The Strike Against SOPA

"Maybe you'll love me when I fade to black"
 - Jay-Z


As this site is dressed in all black and some of you might wonder "hey, where did those annoying bubbles go?!?!" the Internets is fighting to protect what is there's - freedom. Congress seems to be on a roll with their idiocy of ending online piracy by completely ignoring everything that made the Internet great in the first place.

How can something so generic be so tightening on the lungs of the Web?

We featured the Free Justin Bieber campaign recently, but Congress doesn't seem to get it. I understand, though, as I've been part of the movement to help bring together the colliding worlds of entertainment blogging and bloodthirsty lawmakers. Seeing the various interaction, runarounds, and other slippery slopes of being a watchdog makes me realize that the term evolution (at least when it comes to harmonizing and balancing the two aforementioned worlds) is an understatement.

That's why this site is in its all-black-everything phase.

Basically, the government is enforcing that every website polices third party links from everywhere that includes anything regarding all forms of copyright infringment. That was not a sarcastic statement. Due to generic terms used in the bill, S. 968, that is the way it must be examined. Well, at least to avoid catching a flippin' felony!

Here's the Skippy on why SOPA has a dangerous capability of screwing over everything the Internet stands for:

1. Like mentioned about S. 978 (the Commercial Felony Streaming Act) earlier, the incidentals and accidentals will be entirely too vulnerable. If So And So wants to post her favorite song on Facebook because it explains the complex status she posted earlier about being "the baddest btich" (or however the misspelling goes), then she is liable to shut all of Facebook down. Yes, because the site allowed her to post content that enables pirate sharing, all of Facebook is liable to be shut down. Under SOPA's blanket-covering/suffocating definition, sites like YouTube, Facebook, Gmail, Dropbox, Soundcloud, and a big ass etc are sites dedicated to "theft of U.S. property." The thing is that any site with a comment box or upload form of any sort - whether the site complies with the DCMA or not - has the potential to be punished for infringement.

2. Any countering on infringement becomes far more difficult than previous copyright laws. For example, if an artist sends me a direct song they want "leaked," and the attorney general finds out then my ass is grass. Alone. In the bill, there is no clear statement of how they go about notifying the artist or their label - let alone whether or not the government has to! The responsibility is placed in my hands to get in touch with an already nearly untouchable party to send a counter-notice stating that I am allowed to "leak" the track... or picture... or video (just to make sure you understand what all's at stake here). After five days of the site being shut down, if no counter-notice is issued, guess who's going to jail?!

3. Still this term "FELONY" puts an awful strain on an already economically struggling field(s). Here's an explanation from Mashable's Opinion page of how quickly casual whoopsies become three years in prison:

Section 201(b)(1) expands criminal copyright infringement to include:
"At least 10 copies or phonorecords, or of at least 10 public performances by means of digital transmission, of 1 or more copyrighted works, during any 180-day period, which have a total retail value of more than $2,500."Now, the way that the value of a work can be computed in court is the very crude (value of the work times number of views).
"Total retail value may be shown by evidence of the total retail price that persons receiving the reproductions, distributions, or public performances constituting the offense would have paid to receive such reproductions, distributions, or public performances lawfully."This means, for example, if you upload a video to YouTube of you singing a popular song, and that song might sell for $1, and your video gets 2,500 views, you are guilty of felony copyright infringement. Furthermore, you can tack on “willful infringement for commercial gain or valued at more than $1,000.”
This would make you a felon, and if a copyright holder were to bring a suit against you, would give you a criminal record that would make it virtually impossible to fain future employment, and may subject you to up to three years in prison for singing a song. You don’t have to receive any money. You don’t have to gain anything from your video. Simply receiving 2,500 views on a song you sung, which happens to have copyright held by someone else, makes you a felon.

 4. This isn't just happening to folks in the U.S., this is for EVERYONE. The power has been put in the attorney general's hands to fully censor - from shutting down the site to cutting the site off from AdSense to cutting the site off from Paypal - any site that isn't even in the jurisdiction of the U.S. Folks first think of WikiLeaks, but what about other sites? Let's not forget about entertainment sites like SoulCulture, Daily Mail, Every Day A Great Song, etc that could be shut down for good. Not only that it's just shut down in their country, but worldwide (they don't call it that for nothing)!

If SOPA passes, then we'll be out here looking like China. Flat out. Big Brother's monitoring will just grow more and more brolick, brolick to the point where any slight instance of opposition is silenced - whether it be opposition of government policy or opposition of society's choice of entertainment.

A Justin Bieber Movement We All Can Agree On!

Congress is at their anti-music freedom antics again. Does the corrupted ever sleep?! Plus, this is looking like it could sweep anyone off of YouTube cover fame, including Justin Bieber.

It's S. 978, the bill that can lock up folks for up to five years for using copyrighted material on the Web. OpenCongress summarizes it like this:

The Commercial Felony Streaming Act (S. 978) makes unauthorized web streaming of copyrighted content a felony with a possible penalty of up to 5 years in prison. Illegal streaming of copyrighted content is defined in the bill as an offense that "consists of 10 or more public performances by electronic means, during any 180-day period, of 1 or more copyrighted works" and has a total economic value, either to the copyright holder or the infringer, of at least $2,500.

While I feel like Justin Bieber should not be as popular as he actually is - in fact I would give him Jeff Cohen's fame over Sean Astin's fame (or as much as I could relate his musical content to Sloth from The Goonies as possible) - he should not be locked up for covering his favorite songs. Neither should Karmin, Greyson Chance or Melanie Fiona.

Thanks to the open-ended language of this bill, three hots and a cot for five years can go to not only YouTubers but to Tweeters, Facebook(ers), MySpace(rs), Google+ers, Pandora(ers), AmazonCloud(ers), GrooveShark(ers), SoundCloud(ers), folks who own iPhones, Androids and email accounts because it's the sharing of streaming media that could be illegal.

Thinking about it, and maybe stretching it a little, bumping the stream of the Danny Brown and Black Milk album on speaker phones and then someone joins in on the tunes could come with a five-year sentence. How awesome is that?!

Here's another slightly-stretched scenario: those who want to make their own variation of The Wobble, The Wu-Tang, The Artichoke, or whatever the hot new dance craze can get the silver bracelets too. Oh, and that cute video of the eight-year-old singing Nicki Minaj's "Super Bass?" Illegal.

While the pressure to protect artists from other people making money off of streaming music without the artist's permission is understandable, the impulsive extremity of this act is foolish. If someone were to steal anything I've written off this blog and post it on their sites as their words, I would be pissed. However, to do it with an adoration for my voice (and attribution), or to do it on the grounds of some editing of some sort, I would understand.

Here's what's being done. Fight for the Future has launched a Free Bieber campaign and a petition people can sign to stop the bill from going forth. Once you visit FreeBieber.org, the petition will pop up asking for your email address. The petition is spread throughout the website as well.

The idea of penalizing folks like Karmin, Beiber, etc for the same reasons (and then some) is radical. Given most musicians feel like they are as good as - if not better - than the next man, most folks who cover other artists do not look to profit off of their adoration. More than likely, they want to place themselves in their favorite artist's shoes in their covers. Show me a band that wants to purely profit off of covering another artist, and I'll show you the Wiz Khalifa costume Billy Gardell (Mike from Mike & Molly) plans on wearing this Halloween weekend.

Something Old, Nothing New: Black Folk Music as "Innovative"

I ranted a little bit on my Tumblr about this topic before, but this issue hasn't been toppled enough.

Black folks and Americana music seen as "game changers" - as the Huffington Post's Black Voices calls The Carolina Chocolate Drops - just because they tote a fiddle or a banjo discredits the word innovation.

Not that this band lacks creativity or talent, but the article came off as "oh look, Black people with banjos. That must be alternative," which gives Black culture yet another pounding against our foundation. The definition of innovation, change, remix, etc does not necessarily root in the right now, but if you let Black media (and really all folks of the press) tell it change comes as a matter of what's present. While that may be true for some things, that cannot hold true for music because of how far back the existence of music dates.

Now, if HuffPo placed emphasis on CCD's abilities to merge beatboxing with their Americana sound, this would be a different article. Additionally, if the rest of the selections weren't based on what simply looks different, this blog post probably wouldn't exist. However, this mindset has run rampant far too long.

Black culture right now, at least according to the media, is centered around the rap and corporate game. This short-changes everyone else and everything else Black folks are capable of doing: playing guitar, singing opera, harp and other ambient music, and so much more.

I get it. Singing and rapping is hot in the community. I get it. Blogs revolve around popular keywords, Google trends and social media topics. However, when will Black media expand to other audiences and cultures, not expose what's already here and what we already know?

Overall, Black media in general have cornered the term innovation to what is alternative and downright gimmicky. Looking at Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All and CCD, one would think no Black people spit Atheist rhymes or can play a mean fiddle. That's far from the case because, if we wanna be real, we were among the first people ever to do those things.

While I don't wanna start a complete history lesson (because it's way too easy to look up the history of my points from this blog), I still worry about the cycle of our culture. I already know the world and cultures we live in acts in a chronological circle, but the circle seems to be getting smaller and smaller.

To read the story I'm talking about, click here!

Obama's Walk: His Exit Music

If you have been asleep since around 10 p.m. last night, good morning, and boy, did you miss out! Our President Barack Obama announced last night that his secret operation from months ago to kill Osama bin Laden has reached success and Osama is now dead (and buried apparently??). This playlist has little to do with us killing Osama bin Laden, sorry Americans!

This mix has EVERYTHING to do with Obama's gangsterific exit away from his podium and out of the hallway. Here's a clip if you need it:

Now, with that said and shown, here is a playlist of his exit music because I feel he totally needed that to match his composure as he walked down that hallway, his calmness in his stroll, and, hell, his SWAG! There are tunes from nearly all genres that accentuate Obama's badassedness, from being the first Black President to being the President to take down Osama, as well as his ability to be so smooth! Sit tight, this is a surefire doozie...

Cheers, Obama. This mix is for you!

Public Radio & TV (De)funded??? UPDATE: NPR Defunded.

It seems like whenever publicly-ran entities take one step forward, the next move will bring them two giant leaps back... What a stinking rollercoaster public radio has been on!

Remember the post about the Local Community Radio Act Passed? Well, weeks later there's been a blow to keeping public media alive. February 19, the House has passed a bill that cuts ALL financing for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for the year 2013, according to a report from the New York Times. While President Obama is trying to increase funding for the CPB, $6 mill increase according to NY Times, "a collective $75.8 million for other public media initiatives, like the Dept. of Education's Ready to Learn Program, was eliminated from the President's budget."

Does the Corporation for Public Broadcasting sound familiar? (HINT: you might hear it at the end of every show on PBS or NPR) Well, CPB is responsible for a chunk of PBS' and NPR's funding. This includes such amazing broadcasts as All Songs Considered, World Cafe, hell, even Arthur and The Diane Rehm Show!!!

While small town public radio has protection with the latest Local Community Radio Act, big-time national public radio and TV is about to suffer! Sure, things can change between now and 2013 (including the whole 2012 thing), but the last thing we need is the process in eliminating radio and TV that has always been for the people. Think of how many times news was broke thanks to NPR? How much you learned from the oh-so-neighborly Mister Rodgers? Happy Trees, anyone? Let's not talk about Reading Rainbow.... And then radio: although NPR itself is enough to lose, what about the massive amounts of job creation that came from NPR (also the ample internship programs provided by them)? A cut from the government's funding would harm the hell out of public radio!

NPR isn't sitting quietly on this issue. While an NPR exec has been caught in a sting video saying that eventually public media will be better off without federal funding, the PMA (an initiative between NPR and the Association of Public Television Stations) has shown outrage regarding the House bill. "To dismantle a public broadcasting system that 170 million Americans regularly rely on for lifelong learning, in-depth news and public affairs programming, and world class - all for the sake of reducing one year's federal budget deficit by less than three thousandths of one percent - is to recklessly defy the will of the American people, who routinely rank public broadcasting just behind national defense as the best use of taxpayer dollars," PMA President Patrick Butler said on NPR's website.

Although there is some truth in the possibility of public media without federal funding, it is scary to see how fast Congress is pulling out assistance from corporate public entities like CPB, NPR and PBS. It's like when it comes to eliminating funds - even if it's 3/1000 of 1% of the federal budget deficit that is dedicated toward educational and cultural programming - the government is becoming a bit too scissor-happy for things the people value the most.

Fortunately, you can act now by signing a petition made by MoveOn.org that states "Congress must protect NPR and PBS and guarantee them permanent funding, free from political meddling."

UPDATE 03/17/11 at 3:28 p.m.: TODAY, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES VOTED 228-192 TO BAR NPR FROM RECEIVING ANY MORE FEDERAL FUNDS. MORE HERE!

Oh, and by the way, All Songs has been streaming outrageously amazing performances and uploading some of the best video footage from SXSW so broke-arses like me can witness the glorious festivities. Yeah.

A Rant on Lauryn Hill

This rant is brought to you by Fusetv and the video I posted on Tumblr. One of my favorite music journalist Toure got to sit down with Lauryn Hill, talking about her absence and her return to the industry.


And the rant begins...

I look up to this woman for reasons other than her music - it's because she is the perfect example of a strong, Black woman, and she showed that in her absence. When Questlove said in My Mic Sounds Nice that her 10-year absence is the movements tsunami, and Russell Simmons started a statement with "the tragedy of Lauryn Hill began when...", I was heated because that was just so stingy for them to say that (which also goes without saying that hiphop is indeed a stingy culture), and no one really cared to say what she did was probably the best thing for hiphop. Think about it - she blew the hell up! Fast! And we all know what happens to artists who are instantly enveloped in the spotlight (i.e. Kanye West, Destiny's Child/Beyonce, etc), they turn into pop and can no longer find themselves or their true sound. Better stated - their sound is dictated by the dollar. I personally was glad that she left because (this is me being honest) she felt uncomfortable with the music she was putting out, and didn't want to do it, so she left. Good for her.


Whether or not her craft touched you in a way that made you upset she left, don't forget she's a human being too and has needs that will go before your needs because she's that amazing (POW!). Why is she amazing? Because she started a whole other movement just by being herself, and didn't even know it (because she was definitely the anchor and pioneer for the neo-soul movement).


Also, and I will NEVER consider this a crutch or really want to validate this as a reason, but she's a woman/mother. She got knocked up so she had to take care of them. Why on earth should the world ridicule her for that? Why should hiphop, of all maternally-oriented cultures, ridicule her for that?


I care about the person first, then the artist, then their music (in that order), just as everyone else should. And the fact that she has evolved and is doing HER OWN THING makes me even more proud of her. I hope her next album will represent her, I no longer care if it "sounds good"!


If I went to Rock The Bells (which I didn't have to because half of the footage is uploaded on everyone's site who did attend the concerts), I would have applauded Lauryn for her additions and changes to her famous hits. Now, although it is a tour that is designed to be reminiscent of hiphop's past, one can't just discount an artist for putting their own spin on their music to better express themselves on stage. So what she put a higher tempo on her songs off Miseducation? She was experimenting, that shouldn't put her on everyone's shit list!


Speaking of her artistry, people who had a problem with her Unplugged sessions need to take a seat! Those numbers, if you heard them correctly, were symbolic of things she was going through. Why belittle her for that? If you were pissed about the misinterpretations of your miseducation, then you would respond in the same way. Unfortunately, the world we live in would react in the same fashion most of you guys did to her. Go us! (I guess)


I hope she releases an album that makes everyone eat their words. Literally. New York Times would eat their paper, people who tweeted hateful things about her would eat their computers or BlackBerrys, and the folks who talked trash about her return will receive the "I told you so" song and dance.


I feel the need to celebrate early, excuse me:

Rant over.

A Rant on Rock and Race: Can I Be A Black Rocker?

Earlier today I was watching Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll, a documentary on the concert in Fox Theater celebrating Chuck Berry's 60th birthday. In that documentary there was a segment featuring Little Richard and Chuck Berry (of course) talking about how their beginning journey in music was misunderstood. According to the radio stations and DJs back then, their music (and any other Black musician that wasn't carrying a sax or trumpet) was NOT Rock music, but R&B. In this documentary, however, Little Richard and Chuck Berry made it quite clear that they had nothing to do with calling their music R&B and wanted everything to do with being associated with Rock 'n' Roll.

Now I'm not a big fan of sub-genres (and really genres, period), so to hear such legendary musicians make that anti-distinction of their music made me proud of my viewpoint on music. Music is music. Everybody has a right to be rockers, just as everybody has a right to rap - no matter the color, gender, sexual preference. Unfortunately, we live in a world that doesn't see things the same way. Although R&B (rhythm and blues) fits for a typical Black musician, that doesn't mean all Black people want to be known as R&B singers. Just because a white person can play the guitar it doesn't mean they should be immediately ostracized from R&B.

With that said, I look at Afro-Punk a little bit different from other sub-genres and subcultures. I see the movement in "making Rock Black again" and I see it holding a significance to the Rock community as a whole - more than I see it being significant to the Black community. Not to downplay its presence in that community (and to make this piece specifically about Black music), but I think Afro-Punk is exactly what Rock needs, not because of its heavy political content, but because it shows that Rock is not, or ever was, only for white people to master. I'm not saying only white people listen to Rock music in general, but there has always been a problem in the music industry when a Black musician does something other than rap or sing. They are immediately isolated from both the Black community and the Rock community, the general Punk culture included. It's like you can't be Black and a rocker!

Here's a joint by Brittany Bosco called "Ragdoll". Now would you call this song, and this artist, Rock, R&B, or is this even necessary because she's Black?



There are plenty of Rock musicians that get little to no mainstream radio time mainly because they fail to fit in the Black music box. Take Ben Harper for example, who has been in the Rock game for nearly twenty years. It is next to impossible to hear him on ANY station, and their reason (at least one station I talked to about him) was that "he doesn't fit the type of Rock music we play." When I listen to him I hear the exact same Rock music they play. Maybe I'm wrong, and if so, help a sister out:



All I'm saying is that it's hard to be Black, a Rock musician, AND a Black Rock musician. It is next to impossible to merge the two in the kind of musical society we live in today, and that really applies to all music genres - hiphop, country, etc. The bottom line is as a [insert race here] person you have to choose between doing [insert race here] music and consider "being down" with the group, or you decide to step outside if your "chosen" musical genre and leave [insert race here].

Cell Therapy 029

So last night, as I typed in imeem.com as an attempt to listen to my Josh Groban playlist, I get redirected to the MySpace Music page. WTF IS UP WITH THAT?????

I begin perusing the MySpace site, along with failed but blind attempts at visiting the Imeem site (not to mention both of their Twitter pages), and found out through their Twitters that MySpace has acquired Imeem, and no one can use Imeem's stuff, including their embedded playlists, videos, songs, etc.

Like OMG!

So I gathered these thoughts and new information in my head and came to the ultimate urban conclusion that Imeem sold the F*** out of the online music community to the ultimate creep-infested MySpace!

Imeem sold out. Imeem just up and left its users - no email, press release, no warning, no nothing - like a dead beat. There were no news of negotiations even, just nothing!

We few, we happy few who looked past the 30-second previews and five-second ad interruptions Imeem gave us are now disappointed as we can't accept this change of scenery. The ease of embedding music onto our blogs, Facebook, MySpace calmed our nerves because people knew those songs and videos and playlists were awesome (not to mention it made the user look hella smart and tech savvy)! We enjoyed listening to a playlist full of all the music our favorite artists made. We loved singing along to songs with the lyrics someone posted in the comment section of the song's page. And we were always flattered to know whenever someone favorited our playlists.

So yes, I am an angry user of Imeem's online media service. Imeem and MySpace claim everything will be back to normal once Imeem transfers everything to MySpace...

THERE IS NOTHING NORMAL ABOUT MYSPACE!!!

As I make attempts at redo-ing my embedded music on this very blog, let alone other sites I used Imeem's services on, I cry. Not only because it's a lot of crap I put on this and other sites, but because the every song and playlist I remove tears out a piece of my music-loving soul.

*sniff sniff*

R.I.P. Imeem 2003-2009 (although MySpace ultimately killed you, you killed yourself by selling out)

The Pac In Me

Now there have been many posts lately about Tupac (also known as 2Pac, Pac or Makaveli, but I only call him/spell out Tupac), about how his music was overrated or underrated, but no one could really go in on Tupac until they understood him and where he was coming from throughout his life. Now I'm not saying I know his intentions, but he surely spoke out the most in his music and he had the most uplifting messages for folks from every hood possible. What I am saying is that Tupac was the most misunderstood hiphop artist ever.

He put out the kind of music that only applied to people in those kind of situations. His main focus was his message, not how his message was interpreted, which wasn't his greatest asset but to his audience his message overpowered his lyrical abilities. Tupac was (and still is) able to best speak to the thugs and the hood in a radical and political way. He was able to speak consciously in a poetic manner to a people who were unfamiliar to any sort of art form other than rap. He provided thugs another way to express themselves although he wasn't a thug. Although emcees like Nas spoke to the hood as an intellectual, Tupac spoke to the hood in their language. And with that, more people from the hood related to him than Nas. Now one thing most people can do is pull out three songs by Tupac, most of which being "California Love", "Dear Mama", and "Keep Ya Head Up". Two of those songs were amongst a few of his greatest uplifting songs he blessed the hiphop community with, those being "Dear Mama" and "Keep Ya Head Up". As for "California Love", it was a major big-up on California being the top dog amongst the other states in the country, and highlighted the things Cali has contributed, but it was mainly a party song.

Although the three songs were good songs, there are even more songs I can think of that were great contributions Tupac made for the people. The first song I can think of is "Brenda's Got A Baby". It was ok that the song was under three minutes, for it all he needed to tell the short tale of thousands of young Black ladies in the world who go through teenage pregnancy. Plus it was one thing to just tell the story about a particular chick named Brenda, but the social commentary is what made this song highly significant to hiphop. The line "That's not our problem, that's up to Brenda's family" let's you know Tupac is about to go in on how this 12 year old girl needs the community as much as she needed her family, who was extremely dysfunctional and could care less about her growth as an individual, as well as the newborn baby. So after the story of the baby's birth, Brenda's homelessness, and attempt to make money by selling drugs and prostitution, Brenda went from the 12 year old pregnant girl to "prostitute found slain", a headline seen too often in the news that includes young Black women in the streets.

The next song I can think of is "Pain" off of the Above the Rim soundtrack, plus the first single he released with Death Row Records. This song was the first song in my opinion that clarified what he meant by Thug Life. He started out in his first verse, "They'll never take me alive / I'm getting high, with my .45 / Cocked on these suckas, time to die... But now I'm labeled as a troublemaker, who can you blame / Smoking weed help me take away the pain / So I'm hopeless". Really, the entire verse spoke on how difficult it is for him to provide for his family when he had nothing to begin with, so he turns to the streets, who he often claims embraces him more than anyone else, instead of doing nothing. It is with this song that he begins to shed light in defense of the people who do their dirt in the streets, with his vivid images of selling drugs and killing anyone gets in his way.

Another song he blessed hiphop with was "So Many Tears". I can remember my older cousin, who does the very things Tupac raps about, repeating this song verbatim and I could see in his eyes he felt the same feelings as his favorite artist. This had to be the most spiritual song from him in the way to exposed his emotions in this song to God. He lays everything on the table to God, referring to Psalms 23:4 in the beginning of the song, and asks for forgiveness because of all what he has seen throughout his life - growing up with no around but the streets, witnessing so many murders, and ultimately asking "Is there a Heaven for a G?" - and all of what he is about to do as he, as a thug, envisions his death in the future. A line that has always stuck to me, and a line my cousin always went in on, was "My every move is a calculated step / To bring me closer to embrace an early death / Now there's nothing left". A door he opened in this song, as well as plenty other songs, was that it is ok for thugs to cry and ask for God for forgive them. He said at the end of the song "can't take no more / I'm fallin to the floor / beggin for the Lord to let me in to Heaven's door", which was a cry often stated in other cultures (i.e. as seen within the time of The Divine Comedy, Italian mobsters before committing a crime or death, and in the movie The Boondocks Saints), but not as prevalent in the Black community, especially the streets, until Tupac brought it to light.

So although most of his songs were aimed at being a voice for the streets, he indirectly exposed what it really meant to be a thug or a gangster. One thing Tupac did was glorify the misery behind being a thug as much as he glorified the actual things thugs did. With almost every line of violence Tupac had, he backed it up with a line of suffering or a line of confusion behind that action. He basically justified the streets with the conditions the streets faced, and he showed how miserable street life is. Whether or not he was a man from the streets, I can't say for sure, however he did grow up in a gifted school and a son of the Black Panthers, but if you ask anybody from the streets, and I'm not saying I'm a thug at all, but they will tell you Tupac got it right.

Most of the people in the mainstream society, and even in the hiphop community, weren't feeling Tupac as much as they should. One of the main reasons was that he focused too much on his message and not how to portray it. In other words, he wasn't the best lyrical machine in hiphop. He could rap very well, don't get me wrong, but compared to other emcees at the time (Nas, Biggie, and so on) he lacked the skills they had.

Another thing people didn't like about Tupac was his radical ways. He never held his tongue, and although we live in a country that claims to have freedom of speech, Tupac's image was always overshadowing his music. The difference between him and other emcees today (which is why I can disregard this major flaw of his) is that this image America/Death Row created for him was clearly out of alignment with who he really was, and that he was forced to be that image. I would go there and say his image was created by accident, and that dissonance between who America wanted him to be and what he really was turned him into the so-called monster he became. The fact that this very dissonance became enclosed is what really killed Tupac more than the beefs he had with anyone.

Which leads me to another issue people had with Tupac - this so-called East vs. West Coast beef. Of course with most of the country divided by Sides (east and west so the Midwest and South can be included), the folks on the Eastside weren't on the best of terms with him out of respect for their home and Biggie who was the frontrunner for the East Coast. All in all, Tupac's main flaw with others was his refusal to be what they wanted him to be - a prepackaged menace to American society.

First Rap Beef: The Wiki Wiki Song

Now I may get a lot of confused looks from the readers, but did anyone know that the first rap beef was in 1983? And yes, it was "Jam on Revenge(The Wiki Wiki Song)" by Newcleus! I'm pretty sure people believed it was a perfect world in the music business back then; where every artist would vibe off of one another, and all the hiphop and funk music was perfect for every b-boy and b-girl could break, but that was not the case.

In this song, the group takes several jabs at Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five, Sugar Hill Gang, and anyone different than the electro-funk sound of the 80s. They made fun of them between hooks with spoofs of the masterpiece "The Message" by GMF. They even went as far as calling them the Furious Jive! Let's not forget the spinning off the lyrics from "Rapper's Delight", poking fun at how uncreative Sugar Hill was. Although "The Wiki Wiki Song" was hot on the streets, Newcleus made it clear that they were "tired of that hiphop stuff," considering hiphop was only out for a few years. Man, they really weren't feeling hiphop!

Newlceus was a group that had a style similar to Afrika Bambaataa in that they followed the futuristic electro-funk-rock sound. I can't be mad at them because this song is a downright classic because of its funky sound and party-like atmosphere it attracts. Not to mention the hook is off the chain! You will never forget when to cue in screaming "Wiki wiki wiki wiki!" This song is perfect for any barbecue with the family or an old school party. Regardless, you will dance or sing this song no matter where you are!

Eminem's The Warning: Did He Really Have to Go There?

After hearing Eminem's lyrical slaughter of his relationship with Mariah Carey, I have to say I am shocked and disappointed at Eminem. In no way am I supporting Eminem with his new song "Warning", which is a response and diss to Mariah's video "Obsessed" where she dresses up like a man resembling the Slim One and sings on and on about his obsession with her when they were together in 2005.

Now, usually I don't get into gossip-like beefs (i.e. The Game and 50 Cent, 50 Cent and Ja Rule, etc), and I won't. I am writing this to discuss the way true MCs should pick and choose their battles.

Aside from the misogynistic and mom-dissing ways Eminem has in previous albums, he is one of the best MCs, and I mean MC not rapper, ever. When you surpass almost every MC in Detroit, 8 mile and so on, as well as take out national artists careers, you rank pretty high amongst MCs in the hiphop industry. Slim Shady is probably the only musician I'll let slide with all the cussing and name-calling towards his family because he didn't have such a glorious life growing up because he can flow it's nobody's business. He is one of the few MCs to make it through the battle circuit, underground circuit, and mainstream. SO WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD HE WANT TO USE HIS MAGNIFICENT TALENT IN BATTLING AN R&B SINGER????????

My problem is beyond all the skeletons that were yanked out of Mariah's closet by way of Eminem because in MC battle wounds occur and feelings will be hurt. However, a true MC from the battling circuit knows when he or she needs to attack his or her with brute force, play around with their opponent, or just play D. With this diss record Eminem put out, I have to disagree with Em on his choice to attack Mariah with such brute force. That whole incident, and I say that because Eminem murdered the beef (because if Nick Cannon come out with anything, his career would be over. Oh wait, it already is), was like the atomic bombs we launched on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Eminem's explicit and explosive content, or even a response, was not necessary. Whereas Mariah aired some dirty laundry, Eminem brought out them dirty, poop-stained drawers!

I bring this review of The Warning by Eminem to a close with a grade of a D+ because an MC with such stature in the hiphop world like Eminem should not have wasted time on an R&B singer who is trying everything to keep her career afloat.

The Warning - Eminem