who's able to sustain just talking about life as opposed to reopening up the Hip Hop is SO Dead dialogue. Why does every cat who revisit that topic think it's a brand new discussion???
What I've come to learn from frequenting this blog and sharing my opinion with the world is that there's just too many pussies in this world. What does that mean? It doesn't matter what you say someone's going to get all "asshurt" and throw a pussy fit. And it's the same thing with rap. Pussy fits single-handedly got "Birthday Girl" removed from Rising Down. How fucked up is that? I mean whether you like the track or not the bitchfits completely redirected the course of an album--slight exaggeration, somewhat--but damn. It's like you cry for the art and when it's given to you you stone the shit out of it. That's too much control for a fan. Now let me bring it full circle for M Dot. Although the language in his posts is often crass, unruly and vulgar his point is usually far, far removed from Ron Paul like racist rants (search the Ron Paul Letters). But if you get all bitched out before you get to the end then you'll never get the true beauty of his posts. But if you get this man banned from this site which would in essence be a censorship of art--free speech, free speech--then no one's ever going to address anything taboo, say anything controversial and basically these blogs will become like SOHH's, a barren wasteland full of toilet tissue. The decision is yours; choose accordingly, yentas.
Angry Black Sistahs Unite!!!
So I was listening to Atlanta’s Frank and Wanda radio show (V103) and they were discussing the above cover and the outrage it’s caused amongst SOME—not all—black women (surprise, surprise). The issue appears to be two things: the photo can be paralleled to King Kong scaling the building with the blond chick in hand (which in this case would make Lebron = King Kong, a monkey, which isn’t a cool comparison obviously) and the main issue, which was why can’t Lebron be on the cover with a black woman despite the caption that reads "Gisele and Lebron: The World’s Top Model & Star Athletes.” Doesn't really seem like a race thing to me; more so a status thing but hey why use common sense when you can go off of a raw emotion. After a few angry black sistah calls about how Lebron needed to be hanged for being pictured with a white chick etc, etc I turned the radio off in disgust.
I don’t get it. In this day and age why are we still having these conversations? Isn’t it just a big deal to have Lebron on the cover of Vogue? And wasn’t J. Hud on the cover a minute ago with a really positive representation of black women? What are some of y'all black chicks so aggy about, like for real. So here’s the underline issue in my mind: black chicks are tired of seeing successful brothers go white which is fair but reaming black men and these type of dialogues produce the opposite effect of what’s intended. Same thing with Rap, castigating the Hip Hop community about its language and its ills is about as pointless as hoping for an unbiased view of politics from Fox. And if a black man wants to go white who cares? Nobody’s tripping about Halle Berry or Kerry Washington or about that one Sanaa Lathan flick that blew balls. Ahhh…the hypocrisy unfolds. To me, the shit's a contradiciton because you see plenty of successful black women with white men but black dudes ain't tripping now are we? No, we're cool like that.
Also, lets keep it funky. In SOME educated black women circles there’s a lot of “all black men are dogs" rhetoric. Am I lying? On one hand, black women call us hard-working brothers who just happen to not have the coins yet dogs but yall are mad that the paid brothers ain't diggin you. Hmmm...it seems like all of the answers are in the sentence that precedes this one. And this to me, really seems more like why can't a well off sister get a black dude that's not broke and if that's the case isn't it wrong to be judging a person's merit off of their cheese. What’s really good??? Interracial dating dialogues are sooooo 90s, get with it. I’d like to hear y’all thoughts. Maybe I just need some black woman perspective and don’t be afraid to chime in white people. There’s obviously another side to the coin here. Thoughts???
Stumpin' on my Jansport
I'm officially renouncing any type of backpacker or Hip Hop head status I may have had in the past--not that I've ever really had said status anyway. From here on, when describing me just say I'm a music generalist with a foundation in Hip Hop. The truth of the matter is that I can't get jiggy with the elitist, ostentatious culture of the "backpacker." You know what I'm tawkin' bout...that "better than thou" BS that goes on so often on OKP message boards and here. Truth be told, you basement batti boys are the reason why your favorite emcee will never grow beyond the small box you created for them--where you and your other clique reside and drink emcee milkshakes. Now to be fair, I was one of those guys for a minute minus the drinking emshakes. I chided Hov, Kweli and Com for "sellin' out" but my problem w/their respective projects was not them selling out. It was just I personally thought the music was Charmins. I don't know maybe in this case I'm just on the opposite side of the fanhood spectrum.
This all stems from well respected and disgruntled (only kiddin') XXL bloggers, Noz's response to the Roots' young white snatch anthem Birthday Girl. Sidenote: many of you will take this and run w/it as some type of diss towards him but it's not. I respect his work but I disagree, wholeheartedly. He says: the Roots spent 15 years building a sound only to abandon it for the young white $$$ which is erroneous. IMO, the only thing that links the Root's project is their willingless to try something different when they feel like it. Each album is an experiment. I think the problem is not so much the track is boo boo but it's not the track he/they wanted based off of their street singles. But here's the thing; is trying something new or even reaching out to a different audience necessarily "selling out???" And in this case, who are they selling out to??? The fans who lambast them w/blogs who never buy their music anyway??? I think at this point, we can agree the Roots have done their due diligence to the OKP crowd and the sort and it's time they get their guap. Shiied I would. If you don't like the track, cool. Everyone's entitled to that but don't rip them because they're not being who you want them to be.
Sidenote: Lets not forget that rapping is a job too. All that artistic blahzay blah don't equate to guap. Guap equates to guap. I think sometimes we get soooo wrapped in our own ambitions for an act that we forget yes, a mofo needs to feed their kids and on this particular outing, Birthday Girl, I personally think they did a good job of doing both. They explored some shit they probably go through b/c there's an assload of hot white chicks at Roots shows and it's some experimental shit so...yea.
What do yall think?
World Meet El Prez
Straight from the miggy-figgy City of Angels I present to you El Prez--Inglewood to be exact. El Prez hit me with a couple of traxx and told me they were not wack and they sounded pretty scr8 so I figured I'd share it w/the world. El Prez describes his sound as part Pharcyde + Nas + 91 Cube. Also saying he's "Hip Hop from 88 to 94 being found in a time capsule by people in the year 3000. Definitely back to the future but not retro (word em' up to Marty McFly). Enough of the colloquial song and dance. Below you'll find the music. Meet this man with your cheers or jeers.
El Prez "Uaintuponthis" ft. U-N-I and Danja
SOP/my DX blog are both becoming an outlet for non-wack artists to get their music out and get opinions. Regardless if you're a rapper or producer or rocker or whatever send your music to iamnotwack@gmail.com and if it's not wack I'll post it. Now the whole world can boo you, j/k. Make sure to send a photo, a bio and the MP3 files you want people to hear. Peeeace
Artists of other mediums are welcome as well i.e. graphic designers, painters, fashion etc.
OD'n on MP3s
Von Pea of Tanya Morgan alluded to this in his blog. But, damn, there's just too much music. Real talk, I have damn near 10-12 album in cue right now. I'm listening to the Gnarls Barkley, eq'n some Zapp Band shit and besides American Angster I haven't listened to any of them AG remix tapes. And that's just my rap music not even throwing in my Mars Volta or Crystal Castle type ish. The days of digesting an album are over. By the time you bust the plastic off of one disc...who am I really kidding...I should say extract the .rar or zip file but I figured since artists blog and frequent this site I thought I'd at least front like cats buy CDs. Real talk, I'm buying CDs this year. I already bout one from an artist named Afta 1. Thinkin bout coppin' this Tiombe Lockhart joint. But, there's just way too many free downloads; not that I'm complaining but there's just an influx of fiyah shit floatin' around.
But that does a number of things. It makes you feel like (as a consumer) why should I cop records when cats are giving it away for the free and it makes you build up an immunity. What do I mean by that? Basically, you either hearing so much hot shit that regular shit becomes booty cheeks or you hear so much okay shit that pretty good shit becomes classic (word to American Gangster and Finding Forever, what up 88). I'm not stating I'm a fan or a critic of passing your music out freely. I'd be a hypocrite to say I'm opposed to it b/c 1) I consume alot of free and some not so free shit (shhhh...don't tell noooobody) and 2) I write these blogs for the low low price of nada so in essence I'm passing my thoughts out for the freesky too. Sometimes I feel like that cat from American Beauty videotaping that leaf. The music just overwhelms me because there's so much and it's so beautiful. Then there's times when I feel like slapping cats momma's when they put out toilet tissue. What do y'all foo foos think?
So We've Come to the End of the Road
No suckas I ain't leavin' this here space. Yall fuckers probably want that; hating ass bastards. I'm actually about to start doing more around here starting with a Blu interview I got lined up for tomorrow. I'm actually here to publicly mourn the death of the best fuckin show EVAR, The Wire. As I sit here, eyes blood shot red wondering where I'm going to get my weekly fix of gangsterlicious shit I can't even begin to fathom what's next for me. Maybe I'll start following politics more closely. Some pretty gangster shit goes down (word to Blackwater).
Unlike most of you paleface yuckmos and privileged darkeys I grew up too broke to get HBO. Actually, I don't recall getting cable--legal cable--and consistent cable until like my sophomore or junior year of high school. And we didn't get HBO until late junior year or senior year. My first interaction with H-BO came with what every teen who's newly aware of self induced coitus would be, the hit or miss way the fuck off Real Sex (don't front I know some of yall rememeber that Hedonism joint they did in Jamaica...man. I almost jerked myself into an eternal slumber that... good times, good times). Anyways, after I started getting maaad stank my need for flix was quelled for the time being. I mean hey, there was no high speed internet then. So my use for HBO evolved and I starting watching what would be IMO the first premise of The Wire, The Corner. It was penned by the Roc and was like the illest look at crackheads and their life. Although it was poignant, the shit was sad as fuck.
Then came The Wire. I was like the only nigga in my high school watching it. Cats were too dumb to really dig the gangsterness--the byzantine storylines, the unforeseen twists and Omar (my nigga Omar). At the time the druglord, was Avon Barksdale and Wee-Bey was the muscle. Man them boys used to get busy [II]. I never thought they'd get jammed up but I knew when they let Avon's simp ass cousin, D'Angelo, on it was Titanic time. Even still the boys maneuvered through 2 seasons. After that I went off to college and the dorms didn't even have cable (gotta love the squalor of HBCU living). I missed the next season of The Wire. Between working and slappin cakes and school and drugs and writing there wasn't much time for much else so I forgot about The Wire.
I still heard people discussing it and it had became pretty popular. My girl just happened to have HBO and OnDemand. While the season 4 had been over, the OnDee remained. I watched season 4 in one day b/c the shit was expiring at midnight. It was the best day of my life barring...no it was the best day of my life. I watched 12/13 hours straight and regretted not a minute of that day. Now, that I'm a grown ass man and can afford the luxury of having cable with one premium channel--not that I'll keep HBO now that the Wire is gone--I could catch the Wire week by week and I did. And after watching the final episode, I'm damn near in tears. The Wire so visually encompasses what this world is really about. The mofos who front like they're clean are dirty as fuck and the grimiest thieves in this world have honor. Basically, we're all human and with or without us this world continues to turn on its sphere. I know that's some of the sappiest romantic bullshit rhetoric ever but it's and perhaps if I may, the realest shit I ever wrote. I'll miss you The Wire. We grew together and I'd sacrifice my best friend(s) just to have one more season...
Therein lies the greatest show ever...The Wire
PS They better not pull this shit with Nip/Tuck or so help me gawd someone will pay
World Meet the Camp
Just found out about Bean Town collective, The Camp (Dese, Grime the MC, Excetera, DJ Hevan). I got an email with their new track “Little Story” featuring Slaine attached. To this point I hadn’t heard any of their shit so I approached it open-minded and my thoughts were: it’s raunchy, kinda funny (dark humor though) and the story-telling was crisp. But it’s a track about catchin’ the clap so yea that was kind of weird different…But I checked out more of their work and it sounded damn good; definitely worth checkin’ out. I must admit I turned a blind eye to the Bean Town after Benzino’s tomfoolery but how could I forget this is the same place that brought the likes of bald head slick. Silly me. Anywho, here’s a few tracks including “Little Story.” Let me know what y’all think. Their album, The Campaign, drops April 1st.
World Meet Remnant
As I proceed...Straight from the source i.e. not me...them: Hailing from the West (Cali) and Midwest (Ohio) respectively, The Remnant formed in Atlanta, Georgia while the three were pursuing undergraduate degrees at Morehouse College. These three emcees (Adan, Tribe1, Just John) came to the table armed only with the influences that spanned the years of their upbringing. From college to cartoons, jobs to Jesus, or fiction to family and friendships, The Remnant represents all walks of life. The Remnant's retro-progressive style remains a rubix cube where music, literature, relationships, God, and Disney converge to create nothing close to a pattern. The only consistency is quality, thought-provoking music. Looking towards the future, The Remnant expects success with a simple plan: Go where God leads and pray that you'll come along.
Let em' know how y'all feel. I got one more coming and I'm out.
World Meet Gripplyaz
Thanks for the kick in the ass, Shake.
note: Being a writer can be hella frustrating. You're exposed to mad music that's fly--and PLENTY that's Stephen J. Garbowski--but sometimes editors put the breaks on doing stories on said artists because they haven't popped yet. As opposed to being a pussy and complaining about it I figured why not take matters into my own hands and do it on this lil' space i'm granted right chea. I already do it here. So in the oh-ate (08) I'm all about taking your horizons and kickin' them mugs wide the fluck open.
Meet Gripplyaz
As if the picture doesn't say it all. The man has panties + brews!!! That warrants attention, damnit. My dude Black Ice let you know why you need to know Gripplyaz but if you forgot or you're just sloooow check it out here. Grip is that uber buck dude in your clique that when he does something crazy you're just like "oh, that's Grip." He...he...just read this quote: “Women ask me where I got my name from. I just say I’m that essential tool in yo’ toolbox." You gotta respect a quote like that, c'mon. That type of straight-forward speech sums up what you're gonna get out of Grip. Sound-wise, I'd say he's a combo of the raunchiness of Spank Rock + the dialect of Sean Paul (word to Black Ice). I could continue but check him out for yourself. Let me know what y'all think. Shouts out to the homie Kei (for the tracks) and the Lavish Life Social Club and the Come Up Kids. 100.
SOP/my DX blog are both becoming an outlet for non-wack artists to get their music out and get opinions. Regardless if you're a rapper or producer or rocker or whatever send your music to iamnotwack@gmail.com and if it's not wack I'll post it. Now the whole world can boo you, j/k. Make sure to send a photo, a bio and the MP3 files you want people to hear. Peeeace
Artists of other mediums are welcome as well i.e. graphic designers, painters, fashion etc.
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