I coulda sworn it was a month since I had posted in here again. Well, anyways, with being held inside of a box aka my workplace 30-40 hours a week, most of the day being spent out of the house, heading from one place to another, mostly work, only getting a couple of hours of sleep a day, it begins to take a serious toll on your body and your ways of thinking. Which led me to believe that I need a soundtrack to this abysmal way of living.
The one thing that I get tired of the most being an avid listener of hip-hop and rap, is when others wine, complain, bitch, cry, and moan about the way that something it is, because of the business suits that control 99% of what we hear anyways. It sometimes, now more than ever, makes me sickened that I am apart of this scene, because a lot of the people are stuck in this damp, dark cardboard box, and pretty much have no intention of stepping out, until somebody (ANYBODY) decides to bring them sunshine.
I been told...TO MY FACE...that they don't like "old school" hip-hop, because the lyrics or the flows were too "basic"...I seriously thought to myself "lemme get the fuck out this car and jump off of the highway"..."it would be a beautiful death'(c) Kanye West, but I kept my composure and explained to dude, it is all about respecting the foundation. If it's you, I'm talking about....sorry.
So as of late, I have decided to go back to those times, where everything was so simple. My iTunes/iPod is filled with mostly 80s-90s hip hop, containing many emcees/groups that I wrote off in the beginning of this life journey of mines, because it was "too underground" or "too commercial". As you can see youth played a role in this, and it is ironic that I am on the receiving end of those comments today.
The usual suspects from the east are there (Wu-Tang, Nas, Jay-Z, Gang Starr, Boot Camp Clik, Biggie, Big Pun) the west (Dre, 2Pac, Snoop, Cube) the south (Outkast, Scarface, UGK, Goodie Mob) the midwest (Bone Thugs, Twista, Common) the conscious (Fugees, Tribe, Brand Nubian, Roots, De La) the underground faves (anything from Rawkus, DOOM)....
Of course I added a few post-millennium faves (Kanye, Wayne, T.I.). The bottom line is this, that comparing now to then, like around 2003-04, my entire musical palette has changed entirely. Instead of styles, I got styles inside of styles. And I honestly like it that way. Plus, the numerous influences that make up my music listening nowadays, have changed the way that I write, the things that I write about, and how it is reflected through my vocal musings.
I believe that as a hip-hop artist and as a hip-hop head...it's a responsibility if you will, to not settle. It's a responsiblity to dig deeper into your craft. Something that I have done in the last six years of my life. I could not SETTLE for everything that I had. I wanted to know more and I felt I had to. Although, the music that I came up on, that I grew up with, will forever hold more weight, but...now that I know more and have listened to more, I have become more open-minded towards everything, and maybe in life as well.
Now I know, some people have their own lanes, some people have their own style, and the music they make and/or listen to will be a reflection of that. That is understandable, I can respect that. But don't come around on the internet, or go up to people's faces saying "we need to change the face of hip-hop music" or preach about "real hip-hop music" when there is no clear definition of what REAL hip-hop music, let alone there being nothing wrong with it from the beginning. That was a price I paid in the beginning and I looked stupid because of it.
So, if you normally see me, being a little bit of a snob, don't take it personal. It is mostly because a lot of what I've seen from people, fans and artists alike have been a tad bit hypocritical, but hey, we all ain't perfect. So the moral of this rant, for everyone and myself included...is to simply...PRACTICE WHAT THE FUCK YOU PREACH!!!!
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