GRNDGD

pacoe’s a str8 sav for this shit…

free hate invitational.

folks need to realize…hip hop isnt always meant to sound cheerful..isnt always meant to be about looking attractive and elitist.we dont determine our self worth on how many people we perceive as jealous of what we say we have (haters) and now that this shit has become acceptable and viable,there is a very real threat to classify the genre as solely a money making opportunity…and nothing can be further from the truth of this.
when that happens you get formula,and formula is the least path of resistance for a busload of talentless,base,drunk,skinny jean wearin,missy eliot gibberish scattin knockoffs,to infiltrate and confuse those with no frame of reference older than 2000. this being said,there was a divergence long ago between what is predominantly skill and hunger and what is commercial and background stripper music.nobody i know who knows whats good listens to 50,wayne,etc..and thinks theyre good..they think theyre good at business and marketing.there needs to be both..

neither do you need to put price tags on it in order to make it appear culturally valuable,but i will say “preservation” is not only a noble thing but a necessary thing the way the music business operates these days…

you cannot honestly think the lyrical aspect of the music in question is getting “better”…

that i cant believe for a second.

when you turn on the radio (if you ever turn it off that is) you cant say youre hearing anything that hasnt been said before.im sorry.

market to those whose hip hop experience begins and ends in the club after they leave their 9-5…to those whom hip hop means buying overpriced drinks and pretending that everyone can be a celebrity..or at least look like one.

but to those who revere wordplay,above average beats,and skill….that music says nothing to them about life.

thats the triple truth. word to that.
the industry encourages the artist to target those who know no better, like teens whose only frame of reference is anything from last year. everything is a damn cover nowadays. and these youngsters aint aware of the original pieces, but they eat these cover songs up like cake. the labels dont care, thats money in the bank to them. they could care less about the state of hip hop, where its been, and where its going. as long as the paper keeps comin.

radio is fast food. you’re all gonna die.

i do agree with you “conga” though, please understand, i am aware of how to be selective when it comes to music that speaks to my sensibilities..but i’ll leave you with this last point…

…where are all the “sellouts” these days..

if you cant find any…that doesnt mean there arent none.

remember when there was a time careers could be cashed in,and rappers could be musical anathema when called out for being a quote unquote sellout.

it meant you had committed the first and foremost “carnal sin” within the game and you had a hard time ahead of you to regain your credibility or artistic merit ever again.
i.e. “hammer”,”vanilla ice”,etc.

you would go from being commercially viable to being a “punchline” in the community.

at some point this changed….now any artist blatantly admitting his only ambition is money ,is revered, celebrated, and emulated by the masses.

no one seems to be on watch,and now we are overwhelmed.

my point is, the culture (as you put it) used to take care of its own.if your motives were questionable, you were called out for it and lambasted in front of the community.
new artists would come up and the integrity of the music as a whole would flush itself out and remain intact.

no longer.

and although its another point entirely, ive always considered the term “hater” a default reply designed for those evading the need to answer the charge of being called sellouts.
its just too easy…
the word is just simply used too much to be considered an honest answer.

as if saying, no..were willing to overlook the fact this artist is bringing nothing new because it’s easier to believe his detractor is simply “jealous” of him.
this appeals to our ego and it feels good, but ultimately it leaves us with nothing inspiring artistically.

would this not seem to appear irresponsible to some degree?
or is money and nice things really the root of why we come together for this music from the jump? hmm…….

sorry,

ratio=reason

i agree with your last point babarclubberlang.

as much as i prefer Murs earlier work to his latest,id rather he earned the $ because he actually has talent..the same with Grouch.

now if Scarub could break through with good beats that would be even better.

we need to raise the conciousness of the average listener(not the true heads)..check what KRS has to say about this in recent lectures and talks.

Alright, Lil Wayne is wack, I get it. But to stalk the guy and try to battle him? Homie ought to spend that kind of time and energy on his own shit and get his music on. How would an emcee who has never been heard from before, change anything by serving “Weezie” anyway? That was a complete waste of time.

Dissing LL, (Grouch and MURS), I don’t get the point there either. Sounds like old dude caught hurt feelings because one or both didn’t give him the time of day. You got to get over that. Artists like them have been hustling for a LONG time to get where they are now. And you want to call them Hollywood?? Does anyone have any idea how many “potential artists” these cats have run into since they’ve been on? How many people wanted to get hooked up, or collaborate? I’ve met both several times and they were cool and respectful. I might’ve been slighted by one of them at a show not too long ago, but oh well. I still bought the dude’s cd. Cause I don’t really care if he’s an asshole or got conceited all of a sudden. I respect the man’s art, where he came from and how he got to where he is now. That’s it. He doesn’t have to be my friend, or be down to “build” with me for me to buy his music. That’s some Nancy shit right there.
Oh and on the sellout tip. There’s a grip of sellouts in the business. And a sellout to me isn’t just an emcee putting on a pop record to get on, but someone who will lie through their teeth to represent an image that is nothing like who they are and have absolutely no message to offer. If I remember correctly, Vanilla Ice got called out because when he got on, he did interviews saying stuff like he was a former gang member and used to be all hardcore from the “mean streets of Miami” and all that, but it was all a front. And there’s a lot of cats in music fronting hard these days.

I like the point someone made earlier about fools who were just out for the cash getting called out back in the day. Dudes’ aren’t on watch anymore and that’s exactly right. And those that are, aren’t in a position so that it really matters. But it goes deeper than a music thing. Lil Wayne, (I’m not as hard on him as most), but yeah, G.O.A.T., not hearing that, not even from the South. So dude made it big. He got a fanbase going. He did that. He didn’t force anyone to buy his records. It says more about the people supporting him and other artists like him than anything. There are people feeling his music. How is anyone supposed to dictate what people want to hear? Why he has the fans that he does, is a matter far more complex. It has to do with people’s experiences in life, how they were brought up, the kind of relationships they had and the type of ideas that were put into their heads. There is a bigger picture there. I got more of an issue with his fans than with the man himself.