A Dr. Dre album, the Blueprint 3 from Jay-Z, Loso coming soon, the emergence of Drake, a Lil Wayne album, a 50 album and possible new material from Kanye and Jeezy amongst others all add up to one thing,…..a hot summer. The musical bar has been raised and the artist are becoming smarter and taking more control of their projects, and honestly the music has just gotten a little better. Lupe is still highly anticipated and there are a large number of artist buzzing right now. Camron, Banks the free agent, the Clipse, and the list goes on and on. Hip-hop fans can be content for the first time in a while. Scorching mixtapes, classic shows, and heavy collaborations that you might not normally expect are on the rise. (more…)

Hardleg radio has officially took over all across the country. Where are the female rappers? Foxy Brown, Lil Kim, Nikki Minaj, Shawnna, and…., a hundred or so others go hard yet haven’t made a major dent recently in the industry. The better question is where are the female rap fans? Sex sells, but it won’t sell rap albums to the opposite sex, neither will gangsta talk. Conforming to the music you expect out of most male rappers probably isn’t the answer either. Someone might feel like less of a man (right or wrong) if their partner caught them bumping a female’s cd, or might feel like they have to explain themselves. We got love for the ladies, but we’re different.  Are all the ladies wrapped up in R&B songs?, or maybe they don’t like the way their .. (more…)

Fuckery…. trying hard to highlight some of the music industry’s bright spots, yet there is a consistently overwhelming amount of fuckery. Flop here, wack freestyle there, ridiculous beef in between, along with the smoke/swagathons and internet stars.. a bright spot is hard to find. Tight jeans, exquisite hairstyles like women, along with the complimentary accesories and online bickering, the game aint what it used to be. A few rappers have decent wordplay but if you have half an iq you walk away from 90% of today’s music unimpressed. (more…)

Everyone has a myspace account. A lot of people use it to promote their music, but what are you really promoting? Myspace. The same goes for all of these music sites who offer a service free of charge, because they know your fanbase will lead to advertising money for them. Can’t blame them, but you could blame yourself. You won’t see a dime of that money, and the people who check you out are probably gonna end up online for a while checking out other people. What if you had your own site? What if your site was the only way for people to hear your music? You’d make every dollar that you’re supposed to. What if people could only get your cd from you? You’d control the entire money flow of your music. (more…)

So you know a few stars huh?….,You dress like them, go to all the industry functions and could call a few right now huh…..You probably think you’re a superstar yourself don’t you? Who’s coming to your show though? How many people will support your functions? You could kick it with a star eight months, but eventually you have to go back to your life. Having some inside info make you feel special? A d-list artist is always better than an a-list groupie. You can find superstar fans at every industry function. They make sure to overacknowledge every and anyone who looks important. They still brag on the one or two minute accomplishments they have to make them feel special. (more…)

How good are you? Do you think you have what it takes it to make it? For a hot 20 - 50 dollars any joe blow can go in the studio and lay a track. For another $100 you could look like one on the hundred or so cd’s you pass out. Rap is an open leauge, no discrimination or qualifications, anyone can do it. Can you get paid off it though? This is the difference between the regular season and the playoffs of hip-hop. The good side allows you to drop cd’s whenever you like, tour globally on a consistent basis and offers opportunities in other arenas, but how long can you sustain success? (more…)

What did you wake up to this morning? Was it breakfast and coffee, cereal and sportscenter, or bad news and oatmeal? When was the last time someone got killed in your neighborhood? a house broken into? How often do you see pregnant teenagers in your neighborhood? Do you have streetlights? It’s hard to comprehend hip-hop coming from the “dreamworld”. When you’re born into opportunity deserved or not, and have resources available at the tip of your fingers it’s hard to understand what people in the real world go through. People try to use the few examples that make it out to say “if they could do it, you could”, but that’s not really true.  How easy is it to say no to drugdealing when your lights and water are off, and your refigerator is empty?

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Hip-hop isn’t what it was ten years ago. Ten years ago it wasn’t what it was five years ago. What happened? Did the music decline or did it change? It’s easy to say it declined but the answers are always at the foundation. Rap started out as a way to express issues, the music was raw and untampered and thus the explosion. Along the way to riches the focus of the game changed from a musicians league to a hustler’s league, it sort of transformed. It also got soft over the years. If you’re not a groupie you’re classified as a hater, swag battles are self explanatorily (probably made this word up) homosexual, and the music caters to a much different crowd than it did at conception.

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What’s the difference between a blogger and a journalist? Is the comparison square and rectangle, water and ice, or night and day? Let’s start with responsibility. Journalism has a responsibility to present info in a non-biased manner. Blogging (talking about professional bloggers, people who do it for a living) has no responsibility at all. How many times have you read a rumor on a blog that turned out to be false? Bloggers simply offer their opinion as if it is the law,  like their view of the world is more important than everyone else’s. What would you call each if you knew them personally? You’d probrably call a journalist a brave, maybe nosey/curious, smart guy. (more…)

Filter -A device which separates a suspended, dissolved, or particulate matter from a fluid, solution…. or other substance any device that separates one substance from another. Imagine a filter for rap. Who would make it through? What would be the filter? A rap bar exam. How would it work? The bar would be graded in seven different areas,on a scale of 1-7 for every category.

1.Consistency - how many of their songs do you skip/skim through, how many throw away fill in bars do   they have?
2.Potentcy - Are they an abc rapper, mediocre or is their wordplay superior?
3.Relevance - What are you saying? Can people relate to your music years after you drop it, or is it trend music.

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