Let’s keep it real, rappers are entertainers. Songs are
short scenes and albums are movies (well at least their supposed to be).
However recently I’ve been noticing a lot of rappers have been forgetting their
lines. I don’t mean in the literal sense that their fumbling words on the mic
but a lot of them change their story almost as much as their jewelry. Keeping
it real is a big thing in hip hop. It’s acceptable to be creative and make
music that doesn’t always one hundred percent reflect your life at the time. As
long as your music is grounded in some realm of reality you’ll get a pass. What
can’t change though is your story. Where you came from, how you grew up, what
you did before music.
We all remember the white kid from the ghettos of Coco Walk
named Vanilla Ice right? A lot of
these rappers tell on themselves in these interviews trying to sound tough but
to any thinking man who pays attention to detail it’s easy to see the holes in
their stories. Like who you say? Okay let’s go with the most easy. Lil Wayne. Now don’t start with the
shit because believe me I LOVE Wayne’s music and am in no way a hater. But
let’s keep it real here. Wayne is a rapper. He’s been a rapper since he was 9
years old. Yet most of the music on the Carter 1 and 2 and all the flood of
mixtapes that came out in that time were about selling coke. I wasn’t there so
I can’t say for one hundred percent but I don’t think he was cooking crack in
the studio when he was 11. Something isn’t adding up here. And then let’s took
at the teardrops. Wayne has four tatted on his face. In a recent interview with
Ozone Magazine Wayne basically said they stand for the bodies he’s caught and
that he would kill a man, his children, and their dog. He also said in the same
interview that he has had a record deal since he was 9 years old. Now that is
actually true, it’s a fact. So this means either one of two things. Either he
caught four bodies before the age of 9. Which you know even though New Orleans
is rough, I just kinda doubt it. Or… that he’s murdered 4 people after
he got a record deal. Either one is just a little hard to believe. Something
isn’t adding up here.
Like I said I’m not just picking on Wayne, a lot of cats
have memory lapses. Think about this as well. We’ve all heard the stories of
the mega hustler turned rapper. You know the “I was rich before rap” niggas.
Okay want me to name names. Young Jeezy,
Rick Ross, Plies and pretty much every other southern rapper to come out in
the last 5 years. What’s interesting to me though is how in their raps they
talk about how they’ve been ballin’ since they were too young to spell it and
had their first Benz before they were 13 and all that shit. The only problem
with this is that in the same album, and sometimes even the same song they will
talk about how they’ve been struggling and how hard it was coming up in the
hood on welfare. So how the fuck you were such a baller but yet you couldn’t
afford food some nights? Something isn’t adding up here.
I remember I read an interview with Rick Ross one time and
he said before the music he had houses and cars and all that shit. I think he
said he bought his first house when he was 19 or something. Then on his new CD
on the song “I’m Only Human” he says that his mom never rode a plane until his
CD came out and now he sends her on trips every week. Now how the fuck you got
houses and Benzo’s and all that shit, but you can’t get your momma a hundred
dollar plane ticket? Something isn’t adding up here.
Rich Boy talks about flipping pies in a lot of his tracks in
his former life. Then in an interview he said he got his first studio money by
stealing money from his father that was intended to be used for his college
tuition. Something isn’t adding up here. Now I understand what’s going on. Like
I said rappers are entertainers. However we often block them into a certain
space where we don’t really allow them to create. But that’s later for Part 2.
Anyway a lot of these guys feel like they have to follow the trends in the music
and since Jeezy came out talking that shit that’s been the norm. Before Jeezy
it was okay to be a rapper. Hell it was even okay to be broke. But now with all
these “I’m a hustla not a rapper” niggas on the scene it’s no longer cool to
struggle and everybody had money before music.
Another reason this goes on is because most people aren’t
like me. I pay attention to detail and I have a weird memory that allows me to
remember random shit like these interview quotes but forget what the deadline
was for this very article your reading now. So most people aren’t going to
notice this shit. However those with a fine eye to detail will. Besides all
that though I feel the largest blame is on us. Yes us the fans. A lot of times
we don’t take to people who don’t have the certain image and story that’s
popular right now.
Let me break down what the background of the next hot new
rapper on the scene will be. He’s gonna be an ex hustler who never thought
about rapping but it just kind of fell in his lap. He already has money and he
just does this rap shit as another hustle. And oh yeah once again he doesn’t
need money. He came in the game with everything he needs. And did I mention he
already has money? Okay. But let’s be real. This shit doesn’t just fall in
nobody’s lap. You got to work hard, struggle and
your craft. All this shit takes time and dedication. Has a record exec ever
gone door to door in your neighborhood recruiting rappers? Me neither and I
doubt they do in Plies’ or Shawty Lo’s neighborhood either. I think this is
really part of a bigger problem that we have in hip hop with not really
allowing these artists to be artists. Since hip hop is so grounded in keeping
it real and the whole truthfulness aspect of it these guys really are in chains
when it comes to their music.
The ones that break out of the chains we applaud, i.e. Kanye West, Nas, Common, but for some
reason not many rappers are willing to take that risk. And like I said don’t
think I’m trying to bash the few people mentioned in this article. I am huge
fans of all the people I gave examples of, Ross being one of my top five right
now. And to be perfectly honest I’m mature and real enough with myself that
honestly I really wouldn’t mind if their whole album is a lie, as long as it
sounds good. This shit is music and music is art and art doesn’t have to be
based in total honesty. It just has to inspire more art and has to make people
feel good in their own little way. But, like I said more on that later.
So for the rappers out there if you’re going to lie, at least be a good
liar and remember your lies. Stick to the script. Look out for part 2 coming
soon.
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