Juno Week 2009
By Aaron Joseph

Juno Fever swept over the city of Vancouver for four days, bringing excitement, celebrities and great music to many parts of the city. The weekend brought not only great musicians to the city, but a chance for fans to meet and listen to these musicians in a more intimate setting.

The Juno’s arrival transformed the city into a perfect representation of Canadian music, artistry and celebration. One of the biggest stars to come to town is the undeniably funny comic superstar Russell Peters, who joked with reporters earlier in the week that it was great to be back in Canada since his move over to the U.S. “Wanna know the best thing about being back? Canadian Chips Ahoy cookies! The Chips Ahoy’s in the U.S. suck!,”
Joked Peters.

The weekend proved entertaining for all. Some of the events that were going on during the weekend included the Juno Cup at UBC’S Thunderbird winter sports arena, Juno Fest, which had over 100 bands perform at 19 Venues, the various Juno parties, the outdoor street festival on Granville street, the Songwriters’ Circle concert, and of course the Gala dinner and broadcast day event, which was viewed by millions across the country.

For more info or photos of musicians and award winners visit www.Junoawards.ca or www.5ive6ix7even.com

Juno Music Awards Week, Vancouver 2009

4th Annual Maestro Fresh Wes Media Benefit & Birthday Bash
By Aaron Joseph

On March 26th Canadian Icon Maestro-Fresh Wes celebrated his 41st birthday with friends and family at the 4th annual Media Benefit & Birthday Bash held at Caprice Nightclub (967 Granville Street). The night was a success with many familiar faces scattered around the party, coming through to celebrate the birthday of a Canadian legend.

The party gave everyone a chance to reminisce as the man of the night performed some of his greatest hits, including “Stick to Your Vision”, “Drop the Needle“ and the 1989 classic “Let Your Backbone Slide”, which he performed alongside long-time friend, Red 1 (Rascalz). The crowd as well as the music made for a very enjoyable evening and everyone in attendance felt great as they were helping to fund a good cause; The Pathfinder Youth Centre Society, which partial proceeds from the night went to.

4th Annual Maestro Fresh Wes Media Benefit & Birthday Bash

written by Angus Crawford and the Knights Of The Turntables

One summer during college I had a late night radio show that had a pretty decent audience. During one session I started out playing three Premier beats in a row and just decided that I would only play songs Premier produced for the three hour show. Some callers were upset that I was not taking their requests, but we were able to compromise because each artist had a Premier beat somewhere in their catalog.

Nas, Jay-Z, Biggie, Rakim, KRS One, Snoop, Mos Def, Common, Big L, Fat Joe, O.C., Jeru, CNN, The Lox, Das EFX, M.O.P., and the Group Home are just a few of the rappers to work with Preemo. The man certainly has a signature sound and has set the standard for all other producers who want to scratch in their chorus. Nothing is better than when he flips lyrics from “It Ain’t Hard to Tell” to create the chorus of “Nas is Like”.

For the past two decades Premier has been one of the best, if not the best, producers in rap. It’s only fitting that we paid our tribute Joell Ortiz style

5. “Moment of Truth” (1998) – Gang Starr

Guru and Premier’s fifth album was arguably their best and arguably the best album of

the year (the last great year for hip hop). The title track was one of Premier’s most melodic

and blended perfectly with GURU’s self-help lines.

4. “NY State of Mind” (1994) – Nas

Young Nas knew what he was doing when he tapped Preemo to produce three of the nine

beats on his debut classic. None of the beats hit as hard as “NY State” with the simple but complex dark drum beats topped with the occasional piano cord that sets Illmatic’s tone for life in the QB.

3. “Come Clean” (1994) – Jeru The Damaja

My choice for number one because of the creativity to use “water torture” as the

foundation and kicking in the drums later. In a touch of irony, the beat is extra dirty (even for a Premier track) to compliment Jeru’s clever battle style rhymes.

2. “A Million and One” (1997) – Jay-Z

After the success of the “D’Evils” and “Friend or Foe”, it was only fitting that the two

legends initiated the Jay-Z ridiculously-good-“intro”-to-his-albums era. Premier blesses the track with harmonious piano loops, and disguises Aayliyah’s voice (at least I think its her) to help Jay-Z make a refreshingly reflective track.

1. “Mass Appeal” (1994) – Gang Starr

Once again there is a run-a-away winner for the number one spot. The keyboard melody

is too sick for words and has some of Premier’s best scratching. It’s quintessential Premo during his prime when all other producers were his sons like Elroy.

The Top Five DJ Premier Beats

The 1st annual Pemberton Music Festival

By Aaron “A*maze” Joseph

One of British Columbia’s biggest celebrations of music was nothing short of amazing with over 60 musical acts in three days. The Pemberton Music Festival was a huge success and is now one of the music festivals to rival. The three-day event brought in over 40,000 people to the small community of Pemberton, B.C. a visitor rate that has never been present even in the valley’s gold rush days.

The inaugural year of the music festival was better than gold for some, especially with a lineup which included: Nine Inch Nails, Metric, Jay-Z, Coldplay, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, The Tragically Hip, Buck 65, N.E.R.D. & more. Music fans finally got the chance to witness firsthand what a music festival is all about, and would agree it was worth the wait and the distance.

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Buck 65’s set on the Lillooet Stage

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Chromeo mixed it up for the people who managed to get into the Bacardi B-Live tent. The line up to get into the tent extended deep into the festival grounds.

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We think this guy may have had a little too much to drink.

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The Flaming Lips performing on the Mount Currie stage.

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Though overpriced, some of the food was pretty good. Right Houston?

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Jay-Z live on the Mount Currie stage. The audience loved him.

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Despite the profanity, drug use and highly sexual vibe, the Pemberton Festival was a family event?

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Matisyahu live on the Lillooet stage.

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They arrived late due to heavy Highway 99 traffic, but N.E.R.D.’s stage show made up for their lateness.

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Sam Roberts Band live on the Mount Currie stage.

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Serj Tankian of System of a Down controlled the audience amazingly during his Mount Currie stage set.

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Slip and slide action for the campers!

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Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers were the highlight for the older crowds.

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Gordon Brownie and the Tragically Hip put on a great show on the Mount Currie stage for their fellow Canadians.

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The infamous Bacardi B-Live tent.

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A glimpse at the audience for Coldplay as they rounded off the event.

* Photo taken by Aaron Joseph. ** Photo taken by Hugo Lunny

The 1st annual Pemberton Music Festival | Pemberton Festival 2008 Photos

The Top Five Rap Songs For The Summer — by Angus Crawford and the Knights of the Turntables, June 2008

Like a championship sports team during MVP voting time, the great summer artists hurt themselves by having so many quality songs and ended up splitting their vote. Outkast did not make the list but people voted for “Player’s Ball”, “Elevators”, and “Spottieoppidopilicious” (or however you spell it).

Tupac also suffered from a lack of consensus amongst his hits with panelists choosing “I Get Around”, “To Live and Die in L.A.”, and “Picture Me Rollin’” (my top choice) in their top five. Voters also could not decide between Jay-Z’s ode to our favorite season “Dear Summer” and the Reasonable Doubt classic “Feelin’ It”. If the question was five best summer artists then those three would all most likely make the list. Their greatness was both a gift and a curse. Now on to those who made the list:

5. Juicy – Notorious B.I.G.

“It was all a dream…” If you can’t finish the sentence then you got some homework to do. Biggie takes listeners through his tough times to his interviews with Robin Leech in a way that only he could. The nostalgia is heavy but the journey to the present is what makes this a summer anthem. We all have day dreams but Biggie showed people that these dreams could come true. Don’t forget the video with the mansion party too. That’s summer.

4. Ice Cream – Raekwon featuring Method Man, Ghostface, and Cappadonna

No one can forget that purple tape that came out in the late summer of ’95. Despite the radio friendly hook and clear catering to their female fans, the Clan still kept it gritty with lines like, “If I was jiggy, you’d be spotted like Spudz McKenzie”. The double entendre was also in full effect as Method Man (the greatest hook-deliverer) rattled off his favorite ice cream flavors to show his taste for a little variety in the opposite sex. Line after line is about hooking up with women and nothing represents summer more than a little summer love, it even got John Travolta and Olivia Newton John to sing (I can hear the booing from here).

3. It Was A Good Day – Ice Cube

Who knew that the same guy responsible for penning lyrics on “No Vaseline”, “Fuck the
Police”, and “Straight Out of Compton” would create a laid back summer anthem (before he became comedy actor). Cube takes listeners through a good day in South Central L.A. complete with pick-up basketball, long awaited hook-ups, enormous crap winnings and, of course, breakfast with no hog that paints a vivid picture for those unfamiliar with the City of Angels. As one panelist put it, “This song lyrically laid out what each and everyone one of us did (or wish we did) on those warm days…‘Fucked around and got a triple-double’…enough said.” With the memorable story-telling lyrics like that this remains Ice Cubes most famous and popular song.

2. Nuthin’ But a G’ Thing – Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg

Fresh off the success of “Deep Cover” the Compton and Long Beach duo released their first single from the Chronic masterpiece and tripled the sales of hydraulics at the same time. A scrawny Snoop Doggy Dogg used his smooth flow to deliver catchy lyrics with plenty of punch (“And that’s realer than Real Deal Holyfied”) that made him a household name in not time. This arguably Dre’s greatest beat and propelled him into a different stratosphere compared to his producing peers. Everything about this track is smooth and combined with its video of BBQs, low riders, and house parties it’s hard to believe that this is only number two.

1. Summertime – DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince

Before he became the current Hollywood box office king, Will Smith was a pretty good
rapper and even won the first ever rap Grammy along with DJ Jazzy Jeff. Surprisingly (and not surprisingly for some) this was the run-a-away winner. While the other choices were implicitly about summer or evoked thoughts of hearing a song during the summer, Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince made their point pretty explicitly. Their purpose was to remind people of their great summer experiences and for the voters that were polled they did just that.

The Top Five Rap Songs For The Summer

Race, Representation and Resistance: Hip-Hop History and Politics in a Capitalist Culture

written by Michele Wong

What is hip-hop? Where is it derived from? What did it stand for and what does it stand for now? Why are there controversies in media? More often than not, those who engage in the culture and the world of hip hop, whether it be dancing, rapping, deejaying, spinning or admiring, do not think or know about the systemic roots of hip-hop. Sure, there are the “true school” kids who pride themselves in knowing what song came out when, or the complete anthology of A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, or whatever, but still have no idea of its systemic issues. Why is that? How did the historical role of hip-hop come to be ignored by today’s generation of hip-hop contributors?

In this article, I will be discussing the topic of hip-hop history and politics in a capitalist culture through the theoretic framework of the following articles: Gangsta Culture- Sexism, Misogyny: Who Will Take the Rap? by bell hooks, Check Yo Self Before You Wreck Yo Self: The Death of Politics in Rap Music and Popular Culture by Todd Boyd, The Politics of Hip Hop by Manning Marable, This Dark Diction Has Become America’s Addiction: Language Diaspora, and Hip Hop’s Billing Economy by Michael Eric Dyson and Bling Bling… and Going Pop: Consumerism and Co-optation in Hip Hop by Imani Perry. These articles all have one thing in common: they all recognize that hip-hop is a social changing culture. However, how has this culture really changed?

In Oprah Winfrey’s Town Hall Meeting on the hip-hop in the post-Imus era, she failed to acknowledge the major systemic issues of racism and sexism in the context of the capitalist culture paradigm.(1) Rather, hip-hop critics on the show attacked individual artists, radio stations and television network, Black Entertainment Television (BET) drowning the issues with personal stories of their experience with discrimination. Specifically attacked on the show, rapper 50 Cent responded with a valid point that it is very easy to attack an individual rather than large media empires that run media outlets. (2)

Although guests Russell Simmons, Common, Dr. Benjamin Chavis, and Kevin Liles attempted to create a forum on the historical positive impacts of hip-hop, it too largely ignored the issues of hip-hop within a capitalist culture. Marable’s article supported Russell Simmons’ emphasis on educating the artists(3) by creating strengthening networks within the hip-hop community, such as the Hip Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN).

According to Marable, hip-hop was rooted through decades of racial and class struggle looking for social change and cultural empowerment, thereby believing that HSAN is necessary to reconnect civil rights leaders with the young hip-hop contributors today. This vaguely illustrates a relationship between politics and hip-hop. The words economics (money/bling), power, capitalism are all description words within the political science dictionary as well as associating with hip-hop culture when dissected into their own roles. Hip-hop now is fueled with a multi-billion dollar industry from top dog record labels to television shows like Randy Jackson’s America’s best dance crews showing off the art of breaking to millions. Increasingly so, hip-hop has submerged into the capitalist culture.

Marable depicts a degree of positivity that hip-hop plays in mainstream society. With HSAN, Marable believes that hip-hop can be an element in shaping society today. Still, he acknowledges the reactionary impulses of current hip-hop toward misogyny, homophobia, and specifically corporate greed that were “brutally exploited by business practices of managers and music executives.”

In describing corporate greed, bell hooks coined the term white supremacist capitalist patriarchy (hooks 115) highlighting the predominant white capitalist society that has created a cultural vacuum crossing the world into white values while rewarding young rappers with monetary compensation for their contribution. Similar terms can be found within the same context such as white supremacist corporate capitalism (Dyson 58) or as the media’s eager embrace of the ghetto lifestyle (Boyd 327). The description of “ghetto lifestyle” points to a desire of white capitalism that young hip hop listeners are subscribed to.

This all mighty powerful hungry moneymaking machine is what has changed hip-hop into allowing “the success of a plethora of MCs with mediocre skills.” (Perry 191) It is the very topic that the guests of the Oprah Winfrey show have failed to address. They neglected to dig into the reasons why these young rappers are expressing words of hate. Most of these young musicians see what they have to do to make money: through commercialism dictated by the capitalist culture. The bottom line is; if you wave a million dollars across a poor man’s face, he’ll do whatever it takes to get it.

What is hard to understand is the belief that white supremacist capitalism is what caused hip-hop to create music endorsing violence, misogyny and materialism. The type of music heard during hip-hop’s youth is parallel to what is being heard on the radio now. But because money is heavily involved, it has been tainted. Materialism, objectification, violence and misogyny were always prevalent in hip-hop and more specifically it was already deeply embedded into the patriarchical society. The only difference now is that it has been exploited. Those negative connotations are glorified now because it sells records.

While Afrika Bambataa established Zulu Nation for a political purpose, hip-hop was also developing from local block parties in the poverty-stricken Bronx. In the 1970’s, most of the young men in these types of communities were exposed to the violent gang wars in New York City in the seventies.(4) Hip-hop was established as the voice and heart of a neglected part of society, not as a voice of political embrace, but as a voice for their reputation. Eventually, the voice transformed into a political cause. All-in-all, DJ Kool Herc wasn’t attempting to develop a whole new genre of music or a brand new cultural expression rather he did so to formulate innovative mixing and scratching to establish a name for himself, or simply to put food on the table.

In a smaller scale, gangsta rap can be compared to mondo films, a type of documentary exposing really shocking and disturbing subject matter.(5) It started as one documentary and then it got more and more extreme to the point that it started turning into exploitative sales, encouraging to become more notorious. The content and shocking matters had always existed, yet the divergence of capitalist culture had tainted its original value. That is what hip-hop has developed into now. What it will evolve into later, we can only wait and see.

Notes
(1) Oprah Winfrey Show. April 17, 2007. After Imus: the Hip Hop Community Responds. click here
(2) Black Tree Media. You Tube. 50 Cent Response.

(3) “All throughout history the poets who have been a reflection of society have always been under fire. We don’t like what they have to say, but some of it has to be examined. It’s important that we teach artists more. It’s my job to teach artists to know more and say more.” – Russell Simmons on Oprah Winfrey Show
(4) There are many examples of New York City gang war references in the 1970s including: New York Times. Bronx Gang Leader is Slain Trying to Arrange Peace (December 3, 1971) p 36
Other examples include novel the Warriors by Sol Yurick and the movie directed by Walter Hill.
(5) Examples can be found on http://www.mondomovie.com

Original Article

written by Michele Wong

This semester, I’m taking a class at York University called Theorizing Hip Hop Feminisms. I honestly thought my professor would present videos like the Freshest Kids or something else I’ve already seen.

I was wrong… she showed something I not only never watched, but never heard of. Yes, I am very ashamed.

Byron Hurt (picture below) is an anti-sexist activist and filmmaker from Boston, Massachusetts. He attended Northeastern University as a quarterback… and get this: after he graduated he was hired by the Center for the Study of Sport in Society’s Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) program, where he became a spokesperson for domestic violence prevention. When he started he had no idea what he was doing, but after much research he became what I would say an expert.

Hurt had a love and passion for the culture of hip-hop. He also realized that in today’s society and hip-hop in particular, there is an excess in hyper-masculinity. Why do men degrade other men by feminizing them (i.e. emcee battles), or why is this culture in particular so homophobic yet so homoerotic?

He set out looking for the answer by raising money and creating the award winning documentary, Hip Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes, written and produced by Hurt. It explored
the issues of masculinity, violence, homophobia and sexism in hip-hop music through interviews with artists, academics, a feminist, aspiring rappers and fans. Just some of those featured in the film include Chuck D, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Busta Rhymes, Fat Joe, Jadakiss, Russell Simmons, Emil Wilkbekin, Stephen Hill, Sarah Jones Carmen Ashhurt-Watson, Dr. Jelani Cobb, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, Kevin Powell, Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Jason Katz, and Dr. James Peterson.

The opening scene captures its audience by first calling hip hop today, a box. No one leaves or goes outside the box because if they did, they’d be called a pussy, a wuss, a homo, a chump (see youtube video below). He’s right. I see it everyday. I see it in my friends, where when they make a
sexual pun, they right away MUST say pause or no homo.Well fast forward a moment.

The film is not there to attack the hip-hop heads. The film is to make everyone aware of what is going on. Feminists have been doing so since day one. The interesting thing about Hurt is that he doesn’t coin the term feminist. Nor does he give feminists (especially black feminist thought) the
credit it deserves for the ideas he uses in film… and for good reason. Feminism has been given a bad rap. The moment you say the word people back off. So before you go judging, this is a feminist film in a man’s perspective, in a non-feminist lecturing way. He also does not attack the
individual, in fact, I would say he victimizes the individual rapper by situating him in the reality of white supremacist capitalist society. It sounds weird, but I’ll describe more later.

This film was, how I would describe written, filmed and produced perfectly.

The issues Beyond Beats and Breaks acknowledges are Masculinity, Misogyny & Homophobia and Media Literacy.

Masculinity may sound like a good thing to a man. I mean it is the traditional notion to teach a boy to “be a man.” However, when hypermasculinity go hand in hand with violence, it creates societal and systemic problems seen in our schools, communities and neighbourhoods today.
He suggests that one way of counteracting hypermasculinity is develop other ways and notions of “being a man” and by doing so we have to step away from this one-dimensional way of seeing things, and in this case, “we” means hip hop.

At the BET’s annual spring fling in Daytona, Florida, Hurt interviews aspiring rappers. Each and every one of them he encounters rapped about rape, guns, violence, while dominating other men by demeaning and feminizing them.

Another young man, licks his lips at the women in Daytona, in hopes of getting some “bitches and hoes” and explains that women who dress like the women in music videos are not considered sisters but considered a bitch or a ho. Hurt calls the women over dressed in bikinis and asked if they
considered themselves as a bitch or a ho. They replied that they are not. When asked about the music videos and how they feel about it, they replied that the music videos are simply not talking about them.

This part is my favourite part. Brace yourself.

Hurt illustrates a hypothetical picture: George Bush doing a speech in front of a nation and calls a group of black men niggers. He asks, would black people respond “oh they’re not talking about me”?

He makes a valid point. A very valid point.

What about homoeroticism in hip hop?

Interviewing three drag queens, they reveal how homoerotic the homophobic hip hop culture really is. A queen explains, when LL Cool J licks his lips or 50 Cent and Ja Rule pose half naked, greased up and muscular in music videos, magazines and album covers, women are not the only ones looking at that. Now there’s a thought.

“While these images might not have been created as explicitly homoerotic, hypermasculinity in hip-hop, sports and fraternity cultures serve to bond men together, often at the expense of women, gays and men who do not meet strict gender-based roles and expectations”

Like Hurt, I love hip hop myself. In fact, I’m big fans of Talib, Russell Simmons, Mos Def and Busta Rhymes. So it was shocking to me when I saw that not one of them had something conscious or respectful to say about the subject matter. Simmons responded that he simply did not have the
“equipment.” Go figure. Don’t get me wrong, I still got respect for him, though, I really want to smack him with my shoe and scream, “Racism isn’t the most important discrimination issue!”

Hurt does recognize that it is not all at the fault of the individuals – the rappers. He does not forget to include the overwhelming influence of the white supremacist capitalist culture – a term coined by bell hooks. In one of my readings for class, it makes the comparison of how black rappers today are still enslaved by the superior white capitalist culture. Money is just the diversion. They are trapped in the box and imprisoned to demean other black men and women through their lyrics.

The slaughter of hip-hop began during its establishment in the mainstream “growing increasingly limited and one dimensional.” When Hurt confronts the aspiring rappers about their unoriginal lyrics, they immediately respond defensively that its what “they” want to hear. It’s how to get a record deal.

A good friend of mine once told me that if you wave a million dollars in a poor man’s face, they’ll do anything you want to get it. It sure looks like he’s right.

Hurt explores how white-owned record labels run their businesses. In 2003, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission lifted the bans on media deregulation, allowing media corporations to own multiple radio stations, television networks and other sources of entertainment (around the time when Def Jam was bought out). These corporations in turn have expanded their buyers to white consumers, raking in millions more.

A while back, I watched Oprah’s Town Hall Meeting on Hip Hop. A guest compared today’s rap videos to the Birth of a Nation. If you’ve watched it, I hope you hated it. The film was made in 1915 after the Civil War depicting black men as hypersexual, dangerous animals (especially to white women). It was highly racist and was used to recruit Ku Klux Klan members, which worked. When I heard that comparison, I was appalled.

In Hurt’s documentary, he shows clips of Birth of a Nation.With no surprise, I was disgusted.

I don’t normally watch a lot of music videos unless I youtube them myself to specifically watch one. So, when I watched Nelly’s Tip Drill video for the first time in the documentary, my jaw dropped. The man who made the comparison was right. Nelly is a victim of white supremacist capitalism.

Byron Hurt brings both academia and well-respected artists together, merging both paradigms collectively into a greater understanding for the world. The moment I finished watching the documentary in class I bought it and I encourage every one who has love and respect for hip hop, hyper-emasculated or not, to watch it. It’s one to keep in your collection.

Original Article

New King of Queens Bridge? V12 wants to Convince You

By Henrick A. Karoliszyn

When you think Queens Bridge you think Nas. It’s that simple. You probably associate the projects with the rap soldier who blew up in 94′ with Illmatic then re-emerged in 2001 to rip Jay-Z on Stillmatic and continued to make brilliant songs like “Hip Hop is Dead” as recent as last year. But Shaun Walker — who peddles himself as V12: the King of Queens Bridge — wants people to associate the ghetto arena with him as champ.

Because if Hip Hop is dead, R n B still has jaws that V12 breathes through. With a velvety quality, he wants to distinguish himself outside of Nas’s shadow of the ghetto scene. Breaking through as the self-proclaimed president of the projects, he’s already worked with 50, Mobb Deep and his MySpace page unofficially touts him as a close affiliate of G-Unit. With such a solid network and plenty of hype, V12 is just waiting to become a star.

In the meantime, he’s slowly been creeping up as a fresh artist. He’s toured with Ron Artest, Mobb Deep, and Capone and Noreaga to date and has opened for 112, Keshia Cole & Bubba Sparxxx. With over 21 songs under his belt, V12 has plenty of steam left and continues to partner up with household names.

Ironically one of his best jams is a collaboration with God’s Son called “King of the Hood.” Laced with haunted jingles that ring eerily, he injects a dangerously smooth but sharp-edged element. Along with Nas’s consistent fluency is the leveled crooning that V12 adds when he issues a warning. It’s a threat about going to QB and getting popped. But mostly he wants you to recognize who’s popping you. And it ain’t Nas.

Check out V12 on myspace at: http://www.myspace.com/vjuni

Original Article

words by Joshua Stohl

Cocaine and crack have always had a place in rap. What better preachers to push drug dealing ideologies than those that lived it. However every song I hear lately has a blatant reference to it. From White Girl to Pushin’, to White Lines and Dope Man, cocaine is a strongarm of the rap game, leaving runny noses in the dust. Often times it feels like there is a “pledge allegiance” to cocaine. Honestly, I get tired of hearing about dope. It gets dull and old, only a few rappers seem to actually pull it off in a luxurious manner (Jay Z, BIG, Clipse, NWA, Dipset, Ice Cube, Rick Ross, T.I.).

The rest seem to be on the bandwagon of slinging rhymes by the kilos. I will admit, I do have the occasional urge to blast some lyrically-crisp rap spoken through Vaseline-lubed bricks, however, the concept becomes over-done.

It’s ironic that many rappers who rhyme about it have never moved an ounce in their life. But the action of dealing really doesn’t matter, it’s the swift mentality, fluent delivery, and rugged rhymes that speak volume to the ear. Why sell coke if you can rhyme about it and get paid?

If you want to learn how to sell coke with swift finesse, just listen to Clipse’s “I’m not you” an authentic portrayal of dealing blow.

“I keep the Ziploc bustin at the stitches“
“From the panel to the dash, its four pounds of slab”
“Rappers is talking to me as if we in the same boat,
I tell them quick no I move Coke.”

Clipse brings a horribly riveting elegance to the coke trade, much like the film Scarface did. What I appreciate about Malice and Pusha (Clipse) is their genuinely candid lyrics that capture the pain of dealing drugs. “It shames me to no end / to feed poison to those that could very well be my kin / But where there’s demand, someone will supply / So I feed them their needs at the same time cry.” It’s a rarity in hip hop that rappers can not only effortlessly peel off lyrics about drug dealing, but layer them in such rawness.

Despite the inevitable outcome of drug dealing (prison, death), many rappers have had their fair share resulting in successful rap careers. Crack and coke have a ferocious appetite within the hip hop marketplace. If you sling crack crumbs on the corner or move “snowflakes by the O Z” (Jay-Z) through the hood, can passionately spit rhymes, then you may have an opportunity to win over anxiously waiting fans. Like Nas said, “Somehow the rap game reminds me of the crack game.” Rap reels in fans like dope fiends hit after hit.

Rap and pushing drugs often require the same necessities. Stamina, street smarts, ability to hustle, bravado, ego, strategic placement of products, expansion, commitment and a hostile persona of not resting on glory. Moving weight is big money.

Drugs make loot whether they’re being rapped about or smuggled across cities. I don’t hear rap songs about dealing weed too often. And heroin is too taboo to rap about, aside from a line by Clipse, “One give you the sniffles, the other, leave you with the itches.” Junkies don’t exactly portray an attractive lifestyle, but coke is a lucrative drug glorified by numerous celebrities and musicians. Now crack, well that just shatters souls hit after hit, but is definitely a vital component to many rap tracks.

“Ten Crack Commandments” has to be the number one rap song strictly dedicated to enforcing the rules of the crack game. “I done squeezed mad clips at these cats for they bricks and chips” , “Number five, never sell no crack where you rest at, I don’t care if they want a ounce, tell em bounce.” This song is preached by a man who practiced it. Biggie made slinging crack sound respectfully artistic in a street fashioned approach.

In the end, I appreciate artists that have consistently delivered albums despite what they rap about. I just get bored with every upcoming entrepreneur-rapper that boasts his claim to selling drugs and how they’re kings. It’s a joke to me. A king would be considered the legendary Pablo Escobar from Columbia who happened to create the coke trade within America over 30 years ago. If he were still alive and happened to rap, he’d be on the charts and the most sought after artist. Rappers fall off the market all the time and go unheard of. Like I said before, the rap game and drug game involve the same marketing tools to become triumphant.

About a month ago, I wrote a little piece detailing what I would do if I were Jay-Z and President of Def Jam. Basically my premise was that Jay-Z could have helped is artists out more and focused on their careers, similar to how 50 Cent use to assist everyone in G-Unit with a hook for their single, boosting the buzz for that song and the album.

I’m not saying 50 would be a better executive, but what would 50 do (WW50D) if one of Cam’ron’s or The Game’s songs were used to promote his video game? The commercial I saw for the latest Def Jam video game uses Jimmy Jones “Ballin” as its theme music. I pretty sure Jay-Z did not sign off on it (LA Reid probably didn’t either), but I am pretty sure if Jimmy Iovine used “Oh Boy” for the next “Bulletproof” game he would be Steve Stouted in a minute.

And what about R. Kelly being in Jeezy’s (the second most marketable rapper after Jay on the roster) second single and video with that lawsuit out there. WW50D in that situation? You tell me and post your comments.