Once upon a time in a universe far, far away, HipHopDX used to host blogs. Through Meka, Brillyance, Aliya Ewing and others, readers got unfiltered opinions on the most current topics in and beyond Hip Hop. After a few years, a couple redesigns and the collective vision of three different Editors-In-Chief, blogs are back. Well, sort of. Since our blog section went the way of two-way pagers and physical mixtapes, Twitter, Instagram and Ustream have further accelerated the pace of current events in Hip Hop. Rappers beef with each other 140 characters at a time, entire mixtapes (and their associated artwork) can be released via Instagram, and sometimes these events require a rapid reaction.
As such, we’re reserving this space for a weekly reaction to Hip Hop’s current events. Or whatever else we deem worthy. And the “we” in question is me, Andre Grant, and our Sr. Features Writer Ural Garrett. Collectively we serve as HipHopDX’s Features Staff. Aside from tackling stray topics, we may invite artists and other personalities in Hip Hop to join the conversation. Without further delay, here’s this week’s “Stray Shots.”
Is Cyhi The Prynce Correct To Throw Shots At Kanye?
Ural: There was a moment where G.O.O.D. Music represented the luxurious cool kids club within Hip Hop. However, outside of John Legend, Big Sean are the only real success stories of the label excluding Kid Cudi who left for some really vague reasons. Despite having a exceptional solo debuts, Pusha T and Teyana Taylor have sort-of been commercial flops. Then there are the weird signings that haven’t produced much including Mos Def(or Yasiin Bey) and Q-Tip. Someone spending nearly five years weathering away at G.O.O.D. Music was Cyhi The Prynce. Despite releasing some phenomenal mixtapes including Black Hystori Project and its sequel a year later, there never seemed to be a push behind him; shocking considering his label situation. From Cyhi’s perspective, he became G.O.O.D. Music’s underappreciated middle child without any real vocal recognition from Yeezy himself. From the looks of things, the Atlanta emcee didn’t even exist. Add to Kanye’s ongoing musical and creative ambitions, he didn’t have time help push Taylor’s album; something he mentioned before earlier this year during an interview with The Breakfast Club. Enduring that grueling waiting period only to be dropped by both G.O.O.D. and Def Jam must have been infuriating.
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Hence the release of “Elephant In The Room,” which, plays out like a disgruntled artist fantasy. Morbidly enough, the cover art still features the G.O.O.D. Music enigma. There’s a feeling of honest desperation for someone who never really got a good shot and the track reflects that perfectly. “Elephant In The Room” doesn’t seem petty like most rap diss tracks of today. Cyhi feels humanly fed-up with his cards dealt. Therefore, making the Kanye kidnapping escapades on wax sounds effective and thoroughly entertaining. The biggest question is what’s next for Cyhi? Can he truly survive without the house that Yeezus built? What about an actual response from West? Only time will tell. For now, the once unknown soldier for G.O.O.D. is freer now, than his time under label constraints.
Andre: There have been a few iterations of G.O.O.D Music at this point, and all of them have had their fair share of controversy.There was the Consequence, Common, Sa-Ra, Malik Yusef, GLC, John Legend and more G.O.O.D Music with all it’s low-key underground components hinting at a skin Kanye West would soon shed after Late Registration. And he did, and all but Common basically disappeared. Then there was G.O.O.D Music part two with Kid Cudi, Pusha T, Hit-Boy, Q Tip, Mr. Hudson (remember him?), and Teyana Taylor. All but a few have thrived under Kanye’s tutelage. It’s easy to see why. Kanye is a fractured experimentalist searching the horizon constantly for what is new and what is edgy and you will fall by the wayside if your perspective becomes out of fashion, even for a moment. CyHi The Prynce has experienced this first hand. His last two projects were very good, and yet nothing from Ye. He’s the forgotten member of the team in that way. And all of the fans waiting for him to drop his full-length have been like Funkmaster Flex waiting for Meek Mill to send that email. But he’s also clever, and this is why this “Elephant In The Room” thing is important.
The thing ends with an alarm blaring. So, it seems, Prynce was asleep when he was spinning wild tales of Kanye´ being locked up in his trunk with his mouth taped. And as far as dreams go, with repressed urges being acted out in visual form, all of his complaints were valid. He’s been waiting around for what seems like ever. And he’s been writing and writing. So if this is what it takes to get his boss’s attention then so be it. He isn’t ready yet to disappear. I don’t blame him.
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Is Frank Ocean Ever Going To Drop?
Andre: Channel Orange was a masterpiece and it deserves a follow-up. But how quite to follow that? That’s the question Frankie last name Ocean has to answer. It’s easy to say that he’s an artist and give him time and I get that. But this isn’t about getting a new album. This is about getting a new album as good or better than the first one. It can be done. Kendrick Lamar has done it twice now and so have others we’ve wrote about at length on DX.
The fact of the matter is that we want to crown him. And at the moment he’s letting others pick at the lane that he and others watched the sunrise for. I don’t want that. I can’t have that. I want to be wowed, and as nice as some of the things he’s dropped since have been, I felt that overarching pang of completion that you get from an album. The Weeknd drops soon and if it’s good it will fill up the web with angst-y stuff masquerading as dread. Abel is great. But I look at these two as a coin that has somehow imperceptibly landed on its side. I What makes Frank Ocean special? All the thing pieces in the world can only scrape the surface of that because we haven’t received more work
So let the shouts continue for Frank. He could be somewhere on a beach that’s black as midnight ignoring us, but if this little message does get through: we’d like to hear your new album, Frank. We promise we’ll be fair.
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Ural: For the record, outside of delivering good music, no artists owes fans anything. Even if that means additional albums. This is especially true in the music industry of today. From Frank Ocean’s perspective, he’s wisely avoided the media and has been as cryptic as ever on social media including his favorite go-to platform Tumblr. Before announcing his sophomore follow-up to Channel Orange and accompanying magazine Boys Don’t Cry, The New Orleans singer/songwriter went through some interesting changes. First was the jaw-dropping announcement that he left Odd Future and his current management. Continuing Ocean’s stance regarding the media, he’s yet to even acknowledge his exit from OF.
Since dropping Channel Orange, he’s dropped a few loosies outside of feature work with everyone from Kanye West, Jay Z, Earl Sweatshirt and Tyler, The Creator to Beyonce. It’s also safe to say the music industry has changed significantly since his groundbreaking debut in 2012. The industry has a new weekly release day for albums and that’s if the date is concert without surprises. Then there’s the idea of streaming between the three way match between Spotify, Tidal and Apple Music. And finally, popularity for the alternative R&B subgenre he brought to national attention has been completely dominated by Miguel and The Weeknd. If it does drop, prepare to take another stroll through the mind of someone the music industry, fans and curious listeners have still yet to completely understand.
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Andre Grant is an NYC native turned L.A. transplant that has contributed to a few different properties on the web and is now the Features Editor for HipHopDX. He’s also trying to live it to the limit and love it a lot. Follow him on Twitter @drejones.
Ural Garrett is a Los Angeles-based journalist and HipHopDX’s Senior Features Writer. When not covering music, video games, films and the community at large, he’s in the kitchen baking like Anita. Follow him on Twitter @Uralg.
