My feelings on the crap we now call rap (here's a hint: there's a BIG difference between RAP and HIP HOP)

I can't stand this watered down capitalistic version of rap we are getting now a days! It's nothing more than a ministrel show parading around as real hip hop. Artists I have no respect for in the rap game: fiddy cents aka loose change, Camron aka pinky homo, and dip set aka d**** set. Bring me some real hip hop, some enter the 36 chambers, the real adventures of, reasonable doubt, life after makaveli 7 day ready to die follow the leader hip hop!
Bump a million dollar video with special effects and a cute hook (50), give me a freestyle with Rakim, Nas, 1996 Jay, Big L, and Big Daddy Kane.
On a side note, ATL snap rap is also hot garbage, along with whatever remnants their are of the lil' jon crunk movement. Only dudes out the South that get love are Scarface, MJG and 8, UGK, Outkast, Ludacris, T.I and the whole cash money click (UNLV included) before 2004 and before Baby lost his mind thinking he could suceed without Juvie, Turk, and B.G., when they were repping Nawlins. P and all the No Limit souljas get a pass to, he kicked open the doors to the south. 3-6 mafia (outside of the evangelists screaming they are of satan) get's love to. I could care less about the Florida hip hop movement, slip and slide is slippin, outside of Ross. The more people realize the difference between rap and hip hop, the better as a community we will be. Case in point: On Bow Wow's new song , these lyrics are found:

"I got the whips, wheels, diamonds on my grill
money, hoes and clothes man it's all a playa knows
Being broke
Naw nigga i don't know about that
Being broke
Naw nigga i don't know about that"

(and this goes on & On & OOONNNNN...man i hate crap rap)

This is not what the creators of hip hop had in mind when they started throwing parties in Sedgewick park in the Bronx, NY in 1973. Hip hop was meant to unify, not separate our people and culture. At the same time with this crap, you have a rap legend like Nas who has his head on straight and understands what hip hop is about, who puts out lyrics which show what is going on in the inner city, much like a ghetto warped cnn:

"Yo, dude is 31, livin in his moms crib
Ex-convict, was paroled there after his long bid
Cornrows in his hair, still slingin, got a crew
They break his moms furniture, watchin Comicview
Got babies by different ladies high smokin L's
in the same spot he stood since, eighty-five well
When his stash slow, he be crazy
Say he by his moms, hit her on her payday
Junior high school dropout, teachers never cared
They was paid just to show up and leave, no one succeeds
So he moves with his peers, different blocks, different years
Sittin on, different benches like it's musical chairs
All his peoples moved on in life, he's on the corners at night
with young dudes it's them he wanna be like
It's sad but it's fun to him right? He never grew up
31 and can't give his youth up, he's in his second childhood"

Somedays, I miss Oakwood College.....

Does anyone else find themself in a new life after Oakwood and some times, some days, wish you were back there with your peoples? I don't know, but when I have to wake up in a place foreign to me and go to class with people I don't know and do work for professors that I'm not sure really care about me, I realize just how special that school in Huntsville Alabama is. I miss Oakwood Church, Madison Mission, being overcharged for food at the snack bar, getting up to leave in the cafe and having everyone else's trash put on your tray as you go to the garbage can, miss going to Ambassador games and I miss my frat. I miss stopping in the middle of the street to talk to a friend you haven't seen in a while, miss AY, miss seeing the naive freshmen with their i.d's still around their neck, miss intramural sports, miss going to the library and forgetting to study. I miss rushing to get to Dr. Newborn's class, miss enjoying Junior and Senior Year status and privilege, miss fighting for a parking space, and miss watching people fight over foolishness. I miss feeling the love of Jesus Christ (not that I don't feel it now, it's just not the same on a secular campus) and my classmates on a daily, open basis. I miss the calmness the campus gets when 12:00 rolls around on Friday. I MISS OAKWOOD, and now realize why Alumni weekend brings so many people back to Huntsville after they have left. Just a short vent

slaihing
Oakwood College C/O 2006

My vent part II- Religion attacking Hip hop

As a professed Christian, I am the first person to say that hardcore Rap is not something that someone trying to make it into Heaven should be listening to. However, I am irritated that most people fail to see a distinction between Hip Hop and Rap. Let me do my best to explain: 50 cent and Camron are rappers, and Common, Kanye, Tribe called Quest are hip hoppers. Rap is the commercialization of Hip Hop. Hip hop is a culture that at it's core, started as a unification effort for people of color (and minorities in general) to come together and better ourselves, while simultaneously stopping the black on black violence that was stating to mount in the 80's.As many of you are aware, Pastor G Craig Lewis has mounted a concerted attack on Hip Hop as being evil and pulling people out of the church, yet at the same time he claims that it isn't possible to turn around and bring people into the church using hip hop? Does that strike anyone else as strange?What about Andale'? Am I now supposed to believe that what this talented brother does is wrong and should't be used to bring people to the Church? GARBAGE. Why isn't it okay to rap a positive message over a beat to a rhythm, especially considering that same formula is being used VERY effectively to disrespect woman and set the african american people back?(On a side note, has anyone else realized exactly what VH1 is doing to us as a people by making someone who was part of the biggest black conscious movement in the 80's with Public Enemy a bufoon and representative of us on the airwaves? that's another vent though.)

While we are on the topic of G Craig Lewis, I must be the only Adventist person who went to his program (At Madison Mission), bought his dvd's (both of them) researched his sources and footnotes (extensively), and walked away with more questions than I came in with. I will publicly say here that I don't believe (at this point anyway) the whole "Science" of putting messages backwards into songs. I've heard the songs, seen the tape, and it doesn't ring true. As a scientist, I was trained from an early age to investigate and, as unbiased as possible, look at the facts and data presented to form my conclusions. I have played many songs backwards and forwards, slowed them down, looked at snippets, and have yet to reproduce any of the voices and stuff that Lewis was able to get. For instance, on his recent dvd he plays a jay-z track backwards and we hear Jay-z saying "Murder Murder Jesus" As any jay fan will tell you, Jay-z says those words at different points in the song, as well as in completely different context, never together as a sentence. I own the black album with this song on it, and I was not able to reproduce this amazing effect. If any old school Oakwoodites read this post, you may remember that in the middle 90's a gentleman made a presentation at AY about devilish messages in GOSPEL. He then proceeded to play snippets of Donnie MCClurkin, Kirk Franklin, and Fred Hammond backwards and the whole audience gasped as horrible words spilled out over the speakers. I find these attacks on hip hop interesting because they really for the most part exclude the whole spoken word movement, which in reality go hand in hand with the whole art of rapping. Why is it that the same poem said to the snapping of fingers all of a sudden becomes evil when timbaland throws a beat behind it? I really wish that these evangelist would do better research and would play an album we would buy in stores instead of a mp3 file or something that can be manipulated. Don't get me wrong, I believe that the devil is all over rap, but I don't believe we should throw the baby out with the bathwater. NOT ALL HIP HOP IS BAD. Please comment on how you feel about this post, agree or disagree. Do you believe in this "Science" of messages being inserted backwards into music? Is the devil doing it or are the artist inserting the messages?

Slaihing

Allen Iverson.
Say the name to some NBA fans or insiders, and they will spew pure hate at you. How he's "to selfish" or how he "Doesn't make his teammates better." Towards the middle or the bottom of the pile of hate you will also hear how he's not a good role model or a thug. Allen Iverson is not a thug. He is an athlete who was brought up in a rough environment and has refused to change himself. It is this fact that has endeared him to millions who have lived the same situations that he has. He is also one of the top 25 NBA players of all time and is hands down the greatest player under 6 feet the game of basketball has ever seen. Now those above 2 statements are purely my opinion, simply because I have many friends who will smack me for saying that Allen Iverson is better than Isiah Thomas or even Tiny Archibald. While Iverson is not a better passer, he is a more prolific score than both of those legends were. He also is more fearless than anyone in recent memory besides Rod Strickland at getting into the lane and going chest to chest with a 7 footer, or blowing by a legendary defender. See below: This trade to Denver will revitalize his career and guarantees a spot for Denver in the playoffs. I choose them to be 3rd of 4th out of the west behind Dallas and San Antonio, as well as possibly the Clippers or Lakers. The only real obstacle for the Nuggets will be coming up with an offense that can support the shot selections of the number 1 and 2 scorers in the NBA. It's a great problem to have. While we are on the subject of shot selections, Kobe Bryant needs to shut his mouth. After the Lakers were lit for 60 points by Gil Arenas, No. 24 had the NERVE to say:

"He doesn't seem to have much of a conscience. I really don't think he does. Some of the shots he took tonight, you miss those, and they're just terrible shots. Awful. You make them and they're unbelievable shots. I don't get a chance to play him much, so I haven't gotten used to that mentality of just chucking it up there. He made some big ones, but I'll be ready next time."

Hilarious. Sounds like sour grapes, considering Kobe was the defender for at least 40 of those points. The last person in the league who should be talking about taking terrible shots is Kobe Bean Bryant. He hasn't met a shot he didn't like and it's been that way since he was a rookie getting done up in the All Star game (respect to Michael). At the same time, Arenas shot 17-32 from the field. It's not like he wasn't efficient, as well as getting to the foul line 27 times. Is Kobe going to say Gilbert Arenas got to many calls? It's ok though. Kobe still has to worry about Paul Pierce coming to L.A. Can't wait to hear what Kob says February 23.



Slaihing