October 2006 Archives

It seems, after the falling out with DJ Green Lantern, that DJ Kay Slay "The Drama King" is trying to prove himself. After the "Green Lantern ain't nothin' but a blender DJ" ordeal began to spread all over the internet via Youtube, I'm sure he heard many say that all he does is run his mouth, and that Lantern is the one with the real talent. In response to this, "Slap Your Favorite DJ" has released the new mixtape The Myspace Maniac. The new ish features "New York Shit" remix with Busta, Pap, and M.O.P, the not-very-
exclusive Jay and Dame dis joints, "Queen of NY" by Remy Ma, and other tracks featuring Jim Jones, Juelz, 50, Mary J, and more.

Whatever.

Shout out to the kid, the epitome of insolence, Mr. Irreverent. My left hand man.

Over a week ago, someone from the Mobb Deep publicity camp dropped the email about the airplane ordeal into the SOHH NYC inbox, and I simply forwarded it to the editors. What was I gonna use it for? It's good that they were okay but it served as no interest to me until I read the Mobb Deep interview that was posted last week. What I observed from this article was a totally different attitude from them both. After having been scared to death, they seem to be speaking as if they have come back down to earth, even though Prodigy got in trouble with the law this past weekend:

I'm in the middle of something and can't really give you my insight on anything pertaining to New York City hip-hop right now. Many of you hate me, and some even come on here just to communicate that -- which is something I truly adore. But if the editors say "Reckless, we'll get someone to do a guestblog for you on Friday," niggas got something to say about that too. It's a lose-lose situation.

...Well partially. In an interview with VH1, Hov finally addressed the questions that have been voiced by inquiring minds who want to know (myself included) why he's brewing competition amongst the Def Jam roster:

In the midst of all the press Foxy Brown has been receiving lately, one or two people have asked when she is planning on returning to the rap game. My answer to that question was that she has absolutely no talent, and there's no reason to care. At the end of the day, her success can be connected by two things: Ghostwriting and sex.

MC Lyte -- one of the only femcees that actually has quite a bit of lyrical credibility, and not to mention a VH1 Hip-Hop Honor on her plate -- is well respected because of the path she chose to take as a means to securely acquiring a seat in a business plagued with testosterone. A few rap chicks have already swallowed more than enough Sprite cans, but taking a look at this quote wouldn't do them any damage, considering many of their careers are already in critical condition. Lyte said:

The dude Talib seems to be falling harder and harder with every slip.

Just when you thought all was good for Kweli, Eardrum has experienced yet another push-back from his previous November 7th release date. It damn sure didn't have anything to do with Jim Jones (who is slated for the same November release), but my assertion would be that the change in date was made because Kweli's lead single, "Listen," hadn't been getting enough burn. So much for my new addition to the Hi-Tek/Kweli collection.

Like I've said before -- and allow me to reiterate -- I respect Jay-Z and everything he has accomplished. But this is not the out-of-retirement showdown I expected from him. The new single, despite monstrous video spins and crazy radio play, is .... (crickets). And I'm not the only one who feels this way. Someone hit me up with his opinion on the New Hov:

Press Play. New ish! In stores now!

Okay, that's enough of that.

A while back I was feelin Diddy's hustle. But now, his current choice of music is commercial, corny, and pop-ish... three things I hate. His past interactions with Biggie, Lox, and Mary? That's three things that's great. However, it's clear as day that times have changed. He's no longer in it for the hip-hop, he's only all about the dollars... but being labeled as such doesn't bother him. I caught him on VH1 last weekend saying that he's aware of how people criticize his musical concentration, and that he's proud to be putting out commercial and pop music.

Later for DJ Drama. Looks like "The Drama King" aka "Slap Your Favorite DJ" has moved on to his co-worker.

I don't exactly know what contributed to the latest edition of "Drama Radio," but this is not a good look. It appears as if DJ Green Lantern said something to set the infamous Kay Slay alarm on full blast. I don’t know where they were, but Busta and Pap were standing inches away as Kay Slay looked into the camera and bursted into an uproar:

What better album title than this?

Fat Joke's album cover has been swarming internet outlets harder than the Diddy Internet Marketing Campaign. It was made clear that I'm supposed to be doing a blog about the moron, but I can't think of anything nice to say.

Anyways. After many trips to the pitfall, the kid from Trinity Ave is trying again. I was feelin' the joint "No Drama (aka Clap and Revolve)" even though it sounded like another Rick Ross "Hustlin.’” But to be honest, ever since Pun passed I've never really paid Joe any mind, and although I recognized his little bit of street cred or whatever you call it, I've never respected his selfishness, self-centered, "all-about-me-fuck-my-crew-I'm-going-platinum-again" agenda.

I've tried to ignore it. The last thing I wanted to do was another G-Unit post. But I haven't seen bad reviews about an album from this many people in a while, so I figured the topic was relevant.

I was in the SOHH forum, and someone by the name of Street Novelist started a thread on the 5th that bagged over 4,600 views. A lot of what he was saying has pretty much summed up what I’ve been hearing from many others...

Carmen. Superhead. The list goes on...

DMX's "baby moms," Monique Wayne, who conceived the poor child sometime in 2003 during a one-night stand, is suing X over his claims that she raped him.

I have no respect for groupies at all whatsoever. Homewreckers are even worse. The slut is guilty of both.

What is she mad for? If the little groupie slut wasn't standing outside every concert with her panties at her ankles then the tacky ho wouldn't have to worry about having her name thrown all over the place. The filthy whore knew he was married and now her feelings are hurt because she's been called ugly, hard to look at, and labeled as the reason every man should "turn the light on before I go to sleep." She should have thought about this before she had his genitalia all down her throat.

All of a sudden, I've grown tired of the kid Papoose. With his crazy mixtape hustle, relentless flow and heavy New York swagger, I thought he would be the perfect fit as the new leader of NYC. But somewhere between his newfound mainstream connection and loss of mixtape interest, I lost interest.

It wouldn't be right to keep him concealed in the mixtape department; every artist needs to grow. But now that he's major, it seems that he's lost touch with the streets.

"All respect to all rappers on Def Jam, I love the label. Without disrespect, I'm about to be the craziest shit on Def Jam." --Nas, MTV News

His ability to back up this claim can be deemed, for the most part, undisputed. However, we're still waiting to see if the current "album release date," December 19th, will manage to stick (*crickets*).

The legendary Queensbridge MC -- who claims his marriage to Kelis was his second marriage, as he married hip-hop first -- had words for the DJs of today (who, unlike pioneers like Red Alert, make it too easy for garbage to sabotage the airwaves), and some words for inquiring minds wishing to know exactly what 'hip-hop is dead' really means.

Okay, so this has become yet another cliché, but until resolved, it will remain relevant: What can bring New York back?

As someone told me, it's a shame that the most anticipated albums of New York City hip-hop comes from rap veterans over the age of thirty. While many of them are respected, such as Ghostface, Nas, Method Man, Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, LL Fool J, and a few others, this kind of leaves a limited space for newer rappers to emerge; a lot of the attention is focused on the big dogs of the game, thus leaving the younger and/or newer cats as a last resort.

In addition to that, watered-down, run-to-where-the-money's-at rappers, such as Fat Ho, don't realize that their retirement would pretty much be well appreciated, and would play a big part in keeping the rap game fresh. Right now, there's too much congestion, and not enough room for growth.

On the VH1 red carpet, when asked about femcees such as Foxy Brown and Lil' Kim and their vulgar, tasteless marketing strategies and sprite-can-disappear-in-my-mouth lyrics, Salt of Salt-N-Pepa had this to say:

"I definitely think there's room for women to be represented in a better light...There's a responsibility when it comes to the microphone. [As far as "Let's Talk About Sex"] We were talking about safe sex. There was a message in the music."

Stans, this blog is not for you.

Whoever organized the red carpet for the "VH1 Hip-Hop Honors" needs to be slapped silly. It was chaos, stupid packed, and just ridiculous. Too many friggin publications were in one spot.

The red carpet segment took about three hours alone, and I had to bounce before the actual show. However, I got a priceless quote from the legendary Lovebug Starski, the creator of the word "hip-hop," who put an end to the journalists' speculating that his former sidekick, DJ Hollywood, possibly created the word. He told me:

After a quiet full year away from the mainstream, it looks like Loso is having it his way with a fourth full-length LP.

The Brooklyn MC's first and second albums, Ghetto Fabolous and Street Dreams, were the two platinum efforts that categorized his flow and put emphasis on his target audience: Mainly for the ladies. Many thought that since it worked for LL Fool J, that Fab would stick with the formula and continue catering to the shorties. But his third LP, Real Talk, led by the Just Blaze hard-core banger "Breathe," was intended to bring Fab's way an entirely different set of listeners.

Jim Jones's "We Fly High" has become another street smash in Harlem and the X, but does anyone else really take Dipset seriously?

As of late, "We Fly High," the joint that was released this summer, has made its way to ringtones, nextel radio features, and sound systems throughout the entire Harlem and The Bronx. This is no surprise as the Dipset following is heavy Uptown, but I haven't seen hype like this since Juelz Santana's 2003 street hit "Dipset."

"Why do schools care bout your son's braids more then they care for his grades?/ Why they hate our white T-shirts and hats turned backwards?/ And why is Jesus Christ never played by black actors?/...And why is Nas the best thing in rap since Chuck D?"-- Nas "Why (Remix)"

Jadakiss' "Why" was a much needed breath of fresh air to the rap game back in 2004. The remix, which featured Styles, the ever-conscious rapper Common, the street-poetic Nas, and haunting vocals by Anthony Hamilton, raised awareness in a variety of issues going on today's society.

What happened to DMX's swagger?

The Yonkers MC first brought you the 1998 multi-platinum debut It's Dark and Hell is Hot. Then came yet another multi-platinum effort, Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood. 1999 brought you the multi-platinum And Then There Was X, followed by the 2001 platinum LP Great Depression and 2003's platinum Grand Champ. Here We Go Again dropped in 2005, adding to X's list of #1 debuts which of course uplifted his record as the only MC to ever put out a consecutive string of #1 charts debuts.

His latest effort, this year's Year of the Dog... Again, disappointingly broke that #1 flow. While still landing at a fair #2 in its first week, Year of the Dog only managed to press out 126,000 copies for week one, later tumbling to #80 on the charts after only four weeks with a sullen 231,000 units sold in total. His album then proceeded to fall well below the #100 line the next week, and continued to stumble to the bottom 200 thereafter.

It seems as if D-Block rep J-Hood has read my mind. He took the words right out of my mouth.

"Ni99as be talkin' shit like ni99as is wild, wild nice and all that. Ya'll ni99as' not nice, man. Ya'll ni99as is aight. It's just ya labels pushing ya'll dumb hard nahmean, they pullin' the wool over ni99as' eyes so…. with a little bit of money you can fool anybody man. So you know, that don't make ya'll ni99as nice because ya'll get spins and all that. That just mean your labels is doing what they supposed to do nahmean. Don't mean you nice that don't mean you possess skill. You garbage. And that goes for a lot of ya'll ni99as man."-- The Come Up DVD