After a month or so hiatus, the critically acclaimed series is back! This week, I'll be talking about trend hoppers, Jay Z's new singled "D.O.A" and discussing what I feel will bring the proper perspective in Hip Hop Back...
Guess whose bizzack? Back on the net with those Blogs … Ayatollah Jaxx been gone too long …
I need an encore, y’all should welcome me back! Wanna blog till you fall; I can help you with that!
Don’t call it a come back, I been here for years! Typing my jeers, keeping other bloggers in fear!!!!
Alright, enough with the renditions. I’m back baby!! BPW is back in full effect. It’s been a minute, but we’re back in business. I don’t wanna waste any time, I wanna get things underway.
Following trends is nothing new to Hip Hop. We set, establish, cast away and follow new trends damn near weekly. Hip Hop is what people look to to know what’s cool, what’s trendy, what’s hip. That’s almost part of our job description as members of the Hip Hop culture. Parents want to stay in touch with their children so they look to MTV, BET, to see what their kids are listening to, how they’re speaking and dressing. It’s not uncommon for the younger generation to imitate that which came before, but how often is that really the case?
See I come from a time of rebellion. I came up during Regonomics, during the Crack Wars, When Sadaam said “Fuck Bush”, twice, when welfare was cut. When mans said you pick on me, I’ma shoot you and every one in the school who ever did. I came up when my uncle Shadow had the illest 64, and would come through the hood like the ice cream man. I came up when cops were killing and beating brothers, and the West Coast rioted over it. I came up when Johnny Gammage was killed, and police brutality spiked in the country. So when I look at all this conformity in Hip Hop, I get confused? Hip Hop as I remember was a middle finger to society. It said, you wanna ignore us, fine, but we’re still gonna bring this side of life to the forefront. I remember when Tupac was a threat to the camera, not an anniversary show or issue.
“What is he talking about specifically?”
We all know those are facts, but we need isolated instances. Skinny jeans, first. Why do you wanna dress like a woman, dude? Why? That shit is mad homo. You definitely don’t have to look like baggin saggin Barry either, but still. Men in and out of hip hop are looking more and more feminine by the day. What’s next, a take over of glam rappers?
Next, Drake. How many of you can honestly say you were fans of Drake from Room For Improvement, and Come Back Season? I love that the brother has been getting his shine, but how many of you can say if he wasn’t with Wayne, that you would have cared about another Canadian MC trying to cross over? I’ll wait … There are plenty of us trying to jump that border, and none have really done it successfully. I suggest you look more closely at the Toronto scene if you're really involved new Hip Hop.
I have never ever in my almost 24 years on this planet seen grown men so insecure with who they are; so they imitate other men, who look like other women. It’s a real bloodclot trouble.
“Times change, Jaxx, times change, take it easy”.
I know that however, let’s look at those times, shall we? People need to grow, people need to develop. Nine times out of ten, if you ask me how I’m doing, or what I’ve been doing, my answer is “Growing and developing brother/sister, how about you?” But this is where I get vexed. I get vexed when mans try to hate on where they were just last year, acting like those shoes were never being worn by the subject in question, just because it's not trendy any more. Like dude, you were wearing tall tees and expressing your gangstadome to any one who would listen just two years ago. Now you’re an all swagged out punk rock banging Mohawk sporting faggot who is wearing his sister’s jeans. Now I’m not pointing fingers right now, however, I will illustrate evidence.
When Wiz Khalifa first came out, he was almost a pretty typical punch line rapper from Pittsburgh. Always talking about how he can clap a man like Pakistan, this that and the third. Now listen to his lyrics … stark contrast. I was just watching his interview with Peter Parker on WorldStarHipHop.com and I got seriously annoyed. See I never said I expected Wiz to stay in that place, he was a kid then, now he’s in his 20s. He still makes some really good music, but some of it is just ultra wack. But he's reaching out as an artist, so I' not that mad. However, he totally wrote off his “old image” as if he was never there in the first place. Don’t believe me? Check for your self:
Even one of my favourite MCs out now is on that same bullshit, moreless. When Drake first came out, he was damn near a conscious rapper, and the only time he really rapped about women were positive rhymes. “Video Girl” for instance is a record about trying to keep women from choosing the lifestyle of a video vixen, being abused by Rappers and Ballers, ala Karrine Steffans, and a few other choice songs that were really dope, really powerful records that didn’t gain him the fans of the ignorant misogynistic stereotypical records. Now you hear his newer records, and it’s all about pussy, pussy, puss, fucking this bitch, this that and the third, or he's embracing all the falsititudes presented to him with his new found fame. Makes you wonder how highly these entertainers regard that record deal and executive approval. Will that make you look at things differently? Who knows, but the proof is in the pudding. Jay Z once rapped against his one time rival “is it black girl lost, or shorty owe you for ice?” That says it all.
Now we’re on Jay Z. Pause. Quite possibly the most overrated MC of all time, if not proving to be one of the worst as time goes on. But lemme reflect for a moment. Jay just dropped “D.O.A”, Death of Autotune. I got into an argument with my man Nuc about how bad that record sucks, but he told me it’s about the message. You know what, it really is. However, Jay has surrounded himself with nothing but Autotune users, and has all but co-signed every new trend out. Now all the sudden he wants the bandwagon riding to stop, he wants the autotuning to stop, but he refuses to say any names. Sounds like a bitch move to me, nigga. How are you going to claim to be the voice of a generation, or of a movement, when you remain silent and passive about all the suspect shit that occurs around you, son? You can’t pick and choose…
That’s the problem now. We all co-sign too much bullshit. We allow too much stuff to go on. Same thing as in the streets. Mans aren’t taking snitching personally. It’s just business as usual now. Mans say “oh he never snitched on me, so I don’t care”, until they get federally indicted. See we, as members of the Hip Hop culture; people with voices need to be more vocal about saying what’s wack, what’s hot, etc. It’s our civic duty, at the very least. DJs co-sign way to many wack records. MCs are just doing features with any one, regardless if they're wack or not. What is going on here?
Want a real example? My man Nuc, is a fan of my music, we’re friends, we always chop it up. He always spins my records when he DJs jams. He told me the other day that he isn’t feeling my song “What Are We Gonna Do?” I sing on the hook (with out autotune), and it’s about me breaking up with my fiancée. It’s actually a pretty lyrical record considering, and it’s really creative, but he feels I went soft, and strayed away from my true sound, as he hears it. That’s realness, and I respect him more for that statement. (For all y’all just now getting to know who I am, I was going to be a singer before I chose to MC.)
Now I know that we all need bandwagon riders and trend hoppers because if there weren’t any of those, trends would cease to exist. Except for Steelers football. All you faggot ass fair weather Steelers fans need to get the fuck on with all that nonsense. Where were you when we sucked? I digress …
See trend hoppers and bandwagon riders have always been a factor in Hip Hop, but for the most part we always got on our Warren G and regulated that ass, pause. But now it’s waaaaay to far out of hand. So the Ayatollah has stepped up and I hope that’s enough to start a trend to get people to speak out against wackness and garbage in Hip Hop.
Once again, I'm not expecting every one to platue, and cease to improve. That'd be redundant. The game has witnessed enough of that, and now it's like a land locked pond in the Florida everglades; stagnant and filthy, with no sign of any fresh circulation.
So what do we do? How do we quell this not so subtle scratch in that hard to reach area? At his point, what is protocol? Bloggers, like wack MCs have infiltrated the culture and begin to unload cancerous, useless commentary that has rapidly initiated relevancy asfixiation, one fodder filled blog at a time. (Where does that leave me, you ask?) I'm far from an arm chair quarterback, baby! I got the game plan drawn up, and I'm running all the plays, coach.
START CALLING THINGS LIKE THEY ARE!! Don't know how? Allow me to lead the way.
Tell Royce 5’9 to quit bullshitting and release “Street Hop” or he’s about to loose a fan. I’ve been waiting three years for that album. What’s the hold up? MCs, if you're gifted enough to sing, do it, just make sure you actually have talent. The group that is being passed off as R&B singers need to give the hell up, you all suck. Wiz, start dressing and rapping regular. Drake, your album better be amazing. I'm counting on you! Wale, quit wearing skinny jeans and punching fans for bullshit reasons. Jay Z, retire, and get off Young Jeezy’s dick. Since you soft ass urban media outlets in Pittsburgh are scared to issue the real truth, here it us. You all should take a note from me ... Humbly speaking, of course.
The Ayatollah has spoken. Word to Toronto
