When not talking about the NBA and pondering Too $hort’s influence on JKidd beating his wife, producer/emcee J-Zone and I piss and moan about the colossal disaster that is the Hip Hop industry. Now Zone has taken the time to outline precisely what is fucked up and why it is fucked up, and if you didn’t know, he is dead right. Before you go on and read, please take the following advice to heart; stop rapping and get a job. – J-23

"3 Things You Can’t Argue About: Religion, Politics & Hip-Hop" - J-Zone

I realize that arguing about music is pointless cause we all got different opinions. a few people wanted my opinion on the "is hip hop dead?" matter and I just put my opinion on my sites. For some reason, it’s gotten a lot of unexpected feedback, but what I’m saying isn’t really new, nor is there is there a right or wrong answer to that question. If u agree with me that’s cool, if you disagree that’s cool too. Its music, not life and death. At the least, to read it is a way to kill some time.

Everybody's saying it. Nas titled his album that. People are debating and a few brothers asked me for my humble opinion. So as I watch the Celtics lose their 17th straight on Sportscenter, I'll do a music related blog for once. After all, it effects me right? 5 things I feel are the biggest culprits of rap's downfall. Well actually before I exercise my freedom of speech and somebody gets upset for nothing, let me clarify.

a. I am NOT saying that there aren't a batch of stellar records released yearly, or a group of dope producers delivering fly shit or a handful of rappers that still make you wanna listen. I also know music is subjective and it's all opinion. The great music of today may be on par with the great of yesterday, but in the grand scheme of things, the negatives far outweigh the positives.

b. There's 3 things you can never argue about…Religion, Politics and Hip-Hop. Cause no matter your opinion, somebody will tyrannically oppose and get all fuckin emotional. It’s just my humble opinion, relax. Who cares anyway?

c. For the record, the politics at major labels, press and radio are not listed here because they've been around since the beginning of time. And we have ourselves to blame for not manning up to take control of those.. Yo Flex, drop a bomb on that. OK, where was I?

5. CLANS, POSSES, CREWS & CLIQUES: WHO U WIT?

Safety in numbers. Movements, collaborations, big name guests, teams, crew beef, etc. The days of the solo roller are over. In the prime of rap, you were judged solely on your music. Rakim, Nas & Biggie (early on), LL, Kane…they all built their legend on music alone. Hell, Rakim had no guests on his first 4 albums. Sure there was Juice Crew, Native Tongues, Lench Mob crew, etc. But it wasn't mandatory. Then for some reason, in the mid-late 90's, it became totally necessary to have a movement. A crew with 1,000 different artists all on the same team. Touring together, crew t-shirts, beef with other crews, collaborations, etc. Not that that's a bad thing, but it's like people cannot identify with one artist, there has to be a movement or somebody else involved to validate them. Look at today's most successful artists. They all have a movement. Roc-A-Fella, Def Jux, Stonesthrow, Rhymesayers, G-Unit, Dipset, Wu-Tang, Hieroglyphics, Okayplayer, etc. Or if you're not part of a movement, you collaborate with other high profile artists. Doom, Danger Mouse, etc. It’s all about cross-pollinating fan bases. You don't? You die. And for some reason, I see Da Youngstas album, Da Aftermath, as the beginning of this from a beat standpoint. That and Run DMC's Down With The King (both 1993) were the first albums I can remember to use a lot of different producers with totally different sounds. It worked back then, they were dope albums. But it wound up being a cancer. Continued on page 2 »