Most of you probably know me from my weekly news articles, those same supposed objective articles in which I often express my opinionated opinions so discreetly and tactfully. To those who chastise me with hate mail for my smiting of their favorite rapper, I know the truth hurts, so this is dedicated to y’all. Before I let the Nelly insults fly, I guess that I should give you all an idea of where I am coming from. That way you can realize that I am right with less internal struggle. I have been listening to hip hop for 13 years, a long time considering that I am not yet 21, my tastes vary widely; from east to west, north to south, Midwest to Europe, commercial to underground, conscious to morbid, political to gangsta, instrumentals to spoken word. I have got it all in my collection of 800 CD’s. To give you a better idea, here is the short list of my favorite emcees of today; Ras Kass, Eminem, Kool Keith, Chino XL, Aceyalone, Freddie Foxxx, Slug, Copywrite, Aesop Rock and Jay-Z. I know there isn’t any Southern representation there but Outkast is my favorite group, so there you go. I could fill this page with artists that I am into, I listen to a whole lot of hip hop. What can I say, I love it.
What I don’t like is the shit that pollutes the airwaves disguising itself as hip hop and destroying any credibility that hip hop grasps in the rest of the music industry. Sure, corporate America is now a monetary driving force behind rap now, but don’t get that confused with respect. What I don’t like is millions of people watching an award show and hearing Nelly make an acceptance speech for the supposed best rapper and proceed to make a speech in which he couldn’t string together an intelligent sentence if his life depended on it. Then he performs, you wonder why hip hop gets no respect. Put Ras Kass, Mos Def or Talib Kweli behind the podium for a show. Let Dilated Peoples or Jurassic 5 rock the stage at an award show. I’ll bet you a lot of people would second guess their perceptions of hip hop. Whoa, hold up a second, those artists aren’t shipping platinum and their labels won’t pay for an award so fuck that, they aren’t getting on TV. If Russell Simmons cares so much about the hip hop culture then why doesn’t he sign an artist that will make a positive difference through his message and pimp him as hard as he does DMX or Ja Rule? Music of the business, you said it Ras.
Let me get back to Nelly for a second though, and explain just why I have such a strong dislike for him. It isn’t just because I don’t like his music. At first it was cool, he knew his market, he made music for them and didn’t try to be anything that he wasn’t. Then “#1” came out and he made all the ridiculous claims that he did. Don’t be so insulting, now this KRS beef is icing on the cake. And fuck anyone who disses KRS, go listen to “Criminal Minded” and “By All Means Necessary” and think of where hip hop would be without those albums. Or should I say, where hip hop wouldn’t be. KRS-One’s contributions to hip hop can’t be measured by record sales or radio play, recognize muthafuckas.
Enough of what makes me angry, I did say that I loved hip hop didn’t I? You know what makes me happy? The quality of music coming out of the underground in 2002. A lot of heads say that 2001 was an uninspired year for underground hip hop, while I disagree, I see their point. 2002 is a different story though, shit has been unreal so far, check how many outstanding albums there have been thus far: Aesop Rock, Def Jux II comp, Edan, J-Live, Non Phixion, El-P, Sage Francis, Demigodz, Blackalicious, 3582, Battle Axe Warriors II all come to mind. The best may be yet to come though, June 11th marks the release of Atmosphere’s “God Loves Ugly” and I heard about a minute of each song and from what I heard it could very well be a classic. There are few emcees out there that are more talented than Slug, underground or otherwise. Don’t be scared of the underworld my friends, stay true to this shit. I remain, critical minded. Peace.
