In the wake of the revelation that the late Big Pun's wife and kids are living in a shelter, and Fat Joe's subsequent response that he secured Liza Rios hundreds of thousands of dollars thru the release of Endangered Species and even wrote her a follow-up check out of pocket, it really makes the mind wonder.
While I do feel for Pun's children, who haven't done anything wrong in all of this and are the only ones who have to suffer for their mother's foolishness, something has to be said for a mother who let at least $160,000 run through her hands, and that's by her estimate and the real number is surely at least twice that. We all know at least one person like this in real life, and trust me, by the time they are crying poverty to the world, they have likely been through the amount of money they are claiming "all went to bills" 2 or 3 times over. And from the looks of her on that video on WSHH, she clearly hasn't skipped any meals, so its hard to believe she's in any discernible financial dungeon. For her to feel like Fat Joe has some level of responsibility is valid to some extent, but clearly not the extent that she seems to believe.
Big Pun has been lionized in rap, and rightfully so, the man was one of arguably the top 10-15 MCs ever to pick up a microphone. But, in death, we seem to blow certain things in proportion in our minds. Capital Punishment sold in the neighborhood of 1.5 million copies, but this was when album budgets were absolutely ridiculous and I'm sure that Wyclef, Joe, Noreaga, Busta, and the like did not come cheap. Likewise for the all-star cast on the beats. Yeeah Baby barely went gold and due to Pun's death, did not receive all that much promotion beyond the first couple of singles. And the aforementioned Endangered Species barely made a dent at all and surely cost a fortune to make.
So, it seems inherently stupid for Mrs. Rios to believe that she should be set for life off her deceased husband having sold 2 million and something records in his lifetime. I'm sure the two of them had a quite bit of fun with the money while it lasted, and she should resign herself to reality and go get a 9 to 5. But, I'm sure some of you will say, what about all the other widows who live off their husband's musical catalog? This is where Liza Rios' selfish attitude really burned her. Instead of rushing to put out a DVD where he's pistol whipping her, she should have been ensuring that no one ever found out this ugly side of Pun. That is, since you're intending to eat and eat and eat off him for life.
Many deceased artists continue to produce cash for their next of kin in the afterlife, but this isn't with album sales money, that dries up for the most part, especially since rap albums in the '90s cost a mint to make and with the ginormous advances artists were receiving, many barely recouped on them. And with hardly anyone even buying new albums these days, its doubtful that Pun's catalog moves even 2-3K a year. Artists usually continue to make money with licensing deals, for movies, TV shows, commercials, etc. This is where it was in poor taste to release that DVD. While I'm sure Big and 'Pac had their dark sides, their mothers/wives/mistresses/side pieces have for the most part sung their praises, which has allowed to gravy train to keep rolling. By painting Pun as a vicious wife-beater on that DVD and again on E!'s special on hip-hop wives, mainstream media will never use his music for anything of consequence because of the negative connotation he has to a lot of people. The 700-pound Spanish dude who smashed his wife's face with a gun butt is a lot less appealing than say, the charismatic thug with the Napoleon complex or the less fat Brooklyn rhyme slinger with radio hits for days. Big L is probably more positively remembered by mainstream audiences at this stage than Pun is.
Let us not forget that Pun had maybe 2 or 3 legitimate crossover hits by the time he passed. And only one that any casual fan of rap will remember. Long story short, get a job, Liza Rios. Your time to cash in would have been not taking two quick checks to paint him as an abusive animal. Although I'm far from one of Fat Joe's most enthusiastic supporters, the man has a point here. After someone lets hundreds of thousands run through their hands with nothing to show for it, why would you continue to give this person money? I feel for the children here, but if their mother is this financially irresponsible, short of moving them into your own home, there is not much that can be done to help them here, as their primary caretaker is too self-absorbed to realize what she has done to them by refusing to move on from the idea that Pun's music should have been enough to ensure her a lifetime of laziness.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Sometimes The Rap Game Reminds Me Of The Crack Game
Today has seen a bit of a mini-controversy, as one of the few West Coast newcomers to achieve a somewhat national buzz, Nipsey Hussle, released his third mixtape. Instead of just coming up off a ZShare link, however, most links on the de rigeur just had an imeem playlist and a link where to legally purchase. Interesting strategy, although it seems to have backfired in some way, as links to download the mixtape were in circulation within hours. But, this whole brouhaha does raise some very intriguing questions.
How long before record companies finally stop having their artists flooding the marketplace with free material? Yes, the mixtape fusillade strategy worked for Lil' Wayne & 50 Cent, but that's because they built a massive fanbase and had even their mixtape songs circulate onto the radio. When, in Nipsey's case, the third mixtape has songs that he is intending on including on his debut album, it is understandable why an artist can feel the need to be financially compensated. Since the mixtape/illegal downloading era started, one of the most common complaints about major-label releases is the fact that the 3-4 hottest street singles/biggest top 40 songs have already been out for months beforehand. Or, that their mixtapes are simply a better listen than their album (Asher Roth, any 50 post-GRODT, Nas). Could it be that Nipsey, realizing this, simply tried to hedge his bets by making a few dollars before he was cursed with one of those inevitable fates? Or was it his management team? Another intriguing subplot in all of this.
Will this change promotional strategies leading up to album releases? Undoubtedly so. The TIs have to be taking notice to the fact that almost every big recent chart-topper, outside of The Carter III, did not have a big-name tape trotted out beforehand. Eminem, T.I., Kanye, Jay-Z, et al. have eschewed that method, and the few that still adhere to this level of promotion, such as Nas, 50 Cent, Ludacris or Jadakiss, seem relegated to the B-list.
Will new artists continue to flood the market with pre-release material? Probably not. Between Wale, Kid Cudi, Drake, and the like, none of them seem too set of allowing fans to have a full discography on them before their first official set hits stores. Cudi has only released one tape, and Drake has only released one that circulated all that far. I believe this bodes well for them as the fans that they do have will truly be anticipating their debuts. I just don't think any of them have as many as the TIs think they do. If the suburban white kid with a top 10 pop smash can't get people excited, what chance do any of these guys, outside of possibly Drake, have?
Who could possibly the next artist to try to get people to pay for a mixtape? My money is on Gucci Mane, and it won't be Gucci himself. With his buzz being as high as it could ever be, the time is now for them to capitalize, only Gucci himself doesn't seem too interested, having not even named the album yet, let alone done any discernible work on it. When he has his next inevitable skid bid, I see his label putting expensive beats on his mixtape joints, selling it as an album, and laughing all the way to the bank.
Between all of this and the recent report that Mariah Carey's next album will include a 34-page mini magazine filled with ads and product placement, it seems that record companies and artists have both begun to realize that the album sales well has run pretty dry. I have a feeling that by year's end, things will look drastically different. But, as always, true talent will begin to rise, as there will be less and less money to be had for the creatively deficient.
How long before record companies finally stop having their artists flooding the marketplace with free material? Yes, the mixtape fusillade strategy worked for Lil' Wayne & 50 Cent, but that's because they built a massive fanbase and had even their mixtape songs circulate onto the radio. When, in Nipsey's case, the third mixtape has songs that he is intending on including on his debut album, it is understandable why an artist can feel the need to be financially compensated. Since the mixtape/illegal downloading era started, one of the most common complaints about major-label releases is the fact that the 3-4 hottest street singles/biggest top 40 songs have already been out for months beforehand. Or, that their mixtapes are simply a better listen than their album (Asher Roth, any 50 post-GRODT, Nas). Could it be that Nipsey, realizing this, simply tried to hedge his bets by making a few dollars before he was cursed with one of those inevitable fates? Or was it his management team? Another intriguing subplot in all of this.
Will this change promotional strategies leading up to album releases? Undoubtedly so. The TIs have to be taking notice to the fact that almost every big recent chart-topper, outside of The Carter III, did not have a big-name tape trotted out beforehand. Eminem, T.I., Kanye, Jay-Z, et al. have eschewed that method, and the few that still adhere to this level of promotion, such as Nas, 50 Cent, Ludacris or Jadakiss, seem relegated to the B-list.
Will new artists continue to flood the market with pre-release material? Probably not. Between Wale, Kid Cudi, Drake, and the like, none of them seem too set of allowing fans to have a full discography on them before their first official set hits stores. Cudi has only released one tape, and Drake has only released one that circulated all that far. I believe this bodes well for them as the fans that they do have will truly be anticipating their debuts. I just don't think any of them have as many as the TIs think they do. If the suburban white kid with a top 10 pop smash can't get people excited, what chance do any of these guys, outside of possibly Drake, have?
Who could possibly the next artist to try to get people to pay for a mixtape? My money is on Gucci Mane, and it won't be Gucci himself. With his buzz being as high as it could ever be, the time is now for them to capitalize, only Gucci himself doesn't seem too interested, having not even named the album yet, let alone done any discernible work on it. When he has his next inevitable skid bid, I see his label putting expensive beats on his mixtape joints, selling it as an album, and laughing all the way to the bank.
Between all of this and the recent report that Mariah Carey's next album will include a 34-page mini magazine filled with ads and product placement, it seems that record companies and artists have both begun to realize that the album sales well has run pretty dry. I have a feeling that by year's end, things will look drastically different. But, as always, true talent will begin to rise, as there will be less and less money to be had for the creatively deficient.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
No Pancakes, Just A Cup Of Syrup
With the rap scene at the moment being particularly stagnant and not having a whole lot of new material to listen to, lately its been a fun mission seeking out new artists and records and re-finding old albums and mixtapes I've enjoyed in the past. These endeavors have often led me into Gucci/OJ territory. I've attempted to avoid those two for most of their existence, save for the occasional Gucci single. When they began guesting on several A-listers' singles, either by themselves or as a duo, I slowly began to attempt to decipher them. While I have drawn a line in the sand towards OJ's ignorant drivel (thank god Cam got ahold of "Make Da Trap Say Aye" and showed his no-flowing ass how to ride the track), Gucci keeps showing glimmers of hope that he can become the rapper many already (foolishly) believe he can be. He has somehow graduated into a guest-spot assassin, usurping Lil' Wayne as the most ubiquitous Southern artist on mainstream/club records.
And as much as I don't want to admit it, he wrecked his 16s on various high-profile collabs, something Wayne never seemed to be able to do. When Wayne went on his bizarre streak of completely flubbing his slots on Graduation, American Gangster, Paper Trail, The Carnival II, every Rick Ross album to date, et al., it kept him from truly achieving top-flight status in people's minds. Meanwhile, Gucci has merked guest 16s for everyone to Black Eyed Peas to Mariah Carey to Wayne himself. However, with all the being said, he is still vastly overrated and a direct product of people being desperate for new superstars. Which in understandable, considering the rap industry hasn't minted any new megastars since Kanye West & 50 Cent. Lil' Wayne & T.I. don't count, they've been milling around down there since the '90s and were in a proper position to capitalize on the Southern boom that brought platinum plaques to everyone from Mike Jones to Chamillionaire.
Now, the race seems to be on between Gucci Mane & Drake as to who can capitalize on their otherwordly buzz the quickest. How Gucci doesn't have an official record in stores by now is mind boggling. Why bother with the whole rigamarole of putting out a ladies' single and a street single? Gucci is at his sporadically entertaining best when he is given either supreme trunk rattlers, a la Fatboi & Drumma Boy, or spacey keyboard blips provided by Zaytoven. Lock him in the studio with these guys, a few other select producers who stick to that script and none of the B-listers he normally lets run his songs into the ground. I can't guarantee a classic, but from listening to Back To The Traphouse, its evident he has real songwriting ability and can actually provide his own hooks. Allow him possibly a few guest apperances from proven 16-bar killers like Fabolous, Ludacris, or Wayne and leave Mya, Shawnna, Nicki Minaj, Waka Flocka, OJ, and all the other marginally talented sexpots and weed-carriers and have him make basically a Wilt Chamberlain tape on steroids.
This aforementioned scneario obviously will never take place, as the record label keeps hoping the Big Boi/Juelz collab will take off and probably has a Keri Hilson/Jazmine Sullivanesque collab on tap that will also flop around like a dying fish, and Gucci will be pushed back. Hopefully, I'm wrong because right now Gucci reminds me of a baseball player, someone like Dave Kingman. A lot of home runs, but a hell of a lot of strikeouts, too. Gucci needs to stop swinging for the fences every time, realize his strengths like his nemesis Jeezy, and stick to them.
As for the other kid, Drake, he's probably screwed at this point. He should have been quickly signed and had an album pushed out while "Best I Ever Had" was bubbling. Now, he will be competing against that song and most likely losing in the public eye. Look at Maino, his album didn't come out until "Hi Hater" had already been out for almost a year. Despite a well-crafted concept album and a couple of fairly decent crossover singles, his album was released to little to no fanfare. The longer they wait, the more the initial buzz dies down. We will just have to wait and see what happens when Thank Me Later drops.
And as much as I don't want to admit it, he wrecked his 16s on various high-profile collabs, something Wayne never seemed to be able to do. When Wayne went on his bizarre streak of completely flubbing his slots on Graduation, American Gangster, Paper Trail, The Carnival II, every Rick Ross album to date, et al., it kept him from truly achieving top-flight status in people's minds. Meanwhile, Gucci has merked guest 16s for everyone to Black Eyed Peas to Mariah Carey to Wayne himself. However, with all the being said, he is still vastly overrated and a direct product of people being desperate for new superstars. Which in understandable, considering the rap industry hasn't minted any new megastars since Kanye West & 50 Cent. Lil' Wayne & T.I. don't count, they've been milling around down there since the '90s and were in a proper position to capitalize on the Southern boom that brought platinum plaques to everyone from Mike Jones to Chamillionaire.
Now, the race seems to be on between Gucci Mane & Drake as to who can capitalize on their otherwordly buzz the quickest. How Gucci doesn't have an official record in stores by now is mind boggling. Why bother with the whole rigamarole of putting out a ladies' single and a street single? Gucci is at his sporadically entertaining best when he is given either supreme trunk rattlers, a la Fatboi & Drumma Boy, or spacey keyboard blips provided by Zaytoven. Lock him in the studio with these guys, a few other select producers who stick to that script and none of the B-listers he normally lets run his songs into the ground. I can't guarantee a classic, but from listening to Back To The Traphouse, its evident he has real songwriting ability and can actually provide his own hooks. Allow him possibly a few guest apperances from proven 16-bar killers like Fabolous, Ludacris, or Wayne and leave Mya, Shawnna, Nicki Minaj, Waka Flocka, OJ, and all the other marginally talented sexpots and weed-carriers and have him make basically a Wilt Chamberlain tape on steroids.
This aforementioned scneario obviously will never take place, as the record label keeps hoping the Big Boi/Juelz collab will take off and probably has a Keri Hilson/Jazmine Sullivanesque collab on tap that will also flop around like a dying fish, and Gucci will be pushed back. Hopefully, I'm wrong because right now Gucci reminds me of a baseball player, someone like Dave Kingman. A lot of home runs, but a hell of a lot of strikeouts, too. Gucci needs to stop swinging for the fences every time, realize his strengths like his nemesis Jeezy, and stick to them.
As for the other kid, Drake, he's probably screwed at this point. He should have been quickly signed and had an album pushed out while "Best I Ever Had" was bubbling. Now, he will be competing against that song and most likely losing in the public eye. Look at Maino, his album didn't come out until "Hi Hater" had already been out for almost a year. Despite a well-crafted concept album and a couple of fairly decent crossover singles, his album was released to little to no fanfare. The longer they wait, the more the initial buzz dies down. We will just have to wait and see what happens when Thank Me Later drops.
Monday, July 20, 2009
The Evidence Of Absence
In lieu of crowning the "official" summer jam of 2009, as most sites or blogs are known to do by mid-July, a whole bunch of random thoughts instead. And yes, it is because there is no real contender for jam of the summer, if only because Birthday Sex, Best I Ever Had, and Every Girl have all been out since Timbs & North Face weather.....and we're off:
How does an absolute no-talent like Ace Hood get a second album out already if we're all agreeing that his association with Khaled has nothing to do with it? I've sat down and given each of his albums an honest listen and the same thing happened each time, I was left with a collection of solid beats, occasionally great guest appearances (Jazmine Sullivan on "Champion", T-Pain on "Cash Flow"), and no real idea of who Ace Hood actually is. He can flow his ass off, for sure, but on closer inspection his lyrics have no real meaning. He's basically a homeless Southern man's version of Game, at this point, and we'll get to him in a minute.
With Forever King/War Angel mirroring the buzz for Return Of The Body Snatchers/Sabrina's Baby Boy, people seem to be very quick to proclaim the supposed greatness of Before I Self Destruct. Curtis only had a handful of moments where 50 even approached his past heights, and I fail to see how it will be different this go-round. I'd much rather hear Relapse 2 at this stage. I predict 50 rolling out yet another single for the ladies that fizzles around like a damp firecracker, followed by a ridiculous publicity stunt in the weeks leading up to BISD's release.
Memo to The Game: Jay-Z said he ain't talking about you, what about that could your mentally unstable ass possibly interpret as a diss? And then to swagger jack Max B for your C-grade diss? The Game has truly reached the point where nothing he does can shock me anymore.
Loso's Way was shockingly competent. Fabolous actually remembered to make songs men could enjoy. Pachanga & Lullaby are easily two of the better album tracks Mr. Jackson has ever managed to make. The irony is that this album will barely fare better in the marketplace than Maino's did. A shame, really, because Maino's album was a pleasant surprise and the same goes for Fab.
It is a crying shame about Max B. Granted, most of his 16s were indecipherable gibberish and his hooks were sung about as off-key as possible, but he brought a certain joie de vivre that New York rap has been missing since their evident refusal to listen to anyone who dropped their first album after Biggie died.
And on that note, I'm out 3 solid albums for your listening pleasure: Mos Def-The Ecstatic, Currensy-This Ain't No Mixtape, Twista-Category F5
How does an absolute no-talent like Ace Hood get a second album out already if we're all agreeing that his association with Khaled has nothing to do with it? I've sat down and given each of his albums an honest listen and the same thing happened each time, I was left with a collection of solid beats, occasionally great guest appearances (Jazmine Sullivan on "Champion", T-Pain on "Cash Flow"), and no real idea of who Ace Hood actually is. He can flow his ass off, for sure, but on closer inspection his lyrics have no real meaning. He's basically a homeless Southern man's version of Game, at this point, and we'll get to him in a minute.
With Forever King/War Angel mirroring the buzz for Return Of The Body Snatchers/Sabrina's Baby Boy, people seem to be very quick to proclaim the supposed greatness of Before I Self Destruct. Curtis only had a handful of moments where 50 even approached his past heights, and I fail to see how it will be different this go-round. I'd much rather hear Relapse 2 at this stage. I predict 50 rolling out yet another single for the ladies that fizzles around like a damp firecracker, followed by a ridiculous publicity stunt in the weeks leading up to BISD's release.
Memo to The Game: Jay-Z said he ain't talking about you, what about that could your mentally unstable ass possibly interpret as a diss? And then to swagger jack Max B for your C-grade diss? The Game has truly reached the point where nothing he does can shock me anymore.
Loso's Way was shockingly competent. Fabolous actually remembered to make songs men could enjoy. Pachanga & Lullaby are easily two of the better album tracks Mr. Jackson has ever managed to make. The irony is that this album will barely fare better in the marketplace than Maino's did. A shame, really, because Maino's album was a pleasant surprise and the same goes for Fab.
It is a crying shame about Max B. Granted, most of his 16s were indecipherable gibberish and his hooks were sung about as off-key as possible, but he brought a certain joie de vivre that New York rap has been missing since their evident refusal to listen to anyone who dropped their first album after Biggie died.
And on that note, I'm out 3 solid albums for your listening pleasure: Mos Def-The Ecstatic, Currensy-This Ain't No Mixtape, Twista-Category F5
Monday, July 13, 2009
It's Called Child Support, Not Baby Mama Support
It's time for one of those random thoughts about this and that posts, starting with the revelation that Nas only sees fit to give Kelis $5,000 a month for child support during their divorce proceedings. 60K a year may not be enough in the land where bossy milkshakes get caught out there bringing all the boys to the yard, but in real life, this is more than adequate. I'm not usually one to comment on gossip on this blog, after a long while of hearing these outlandish child support cases levied towards ball players and athletes, enough is enough. This comes on the heels of the truly ridiculous T.I. case, where that wonderful woman claimed she needed over 10K a month, being that it truly wasn't fair that T.I. had a nicer house than she did. Ladies, its called gainful employment, try it. Spreading your legs in hopes that the next chart-topping rapper or NBA lottery pick just so happens to forget to wrap it up and you can use the resulting bundle of joy as a defacto lottery ticket won't cut it, and judges need to stop rewarding these women with such generous settlements. The last time I checked, Pampers and Similac were not all that expensive. In a country where families live on 30K, awarding unemployed sperm recepticles with 3 or 4 times that for managing to get a more talented person to knock them up seems remiss, but maybe that's just me.
And now I'm back off my soapbox........
And now I'm back off my soapbox........
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
As The Dust Settles
A few weeks have gone by since the onslaught of new albums from Eminem, Cam'ron, Meth/Red, Busta, Quik/Kurupt, DJ Drama, etc. We've seen album-quality mixtapes from The Cool Kids, Young Jeezy, and 50 Cent (War Angel is the first time I've heard 50 spit like he gave a damn in at least a year). All of which has left the rap game in a very interesting position. Eminem has reaffirmed his position, dropping the mostly excellent Relapse. Cam'ron dropped an album much better than Jim Jones', and nobody cared. Which is a shame, Crime Pays reminds me of most Cam'ron albums, and they usually improve upon further listening. When I first skimmed through it, nothing much grabbed me. Now, I can almost make it through the entire disc with only a handful of skips. Plus, you have to appreciate anyone who can reference Coming To America, Guy Fisher, and Boyz N The Hood and still have it come off sounding fresh.
None of the new albums were particular standouts, although I will say that Method sounded like he cared on most of Blackout 2, and same goes for Quik on their collabo. Kurupt and Redman must have found the same strain of weed that Method did after Tical dropped, because they both seemed like they were phoning it in big-time on major portions of the twin Bla(qk)outs. Quik/Kurupt could have been much better, had Kurupt even shown up and Quik had spent a little less time perusing his world music collection.
Busta's album was an atrocity, especially coming off the underrated Big Bang. Busta needs to stop chasing trends and realize that he's a leader in the game. 20 years deep and doing multiple Ron Browz collabs is not a good look. Neither is doing joints with Estelle that seem to be trying to be Flo Rida. Blessed was obviously the album that needed to come out, as just about all of the leaked music sounded proper and Busta has a discography of solid top-to-bottom albums.
All of this is why the coming months are crucial. After the TIs dropped a succession of albums that must have seemed like surefire winners and seeing numbers no different from Asher Roth's, it seems they are finally ready to usher in a new generation, with releases from Wale, Kid Cudi, The Cool Kids and Maino on the horizon. Gucci Mane and Drake seem to have grabbed everyone's attention, with Gucci preparing to drop this summer and Drake being engaged in a bidding war that has supposedly reached $2 million.
Further clearing the way for fresh faces is Lil' Wayne's failure to prove to the TIs that its a good idea for him to drop a rock album. Spoiler alert: it isn't. Why Lil' Wayne, someone who has to have unreleased tracks for eons doesn't go the Plies route and just relentlessly release rap albums every 6-8 months is a head scrather. He could mine this unlikely time period that has allowed him to take the Best Rapper crown with the mainstream/pop crowd and get as much as he can while he can. Then, when mainstream rap inevitably picks its next "Best Rapper", you go ahead and drop your rock album, similar to how pop music stars drop country albums when their time in the spotlight is over. There has to be an audience for a hip-hop Darius Rucker, especially in the south, where anything seems to go.
And before people below the Mason/Dixon take offense, I want you to tell me why OJ Da Juiceman is getting such love down there. Several honest attempts to listen to him have left me befuddled as to how he's getting magazine covers and collab calls from R. Kelly & Jadakiss. Its no wonder why Jadakiss is now pushing a Who's Real Remix with all of the old Ruff Ryders, even DMX. OJ only seems to have one flow, as there is no difference in how he raps from one track to another. He raps in a mushmouthed nonsyllabic flow which makes it hard for anyone to understand anything coming out of his mouth.
While I do understand that some rappers have limited subject matter, he literally sticks to the same exact subjects every song (gettin' money, trap this, bricks that). It almost feels like a sick joke that the TIs are playing to see how low the mainstream consumer is willing to go. Gucci isn't very much far higher up on that same ladder, but he at least is pretending (let's not kid ourselves, the man is a son of teachers and college educated) to be as buffoonish as he is. OJ seems to be a part of a joke that he isn't even in on.
While I don't particularly hate Gucci Mane, part of me doesn't want him to succeed in any kind of big way. Gucci himself is okay in limited doses and has a knack for catchy refrains and good guest 16s that should serve him well. But, didn't we play this game already two years ago with Back To The Traphouse? He had done some time, been through the whole Jeezy kerfluffle and was supposedly a street legend in Atlanta. He got The Game, Ludacris, Pimp C, Rich Boy, Shawnna, and Lil' Kim all on the next album and still nobody cared. I don't see what makes anyone think it would be any different this time. And my personal reason for not wanting me to see him blow is because that means we would be subjected to even more OJ. Hopefully, Yo Gotti can come in and steal some of this GoochJuuman hype and propel himself to national stardom.
This brings us to Drake, Wale, Kid Cudi, etc. With Jay-Z, Kanye West, 50 Cent, and Eminem looming in the fall (If you think Dr. Dre drops before he sees what Relapse 2 and Before I Self Destruct do critically and commercially, you're an idiot), it seems like now would be a good time as any to launch a successful new career. For all these labels know, Best I Ever Had and Day N Nite could be the biggest hits these guys ever have. These labels need to strike while the iron is hot and get albums out for these guys. After all, these last few years have taught us that the rap audience has an extremely short attention span.
None of the new albums were particular standouts, although I will say that Method sounded like he cared on most of Blackout 2, and same goes for Quik on their collabo. Kurupt and Redman must have found the same strain of weed that Method did after Tical dropped, because they both seemed like they were phoning it in big-time on major portions of the twin Bla(qk)outs. Quik/Kurupt could have been much better, had Kurupt even shown up and Quik had spent a little less time perusing his world music collection.
Busta's album was an atrocity, especially coming off the underrated Big Bang. Busta needs to stop chasing trends and realize that he's a leader in the game. 20 years deep and doing multiple Ron Browz collabs is not a good look. Neither is doing joints with Estelle that seem to be trying to be Flo Rida. Blessed was obviously the album that needed to come out, as just about all of the leaked music sounded proper and Busta has a discography of solid top-to-bottom albums.
All of this is why the coming months are crucial. After the TIs dropped a succession of albums that must have seemed like surefire winners and seeing numbers no different from Asher Roth's, it seems they are finally ready to usher in a new generation, with releases from Wale, Kid Cudi, The Cool Kids and Maino on the horizon. Gucci Mane and Drake seem to have grabbed everyone's attention, with Gucci preparing to drop this summer and Drake being engaged in a bidding war that has supposedly reached $2 million.
Further clearing the way for fresh faces is Lil' Wayne's failure to prove to the TIs that its a good idea for him to drop a rock album. Spoiler alert: it isn't. Why Lil' Wayne, someone who has to have unreleased tracks for eons doesn't go the Plies route and just relentlessly release rap albums every 6-8 months is a head scrather. He could mine this unlikely time period that has allowed him to take the Best Rapper crown with the mainstream/pop crowd and get as much as he can while he can. Then, when mainstream rap inevitably picks its next "Best Rapper", you go ahead and drop your rock album, similar to how pop music stars drop country albums when their time in the spotlight is over. There has to be an audience for a hip-hop Darius Rucker, especially in the south, where anything seems to go.
And before people below the Mason/Dixon take offense, I want you to tell me why OJ Da Juiceman is getting such love down there. Several honest attempts to listen to him have left me befuddled as to how he's getting magazine covers and collab calls from R. Kelly & Jadakiss. Its no wonder why Jadakiss is now pushing a Who's Real Remix with all of the old Ruff Ryders, even DMX. OJ only seems to have one flow, as there is no difference in how he raps from one track to another. He raps in a mushmouthed nonsyllabic flow which makes it hard for anyone to understand anything coming out of his mouth.
While I do understand that some rappers have limited subject matter, he literally sticks to the same exact subjects every song (gettin' money, trap this, bricks that). It almost feels like a sick joke that the TIs are playing to see how low the mainstream consumer is willing to go. Gucci isn't very much far higher up on that same ladder, but he at least is pretending (let's not kid ourselves, the man is a son of teachers and college educated) to be as buffoonish as he is. OJ seems to be a part of a joke that he isn't even in on.
While I don't particularly hate Gucci Mane, part of me doesn't want him to succeed in any kind of big way. Gucci himself is okay in limited doses and has a knack for catchy refrains and good guest 16s that should serve him well. But, didn't we play this game already two years ago with Back To The Traphouse? He had done some time, been through the whole Jeezy kerfluffle and was supposedly a street legend in Atlanta. He got The Game, Ludacris, Pimp C, Rich Boy, Shawnna, and Lil' Kim all on the next album and still nobody cared. I don't see what makes anyone think it would be any different this time. And my personal reason for not wanting me to see him blow is because that means we would be subjected to even more OJ. Hopefully, Yo Gotti can come in and steal some of this GoochJuuman hype and propel himself to national stardom.
This brings us to Drake, Wale, Kid Cudi, etc. With Jay-Z, Kanye West, 50 Cent, and Eminem looming in the fall (If you think Dr. Dre drops before he sees what Relapse 2 and Before I Self Destruct do critically and commercially, you're an idiot), it seems like now would be a good time as any to launch a successful new career. For all these labels know, Best I Ever Had and Day N Nite could be the biggest hits these guys ever have. These labels need to strike while the iron is hot and get albums out for these guys. After all, these last few years have taught us that the rap audience has an extremely short attention span.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Dawn Of A New Era?
According to hitsdailydouble, we finally have the answers to two of hip-hop biggest current questions: Would the record-buying public continue to support Rick Ross, even after exposure after exposure and his own attempts at self-sabotage and would people actually support Asher Roth, the first of the XXL Freshman 10/Internet All-Stars to have a physical copy of his album in stores? The answer to the first question is kinda, and to the second, yeah.
While Ross still was able to drop and do his usual numbers, that's not a great sign, considering that Bawse pulled every stunt known to man to get people to cop this album. Between the idiotic 50 Cent beef, his weekly self-etherings on Worldstar, his countless unintentionally comedic quotables, actually admitting to his CO past, the big budget beats & guests, for him to come out and not have actually succeeded in garnering any new fans isn't a good sign for him or gangsta rap as a whole. This is not any fault of Ross', not musically, at least. Deeper Than Rap is 2009's answer to The Documentary, an album with the best beats money can buy and as many guests as you can cram on a record. While Ross clearly has been learning to ride a track much better and is no longer simply talking over the beat, he's not saying much that makes any sense. With all the name dropping, R&B hooks, references that didn't quite hit the mark, and 50 Cent bashing, it even felt just like a Game album. And he somehow managed to omit the one song that was supposed to be on that album that I was feeling the most, Cigar Music. And he let Avery Storm ruin Rich Off Cocaine by having him croon that ridiculous refrain for which the song is named. But, having the finest beats can only carry you so far. The album did not need Ne-Yo, T-Pain, The Dream, Robin Thicke, John Legend, and any of the other R&B singers I neglected to mention. The album did not need Foxy Brown (I remember when she actually could rhyme), Trina, Gunplay, Lil' Wayne in full-on "I could care less" mode or any other of the terrible guest rappers I neglected to mention.
By comparison, Roth's more mellow, honest affair with less hoopla and big name guests must have seemed appealing to a lot of consumers. He doesn't pile on huge names, with only Keri Hilson, Cee-Lo, Busta Rhymes, and Jazze Pha helping out. It's primarily produced by his own in-house producer, whose name escapes me. Instead of farcical fairy tales, he's mostly spitting about real life experiences. However, the right intentions does not a classic album make.
While I did enjoy a handful of tracks off Roth's debut LP, with Lark On My Go-Kart, As I Em, Be By Myself, Lion's Roar, and Fallin' being quality work. I found myself enjoying his Greenhouse Effect mixtape far more, though. This is not because the album is trash or not enjoyable in its own right, but because without the constraints of major-label record making, it allowed the listener to get a much better feel for the type of rapper Asher is. The merits of Ross/Roth aside, this signals a new direction in rap. Perhaps major labels will stop bankrolling compilation albums of rappers like Ross, Game, etc. with all the $100,000 beats and A-listers on every other track, and start letting rappers with a new vision get their shot. Considering how monkey see, monkey do the labels are, it stands to reason that at least Kid Cudi, Drake, or maybe even Wale might drop something soon. I'd evcn settle for B.O.B. or Blu at this point.
While Ross still was able to drop and do his usual numbers, that's not a great sign, considering that Bawse pulled every stunt known to man to get people to cop this album. Between the idiotic 50 Cent beef, his weekly self-etherings on Worldstar, his countless unintentionally comedic quotables, actually admitting to his CO past, the big budget beats & guests, for him to come out and not have actually succeeded in garnering any new fans isn't a good sign for him or gangsta rap as a whole. This is not any fault of Ross', not musically, at least. Deeper Than Rap is 2009's answer to The Documentary, an album with the best beats money can buy and as many guests as you can cram on a record. While Ross clearly has been learning to ride a track much better and is no longer simply talking over the beat, he's not saying much that makes any sense. With all the name dropping, R&B hooks, references that didn't quite hit the mark, and 50 Cent bashing, it even felt just like a Game album. And he somehow managed to omit the one song that was supposed to be on that album that I was feeling the most, Cigar Music. And he let Avery Storm ruin Rich Off Cocaine by having him croon that ridiculous refrain for which the song is named. But, having the finest beats can only carry you so far. The album did not need Ne-Yo, T-Pain, The Dream, Robin Thicke, John Legend, and any of the other R&B singers I neglected to mention. The album did not need Foxy Brown (I remember when she actually could rhyme), Trina, Gunplay, Lil' Wayne in full-on "I could care less" mode or any other of the terrible guest rappers I neglected to mention.
By comparison, Roth's more mellow, honest affair with less hoopla and big name guests must have seemed appealing to a lot of consumers. He doesn't pile on huge names, with only Keri Hilson, Cee-Lo, Busta Rhymes, and Jazze Pha helping out. It's primarily produced by his own in-house producer, whose name escapes me. Instead of farcical fairy tales, he's mostly spitting about real life experiences. However, the right intentions does not a classic album make.
While I did enjoy a handful of tracks off Roth's debut LP, with Lark On My Go-Kart, As I Em, Be By Myself, Lion's Roar, and Fallin' being quality work. I found myself enjoying his Greenhouse Effect mixtape far more, though. This is not because the album is trash or not enjoyable in its own right, but because without the constraints of major-label record making, it allowed the listener to get a much better feel for the type of rapper Asher is. The merits of Ross/Roth aside, this signals a new direction in rap. Perhaps major labels will stop bankrolling compilation albums of rappers like Ross, Game, etc. with all the $100,000 beats and A-listers on every other track, and start letting rappers with a new vision get their shot. Considering how monkey see, monkey do the labels are, it stands to reason that at least Kid Cudi, Drake, or maybe even Wale might drop something soon. I'd evcn settle for B.O.B. or Blu at this point.
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