Crib Notes

HE AIN'T A KILLER, BUT DON'T PUSH HIM

Michael Render, the Atlanta hip-hop artist formerly known as Killer Mike, would now like to be known as Mike Bigga.

The reason for this is, as he explained to AllHipHop.com, “I really feel like I’m bigger than what I have been in the past and I’ve managed to get legendary status from being a raw rap guy in terms of being able to come out of the shadows of the hardships I’ve had.”

That’s not a sentence any English teacher could support, but the decision to remove the “Killer” from his name probably is.

What other rappers should change their name, you ask?

50 Cent
Suggested Change: 55 Cents
Reason: Inflation!

(more…)

Bookmark to:

Many hip hop beefs — 50 Cent vs. Rick Ross, say, or T.I. vs. Shawty Lo — are all bluster. But when Young Jeezy and Gucci Mane beef, people die. That’s why it is troubling that the two are at it again.

As reported on Miss Info’s blog, Jeezy apparently took issue with a recent Gucci song and fired off a diss track, “24 23,” which take aim at Gucci and associate OJ da Juiceman. “Tell him this ain’t what he want, not the boy Snow,” Jeezy raps of Gucci. “But between me and you, I think the boy slow.”

It’s not entirely clear what Gucci song Jeezy takes issue with. Sure, his recent Big Cat Records album Murder Was The Case contains plenty of Jeezy disses, but most of that material was recorded years ago. If there’s a shot taken at Jeezy on Gucci’s latest Writing On The Wall mixtape, I can’t pick it out. Anyone?

Finally, as Miss Info notes:

Mind you, this Friday, Gucci Mane, OJ da Juiceman and Young Jeezy are booked to perform at the 102 Jamz SuperJam in Greenboro, NC.

And then on Saturday…again…Gucci Mane, OJ da Juiceman and Young Jeezy are booked to perform at the Hot 107.9 Birthday Bash in Atlanta, GA.

hmmm…let’s hope both sides respect their radio sponsors and keep the peace.

Bookmark to:

How do you prepare to walk the red carpet at hip-hop’s biggest media event of the year?

“I just drunk a few Budweisers,” said Attitude (above), a rapper/songwriter who’s penned songs for Nelly Furtado, Timbaland and Keri Hilson. The Birmingham native and Atlanta resident was one of hundreds ranging from big-name to no-name artists who fed sound bites and swaggerlicious poses to the zoo of photographers, bloggers, journalists and video crews for three hours before the show.

Some, like newcomer Jay Rock, sounded outright clueless. “I ain’t really even know I was gonna be here, man, it’s crazy,” said the Watts, Calif., native, whose single “All My Life” features Lil Wayne, the night’s three-time winner. “Like, all I did was got dressed, threw my clothes on, and they were like, ‘Man, you finna go to the BET Awards.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s what’s up.’”

T.I., on the other hand, spoke with sober appreciation to be in the right place one year after making a detour that earned him federal gun charges and a year-long jail sentence that he begins serving next year. “It feels like a long road traveled, and it feels like a lotta hard work paying off. And now we came through it bigger, better, stronger. Period.” When asked what after-party he planned to attend, T.I. responded, “I’m working, no time for that.”

Forget the over-hyped performances (though the old-school medley featuring Salt N Pepa, MC Lyte, Yo-Yo and Lady of Rage was the night’s best) and over-the-big top fashions (how many top hats does show host fill-in T-Pain own, anyhow?); the BET Hip Hop Awards — like all celebrity-driven media events — is all about being seen and heard, pushing your agenda and promoting your next drop date.

So if you want to see who won what, tune into BET at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 23 and labor through the two hour show. But if you want to see the stuff that’s too bootleg for TV, check out our list below:

BEST BIGGIE BLOOPER: The biggest blooper of the night came when Jamal “Gravy” Woolard — who plays deceased rapper Notorious B.I.G. in the biopic due to hit theaters January ‘09 — slipped and called Notorious “hip-hop’s first biological feature” instead of first biographical feature. They shot a retake.

(more…)

Bookmark to:

Ok, so if I remember correctly, in the late ’90s the biggest stars in America were an armada of Nordic Supersoldiers. Acts like 98°, Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, ‘N Sync, Backstreet Boys and Christina Aguilera dominated the charts with their vacuous “teen” ballads.

Pop music was a future Stepford Wife proto-High School Musical prom afterparty. All the girls were sassy and all the boys had six packs. Then, 9/11 happened.

Americans suddenly thought (and quite reasonably) that we were finally the underdogs. The prosperity of the ’90s began to fade, setting a new precedent. In short, things got complicated.

Everyone still wanted to party, but pain was back. Sept. 11 gave us pain for months (years). As we got further away from that day, record companies needed to manufacture gravitas where there wasn’t any. I solemnly believe that besides the talent of artists like T.I., 50 Cent, Bruce Springsteen, Kanye West, Eminem and Arcade Fire, their greatest asset is their constant triumph over adversity.

Triumph is why superhero movie franchises have been so successful recently. A nerdy frail wimp transforms into a web-slinging smart ass who gets with Kirsten Dunst and saves all of New York City (Ground Zero, ding!). A corporate war profiteer escapes from a terrorist (Al Quaeda ding!) camp and defeats his own greed as well as the powerful traitors in his circle (the White House maybe?). We love to see people over come. Remember that song “We Shall Overcome?” That was a really big hit.

“I Put On”

Kanye West’s production catapulted Jay-Z into solidified classic status all while remaining in virtual anonymity. Next thing you know, he falls asleep at the wheel and gets in a nearly fatal car accident. Instead of wallowing in self pity he, 3H and Damon Dash turned his misfortune into the ultimate backstory for a man who was perhaps neither Gangster nor conscious enough to be understood by record execs. Starting with “Through the Wire,” Kanye built an entire career with two key foci: decadence and perpetual underdoggery. He’s made pop rap songs about vague everyday trials and tribulations (“All Falls Down”) and continuously assails his doubters to this day (“Can’t tell me Nothing”). Even though, no one really doubts him anymore, it is completely necessary for him to continue this fight against the now imaginary naysayer (remember that MTV Awards bullshit).

The most compelling development in Kanye’s trajectory is the tragic death of his mother. She was a victim of the mindless vanity and decadence embodied in many of his songs. I ponder how her death provided real life meaning to the vague conflicts in songs like “Stronger.” (more…)

Bookmark to:

NEW DISCLAIMER!!!!!
Remember in my first blog when I said I’d try to express my opinions without getting beat up by some gangster rapper I might run into someday? Well now I’m gonna try and do that without getting beat up by some Hipster rapper that I def will, and HAVE, run into. I know some of y’all are waaaay more hood than hipster and are just trying to get paid, but if any of you all have a problem with my words it’s not Creative Loafing, crib notes, Godney Starmichael, RAD BADFORD, Supreeme, or any of them. It’s me and my rants again. And white people, I know you’re really sensitive about race these days…so this one’s not about race or gender or sex….Its just about music!!!

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS: HIPSTER HOP, THE SUB-GENRE THAT I’M NOT SURE EXISTS
Being a skinny rapper who isn’t “socially conscious” or dealing coke on record (in real life I’m a Huey P. Newton idolizing Tony Montana), I had a deep seated fear of being lumped into what is now called Hipster Hop. It seems as if anyone whose clothing fits and doesn’t rap about the struggle or the hustle gets lumped into that scategory. For those of you who don’t know, the term hipster no longer only applies to white kids who did psychedelic drugs and listened to Miles Davis. Now it applies to Filipino dudes in exclusive Japanese tees and sneakers, cokehead art student chix who only like “dance music” (cocaine robot remixes), gender ambiguous dudes with fancy haircuts and American Apparel shirts, weird black guys with messy perms who AREN’T hairdressers, and pretty much most people @ DSC, Sloppy blah, Cinespace (LA), Silent Barn (NYC), Sway (NYC), Broke n…Bang Bang blah blah blah.

The term is used almost haphazardly to describe people who often don’t have that much in common. A wave of rappers are coming out of this 238 BPM fashion-cocaine-Macbook-Japan-MySpace-based miniverse who are being called Hipster Hop. My friends and I debate if this subgenre has any signifying sonic markers. I am going to attempt to pinpoint what separates hipster hop from the rest of rap.

(more…)

Bookmark to:

This in from Billboard.com:

It looks like 50 Cent is headed for retirement, if store reports continue to trend the way they were by mid-afternoon today (Sept. 11). 50 Cent had told SOHH.com that he would quit the rap game if his new G-Unit/Interscope album, “Curtis,” was outsold by Kanye West’s Def Jam set “Graduation,” both of which were released today.

Seriously, who cares?

For the past few years, the hip-hop nation has turned into a colony of SoundScan nerds. Dudes post up an artist’s numbers on chat rooms, and then loudly debate whether that artist has fallen off or is blowing up — to the exclusion of everything else (unless someone gets arrested with a gun or weed in their SUV). In a recent interview, Akon says he and 50 Cent are SSK, or SoundScan Killas, like they’re in a gang. How lame is that — “SoundScan Killas”?

No wonder hip-hop is dead. Instead of debating record sales like an accountant, why not debate the quality of the music? As Evidence of Dilated Peoples put it recently, don’t count the numbers like Rain Man.

Bookmark to: