Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Hollywood 50, Janet Flippin' the Script, and Skillz Sonnin' Li'l Wayne


Lots of wacky hip-hop news. First off, 50 Cent bought Val Kilmer a $130,000 Impala. Mad random. Apparently, they've become cool while filming, and share a love for whips. *GAG* Fif is real fucking Hollywood son. He knows his days of being a mega-selling artist are over. Think about it, he and Kanye came out on the same day. 'Ye is still dropping videos, world-touring on some of the biggest bills around, and spreading lots of awesome around. As far as Fif, what's his latest single? How many top 10's has he had this time around? This is the same guy who constantly talks about how he writes hits, and no one else knows how. He knows that music isn't gonna keep him relevant. He has to transform into one of those rappers who may not break records anymore, but will still make steady hits, and be popular enough that he doesn't have to sell tons of records. Snoop and Jay are such artists. That may sound crazy, but Snoop really only has one mega-selling album, his debut, and the rest have given him solid platinum plaques. Jay's mega-seller was "Vol. 2," and though he always has monster first weeks and garners a good double- or triple-platinum plaque, he's never the year's top selling rapper (unless he drops multiple albums). Double and triple is great of course (even though that doesn't really exist for rappers anymore, with a coupla exceptions - look at 'Ye's number right now, low considering he sold almost a million the first week), but Jay is universally hailed as the greatest, most popular, most consistent, best rapper of the last 10 years. He has a line where he says "the only dudes movin' units - Em, Pimp Juice, and Us." Well, while Jay was puttin' up respectable triples, Em was putting up a coupla almost-diamond albums, and a quadruple that was a disappointment! Nelly (Pimp Juice), who is actually on the decline, put out an almost-diamond, a sextuple, and 2 on the same day, which each went multi-platinum. Even DMX was outselling Jay in both of their sales-heydays. Snoop's number are usually half of Jay's, but rappers like Snoop and Jay are so respected for being great rappers, and so prolific, that they will always sell a good amount, whereas a rapper like Nelly can seem one or two corny albums away from irrelevance as an artist, and Eminem/DMX can seem one breakdown away from temporary obscurity. Jay and Snoop also make tons of headlines, and garner positive press, for ventures outside of rap. Plus, they are looked at as trailblazers, inventors of a cool, unique style that no one has been able to imitate. Em, X, and 50 have lots of Pac in their dna. If you like them, you can get a fix by listening to some 'Pac if they don't have anything out. But Snoop is too original, and Jay too sharp, for you to feel satisfied by anything but their music when you need to hear it.

Electrifying conlusion: I think 50 will remain relevant b/c he is very talented, makes dope songs, and he's very rich, which gives him lots of respect by the mainstream. As long as he stays rich, he'll be fine. Yeah, I know. Easier said than done.

Janet Jackson remixed a Plies track. I would be outraged, but her songs have been just as bad as his lately, so it makes sense. In a li'l bit of role-reversal, she added singing to "Buss It Baby, Part 2," the song I hate the most right now, unjustly giving it some measure of artistic validity. I have nothing against Plies, I actually liked "Shorty," but I think he needs to step up his lyrical game a bit, and improve his flow. He does have an authentic swagger though, and that's rare nowadays, so I'll give him that.

Electrifying conclusion: Remix had to be JD's idea. I'll let him live for now, b/c he killed that "Fallin'" track off of "American Gangsta," but that deferment will wear off soon if he doesn't make up for this debacle.

Please tell me y'all feel this. Please do. This is Skillz completely, and maturely, putting Li'l Wayne (who is one of my very favorite rappers) in his place for his "fuck d.j.s" comment:

Iiight so fuck the dj? For real? Wow! First lemme say I dont get alot of radio/club play, sometimes my record dont apply & I can understand that but I dont care if I had no spins on my record I would never say fuck a dj. No DJ at all, I wouldnt say fuck a DJ that I dont know!! lol It just baffles me how the hottest artist out right now can say Fuck the dj’s!! Where would he be without the DJ tho? Real talk, I hear his records and its always a dj playing it. Be it on the radio, in the club or on a cd. If you hot then DJ’s gon fuck with you but they are part of the reason you hot, its a tag team kinda combo. You rap on everyone’s song (whether they want you to or not) you jump on cats tracks and send em out to the world, wouldn’t you want someone to think its hot enuf to play? So then I heard him on Drama and he said ” Fuck them dj’s”! Niggas takin my music and puttin out CD’s that aint official. Nigga? You rapped on 70 songs that wasn’t official! Alot of these DJ’s are branding you. They making you hot! If a kid grabs a best of cd from the barbershop he bought that for some of your new shit, If I asked him what CD he got he’s gon say yours, not DJ (insert name here) presents you! You gave DJ’s the option to play whatever you made…YOU gave them the option, you rapped on everything. Its crazy how cats do DJ’s after they get to the point that they want to get to. No single, you been rapping over everyone else’s shit for more than a year , you even book shows and do mixtape songs for over a year and right before your album drops its FUCK THE DJ??!?! You said it aint about the money so why would you care if they make a little change on a mixtape or attempt to keep thier name up by formatting and sequencing some of the music that you put out for FREE?? Some of these cats work at a radio station and clock in for two hours a day if that! They gotta hustle( clubs, weddings, parties, mix cds) just like you for the bread but now its fuck them? I’d go rap at a DJ’s daughter’s 8th birthday party ( and do drops while I was there) to make sure I’m in good standing with him/her, cuz as long as I make records Im always going to need them. Even when he called in to clear the shit up he still didnt really. Wow..yall made him the hottest rapper out and he said fuck yall & then said fuck yall again? See how these cats do you? Yall really need to support the artists that support you. Yall have the power to change this shit. I have a new record and album coming out and if I asked a dj if he had my record he could look me in my face and say he doesnt have 1 Skillz record in his Serato & I wouldnt say fuck him! Im scared of what would happen to my career if I did that. But my question is how can you make rap music and say fuck the dj and have a career, thats what the fuck I wanna know.

Speak Skillz.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Awesome post. Totally agree with you on Kanye vs 50. I've actually BOUGHT a Kanye CD as opposed to 50, whose mumbling-ass I'd rather illegally download.