Tag Archives: fuckery

The BET Hip Hop Awards Is Already the Show of the Year

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Look, I ain’t advocating violence, but it’s about damn time something happened. It’s been boring as hell recently. I ain’t been writing shit but half-reviews of albums, bringing up shit from damn near 10 years ago just to complain about why an artist today ain’t never really gonna be shit, and I even recently scrapped an article that was basically just gonna be a reaction piece to some old ass dude who felt it necessary to write a review of an album he knew he was gonna hate but he still chose to take the time to listen to only to rip it apart for the most trivial of shit. When the frequent and tired rants of Lupe Fiasco damn near become the subject of 600 words from me, it means shit is dead. So yeah, I’m happy that something finally happened that’s worth discussing. I’m of course talking about the shooting at the BET Hip Hop Awards.

We don’t know much yet. We got a couple twitter statuses, and a short report from HipHopDX, but it seems that the boiling beef between Rick Ross and Young Jeezy finally reared its ugly head at an awards show that used to be awesome for the freestyle cyphers but after seeing this year’s lineup I give zero fucks about anybody except for RZA and maybe DMX (he could rip it, you never know). I was beginning to wonder how many more “fuck boys” would have to be uttered before Jeezy finally handled his business, and after I stopped counting at around 8 it’s nice to see that some shit finally came from this.

The history ain’t much. Rick Ross called Jeezy a fuck boy, Jeezy said Rick was disrespecting BMF, Rozay called Jeezy a fuck boy, then Jeezy made a better album while “We push nothing back but tops” Maybach Music delayed God Forgives, I Don’t for half a year. There were some more “fuck boys” in there but the point is, two artists who are easily a dream collaboration for me instead decided to hate each other, which is surprisingly since it’s usually the New York artists who can’t work together which is why NY is losing right now while the South is (was) winning.

Again, make no mistake, this shit ain’t good. Sure it’s entertaining for those of us who weren’t there, or have to deal with the repercussions. I read that the gunman was arrested and I never like hearing about people getting arrested so that ain’t cool. The chance for Fox News to decide to all of a sudden pay attention to hip hop again just so they can inevitably publish an article claiming rap is responsible for violence even though violence has been occurring in society for millions of years ain’t cool. The comments section of any news site that does cover this incident won’t be cool. But what is cool is that beef in hip hop is finally back. Call me ignorant, but as I sit here in the comfort of my apartment in a semi-safe neighborhood with the new Gibbs tape on repeat, I’m laughing at the fuckery going on in the hip hop world, as we’re finally seeing more than just subliminal bars and half denials of shit talking. After 50 Cent made it cool to diss everyone for no reason at all, and Jay-Z made it cool to never drop names or admit to calling out anyone ever (“tell them ordinary Joe’s Budden button up”, come on) it’s kinda refreshing to know that all beefs don’t result in bitchassness like bottles being thrown and “fuck _____ and anybody who love ‘em” tweets. Ignorance is bliss, and I’m in hip hop paradise right now.

The End of World Star?

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So just like OnSMASH.com was taken over by the feds on Thanksgiving, next up is WorldStar Hip Hop, apparently removed with the assistance of Homeland Security and 50 Cent (according to him, and he’s been known to talk a lot of shit). While the rumors are still flying and no one quite knows what has happened as of yet (as if it really matters, domain names are cheap) what’s clear is that everyone has an opinion on the subject already. Whether you loved or hated the videos on WorldStar it’s clear that everyone was well aware of a site that included all types of fuckery from rappers, random mafuckas on the street, and a whole slew of hoes, proud to be hoes at that. But what does the closing of this site mean for hip hop and should we really all be so happy such a “horrible” site is now gone?

With anything and everything you have to take the good and the bad. The internet itself gave us the ability to communicate with people all over the world in an instant but that also meant that everything from viruses to website scams to child pr0n were readily accessible to anyone who was looking for trouble. Smartphones are now in the hands of damn near every american (unless you still struggling) and even though that only furthers our ability to communicate in an instant, it also means that people who shouldn’t be texting and driving are doing so, which has made Congress feel the need to infringe on my goddamn liberties. Hip hop is no different.

World Star Hip Hop was nothing short of entertaining. Whether it was a dude beating his nephew’s ass for faking some gangsta shit online, a video hoe trying to get her come up, or some good ol’ fashioned head-in-the-club, there was never a shortage of videos perfect for killing an hour here or there. Now while some may have found those videos offensive, or destructive to the image of black people, WorldStar was also a place for young artists to make a name for themselves. Freestyle videos were always popping up, and even bigger name acts were premiering videos there instead of expecting MTV to pay attention to real hip hop (not to mention people like Cam’ron would often times release videos that weren’t exactly MTV appropriate). So even though all the Kat Stacks fuckery type shit is now hidden again instead of out in the open where we can’t deny its existence in the world, these hungry rappers have lost yet another outlet to get their music out there. It may not be OnSMASH, but even WorldStar had some good to offer the hip hop community.

Now all of this is still pure speculation, whether 50 Cent had anything to do with this (update: he didn’t), or if it’s even a permanent shutdown, the fact is that WorldStar was a valuable source of information and new music for the hip hop community as well as a place to have a few good laughs in the middle of a rough day. If you supported OnSMASH because of its importance to the hip hop community, then this is no different, they’re attacking hip hop yet again and just because it isn’t the nicest of websites or the best display of what hip hop has to offer, it’s still important to the culture and it’s still yet another sign that hip hop is always the target of the powers that be. Free speech is at risk here, and it’s always the most ridiculous speech that needs to be protected the most, so just like I said with regard to OnSMASH, FREE WORLDSTAR!


Free OnSmash!

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this is what you get when you visit onsmash.com and some other well known hip hop sites…

Aight imma get a little political on yall for a minute. Well not really, but the issue at hand does involve politics, as the political force known as the Department of Justice has overstepped its boundaries (like that’s anything new) and confiscated websites that promote up and coming artists, as well as other aspects of the hip hop culture, much like this site. This issue is not only terrifying for hip hop but for the future of the internet itself, but for the purposes of this article, they fuckin’ with the free-flow of hip hop based knowledge and content, and something really ain’t right about that considering the sites in question have violated no laws.

If you haven’t heard, OnSmash (as well as Troy Ave‘s site, which had nothing but a link to HIS mixtape) was recently seized as part of a move by the DOJ that also took over sites that sell illegal merchandise (like them fake ass Gucci bags yall bitches think we don’t realize are fake). OnSmash was a site that was part of the NMC, a collection of websites that most of the singles we get from artists can be linked back to. Keep in mind, these sites are posting links to songs that they have been allowed to post links to, most often by the labels themselves, as the operators of these sites have become major players in what some are calling the 5th element of hip hop, journalism. Along with giving us a reason to purchase albums we might otherwise pan, these blogs also introduce us to young talent, artists who wouldn’t have a chance of ever getting signed without the assistance of sites like OnSmash who expose them to the hip hop world.

A little backstory, this raid was organized by the Department of Justice and Homeland Security to eliminate sites they believed “were engaged in the sale and distribution of counterfeit goods and services and illegal copyrighted works”. While the actions are understandable (although constitutionally debatable), the lack of notice or warrants speaks to a much larger issue at hand. Many have heard of the pending legislation that would allow the government to control the access to and content of the internet. This legislation has been approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee which means it still has to go to the House and Senate for debate and eventually has to pass both those chambers to become law.  So how exactly can the government justify seizing domains when they have no right, nor did they even attempt to go through the proper channels to execute these seizures? Is it because they’re hip hop sites?

All conspiracy theories aside, America doesn’t like hip hop, it doesn’t like rappers, mostly because of the time-honored tradition of hating anything and everything that comes out of black culture, unless we steal it and appropriate it for ourselves (that’s why your white savior got 3 million sold). So is part of this raid an effort to shut down hip hop, and in effect remove the means for these artists to make a living? Hip hop has taken the idea of viral marketing and used it to launch careers (Wiz Khalifa being the perfect example) and now we see the DOJ stepping in and essentially lumping hip hop with fake Louie bags and torrent trackers (sites to download movies for free). Is this a coincidence? Is it a signal that the end of hip hop blog sites is in the near future? Probably not since RapGodfathers.com very quickly become RapGodfathers.info, but the fact that hip hop is apparently so powerful that the U.S. government felt the need to step in and pull a jack move on a major site is chilling evidence that no matter how white the culture becomes (3 million from the white boy and Kanye ain’t even go gold in his first week) it will always be looked down upon, and will always be associated with criminal activity. So, over 20 years later, the sentiment still holds true, “fuck the police!”


Lil’ Kim vs. Nicki Minaj

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After months of build-up, some swagger-jacked photo shoots, a few words here and there, we finally got “Black Friday”, the diss record from Lil’ Kim towards Nicki Minaj, which is most likely a response to Nicki’s bars on “Roman’s Revenge”. While we all knew this was coming, what matters more than the latest in Rap Feuds (like why OnSmash is now property of Homeland Security) is the relevancy and reason for this entire battle. Just like Kim vs. Foxy, this whole beef says more about hip hop in general than it does the two competitors, as it once again proves that hip hop is a man’s sport and when the bitches go at it it’s really just a cat fight to us. Let’s take a look at both corners.

Lil’ Kim is a legend, plain and simple. From her work on the Junior M.A.F.I.A. album up through her 5 mic effort, Kim has been the Queen Bee. Even Foxy couldn’t hold Kimberly down as a simple career check will show that Inga hasn’t dropped a worthwhile release this decade where as Kim got 4 solid albums. Nicki is still new in the game, with some mixtape appearances and a “Monster” guest verse that brought back feelings of Busta on “Scenario”. She dropped her debut album which will clearly sell well given the target audience (bitches and gay dudes buy albums, that’s just a fact) and this whole time has been blatantly ripping off the image of the former female icon in hip hop, sometimes crediting Kim with influencing her, and sometimes acting like she’s better than Kim. When it comes down to it though, neither of these bitches really matter and neither does this whole beef.

Women in hip hop have never had it easy. Well, actually, these new bitches haven’t had it easy, partly because of the image they choose (or is chosen for them). Kim, Foxy, Khia, Charli Baltimore, Trina, and now Nicki, have all done the exact same thing, used sex to sell, cause it works. Thing is, it only works for so long. These bitches are like jumpoffs, they’re hot, and for a minute you care about what they have to say, but once you’re done, you don’t look back, and you don’t care anymore, and their career ambitions and desire to go back to community college really doesn’t mean shit to you, so you stop answering their calls. You know how MC Lyte stayed relevant for so long? Cause she didn’t just rhyme about her coochie while spreading her legs in King magazine. All them other bitches fell off after a year or two (or less) because their only appeal was sex, which typically has a short shelf life in the entertainment industry.

The other problem with this beef is that both these bitches need each other. Nicki Minaj wouldn’t exist today with having Lil Kim to steal her entire persona from, while Kim wouldn’t have any reason to release music (and wouldn’t have listeners even if she did) without Nicki Minaj talking reckless. And all this beef is doing is making us realize how little respect we give female MCs since all we want is to see if a titty pops out (oh wait…). Plus with lines like “hang it up, flatscreen” and “head in a tornado, brainstorm” it’s clear that BOTH these bitches need better ghostwriters…

So to the Nicki haters, let me just say that Barbie can rap, her robot shit is weird, but when she wants to, she can spit some serious bars (that third verse of “Roman’s Revenge” is pretty damn good) so yeah she’s annoying, but she’s not untalented. And to the Kim haters, Ms. Jones is a legend, and I honestly think part of her downfall came from the mislabeling of her last album as 5 mics. Yeah it was solid, but the 5 mic rating overhyped it to the point where it couldn’t possibly reach expectations. But the real loser in this battle is the female MC in general, as this continues to prove that all we give a shit about is who’s the sexiest, and without that, you’re irrelevant. So with that said, check out one of the best female MCs in the game, Mystic, and see how a real lady handles her career, without having to “get naked”.


Decoding Shawn Carter’s Promo Run

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In the last couple weeks, we’ve seen Jay-Z do more interviews than he’s probably done in his whole career. With his book Decoded out it’s only customary that he make the rounds through various media outlets to promote a novel that finally sees him opening up about his past (something he almost did in 2003 with The Black Book which was ultimately shelved). While it’s great to see him out and about, as his interviews really are the best (breathe easy) it seems like he keeps getting pigeon-holed as this drug dealer turned rapper, and that all these people wanna talk about is how he used to sell crack. The man is selling a book which apparently is absolutely brilliant (I’m still waiting for my copy to arrive) and introspective and a highly worthwhile read (even Oprah got it on her “favorite things” list which means every white lady in America gonna be reading it) yet all these hosts wanna discuss is his previous employment on the streets. Can rap ever get a break?

Plenty of celebrities have had rough upbringings, and many have had moments in their past that they probably don’t want to discuss all that much (shit just ask Jennifer Aniston about Leprechaun and see how that goes) and for the most part, whenever these celebrities get on David Letterman, he’s not asking them about their cocaine arrest back in 1972, or some shitty movie they did in 1994, he’s talking to them about what they’re doing now. But with Jay-Z, it seems like every interviewer wants to know what it’s like to sell drugs in an “urban” environment, as if that’s some exotic mystery to us on the “outside” of that life.

First of all, it ain’t like anyone WANTS to be a drug dealer. I mean yeah there’s some level of desire, for the money, the cars, the clothes, but the career move is not the best, and it’s certainly not a job that provides any type of security, long term at least. These kids get involved in this shit because they have no other options, they don’t have the privilege of being able to get a 9-5, or a college education, so they do what they can to survive. But all we see is the fancy shit and hear them boasting about it so we assume it’s all lavish, since we have the privilege of being able to ignore the harsh realities, which is funny since we’re always the ones complaining about them “glorifying” the lifestyle when it’s actually us who glorify it, they live it.

Secondly, just like you don’t ask a mafucka why he went inside, you don’t ask someone to snitch on themselves even for shit they did decades ago. It’s not like Charlie Sheen goes on Letterman and Dave is like “so how many women did you beat up in hotel rooms?” so why is he asking Jay-Z “now you sold crack right?” like mafucka is there a plain-clothes officer chillin’ backstage ready to close out a case-file from 20 years ago?

It’s one thing to ask T.I. about jail since the last 2 years of his life has revolved around it,  but Jay is out there promoting a book, and yet other than John Stewart (who even went to the topic a little bit) all I’ve heard these interviews ask about is “so what was it like selling drugs?”. If I’m Jay-Z I’m telling them “buy my old albums” if they wanna know, or read the book, but discussing this shit in interviews only perpetuates what some people still continue to believe, that all rappers are drug dealers, and that it doesn’t matter how far they’ve come or what good they’re doing now, cause they will always be drug dealing scum. It’s like 15 years and 8 digits later and Hov is still asking “Can I Live?“


When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong

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The latest (and hopefully final) news in the Jay-Z/MC Hammer saga is that Jay-Z actually addressed the matter (not lyrically of course) by laughing off Hammer’s diss track/video and as a result of that, Hammer backed d….nevermind, he said he “already won”. Really?!? It seems like sometimes rappers lose battles but just won’t go away, as if continuing a fight that’s been settled (usually by a knockout punch) will somehow keep them relevant or somehow make people believe they actually had a chance and/or could still win.

Back when Canibus made the worst tattoo decision in hip hop until Crooked I stepped it up with “SLAUGTERHOUSE”, it was clear as day who won the war of lyrics, but last time I checked LL went on to sell like 10 million more albums while Canibus was stuck with Wyclef fucking up his debut, which subsequently led to him falling way the fuck off. Last time we heard from Rip The Jacker he was still dissing the white boy, again, not realizing that when your opponent stops mentioning your name, it’s probably time for you to move on to other things (for the record, Bis bodied both them mafuckas on wax).

A few years ago Dre’s newest protégé decided that beefing with everyone in his crew (who just happened to be the most popular crew in hip hop at the time) would somehow help his career. And while the “300 Bars”was nothing short of epic, and exposed a lot of shit about the clowns who were formally known as Guerrilla Unit until they decided to embrace racial stereotypes (or be more marketable, you pick) it also marked The Game’s demise from all things relevant in rap. Obviously 50 wasn’t too so he ousted dude from the group and from that point on we got “I don’t need Dre to make an album” spit countless times, on shitty albums.

Sometimes the best way to win a battle is to not even respond, Jay-Z is the master of doing this as The Game has tried to bait him numerous times (to sell all those I-don’t-need-Dre albums) and never once has it worked. Other times the subliminal diss works to keep the beef at a level where no one can really declare war as no direct statement was made, and you don’t wanna be that dude popping off (pause) from some shit that the MC will just claim wasn’t about you (Jeezy, we KNOW that shit was about Ricky).

So if you’re MC Hammer, and you’re all up on your shit about how Jay-Z sold his soul to the devil, and you spend your last decade’s earnings on a music video depicting a Shawn Carter more in need of a P90X than a baptism, and then the real Mr. Knowles responds by laughing, and I mean LAUGHING, how exactly does that constitute you winning? Are you really that delusional? I know religion fucks peoples’ heads up and allows them to believe shit that is in no way real or true, but do you really think all them YouTube views mean you got a resurrected rap career on your hands, or have you not recognized that we all just laughing at you, like we did at Kwame 15 years ago, who’s been #milkcartonstatus ever since? Oh wait though, he’s too legit to quit, so I guess we just gotta wait for him to go bankrupt again, which I’m sure will be as soon as he gets the bill for making that video.


The Death of the Sample

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I don’t think it’s news to anyone that hip hop is global

from the growing number of artists getting shine to the numerous examples of rap cultural influence in mainstream society. We’ve gone from street corners to corner offices (I think I stole that from Jay, who probably stole it from Biggie) and in the process we’ve had to make some sacrifices, some good and some bad. While the sacrifice of integrity happened a long time ago with songs like “Butt Booty Naked” (check your House Party 3 soundtrack, or a milk carton for AMG), there are still little bits and pieces of hip hop that mysteriously disappear from time to time and most people (including myself) don’t really notice they’re gone until it’s too late to ever get them back, like the uncleared yet unmistakable sample.

Back in the day hip hop was a genre of music dismissed as noise and paid little to no attention, and in a way that was actually better for the music. What label is really gonna be concerned about paying for publishing rights when only a handful of people are gonna hear your album? Even with moderate success chances are that band from the 70s isn’t going to notice that you swagger-jacked their shit because they’re too busy emptying out their Sarah Michelle Gellar crucifixes for another line of that white girl and it’s not like the sampling artist had any cruel intentions (see what I did there) in not paying for the sample, they just couldn’t afford it.

FATBACK AWARD: Jazzie Belle click image for more photos

We have bigger recording budgets now but that doesn’t account for an immense amount of sample clearances and at this point, with hip hop being as big as it is, no label is going to take a chance on getting

sued for some bullshit 5 second loop that you got on some random track. And the way these law suits are coming up recently (Cypress Hill, as well as Leaders of the New School) it’s no surprise that people are much more apprehensive about samples and more apt to just press buttons and let a computer do the rest. I remember reading somewhere that T.I.’s Paper Trail had something like 2 or 3 samples on the whole album, compare that to an old school album that would have sometimes hundreds of sampled tracks, usually all uncleared.

So what are artists doing in the age of constant track list changes due to uncleared samples? Dropping the “street album” or essentially a mixtape with no DJ screaming all over it (sometimes). Jeezy just did it, Rick Ross did it with his Albert Anastasia EP. More and more you’re seeing artists releasing what’s essentially a full length album, but because they simply leak it for free on the net and don’t profit from it, they really can’t be hit with any lawsuits from the artists they sampled. It’s also a great way to get your music to your fans without any of that record label bullshit getting in the way.

Now you’ve also got these websites posting these “original sample “ collections and while I could go all DJ Premier on them for essentially snitching, I’ve been known to snatch up every one of those zip files as well as the countless mixtapes random DJs have put together that blend the samples with the tracks, so I can’t speak on that, but I will say that it’s a shame that in the growth of hip hop that we had to lose the ability to easily sample a song without worrying about the repercussions. Acknowledgment of the culture as a viable entity has opened up intense scrutiny of the culture as well, so at this point it’s deeper than just listing an artist and song, it’s an aspect of the culture that will continue to dwindle until we can no longer claim that we’re reinventing music from our influences, it truly will be just clicks and snaps.


Nas Lost Pt. 62

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So recently an e-mail was released that Nas apparently wrote to Def Jam with regard to the release date for his Lost Tapes 2 album. For those who remember back in 2002 when he was riding the wave of success following the overrated but still pretty good Stillmatic he released a collection of tracks that basically amounted to what was supposed to be “I Am”. The Nas fanatics acted like the compilation was a gift from god (‘s son) and some have even tried to argue that it fits into a list of the best Nas albums ever (sorry, but a compilation of old songs doesn’t count, try again, there’s still only 1 you can really put on that list). All Nas hating aside it is completely understandable that Nas is going at his label for not giving a fuck about him, the problem is, that’s only gonna make the label give even less of a fuck about him.

Like it or not, record labels run shit. They decide when and if your album drops, they decide how much promotion to give you, and they decide whether or not to sell….uh….suggest your songs to radio stations. If you don’t get on board with them (or get real lucky with the independent game) then they will find the next artist who will, as there are about 500,000 “rappers” out there who truly believe they are the next big thing and who can pull that god body shit just as good if not better than the 37 year old Queensbridge native. A label doesn’t want some loose cannon who’s gonna make them look bad with his radical statements and attempts to get the biggest news corporation in the country to stop lying, especially when a good 95% of the Def Jam shareholders probably watch Fox News every damn night. It’s like Jay said recently, there’s the artistic side of it, and the business side of it, and as far as the business side goes, Nas has been by far one of the most epic fails in the industry.

Yall remember seeing the back cover of Nastradamus and doing a double-take cause you thought Pac had come back and with that west coast style bullshit Nasty Nas was trying to pull? What about the infamous QB’S Finest slip up that Hov perfectly summed up on the Takeover? That double album was fire huh? And of course, what better way to get your name relevant in a culture that doesn’t give a fuck about you anymore even though you released the best album of all time than to name your newest album something that no label will publish and no store will carry, so Untitled it is, yeah, that shit sold a lot…

A tirade about labels not giving a fuck about you is only going to show the labels that you’re a problem, it’s like the idea that all these rappers are big time drug dealers, like label is gonna say “oh ok so you’re constantly holed up in a crash house hoping the feds don’t catch you and there’s a good chance that any day now you could be locked up for 10-20, but yeah, we’d LOVE to give a big check and make you our responsibility”. What matters most is marketability and the ease with which you are willing to give up your freedoms to the t.I.’s who ultimately will take everything they can from you and leave you for dead unless the Illuminati takes you in but they already rejected Esco so he stuck working outside the system now, which is why you’ll never hear The Lost Tapes 2, and even if it drops it’ll probably be 95% shit you’ve already heard, which had a reason for never getting an official release. Remember yall, the first Lost Tapes was unreleased shit from the 90s, this is unreleased shit from the God’s Son through Untitled era, yall REALLY wanna hear that??


And just like that….

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In a move straight out of elementary school, Kanye West has punished us all for the actions of one. I can’t say I blame him, it’s one thing if you’re a doctor who promised an album 10 years ago that hasn’t seen one track short of the garbage that supposedly won’t be on the album (as of the time that the comments started being 100% hate-filled) but Mr. West has been graciously blessing us with brand new star-studded tracks every single week for the past two months and we repay him by leaking some clearly unfinished track off his actual album. What type of greedy shit is that?

You know it was just yesterday I was reading about Kanye West getting Lloyd Banks, the (other) recovering coke addict, the apparently only person who can sell Roots albums, and Amy Winehouse’s newest boytoy (who got Ether-ed now huh?) all together on a G.O.O.D. Friday track but now there ain’t no question it’s not dropping this Friday, and who knows, if he’s really that pissed (which he has every right to be), then we might never get it, as he may just wait til the album drops.

I’ve briefly discussed leaks before, and my constant contradictions basically allow me to go either way on this (pause) just as the industry itself allows leaks to go either way, some kill an artist’s chances of selling records, some help the artist to sell records, which honestly at the end of the day if your album sucks then your album sucks. Back in the day we’d only buy your single, now we only bump your leak, it’s the same thing just in new media format. I know them 808s leaks ain’t hurt Kanye cause at the end of the day that album was still fucking incredible, so I’m assuming the same shit gonna happen this time as well, leak or no leak, the album is gonna be fire, so why yall gotta fuck up G.O.O.D. Fridays?

I’m sure the mainstream (white) media is gonna spin the story to make it seem like Kanye is an asshole depriving us of music, or maybe they won’t, they’re still granting him forgiveness and accepting him back into mainstream society after a long period of exile (how come Rapelesberger ain’t had to go through that? oh wait…) so maybe they won’t notice, but as far as hip hop goes we’re truly taking an L on this one, and yet some sites still got the nerve to act like Kanye is the douchebag (asshole, scumbag, jerk-off) in this situation, as if we somehow have the right to hear his unfinished music. First of all, 99% of unfinished tracks suck. Second of all, if it ain’t your music, then you got no fucking right to decide what should be leaked and what shouldn’t so acting entitled is by far the most ignorant thing anyone can do.

Hopefully this punishment only lasts one week as I’d certainly love to hear this Kanye/Banks/Cudi/Nas joint, along with the Madlib produced joint that was announced the other day, but if homie feels like just waiting to deliver us the full record, then that’s fine by me, as if anything this might (naw it really won’t) deter people from leaking unfinished tracks in the future, as all they really do is clog up my hard drive with shit I can’t bring myself to delete cause that slightly different version may just end up being better than the finalized product (as was the case with “Robocop”, sort of). So thanks a lot to whoever leaked “Lost in the World”, let’s have a toast to that asshole.



The Reunion

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It’s not often done, and from what I can recall it’s never really succeeded, but the reunion of a group in hip hop always makes headlines, if for nothing else because we all love a good story with a happy ending. Recently it’s been the team of Flea, Capo, and Bandana, better known as Cam, Jimmy and Juelz – The Diplomats – who have decided to repair whatever broken ties they had and come back together to release an album. So far the magic seems to be still there as “Salute”, produced by the best young producer in the game Araab Muzik, is easily the hypest track of the summer, even with Killa’s questionable interpretation of ATMs. The question now is what will come from this little backyard BBQ bash other than a lot of reminiscing on what once was, is this the future, or just the past?

The Diplomats have the chance to prove that reunions can and do work. During their appearance with the always beautiful Angie Martinez on Hot 97 it was mentioned that they’ve all kinda held their own during this time away from the group, with Jim Jones seeing the most fame off the strength of “We Fly High” (better known as “BALLIN!!!”). Killa has also done pretty well for himself with countless mixtapes and an underrated album. Juelz is Juelz, as long as he’s still Santana the Great there’s nothing to worry about (anyone else feel like he’s kinda like the Bleek of the group? no Garnier).

For those who either slept, or are new to this whole thing, back in the early part of this decade the Dipset crew was running the game, from their mixtapes to the Diplomatic Immunity album to Cam’s Purple Haze, and culminating with an unforgettable performance at the Source Awards, complete with depictions of the corner life on stage and the all pink everything that we all let slide because damn, who the FUCK else had ever really been serious about rocking pink? Add in the lyrically monsterous affiliates which made Wu affiliates look like the guests on Erick Sermon’s “Insomnia” album and you had the biggest crew of talented rappers the culture had seen since the Wu-Tang themselves gave us a 6 minute single with no hook. Shortly thereafter Duke Da God released a couple garbage compilations, Cam gave 50 the title to his next album while on vacation in some “undisclosed location” and all of a sudden the Diplomats were gone. Enter Vado and 2010.

The reunion of a group is always a big production as the story surrounding it often times ends up more memorable than the actual reunion itself. Whether it’s original members not stepping up and having to be replaced or the growth of certain members making a return to the vibe damn near impossible, there always seems to be an issue that makes an otherwise momentous occasion turn into yet another entry in the hall of fame of rap fuckery. “Chin Check” was a waste because Eazy been gone, “Back Uptown” was the least soulful shit I’ve ever heard in my life and yall are gonna sleep on Naughty by Nature no matter how sick their new shit is (and it’s fire btw) and if anyone actually cares about either a Hot Boyz or Bone Thugs reunion then by all means enjoy whatever nonsense comes out of that shit, but as far as reunions that will actually get some sort of attention beyond the group’s fanpage, the Diplomats is by far the biggest one we’ve seen in rap’s history.

But after all the hype and the interviews, is the music gonna be good? Are we gonna get hit with the Slime Flu or will the shot make us immune this season (that was too much haha). Cause really, it don’t matter how dope it is that they’re back together, if the music sucks then it will be just another forgettable event in the long chain of useless moves in rap, just ask the Game about bad music, he been making that for years now.