Wow......I've sat back and watch everyone either bash or praise Jay-Z in some form or fashion, as far as his new song, direction for the album, etc. etc......
Well, I thought I'd wait until everyone got out their "opinions" about the song and their take on his career direction before I start sheddin' some "truth" to the matter.....
Hopefully, and I stress hopefully this would help change some minds about the perception of who exactly Jay-Z is as an artist and most importantly, an emcee.....
So, before I begin let me preface this spill by saying, if you are a closeminded, new wave, I just learned about hip-hop last week cat, this post is not for you. There are a million and a half posts that you can reply to on OKP other than this one that will suit your needs......
Here goes....
I first heard about Jay-Z back in the summer of 1996. The first joint I heard was "Dead Presidents". I heard that joint, Wu-Wear, Fakin Jax, and Semi-Automatic in the same damn day(what a day). Luckily, I was blessed to witness hip-hop BEFORE the overground, underground split/big bang of 1996, when rap was rap, no matter if you talked about money, drugs, hoes, mics, trees, sidewalks, shoelaces, WHATEVER. As long as you beats was dope, and you could ride a beat, you made it, which even this day, CATS STILL CANNOT DO IT. Backpackers was called backpackers because they wore backpacks like Black Moon. Most of the time, you didn't wanna find out what was in cat's backpacks........(weed, guns, crack, whatever....anybody that can remember, can I get a witness???)
Anyways, Jay dropped Reasonable Doubt, and niggas went CRAZY. It was a dope album amongst the Ironman's, Atliens, Stakes is High's, BRandLife's, Illadelph'sand whatever else came out in the fall of 1996. That's when dope shit dropped every week. The record stores KEPT cats BROKE, buying 3 to 4 CD's at a time. Then, the underground/overground bullshit started, and through EVERYBODY for a loop.
Even me. I got caught up in the bullshit. First it was called Shiny suits vs. Real hip-hop or some other bullshit. Then it changed from Commercial vs. Underground.
Commercial vs. Underground.
Wow.
That is some of the biggest BULLSHIT ever invented. I don't know who started this shit, but it killed hip-hop. Nevertheless, I fell into the shit like everybody else. I took sides, like everybody else. I took the "underground" side. I became a post 1996 backpacker....not a cat who wore a backpack with illegal substances in it.....shit, I didn't wear a backpack at all, unless it was for class.
Needless to say, between 1996 and 2003 Jay-Z dropped 7 more joints, from In My Lifetime, to BP2. I began to feed into the "underground" way of life even more. If you talked about money, girls, sex, clubs, jewelry, I HATED YOU, no matter what.
No matter if your beat was dope, you rhymed ON BEAT, the song made you dance(hell, that's 85% of rap music BEFORE '96).....na, FUCK ALL THAT, you were commercial, and I hated you.
If you anything opposite of that, you were "REAL" or "UNDERGROUND", and I followed you to the end of the earth, like the Soundbombing's and all those joints they sold on hiphopsite.com and sandboxautomatic.com. Every night, me and fellow OKP bang97xxx would be on line looking for the new "underground" shit.....
Until....
The release of FANTASTIC VOL. 2....
FUCKED ME UP.
THEN I WOKE UP.
All of the things that I hated soooooo much about subject matter in lyrics, good ol' Jay Dee, Baatin, and T3 talked about in EVERY SONG. They called women bitches and hoes, they talked about the going to the club, and might I add, they talked about women being bitches and hoes.....
Over dope beats....
WAS I THE ONLY ONE TO CATCH THAT?
A couple of people did, but there were soooooo many cats that didn't for some strange reason. In the midst of this under/over bullshit, here's a group that did both. They had hooks, they rode beats, they weren't preachy, they just HAD FUN on the songs and that's it.
It made you feel good.
Everybody else was either in the club ALL Night, or freedom fighting for Mumia...
Then came Neo-Soul.
JESUS CHRIST.
That's a WHOLE 'NOTHER POST right there.
Talk about some industry made up shit. Some of the rappers that okp cats praise for doing that quote en quote type of hip-hop HATE THAT TERM....I MEAN....SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE EMCEES......
Oh yeah CONSCIOUS RAP???? These SAME EMCEES HATE THAT TERM TOO...
I know what you mean....its shocking like a muthphucka. We feed into the under/over split that the industry created just like the 12 year old's feed into 106 and park. When I first heard one of my FAVORITE artist say "fuck that neo-soul conscious rap shit", I was floored. I was like, "but aren't you neo-soul and conscious, AND underground might I add???"
Nope, sure wasn't....
Anyway, so then ?uest puts up a post called, The smartest backpacker(see OKP archives), and that made me curious on how divided the music world was....was it some made up shit, or was it actually true???
Made up like a muthafucker.
I fell for it like a dummy. Growing up in 1982-1996 age of hip-hop, I should of known better.
Shortly after, the Listening was born.
One cat on here said that it was same underground/neo-soul/conscious/mainstream shit he hears all the time....
I told Tay, okay.....we are on to something....
STOP TRYIN TO CATEGORIZE RAP MUSIC.......THERE SHOULD BE ONLY 2 CATEGORIES.....WACK AS FUCK and DOPE AS FUCK.
No matter WHAT you talk about. Cats say that Jay-Z talks about the same thing every record. Okay, what the fuck does TRIBE talk about differently from record to record???? What about Gangstarr??? What about Black Moon???? WHAT ABOUT THE ROOTS???
If you are FREEING MUMIA on your first record, then chances are you will be doing it on EVERY RECORD YOU PUT OUT.
Redman makes a reference to WEED ON EVERY RECORD.....
So what changes???
The beats of the record changes the complexity of the album, YOU ARE WHO YOU ARE, NO MATTER WHAT.
You mind a TOPIC here and there to elaborate on, BUT THIS IS RAP MUSIC...
PUBLIC ENEMY TALKED ABOUT OVERTHROWING THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT IN SOME SHAPE, FORM, OR FASHION, ON EVERY RECORD.
Jay grew up in Marcy. That man knows about street life. He has expanded on certain topics here and there, but DAMN, I DON'T WANNA HEAR JAY TALK ABOUT ANY OF THAT SHIT POST '96 BACKPACKERS DEEM TO BE REAL.
Sorry.
Just like I don't wanna hear THE ROOTS TALK ABOUT CARS, although I know they own some fat whips......but I guess some OKP's think that they don't 'cause they are REAL HIP-HOPPERS.
Anyways, let's fast forward to a couple of weeks ago.....
So I'm find myself sitting in Baseline Studios, NYC, in front of the "devil"....let OKP tell it, playing beats.....
I played 29 beats.....he listened to every one.
HE DID.
Not an A&R, not an assistant, not his manager....
Jay-Z DID.
Every beat.
I went to several quote en quote "underground, keepin it real labels" and the A&R's was like, "yeah man, I'm gonna go through these and pick out some for(fill in your favorite "real emcee")
Not Jay....
Probably Rap's richest, most power figure to date took the time out to listened to a new producer who got a couple of shots in mags hear and there.
An hour.
29 beats.
At least 2 minutes to every beat.
After which, he asked me, "damn man, what's your story?"
I gave him a quick run down of where I was from and so forth and who my group was. Young Guru already had the Listening, had it the first day it came out, but never let Jay hear it. So did Kanye.
A couple of days later, we recorded. ONE SONG.
He took 4 takes on what some so called "skilled" cats take 4 days to do......
WITH NO PAPER.....IT IS NOT A MYTH......
HE ATTACKS THE MICROPHONE LIKE HE IS PERFORMING....
I have been in some studios with cats that cannot do that WITH PAPER.
That is some hard shit to do, to come up with a rhyme in your head, and spit it like you knew it for years......
DAMMIT PEOPLE LISTEN!!!!!!!
Will the songs make it, who knows.....
All I know is the game, t.v., and the industry has fucked up the minds of this new generation of hip-hop fans.
There are dope cats that OKP's bash on the regular just because they get radio play, and praise the ones that don't....
WHAT THE FUCK IS EVERYBODY GONNA DO WHEN THE MUSIC OKP PRAISE BECOMES MAINSTREAM.....if the industry sees that a Little Brother, or a Five Dees, or a J-Rawls, or a Aesop Rock can sell millions, that WILL be Mainstream hip-hop. Then, EVERY MAJOR LABEL WILL TRY THEIR DAMNNEST TO FIND A COPY CAT.
So, before you label somebody the rap antichrist, or say somebody is not doing it for the culture, check yourself....
Jay gave me shot...
some of your favorite rappers didn't
on the real....
WAKE THE FUCK UP OKAYPLAYER....ON SOME LAWRENCE FISHBURNE SCHOOL DAZE SHIT...........
Oh yeah, I rocked the fuck out of my Okayplayer shirt at baseline. Jay said...."damn, I was just on there this morning".
Aight, everybody take turns bashing me across the head....
LOL!!!!!
PEACE!!!!
