Game Over

The only thing in our society that is more played out than the Game's bitchassness is the phrase "played out". I mean really, who has enough discretionary income to throw away $12 in this Great Recession on a Game album? How many banal references to 64' Impalas, name-drops, and faux beef can one fan stomach in a lifetime? Unfortunately, this utterly untalented scourge of rap is a vestige of Dr. Dre and 50 Cent's gimmick to revive the West Coast rap scene, and it has endured long enough!

And if it wasn't enough that I had to bear years of impressionable Game acolytes poorly defend this guy, now he commits the most egregious form of rap sacrilege by taking shots at Jay-Z to boost his upcoming album sales. By now, most readers(which doesn't appear to be many yet by the blog counter) have perceived my professional bias to Sean Carter. You've also probably determined that this entry is a personal rant that never formally develops a point. OK, you got me. Bottom line...f@%& Jayceon Taylor! When will we raise our musical standards? Where do we draw the line with these rappers who have pasts and presents that contradict their gangster posturing? Let the photo serve as my conclusion.

The Drake Theory

One can argue, with much persuasion, that mentioning today's hip-hop along with the word originality is oxymoronic. What is probably universally conceded is the fact that where once rap artists wedded borrowed beats, melodies, instrumental, etc. to create their own distinctive style of rap, now the game has become so stylistically and lyrically impoverished that artists resort to borrowing other artists' entire persona.

Tragically, this reality commonly goes unaddressed by today's generation of hip-hop heads who are either oblivious to these unabashed swagger-jackers or are completely apathetic. Like so many others who have recently been swept up in the fanfare of Jimmy Brooks, AKA Drake, I've been trying to figure out just why I like the guy so much. Being the staunch critic of contemporary rap that I am, I consider this my disgraceful mea culpa. After much reflection, I stunningly arrived at the reason...Drake is a carbon copy of Phonte; one of my favorite artists.

Sadly, the aforementioned name isn't household enough for most people's lightbulb to instantly flick on without further elaboration. He is the frontman for the highly under glorified North Carolina rap duo, Little Brother. From his voice's pitch, to his delivery, down to his simplistic but defining ad lib "yeah" that is interspersed throughout his flow, Drake has mastered them all. To be clear, the point of this expose is not an attempt to discredit or defame the former Degrassi thespian, because despite his apparent creative deficit, I really like his material (perhaps because I like the bitee). Drake is merely the segway to an even greater truth. What I do want to get off my chest is only related to what just came off my chest, and that is how much of a shame it is that hip-hop's greatest talents invariably wither in obscurity, while their drones along with ringtone rappers flourish under the limelight.

What this is, is an indictment of the crowd-mindedness of hip-hop's fan base. I always knew rap wasn't a merit-based industry, but today's fans only listen to the music that is forced down their eardrum via television and radio. Had Little Brother or countless other hapless, obscure talents been endorsed by an artist as popular as Little Wayne, then their lack of popularity and commercial success wouldn't be reality.

Is the South the Epicenter of Coonery?

Hip hop has its origins in Bronx, NY during the early 1980's, where it was birthed by a generation of African-American youth who were rebelling against the musical status quo. The fever of the disco culture held no relevance to Black youth, who were alienated by music which failed to recognize the realities of the Black experience. Primary amongst the many elements that fueled this movement were the spirit of independent expression and social consciousness that were principle to this new thing called "rap music". How, then, has this movement shifted its centrality to the South and (de)evolved into music predominantly characterized by the absence of creativity, lack of social commentary, and downright coonery?

The urban dictionary defines coonery as: antics and behavior displayed by certain underclass individuals in the Black culture, the end result being the embarrassment of the rest of the upstanding Black community. For clarification, some common examples of this are readily displayed daily on the BET network via reality shows, music videos, and sometimes even Bobby Jones' gospel. Contrary to the sentiment shared by most sympathizers of the new era of hip-hop, I do not reject it because I am "hating" (the perennial scapegoat for good criticism), but because it is misogynistic, morally vacant, and depictive of hyper sexuality that borders the perverse. This indictment surely doesn't apply to all Southern rappers, but sadly I could list the exceptions with less than ten fingers.

Is this negative evaluation of the state of hip-hop simply the product of rap's first generational shift? After all, we all have personal experience of the rift between parents and their children regarding the quality of music. Is this minstrel-like music endemic to the South or is this criticism the result of jealousy over the region's current commercial domination of the genre? The biggest tragedy, perhaps, is that with the knowledge that commercial success in rap now depends on the Southern model, most Northern rappers have capitulated to these pressures and are abandoning their own creativity; see Fabolous and Fat Joe. Even Jay-Z conceded in the prelude on the Kingdom Come album that he "would write it" if people "would buy it".

While it's true that you can't argue one's tastes, there is nothing to argue concerning the dance-crazed, lyrically impoverished music that seems to have its stronghold in the South (Atlanta*clearing my throat). With the exception of Jerry Springer, White people don't give their White trash a stage to perpetuate negative stereotypes, so why do we Black people insist on giving the niggers the strongest voice among us?

Death of Autotune? You Be The Judge

Say it ain't so. Is this really the death of auto tune? Several weeks back when Jay-Z first premiered the debut track from his highly anticipated "Blueprint 3" album it caused a lot of controversy. A lot of cats in the industry got their panties in a bunch. Let's just say the Big Homie ruffled a few feathers, and rightfully so. A lot of new artist coming out right now are making their living from auto tune. Even the VP of marketing from Antares Audio technology, the makers of the auto tune machine put out a statement about Jigga's new single. He seems to not be concerned about this Death of Auto Tune campaign that is going on in the industry right now. Obviously he isn't familiar with Jay-Z's influence in the hip hop community or his track record when it comes to denouncing the latest and greatest fad. To Jay-Z's credit when he does criticize a fad, he always has a suggestion about what should come after. How about a quick rundown?

I think it was in the late 90's when the throwback jersey really starting taking off. You could not walk 1 block without seeing at least 10 people rocking one. All the well known and not so well known athletes and rappers could be spotted wearing the latest throwback. From jay-Z all the way down to the lowest man in Fabolous' entourage. They were in every music video. These cats would pay upwards of $400 for an authentic throwback jersey. It wasn't until the counterfeiters got a hold of it that it got a little bit out of hand. You would see 60 year old white women wearing throwbacks. And let's not get on the worst offender of this crave. Everyone had "that" uncle who thought he was still cool and would rock his throwback tucked in with some heavy starched and creased jeans shorts and church shoes with the thin socks pulled all the way up the calf. Come on people! When you see that it is time to move on. It wasn't until Jay-Z's Black Album that the throwback craze of the late 90's and early 2000's started to fade to black. In the song "What More Can I Say" Jigga spit the now infamous line "And I don't wear jerseys, I'm 30 plus, give me a crisp pair of jeans, nigga button up." That one line dismantled the empire we all know as the throwback dynasty.

It doesn't end there. We all know what the bubbly of choice has been for celebrities in nightclubs and at high end parties. You guessed it, Cristal. For as long as I can remember hip hop artists have been rapping about the Gold foil wrapped champagne. Cristal was in every single music video for the past 10-15 years. There wasn't an episode on MTV's Cribs where someone didn't have a bottle of Cristal in there fridge. There was even the rare occasion when the average Joe would go in the club and local dope boys would be walking around with a bottle of Cristal in their hand. Can you say re-up money? But, in 2006 when the marketing director of the company who makes Cristal made some questionable remarks about the hip hop industry being "unwelcomed attention" for his brand, Jay-Z took offense. He started the Cristal Boycott of 06. In several interviews he made it clear he would no longer carry Cristal in his clubs or in his personal collection. In his song "Kingdom Come" Jay-Z said "Fuck Cristal." All it takes is for Jay-Z to say it and it is law. Don't get me wrong, Cristal won't be filing for bankruptcy or anything. Their clientele extended way beyond hip hop artists, so I guess they got rid of all the unwelcomed attention they were getting.

That's 2 for 2. Things aren't looking so good for auto tune. I have to say I agree with the Big Homie. This auto tune thing is getting out of hand. Don't get me wrong, I love what T-Pain does with it and who can honestly say that they didn't like Lollipop? And Kanye's new album is pretty hot, a bit redundant, but nonetheless still hot. Nowadays everybody is doing it and it is getting quite annoying. Auto tune seems to have become a joke. And who wants to go to a show where all the artists songs are auto tune and you get there and they sound horrible? If you can't do it live don't do it, unless you go back to the days when Roger and Zapp did it big with the synthesizer. They did a concert and was up on stage with the tube in the mouth sounding just like the record. I give T-Pain all the props for bringing it back. It was hot I have to admit, but now it's just bothersome to hear it on every record played. I wasn't really a crusader for the death of the "N" word, but I do think it's time to bury the "A" word, Auto tune. What say you?