• » Name: J. Burnett
• » Location: Atlanta, GA
• » Member Since: 05/25/07
• » Contact Me:
• » Syndicate: RSS

• » It's Been a Long Time...
• » T.I.'s Resume Checked
• » Rappity Rap Raps
• » A Call to Arms
• » Woooooord

• » Why Think Let Me Hold That

Why Think Let Me Do That...Jesus Approved Commentary

Stumpin' on my Jansport

I'm officially renouncing any type of backpacker or Hip Hop head status I may have had in the past--not that I've ever really had said status anyway. From here on, when describing me just say I'm a music generalist with a foundation in Hip Hop. The truth of the matter is that I can't get jiggy with the elitist, ostentatious culture of the "backpacker." You know what I'm tawkin' bout...that "better than thou" BS that goes on so often on OKP message boards and here. Truth be told, you basement batti boys are the reason why your favorite emcee will never grow beyond the small box you created for them--where you and your other clique reside and drink emcee milkshakes. Now to be fair, I was one of those guys for a minute minus the drinking emshakes. I chided Hov, Kweli and Com for "sellin' out" but my problem w/their respective projects was not them selling out. It was just I personally thought the music was Charmins. I don't know maybe in this case I'm just on the opposite side of the fanhood spectrum.  

This all stems from well respected and disgruntled (only kiddin') XXL bloggers, Noz's response to the Roots' young white snatch anthem Birthday Girl. Sidenote: many of you will take this and run w/it as some type of diss towards him but it's not. I respect his work but I disagree, wholeheartedly. He says: the Roots spent 15 years building a sound only to abandon it for the young white $$$ which is erroneous. IMO, the only thing that links the Root's project is their willingless to try something different when they feel like it. Each album is an experiment. I think the problem is not so much the track is boo boo but it's not the track he/they wanted based off of their street singles. But here's the thing; is trying something new or even reaching out to a different audience necessarily "selling out???" And in this case, who are they selling out to??? The fans who lambast them w/blogs who never buy their music anyway??? I think at this point, we can agree the Roots have done their due diligence to the OKP crowd and the sort and it's time they get their guap. Shiied I would. If you don't like the track, cool. Everyone's entitled to that but don't rip them because they're not being who you want them to be.

Sidenote: Lets not forget that rapping is a job too. All that artistic blahzay blah don't equate to guap. Guap equates to guap. I think sometimes we get soooo wrapped in our own ambitions for an act that we forget yes, a mofo needs to feed their kids and on this particular outing, Birthday Girl, I personally think they did a good job of doing both. They explored some shit they probably go through b/c there's an assload of hot white chicks at Roots shows and it's some experimental shit so...yea. 

What do yall think?

0 Comments             

Your Name: (Required)
Friends Email Addresses: (Comma Seperated)
Message:
Verification Code: