• » Name: J. Burnett
• » Location: Atlanta, GA
• » Member Since: 05/25/07
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• » T.I.'s Resume Checked
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• » A Call to Arms
• » Woooooord

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hip hop • rap • t.i. • the dirty south

• » Why Think Let Me Hold That

Why Think Let Me Do That...Jesus Approved Commentary

Rappity Rap Raps

So I was listening to Rising Down and after my first few listens I was sort of disappointed. Sound-wise it’s not that much of a progression from Game Theory. Then, I turned it up louder and the shit sounded great. Rising Down lyrically and sonically is a response to the cruddy state the music industry is in. You get the feeling throughout the pilgrimage that the band is pissed (“75 Bars”) about something but it’s not them just screaming “Yo, we’re pissed off.” That’s what is expressed by the music. Therein lies the genius of the Roots. They draw the picture with the music and allow you to interpret the vision as opposed to the vision being shoved down your throat Sasha Grey style.

And that’s what a lot of those SUPER HIP HOP acts don’t get. I’ll focus on MC Jan Sport for now though. How asinine is it to write raps about rapping and the rap game and blah blah blah? The meaning of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. How many cats have said the rap game is ass cheeks but you (MC Jan Sport) expect stardom because you say it in different word order. Nah, bruh. As opposed to writing rhymes about rhymes why not talk about life? That’s something that’s unique to anyone. Maybe your life sucks but it’s still your life and no one can reproduce your basement tales better than you.

Same thing with alot of mainstream cats. Everyone’s making it rain, cashing checks but few cats actually make you feel like “yo, this nicca’s actually rich.” You got cats talking how cheesed up they are and in their video they're riding around in Chargers. Nicca please. That’s where Rick Ross’ last album Trilla suceeds—yeah I said it. It's actually pretty damn good as far as mainstream rap goes. He’s selling the lifestyle and it actually makes for a better listening experience. I mean there’s some explicit references but listen to that jawn one time and tell me you don’t feel like maybe he is who he says he is despite you can clearly cops his velours from Marshalls.

Final point: Nas and his recent leaked track (Be a Nigga Too). I mean it's like a nicca always talkin' bout smackin cakes. If you getting skins then cats will recognize. The lame-os are the ones who have to constantly stress it. Like the track is too extra; too much of an attempt to be revolutionary. It comes off as unnatural and the beat is Mo' cheeks. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come but the other track he leaked is Steve J Garbow too.

I’m just saying writing raps about rap = wack

Thoughts?

7 Comments             

A Call to Arms

 

I, like many of you, have heard about the Sean Bell case. And I, like many of you, chalked it off as another sad story; another injustice that was beyond my control. Before I attempted to do anything, I had already concluded there was not much I could do. I've come to determine this is an erroneous conclusion. Allowing what happened to happen to this man without saying or doing something will assuredly make America an immensely less safe place for anyone--not just men of color but EVERYONE.

I can and WILL do something. It's never too late to do something.

Here's the details as I know them. That night Bell and two others (and possibly a third individual) celebrated Bell's pending wedding to Nicole Paultre with a bachelor's party at a seedy strip club named the Kalua Cabaret. Said club was under surveillance for its owner allegedly "fostering" a prostitution ring. With that said there were undercover officers on the premises who were building a case against the establishment and its owner. Upon witnessing a heated argument between a member of Bell's party (Guzman) and one of the dancers, one of the plain clothes officers overheard the man from Bell's party saying "Yo, get my gun" (NY Post). The detective proceeded to following the party out of the club.

Now, here's where details differ depending on the perspective. The plain clothes officer was said to approach the car with his gun drawn. At this point Bell who was driving a Nissan Altima pulled off hitting the officer and colliding with an unmarked surveillance van--either in fear of an ensuing carjacking or fleeing arrest. This we'll never know because Bell was slain in the shooting that commenced following that sequence of events. Whether the officer--as protocol calls for--identified himself as a police officer before he drew his gun, or after, or if he did at all has yet to be determined. After all the dust had settled, Detective Michael Oliver had shot 31 times (a full two clips); Detective Isnora fired 11 shots and Detective Cooper fired off 4 shots--a total of close to 50 bullets to subdue a car of 3-4 men.

The fourth man who allegedly had the phantom firearm supposedly fled the scene although no evidence of his weapon, persona or actual presence has been confirmed. Alot of the details have shifted and there's alot of room for speculation in either direction. What remains is that Sean Bell, a father and soon to be husband, is dead and there was no weapon in the vehicle that was fired upon. What about his wife, his daughter? And nearly 50 shots fired, if not more, shots to stop them..."Excessive force" is an understatement. According to protocol, gunshots should not be used on moving vehicles (even if the vehicle is being used as a weapon) and regardless of that, some of the shots fired nearly injured innocent bystanders who had nothing to do with the incident. Several similar incidents have occurred in Georgia and they occur all over the nation. When does it stop? To add insult to injury, in the criminal trial for the three officers all were acquitted of their respective charges which included manslaughter and reckless endangerment.

I'm not sure what course of action needs to be taken but something needs to happen. If you'd like to mobilize in the name of justice contact me directly (email's in the contact section). We can discuss the facts, details, (or vent) and decide what the next action may be. But we can't continue to allow things like this to happen without doing something.

If you'd like to find out more about this case and read a bevy of newspaper articles about this, click here

Justice for Sean (Sean's Family's Website)

Please spread the word. Copy and paste my note in another note and tag as many people as you can.

8 Comments             

Woooooord

 

 

(note: I may be late on this but I haven’t watched more then an hour of TV in about 2 months or been into Politics that much as of late, so if this isn’t news to you keep it pushin’ and accept my insincere apologies.) 

Hmmm...Basically, it's surfaced that while Billy Boy was going through that whole Monica Lewinsky ordeal he requested religious and spiritual consul from a number of well known leaders in that realm. In attendance, was the man pictured above, Jeremiah Wright--the same man Mrs. Clinton continues to hurl about in hopes that white folks won't cast their ballots for Barack. Recently, she mentioned his ties to Farrakhan (i.e. the ill angry black man) attempting to link Obama to Farrakhan. You see a pattern. Hill's tactics prey on the most vile, reprehensible deep-seated biases of those who still fear men of color. Let's make sure this thing gets the proper coverage because it's time for her political gamemanship to be revealed. She'll say anything to get that seat.

Hillary Clinton = the illest demagogue EVAR

Read the full article here

PS

Busted...

18 Comments             

HipHopDX Cage Match: The Indisputable Top 5 SOLO Catalogues

It's been a long time...yall know the rest. Well some of you do but if you don't know a line like that then you're pretty much worthless--at least in this sphere. So I was thinking of uber-insightful shit to blog about and a few days turned into a week or so. Yall know how it goes. Plus news in Hip Hop has become more like watching America's Most Wanted or Cops then anything that's even remotely close to relevant in my day to day life so I just been grinding out reviews, interviews and shit like that; you know stuff that pays. The price on Corn Pops and milk for that matter is up and props from a blog can't afford you those luxuries. 

I don't think some of you understand how difficult it is to sit down at a cpu at your full time gig and blow something coherent out of your ass [paws] while cascading windows of B&B, King photoshoots and bizarre shit i'd rather not discuss. But on my side, side hustle, SOP, I decided to rouse up some rabble as I'm wont to do with this post. Basically, it's a picture of Com's One Day It'll All Make Sense and a title that says it's his hottest shit EVAR which it is. But that got me thinking with the catalogue Com's got, he's a legitimate candidate for G.O.A.T. I'm not going to go there--at least not now--but me and my Co-D began ranking cats and their catalogues and my joints goes like this.

1. Jay-Z

2/3. Nas/Com (neck and neck)

4. Ghostface

5. LL

Like this is pretty indisputable but I know some of you yokels have differing opinions. Let's get it cracking though. What are yall's lists?

65 Comments             

Bidness Don't Give Two Fucks About You

Maaan...you ever been at your job and someone asks you to do some shit at like 4:59pm when you get off at 5pm and then it's some shit that'll have you there until 7pm??? Well 90% of you probably still feeding off ma dukes bosom so I guess this is for a select few, the creme de la creme that hustles 9-5 so they can afford dem Corn Pops in da mornin' (not me though, I can't afford breakfast yet). But they know it's some BS and you know it's some BS. But your boss' boss don't give a shit. They don't care about your time or your feelings as long as the end result remains the same.

Me and M dot was having this convo yesterday. You can almost apply that to anything. Take that Lebron cover. I don't know if the editor was trying to make him look like a monkey or not but truth of the matter is it doesn't matter now anyway. If blacks lined up on the capital that shit would probably become a more profitable issue in the end making it more a success then just ignoring it which is what I did to an extent. I already knew it was about making cake. But, it generated the buzz probably making them more $$$ then they've seen in a minute and like I said before dollars make sense. So all of that outcry amounts to nothing.

Apply that to Hip Hop. See what many of you artists/fans/people don't understand is that when the first record was pressed up this shit became a business. All that artistic shit is cool, I love it and respect it but the idea behind a business is to turn a profit. That's why you got cats making .08 cents on each of their albums so someone else can make mad dust. Bidness don't care if you take 20 years to make an album and if after you've sold 15K you have to go live in a homeless shelter which is probably a real story for someone. If they make $1 off that ass the machine will continue to churn and you can spend the next 20 years of your life making the next joint so Cohen and them can light up another Cohiba. That shit sounds wild crazy but it's the truth. Kinda fucked up ain't it???

Yall remember the Roc right (one of our greatest dynasties)? Now, I can look back at it and laugh because Jay played the shit like a business. Now look at what he's doing...the rest of the Roc, not so much. There's no principles/morals in a business. It just make that dough. C.R.E.A.M. dollar, dollar bill yaaaaaall.

 

16 Comments             

That's Gangstalicious My Dude

So, like a good number of my blogs, I began to ruminate on this topic (gangstaliciousness in rap music) in the drive-thru of Popeye's while I was mulling over the decision to go with the popcorn shrimp meal or the, tried and true, 3-finger chicken strip meal. What prompted these thoughts was the playing of Bloodraw's (damn can you get a more gangster name than that? I think not) "In My Louis" featuring Young Jeezy. It's one of those joints were the entirety of the song is centered around a phrase similar to Juvie's "Ha." The phrase on this occasion happened to be a "in my Louis bag," which struck me as a bit odd. When you think about it's a bit gangstalicious in that these are the same K-totin', bird-flippin' "gangsters" but they got a whole song about what they put in their bags...Hmm...similarly, I find my self having identical thoughts about Rocko's "This Morning" where in the chorus he grabs his hat, then his bag then his strap...interesting combo. In fact, Rocko often talks about matching his bag with his hat. I'll leave yall to draw conclusions.

There's nothing wrong with being fly. That's cool but this swagger business is getting out of hand. When it was Gucci sneakers that was cool even the Prada sneaks get a pass (shit i'd cop some of those to this day) but this along with the Rick Ross "no draws incident" are making me have some interesting thoughts about where rap music is going. Fly shoes is one thing but I'm not going for this bag shit. C'mon, these are "gangsters" talking about toting bags around. Some of this ish sounds a lil sus to me. Maybe I'm just a hater. I'm not saying I wouldn't cop a Louis bag if I had an excess of cash--albeit not braggin' about what I stash in it--but some things not jiggin' about these thugged out images and these bags. What do yall think?

Gangstalicious or am I just hatin' as I'm prone to do?

StuntinOnProse

50 Comments             

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