December 2006 Archives

SOHH (and I never say that), it is now the end of 2006, and today is the last post of the year. From the news to the feuds to the comments usuals to the Reckless Protesters who made me the infamous hater that I am (I love to see niggas get tight), this blog, which first launched with the original SOHH NYC back in January, has been a sight to see. I was trying to come up with the ten hottest blogs of the year, but it was too much. So what I did was pick and chose a few. Here is what I compiled:

I know I brushed on the whole ordeal yesterday, but yo. The kid Nas did it well -- even with minimal radio airplay outside much of the tri-state (NY, NJ, CT), and that single ("Hip-hop Is Dead") was only a hit WITHIN the tri-state. The hype behind "Black Republicans" also did its thing.

#1 on the charts. 355K. That's what's really.

It's almost a new first quarter. Did this "beef" start in this year's first quarter or second?

Anyways. The internet has, in a lot of ways, sugar coated a lot of things. In some ways, rap battles aren't real rap battles anymore because much of the audience has been influenced by the persuasive blogs and other Op Eds dominating the e-outlets. Because of this, a lot of people don't really take the time to listen to the lyrics spit between the two; many don't really pay any mind to the buzz swarming the streets about what MC is lyrically chastising who. Instead, images like the one with Hov holding Nas-- who had his head photoshopped onto a midget's body-- begin to circulate, and upon viewing something such as this, arguments spark solely based on who favors who more.

DJ Carl Blaze, who fell victim to what had first appeared to be an attempted robbery in the Dyckman section of Uptown (Academy Street), died Saturday afternoon (December 23) after fighting for his life for over two whole weeks at Harlem Hospital. He was 30 years old.

The chain he had been wearing, which was designed with the initials “CB,” was missing when the cops arrived at the scene of the crime. However, his cash, ring, and watch were not missing.

"I just got off the phone with Divine and RZA from Wu-Tang, we are coming back, we are joining forces for one album, coming up in 2007," said [Steve] Rifkind via a video on his blog, thelabel.blog.com. "I don't know what the name of the album is but we are back, its official. Wu-Tang and Steve Rifkind are back together."

Well that was dumb.

Why rush an artist to put out an album if you’re not going to properly promote it?

In an exclusive interview with SOHH, Papoose spoke on his record, "50 Shots," which came after the unjust shooting of a Queens man by the hands of the NYPD. This interview contained some decent discussion, but what caught my eye was the last paragraph, which suggests that he has more in store for his full-length LP than the content embedded in his mixtapes-- the very same mixtapes that helped him step to the top of the underground circuit.

Saigon's "Pain in My Life." Ludacris' "Runaway Love." Two songs of the same subject matter, made up of the same format, structured and shaped almost identically. But the thing that sets them apart is: they have two totally different styles... and one of the two is getting more of the airplay.

If you are familiar with Saigon's style, he's a for-the-streets rapper. Take this one way or the other, but Luda is well known for being a commercialized rapper who took this Mary J. collabo as a means to saving his ass (which, according to Soundscan, hasn't worked). A lot of people said that with the way Luda spits, it's about time he puts his raps into something worth talking about; this one hundred eighty degree flip came from out of left field. So if Saigon is more authentic with his flow, if he's more sincere with his quest to spitting lyrics that will influence and somehow push for the "betterment of his people," then where the hell is the support?

The black represents the gun, the red is for the blood.

Jada, Styles, Sheek, J-Hood and the rest of the gang possibly signing to Cash Money? The biggest sellout move since Russell Simmons indirectly sided with DeBeers.

If there's any two New York City rappers that should be rocking this graphic across a white tee, it should be Cory Gunz and Jae Millz aka "The Statue."

Although just barely out of his teenage status, Cory Gunz has -- I will dare to say-- a flow better than his father's... and a flow better than most of these rappers in the game... point, blank, period.

First of all, this old G-Unit dis track that SOHH Fabulous spoke of (Time is Money is DUSTY), entitled "G Joint," is horrible. He has burnt himself beyond the feeling of frustration, disappointment, and hopelessness to the point where he's murdering himself on the track instead of the actual subject matter. In his voice I hear a tired, lost, furious, struggling lyricist who has fallen into the pits of failure with every step... and he's tired of it.

But why waste your time trying to lyrically slay some fools that have already killed themselves? G-Unit is done; it's like putting a gun to a dead man's head which serves absolutely no purpose; you can't body something that has already seen its demise.

Ludacris' shirt: worth discussing. Lil Wayne's blurple ass turning bright red over Hov: worth discussing. Young Jeezy trying desperately to question Nas' street cred, ha: priceless.

According to the NY Daily News, the illegal tagging of subway cars is slowly becoming a recurring trend -- a trend responsible for the 1982 hip-hop classic "Wild Style" -- but the NYPD Transit Bureau is publicly blaming "foreigners" as a means to discouraging New York City paint pros from catching the graffiti bug themselves... even though they've already been doing it.

The cops -- the same manipulative cops who recently tried to shy the attention away from their wrong-doing during that unjust shooting in Queens by inventing a "fourth witness who escaped from the scene of the crime" -- "estimated" that 70% of the tags found on New York City trains "are being carried out by Europeans." Riiiiiiiiiiiiight. Not to mention that in this Daily News article, they've appeared to have made up conspiracies of where some of these "foreign" tags originated. Please.

Remo Da Rapstar is not your average rapper. As the creator of his marketing and distribution company, All City Distribution, the Castle Hill Projects MC is on the grind to not only prove himself as a businessman, but also as a “for the people” rapper coming straight out of the archives of street lyricism.

In this interview, SOHH speaks with the Justo Mixtape Award-winning artist about his hustle to widening his fan base, his focus on establishing himself as a businessman and building clout for other underground MCs, why Nas is number one, his views on the collapse of Harlem’s empire, why he feels “Jay-Z is like a modern-day Malcolm X.”

Harlem has acted a fool not once, but twice in two days. But what else is new. These two incidents, however, just happen to be high profile.

As a lot of you have heard, Carl Blaze from New York's 105.1 was gunned down in what appeared to be an attempted stick-up somewhere in Harlem, leaving him in critical condition. Doctors said yesterday that he might not live for more than 48 hours. There is no updated info as of yet.

I hope LL heard that one.

Shoutout to Sherry at Complex.

It looks like the new Complex is filled with some hot shit. In the new December/January issue of the mag, Nas had quite a bit to get off his chest. A lot of people don't know that before Nas' deal with Def Jam, he was offered a president's position at Atlantic... which would've given him a substantial amount of power over Jim Jones. And although Nas didn't take the position, he says:

The 10th Annual Mixtape Awards is going down Thursday, December 7 at Harlem's Apollo Theater.

DJ Green Lantern has pulled himself up quite a bit since his situation with 50 Cent and Jadakiss. After he stepped down as Eminem's DJ to avoid further conflict, no one ever thought he would come back as hard as he did until he hit the mixtape scene with a bang on Alive on Arrival (Best Mixtape of the Year nomination).

...And Hov played himself by first co-signing this little elf.

Shout out to Eskay.

Looks like someone is feeling himself just a little too much. MTV mentioned that in an interview with the new issue of Complex Mag, Lil' Wayne had this to say:

Nas told DJ Rosetta Devine on Baltimore's Power 92.1 Jamz:

"Mobb Deep signing to G-Unit is a disgrace to hip-hop. I love them little brothers, but don't speak on Nas. It doesn't make sense. You learned from me. That's the bottom line."

Stressed?

When MTV asked 50 why he called his next LP Before I Self Destruct -- which is slated for a spring release -- he said "because it could potentially happen."

I'm not doing this blog to bash him. I just find the excuses he's using quite pitiful. He doesn't want to admit that G-Unit's plunge to infinite demise might have, in some way, put him at risk.