SOHH Over It!

This is why niggaz need to stay outta battle rap contests.

http://realtalkny.blogspot.com/2006/12/video-this-is-what-you-call-real-rap.html

Let's Push It To The Limit!

Vanity 6

Nasty Girl

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Tonight I'm livin in a fantasy… 

Please, Pleaaaaaase!! Timbaland, I KNOW you're feelin this nigga.  But stop bitin.

J.C. Christian has a humorous take on something I wrote about yesterday.

Jesus' General is a great liberal satire site that I LUV.

Check him out, and have some giggles at the expensive of the religious right.

Read it and tell me what y'all (especially Dig) think bout this one.

Disclaimer: This is a lot of words. I feel passionately about this subject because I love mid-90's New York hip-hop, and I'm disappointed in what your city has become… but I want you to know, there's no beef or disrespect behind this post. I'm not throwing in any sneak disses. This is all 100% truth, or at least reality how I see it. I just wanna make that clear first.

Aight…instead of whining, here are some suggestions for New York to get their mind right:

1) Rep a nigga
You guys spend ENTIRELY too much time on negativity. As a hater, I know hate when I see it. Trust me. And if it's not hate, it's a lack of positivity. One example right off the top of my head…New York niggaz hate on decent 'known' and 'unknown' rappers. If you put a gun to my head and asked me what unknown NY rappers they like, I'd have blood all over my fitted. And yet, somehow, I know EXACTLY which Southern rappers they don't like. A nigga will come on the internet every other day and talk slick about the South, but has way too much pride to co-sign a nigga from his own hood. Everybody in New York thinks they're part of the "music industry," whether they're a producer, rapper, A&R, weed carrier, or just some nobody that listens to beat CDs and gives feedback. If "my mans and dem" raps, I'm on his team. And if I'm on his team, I can't co-sign another nigga cause I ain't eatin' with him. Some selfish, catty, crab in a barrel shit. So what if he's a fake nigga, and you don't like his manager's cousin's boy. If he makes good songs, rep the nigga.

There's new talent from NY, and I don't hear narry a song from these niggas til DJ Hyphen puts out a mixtape. And he's in Seattle. WTF kinda shit is that? New York City has virtually ALL the labels, magazines, and TV stations in it, and they don't give their best talent any shine. Then you hop on the internet to talk slick about the South every other day, like that'll make a difference. Hit them subways with your bullhorn. Get behind a NY artist. Rep a nigga!

If you notice, Southern niggas big up their favorite artists, make mixes, upload songs, and put people onto their music. You see threads here every week putting someone onto some generic Southern rapper, and I don't recall seeing many about New York artists. I'm not even feelin all these Southern niggas like that, but it's what fans show the most enthusiasm about, so I always find myself downloading some Southern shit I barely like, just to see what all the fuss is about. A New York nigga has to be Saigon to get a thread. If you're not fucking with Nas and Jay, fuck you.. cause you ain't my mans and dem. The result: not a single unsigned rapper from your entire city has any semblance of a buzz outside the tri-state area, in the height of the information/technology age. For shame. Myspace, Yousendit, even godawful rapidshare… so many ways to rep a nigga.

Yo son… take a deep breath, think about the last New York song you liked, and rep a nigga.

2) Respect your elders (not just Jay)
You talk a good game, but have no real sense of legacy where it matters. Boot Camp Clik's been droppin albums since what, 1993? And despite being from the "birthplace of hip-hop," with all these years in the game, they're nobodies to the youth. I'm a big fan of these niggas, and if it wasn't for BDOUBLEO, I wouldn't even know about any of their releases.

Southern artists respect, shout out, and collaborate with Southern legends, ROUTINELY. And as a result, Southern fans know who they are, respect them, and support them. When was the last time a mainstream New York nigga did an actual album song with these pioneers they love so much? Kane is Jay's biggest fan and they haven't done a song since he was rappin like the Fu-Shnickens. If Rakim wasn't on Aftermath in 02, I don't even think he'd be on Watcher 2. Nas makes songs about Rakim, about carrying on tradition, about old school emcees. T.I. does songs with UGK and MJG, invites Scarface on his mixtapes. I've actually had people ask me to hear Goodie Mob's album, cause T.I. mentioned them on "Top Back"…not in a "Goodie Mob is old school, we need to respect them" kind of way that kids hate, but in a "I'm currently playing this Soul Food CD in my very expensive car so it's cool" way. You wouldn't even know Soul Food was an old album in the context it was mentioned, and you wouldn't know UGK is like 100 from how they collaborate. Respect your elders, but don't treat them like they're some dying relative you hate to visit in the retirement home.

Jay has people throwing away $400 dollar throwbacks and boycotting drinks, but when he's in a position to sign artists and change the direction of hip-hop, he's too busy trying to keep himself relevant to Southern d-boys. What has he done to preserve New York hip-hop? You help run hip-hop's most popular record label of all time, and your idea of being New York's "savior" is to rap over Super Freak and Rick Ross records?

3) Drop an album
The few artists with talent are scared to make real albums. A nigga will put out elevendy million mixtapes, building up for an album that never drops. You niggas are scared to death to drop a real album indie, cause it won't go plat, and you (not the fans, just the people in New York media, and the local record industry, which is again, apparently everyone in New York City) would consider that a failure. So instead of putting out original, quality music, niggas just rap over other people's beats for YEEEARS, trying to be "hot." Wu-Tang and Jay used to press up one or two 12"s, drive up and down the East Coast to work a song, then they dropped a debut ALBUM the following year. "Cream" was not the first single on 36 Chambers, and "Ain't No Nigga" wasn't the first single on Reasonable Doubt.. they BUILT a fanbase before getting a break-away hit. I know the game's changed drastically, but that's no reason to not drop an album. Niggas all think they're too good for that though. Like "if I drop an album and only sell 10k, I can't be HOT. I can't be THAT nigga." Every single one of them niggas wants to go from unsigned to multi-platinum, without genuinely growing a fan base with original music. The South has nothing to do with that mentality, or you being shelved.

To use T.I. as an example again, his first album bricked. Nigga came out the gate with that reggae shit, rappin with some barnyard accent, 4 feet tall talkin bout battlin niggas with God and Jay-Z. The shit didn't do well at all, but "I'm Serious" has a couple real good songs on it. To this day, a lot of Tip fans consider it his best (it's not). He dropped mixtapes, an album, another mixtape, and then another album. Trap Muzik was a lot more popular than I'm Serious, then his buzz continued to grow. And now 4 albums and a few mixtapes later, he's that nigga. It didn't happen overnight; he took that flop and rolled with it.. cause it built his name, and started his legacy. He didn't sit there dropping In da Streetz Volume 15, tryin to go triple platinum out the gate.

Any decent emcee in New York, with good production and the right image could sell 10-20k and parlay it into a deal, or just stay indie. There are more people in Brooklyn alone than most Southern cities, and since you niggas all live bunched up under each other, word of mouth would spread ever qu

icker. But that's not even the goal with you niggas. Naaaah. I'm too good to brick. I gotta be HOT and come out #1… fuck a real fan base.

4) Have an identity
Who are you people? A big reason being yourself and making original music is dead in NY, is cause your city's identity is gone. Everyone wants to make the next club smash, instantly, so they borrow from the last club smash. Unfortunately, when your very first song is some club shit about nothing, you can't distinguish yourself from anyone else. Nobody cares what you have to say after that, so if the song isn't a hit, you're done.

There's no attempt made to be an original person and connect with fans. Not everyone, but A LOT of fans like to be the "first one" down with a new artist, buying an album to get in on the ground floor, and watch their man blow up. "I told you bout that nigga.. 'member I played his album. Yeah, he's from ___ and raps about such and such, blah blah blah…" But no, not New York. Every nigga has to come out with a single about how they shut the club down, how they're hot in the streets, their jewelry, this and that, all with the same flow and punchlines. Nigga I never heard you before in my life, why on God's green earth are you making song after song about how you're number 1 and your songs kill the clubs? Nigga huh??? Tell me about YOU first. Your hood, your slang, your identity, your problems. If you from Queens, you gotta find a way to bring somethin new while paying homage to Nas, Run DMC, Mobb Deep, etc. If you from Brooklyn, you need to "carry the tradition" from Big and Jay, but add your own twist. I don't need you to rap exactly like them though… as they didn't rap exactly like the niggas before them.

What happened to New York production? I don't even need to expound on this, but there's an entire new generation of rap fans that have no idea what grimy is. I know y'all scared to sound too raw, but you have to be brave. Sampling can get expensive, so that's a genuine, fiscal problem… especially with crate diggers. But you can't tell me grimy can't be popular, when so many R&B songs of the past few years SAMPLE grimy mid-90's East Coast records. While you're going out of your way to be pussy soft, Mariah's sampling Shook Ones, J Lo's sampling Beatnuts, etc. Take a chance.. put out on a song with a real snare and see what happens. Nobody's gonna laugh, I promise.

Don't ever underestimate albums and identity. A few years ago, you couldn't go anywhere without someone bringin up 50 Cent.. his buzz was huge. Getting shot helped, rappers dissing him all the time helped, and the mixtape saturation helped. But at the end of the day, dude had an ALBUM out, and was a unique personality. Guess Who's Back had some mixtape shit on it, but it was basically an ALBUM of original music, by an actual person, to go along with all the buzz. Say what you want about 50, but he distinguished himself from other artists. He didn't put out all those mixtapes, rappin like everyone else, with no real plan. And not for nothing, Guess Who's Back had some grimy East Coast production on it. Look where he is now. The shit worked then, and still can. Give it a try.

5) Rhyme
Lyrically, B… lyrically. Though Southern niggas hate to admit it, New York always had the nicest lyricists. "But, you're from the South! Shhhhhhhh!" I know. "But, what about Andre?!?!" Yeah, I know bruh. I know. New York needs an olive branch right now, and the South needs to extend some love. How are they gonna learn how to if we don't show 'em? There's a few examples of brilliant Southern lyricists, and retarded NY niggas, but exceptions aside, you all know the best niggas from New York are nicer than the niggas down here. Don't front just cause "they're" watching.

Slaves passed down vital information for generations, without being able to read, or knowing any "big words." So there are a lot of people down here you may not consider intelligent, simply because of an accent or limited vocabulary… but rap is about communicating your ideas, and we all do it in different ways. Rap is the most visceral form of music in history, so it's no surprise that some subtleties of lyricism go unappreciated. But you have to do it bruh. No matter how easy it is to make reality TV, or how popular it gets, if a person catches The Wire, it's a wrap. We need balance, and it's your job to provide some. You can't out-Jeezy a Jeezy. Do you nigga.

Back in the G, we used to all be able to appreciate our differences. Then, New Yorkers stopped doing what they're known for. You stopped selling units, so you started to feel ashamed that you're articulate. Some of you niggas went overboard lyrically, and forgot this is music, and the backlash caused the rest of you to go the complete opposite direction and get idiotic.

Children are always smarter than we give them credit for. I could follow Public Enemy's message clearly as a child, and I was in awe of Nas in my teens. There's no reason some music with substance and lyrical complexity will be lost on the youth, if you do it right. Get your hooks and adlibs in order, get your swagger on, but don't be afraid to spit. Start slow. Maybe you can cut down the verses to 12 bars, and add an extra long catchy hook. Have fun, show off, flex on these niggas. It's okay. Who knows, you may even get "props." With props comes respect, people talking, word of mouth, and with the right mechanisms in place, it could actually contribute to record sales. Even Canibus went gold off the hype of his lyricism. If his album was actually solid, it could have been the start of something.

In closing, I'm not from New York, I don't sell records, this post is too long, and I mastered the web, so you can feel free to shoot the messenger. But if part of this message reaches anyone that matters, or even your "mans and dem," it'll be worth it.

NO HATE AT ALL.

Iran.

According to Glenn Greenwald

Our government, has decided a naval 'buildup'(an additional carrier) off the coast of Iran might keep 'the muslims' in check.

Its amazing how our history of involvement in the middle east gets 'whitewashed' by the Mainstream Media in regards to just how DUMB it is to complain about situations we helped created, and support. Playing BOTH sides of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict all the while.

So, what exactly does the Bush Administration have in store for the New Year?

WAR! What is it good for? 

I'll let Flav speak on it

Get Up On The Dance Floor 

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Ok.  I think Wikipedia and Webster really need a chin check. 

I contend that not everything belongs in the dictionary.  Shit in the street should stay in the street.  Do you know these fools actually added "booty call" to the damn dictionary and encyclopedia circuit?  First Bootylicious and now this!  The funny part is the definition….  Wikipedia says:

A booty call is a telephone call, other communication, or visitation made with the sole intent of engaging in sex with the person being contacted. Traditionally this phenomenon, especially the term booty call, is associated with a person calling another person for a sexual encounter after having already established either a casual or more serious relationship involving sexual relations.

In most instances, a booty call is made when the prospect of a traditional romantic date is highly unlikely (e.g., late in the evening, after midnight or in the pre-dawn hours), thus making it obvious that the intent of the call is for the sole purpose of obtaining and engaging in sexual intercourse.

The phrase originated in a comedic routine by stand-up comedian Bill Bellamy in the early 1990s. Although it is a term most frequently used by African Americans, it has been adapted into mainstream American society and is used by persons of either gender, and many ethnicities, to request sexual favors by calling an acquaintance that may or may not be romantically linked to the caller. Booty calls can be used by one partner of an ended relationship to obtain sex from the ex-partner, due to lingering emotions and feelings of a need for continued physical connection, without feeling compelled to continue dating that person.^{[citation needed]} This aforementioned phenomenon is also called "ex sex."

The term itself is more likely to be used by the person answering the call or others in his/her company than the person making the call. For example, "Did John take off?", "Yeah, he had to answer a booty call." It is not considered derisive."

Are you kidding me? LOL….  leave it to the melanin deficient.  When we start giving Bill Bellamy royalties for shit like this, we have a problem, LOL.  Another source, that I for the life of me cannot find now, defined a booty call as above, but only being on a Friday or Saturday between the hours of midnight and 4am.  Oh honey, LOL.

So you all know that I been on my "White Chocolate Rampage" all year long.

I am loving Robin Thicke, Justin Timberlake, Gwen Stefani, Nelly Furtado but while watching Justin on SNL Saturday night I can't help but to think - "damn this dude is the real deal" - there ain't no Ashley Simpson lip syncing - there was no background dancers or choreographed moves on "My Love" - then when he hit the piano in a John Legend-esk way I was dumb founded. "What Goes Around" is going to be his next release and I am wondering how far up the charts will it go and will he do a Beyonce-stance by releasing half the CD to the public with videos and all.

I don't know but I think I could take "Until the End of Time" and "Lovestoned" - what say you?

76ers might be smokin that 'stuff'.

Wouldn't THAT be a bitch?

Remember A.I. on Stephen A. Smith's show?  Where he was showing such respect and love towards Larry Brown?(Uh, shedin 'grown man' tears )

Did you see A.I.'s interview with Stephen A. tonight (last night for ya'll)??

A.I. claims he NEVER ask to be traded, right NOW.

But 'somehow', that is how a discussion with a particular member of Philly's management was interpreted. Now we find out that Larry Brown has been a 'behind the scenes advisor' after moving back to town. AFTER Mr. Kiss Magic On The Lips gave Larry the boot in NY?

Well.  It has been said that Larry Brown was a snake.  A backstabber.

A.I. gets traded, and suddenly Larry Brown thinks he wants to return to the 76ers?

Developing… 

Some Marley

Rebel Music

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Buju Banton

Murderer 

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Peter Tosh

Legalize It

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Trick Daddy

Dro In Tha Wind

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The Click

Hurricane

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Drinkin and a smokin.

Do it do it do it do it.

Peep the FF & RW buttons we have now. Teh Sexy!

**UPDATE**

PFFFFF!  Do them shits (the FF & RW buttons) even work??

**UPDATE**

Then you see 'em, now you don't!  Fukit.

It's easy to say who had the 'best' album of the year. But can you pick who had the "worst" album of the year?

I'm going with Lloyd Banks. This nigga had me all hyped up for his album. I'm so glad I was able to download it before I bought it. Cause if I would've blindly bought that shit, I would have been another nigga beefin with G-Unit. Over $10.00!!!!!

Lloyd Banks' album "Rotten Apple"=