The Hip Hop Knowledge Base---The Editorial

Happy New Year to all! As a change of pace, my inagur..inag....my first entry of 2006 will not be the quiz, but rather some observations of events going on in this game they call "The Hip Hop Culture". So without further adue, in the words of the almighty Slick Rick: HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRE WE GOOOOO!!!:


Lil Jon has earned a pass

If you consider yourself a true music fan, I would highly recommend that you make an investment into the satellite radio game! I have Sirius radio for my whip, and as a DirecTV subscriber, I now have XM radio (Praise God they eliminated that mockery of satellite radio they call "Music Choice"). With satellite radio (and BTW, I'll be happy to provide a free consult to anyone thinking about moving to satellite radio...this move will seriously change your life), I now have true variety in my life! Sure my roots and passion are always hip hop, but every now and then I like to get my fix of Soul music, Alternative Rock (If you don't know about Avenged Sevenfold , you truly are asleep) Jazz, 80's hard rock (hell 80's pop music altogether...yo, don't look @ me like I'm the only who still grooves to Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer" or "Sussudio" by Phil Collins) and of course old school (My fav old school band OF ALL TIME is Earth, Wind & Fire).

The night of Friday January 28th, 2006, Soultown (the old school R&B station on SIRIUS) did a spotlight on Soul Brother #1 himself James Brown. So while in my ride rolling south on I-35 I'm groovin' to the beats of "I got that feelin'" (am I the only one that thinks about Russell & Anna Huxtable's 51st anniversary when I hear this song?), "Night Train", "Sex Machine", "Santa Claus is coming to the ghetto" and my personal favorite (and probably most oversampled beat in Hip Hop next to Tana Garnder's "Hearbeat") "The Payback" (Part 1 & 2).

As I'm listening to the thumpin' bass lines and scorching horns over these unquestionalby funky tracks...it then dawns on me that except for the occasional "Alrights", "HUH!" and "HEEEEEY!!!" there are no real lyrics to James Brown's songs, yet all of these are considered classics! At which instance I had to briefly put my head down (by now I'm about to merge from 67 to I-20 West) and admit, that your guy Lil' Jon is using the same formula.

People who know me, know I love some Dave Chappelle . And nobody was happier than me when Dave pointed out to everyone that all Jon does is create "The Crunk beat", get some guys who have mediocore lyrical talent, say a catchy hook and then Jon will come in with "WHAT!?!" OR "OOOOOKAAAAY!!!" and he has a platinum hit. I can no longer hate on this clown for destroying our music...b/c in the age where crooners such as Sam Cooke, Smokey Robinson (Who I believe over the span of his carreer got more ass than anyone in the music industry to date) and Wilson Pickett were known for their vocal talents...brother James would still bring a house down with his music. The only difference is, in 2006 Lil Jon and his cronies Big Sam and Lil Bo are amongst a slew of non talented individuals who get rotation in Hip Hop today, but yet the beat is slammin'.

So now as I pull up in my driveway, I still remain a lost soldier in the movement for true Hip Hop. But when it comes to what's on the radio, I will now resolve myself to an audience member on the old tv show American Bandstand

"I like the song"
"It has a good beat"
"And I can dance to it" (well that's still up for debate, b/c I still argue that crunk music was created for people who can't dance...but that's another blog)


The Passion of Kanye West

Admittingly, I'm a different person at age 29 than I was at 22. Specifically it's because I pay closer attention to the line between church and state. Prior to the weekend of January 28th 2006, there was some minor controversy involving your friend and mine Kanye West. For those of you who don't know, on the most recent cover of the Rolling Stone Kanye West is posed like Jesus. (Sidebar: I'm laffing out loud now, because I just remembered that in the summer of 1998 ODB (Ol Dirty Bastard of the Wu Tang Clan) insisted that people call him "Jesus"...I digress). So now people were midly disturbed by this photo...whereas myself, while not surprised, I didn't really think that much of it. At the least I felt that I should be offended, but even that thought resulted in a shrug of the shoulders. At which point, I had to flash back to 1999 (when I was 22).

I remember Nas had a video out to the song entitled "Hate Me Now", where Puff was on the Hook*. In that video (if you recall), there's a scene where Nas is also dressed as Jesus, bearing the cross and people were stoning him. Again being 22, I wasn't as attentive to the line of church and state, I remember Puff & Nas releasing inivdual statements that went along these lines

We are by no means trying to defame the name of Jesus Christ during the showing of this video. His likeness is only used as artistic interpretation

I believe Makevelli made a similar disclosure on his album: The 7 day theory. But even then I don't remember a lot of fuss about that "portrayal" either. @ any rate curiosity got the best of me, and I picked up the Rolling Stone over the weekend, and read the cover story.

I came out of the article not knowing anything more (nor surprising) about Kanye, but the article did a great job of capturing his passion for everything he does (from making beats, to writing songs, to rapping (again, in my opinion this is debateable...but he gets by), and setting pop culture trends. I simply believe Rolling Stone wanted to capture that same passion, by offering up the metaphor of "posing as Jesus" on our next cover. What's slightly humorous is the fact that Kanye actually responded "I'll do it", instead of laughing it off...

Clearly there was no malice or disrepect intended, but as Michael Eric Dyson once said "Although your intent may differ from the resulting consequences, you must be prepared to accept those consequnces should you follow through with your actions". Quite honestly, I believe the Bush has more concerning issues such as wondering why the Humas party won the demorcatic elections in Pakistan, as opposed to forcing America to question their spiritual and religous (and there is a difference) by Kanye's latest portrayal.

Hey, whether or not Kanye wins Album of the year @ the 2006 Grammy's, he still will continue to bring us heat in the upcoming years. "Hate it or Love it" ya'll, Kanye is here to stay

*-a note to all record labels. Please do not continue to give us the misconception that some is gonna spit bars on a track by saying they are featured, and all they do is a hook. And for you emcees that are in fact features, but you're saying a hook...DAMNIT DEMAND SOME BARS!! You know, if you really think about it, the artist could've hired their child to say the same sh** that you are!! Put a flow together and make it nice!!!


DID YOU KNOW?: Before he blazed the galaxy with the Star Trak, Pharrell produced the beat to the 1993 party anthem "Rump Shaker" or as I like to refer to it: The Butt v.2.0



Alright, I've rambled enough for long enuff...

5000,

B. Holcomb a/k/a: The Inspiration that made Lady sing the Blues