CHRIS BROWN

kanye is like a super virus worming his way through all of hip hop and r&b turning everyone into passive aggressive bitches that dress like breakdance movie extras
― bodyguard/publicist Tank (M@tt He1ges0n
big headturning-in-the-office-"what's-so-funny?" LOLZ on that

not to get all KRS-1 up in here but where is a quality hip hop star that will reject swag in favor of big upping your community? Fuck your car, fuck your jewelry, fuck your news-op foundation charity bullshit; i want Lil Wayne to embrace a full on sinead o'connor middle-class life where he gives his mansion to refugees. Is it too much to ask to expect JUST ONE UNDERTALENTED OVERPAID MOTHERFUCKER to do a "oh god how i'm wasting my life" headspin and devote their lives to a good cause while still making music? Even if it was just legalization of marijuana for crissakes.

there hasn't been anybody in hiphop like that in a long time

i too am aching for a quality hip hop star to change their life around and in the process start making completely boring music

there hasn't been anybody in rock music like that in awhile either, in that case

http://img.thedougie.com/assets/imgx/5/1/0/5/6/8/1/orig-5105681.jpg
ur princess is in another castle

the rappers who actually give a shit about community activism or giving back to the hood don't have the time to become famous too and the rappers who are already rich and have half a conscience just cut a check for the pet cause of the year and then keep it moving

i mean every rapper i know here talks about how they'd "give back to the hood" if they made it big, but the only ones who actually would probably won't blow up because they're already doing social work or running rec centers and don't need $ to make a difference anyway

having their cake and eating it too, basically

However, Juvenile's Slidell, Louisiana home was damaged but not destroyed in Hurricane Katrina near the end of the summer. In the aftermath of the hurricane, he worked with fellow New Orleans rapper Master P and other hip hop artists to raise funds and supplies for the victims of the hurricane.

ha, i only knew this because at his jazzfest show a few years ago he was mad that the crowd wasn't giving him enough love or something, and was all "come on, don't you know what i've done for this community?!"

haha

yeah that's another thing, the established guys actually doing shit partly have the time for it because their career's already on the wane

kinda agree with forks' rant tbh

i mean someone as in demand as T.I. isn't going to spend a huge amount of his time doing community service unless a judge tells him to. xpost

it's weird whenever i read people dissing hip-hop that's trying to be positive (even when the music is ok), like it's some kind of weak move.

Juvie does seem to have a solid track record with being civic minded from what I know.
I dunno; maybe there just needs to be a coalition to shame these guys into doing a Stop the Violence style movement to do a needle exchange or asthma inhaler distribution or turn-in-your-gun amnesty. Works in the NFL/NBA.

TI is in a good position to engineer this sorta thing! If he gave a shit.

A lot of cats is just getting money. Like “this some shit I do to get money.” Get money, there ain’t nothing wrong with that. If you did something and the numbers came in right then by all means [get paid]. But if you looking at this like “this is just something I do to get money” then you don’t really love this shit. You don’t breathe it, you don’t believe it. So you can make the statement that there’s some bullshit. But if you really love this… - Manny Fresh

^really outta context, but still appropriate i think.

i gotta say, even tho it might've been hamhanded and sometimes was like "hey im playing a concert!", guys like jeezy and luda and jay-z did some decent work for obama and just getting people in lower income neighborhoods registered to vote in general - it was way better and more hands on than VOTE OR DIE shit and hopefully kind of set a tone for how rappers should approach elections moving forward

like i know tons of ppl who are way less busy than young jeezy who did waaaaaay less to get people registered to vote

yeah i have to say even though there was some pretty dumb shit going on in rap last year re: Obama (cough Luda cough) for the most part those guys didn't drop the ball, had the right amount of involvement without either doing too little or becoming too much a part of the story

Uh, David Banner, guys

^^ good example

he probably really is putting his money where his mouth is, since he makes all his $ on movies now and seems to take a lot of time between projects

More genuinely political hip hop, both in action and in verse, is always welcome. The Obama camp's very delicate dance with Jay was another damning indictment of the way that mainstream america views contemporary hip hop now; the president can't even cop to enjoying the music!

i still wanna see some for real old school
agitate educate organize
agitate educate organize
agitate educate organize
action

banner's a really bright guy; his loudmouthed homophobia is pretty distressing, but he's definitely a positive otherwise. Shame that he's been kinda eh on the singles lately.

uh, weren't there a billion articles last year about how Barack has Jay-Z on his iPod?

banner's a really bright guy; his loudmouthed homophobia is pretty distressing

^^seems contradictory

it's possible to like books and hate bitches at the same time

er, hate fags i should say

no idea why i feel the need to make these points on the breezy thread except that this nudnik throwing away 300K on that piece of shit is almost as upsetting to me as his violent streak. so indicative of a sick culture.

xxp - ever heard barack quote a jigga line?

xp - yeah, point granted omar.

uh, weren't there a billion articles last year about how Barack has Jay-Z on his iPod?

― Turnswagonesque (some dude), Wednesday, July 8, 2009 12:53 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

yeeeeah but iirc jay got shutout of prime seating at his acceptance speech

it's possible to like books and hate bitches at the same time

opposite of kanye?

ever heard barack quote a jigga line?

why does this matter

he's a bright homophobic rapper who condemns capitalist culture and sings about big rims and strives to freak out the white middle class when he's not acting in hollywood movies

ever heard barack quote a jigga line?

http://i34.tinypic.com/2rxfqsj.jpg

Ronan909: "q theres a line on jay z's the blueprint, it reads simply 'i will not lose ever FUCKER'"

it matters because his appreciation of jay-z HAS to be abstract to be acceptable. and yes, there were plenty of articles about obama's camp having a hard time finding a way to officially host a jay show without becoming affiliated with Jay's more socially offensive lyrics

getting lunch, but enjoying this convo.

i dunno, i've got enough friends who deal with homophobic bullshit to not give some asshole like banner a pass on that shit, even if it means he's "complex" (kinda why i can't really forget cube's anti-semitism.) these dudes are awesome artists who just don't need to traffic in that shit.

I don't know about you but it has never crossed my mind to attempt to drop a reference to "Lady Cab Driver" or "Siamese Twins" into anything I've done in the capacity of my job. Not only do I not see why it matters whether the President quotes Jay-Z or not, I really don't see what difference it makes if he likes Jay-Z or not; that is not why I voted for him. Perhaps if we were taking a road trip together and he wanted to control the music I would care.

i dunno, i'm not disturbed at all by BO's campaign having to be thoughtful about how to handle associating with any rapper -- they were thoughtful and cautious about everything, which is part of why they won. and i think it'll be a lot less touchy in the 2012 campaign, more open and laid back.

xpost

yeah i mean i can understand why the obama people would balk at having jay do an official concert, but tbh at that point it's up to jay to say "okay, i understand" and use his general celebrity to help contribute in meaningful ways (not only donations) and it seemed like he was willing to do that in general

omar: "some of my best friends" on my end too; I am maybe more accepting of homophobia and general hatred in my music than I should be. I just like Mississippi too much to be too objective

hi dere: my point is that it's a strange oddity for Obama to "like" Jay and that it's acceptable only to the extent that people don't ask what his favorite Jay song is or why he likes him... not problems that he would run into with, say fleetwood mac. It's a fucked up world where you can't like the music you like because it would mess with your political potential. and i probably HAVE made reference to lady cab driver on the job, but that's just me.

dude: one hopes it'll be more laid back, but I kinda doubt it unless hip hop culture matures or infantilizes even more.

Americans in acting weirdly about a newish style of music pioneered/dominated by black people shocker!

i hope hip hop is a new kind of music for another 30 years

i dunno man -- Obama talked about and referenced and was photographed with Jay-Z more than any president has with any other rapper -- for you to make such a big deal about it not being enough is kinda weird to me. like HI DERE said, what does it even matter? this is like the "is he black enough?" handwringing that most people got over or answered for themselves a year and a half ago, at the latest.

this is like the "is he black enough?" handwringing that most people got over or answered for themselves a year and a half ago, at the latest

I am glad you said this so that I didn't have to.

i will never vote for someone that doesn't like jay-z, if you don't stand for something you'll fall for anything IMO

oy, this is not a point I would've expected to be called extensively on? and also not one I really feel like defending.
it's not a question of "being enough"; I'm not slagging on O.
my only point was that hip hop stars being active in the political world is welcome but given the degree to which they're not taken seriously as role-models, intellects, artists or really ANYTHING but businessmen; I have to wonder how worthwhile that role is.

yeah, i didn't mean to drag it out or push you into a corner, i just thought you were trying to make one point by pressing a different and possibly unrelated angle. anyway, lord knows jay's been spending much of the last 6 years ago cultivating a more worldly "jay guevera" type image, but he spent about a decade before that talking money cash hoes too -- of course the establishment is gonna handle him w/ kid gloves, even if it's a newly elected 'change'-themed establishment.