Funk Master Flex made the critical mistake that a lot of Black people make in business, and that is becoming emotional. Under no circumstances was it or is it ever okay to publicize your private business conversation before you and the individual you are doing business with have collectively resolved your business matter and or subsequent business transaction. Whether Funk Flex understood that HOV was reaching out to him for business or personal matters is a nonissue. He may now have ruined a good business opportunity which could have benefitted both individuals, or at the least found out some vital information that could have aided in his further success.
As comical as the radio rant may have been, it did not add any substantial nominal gains for his brand and it probably strained a good working and beneficial business relationship. It was simply immature and exhibited poor business etiquette and lack of savvy.
Now is the time for the Black nation to hold all of its guests, welcomed and unwelcome, to be accountable for their tribute to the Black nation. The white rapper has been allowed to enter within the borders of the Black nation, whether escorted or granted access, and has often gained much success from the commodity of the Black culture. The white rapper has time and time again used the Black culture to take from the Black market and resale their derived version of the Black culture to other markets. Meanwhile, the Black rapper watches as their own access to those same markets are limited to less than that of the white rapper. The white rapper has yet to offer their own contribution to the Black nation for the escorted and granted access into the Black culture and their gainful success from it. It is time for the Black nation to demand the white rapper prove to the Black nation they are worthy for further acceptance. Otherwise, the Black nation must disassociate itself with the white rapper and consider them an invader, an exploiter, and a thief.
Hip Hop and Rap music is a Black form of art. It is not a white form of art. Most people will agree, and anyone who does not agree is trying to fool their own self. Black people can and do sell Hip Hop and Rap music, and are successful at doing it. That is not an issue. Black artists do not have a problem independently entering the industrial markets of the music world and selling their recordings and performances for a profit. There are plenty of past and current examples of Black individuals who successfully exchange their products in multiple arenas of the entertainment industry. The Black nation supports these artists, whether someone believes it or not, the same way it always has and that is mainly through validation. Unfortunately, many people believe that Black people do not make up a significant amount of the consumer record sales and that it is pointless to cater to the Black demographic if you want to sell music, or entertainment as a whole. That is a lie. Black people are a large portion of the consumer body worldwide and make up a great amount of consumer record sales, when it is valid to do so. The Black consumer, however excessive to some or perceivably invaluable to others, is not a foolish consumer. It is time for the Black nation to openly reject these lies and rid itself of those who exploit its markets.
The Black market is the essence of Hip Hop and Rap. Hip Hop and Rap is a product of the Black market. The lyrics and the instrumentals are all forms and developments of Black market intricacies, and more importantly, Black culture. You cannot use Hip Hop and Rap as a product without using Black culture and the Black market. In many ways, Black culture and Hip Hop as well as Rap and the Black market are all one in the same. So it does not make economical sense to the Black nation for someone who is not a direct and natural product of these entities to take from them, amass wealth from them, then show no evidence of redistributing any wealth directly back to them. It is time for the Black nation to point out all perpetrators who delve in these acts of piracy, and even those who commit treason to allow it. Point them out and demand they submit to retribution. Otherwise, the Black nation should no longer accept them as a representative of Black culture. They must be invalidated.
The Black people who have escorted and granted the white rapper access should be the first within the Black nation to demand they redistribute their gains back to the Black nation from which it came. Their products are a product of the Black nation, and those products represent and redefine the solace in despair and poverty of the Black nation. The sale of the deprived image given to them by the Black nation is one they do not own themselves, and the mask they wear is a Black face painted white. They do what the Black rapper does and instead of being called coon they are called edgy. They do what the Black rapper does and instead of being called a whore they are called seductive. They do what the Black rapper does and instead of being called nasty they are called racy. They do what the Black rapper does and instead of being called racist they are called political. They do what the Black rapper does and instead of being called ignorant, they in fact are called genius. They cannot do all of this without prior access and validation by the Black nation, because it would not make sense or be accepted by other markets if this were not the case. No one in any market enjoys spending their money on a product which is not certified as authentic. It is time the Black nation pressure the white rapper to show their hand in the uplifting of the Black nation. The Black nation must see this now, otherwise it must close the doors on these cheapskates and hoodwinks.
The Black nation must now see those who enter within its border act according to the uplifting and development of the global Black nation. The Black nation must demand these characters and actors redistribute back into it from their own disproportionate wealth gained from the used and abused culture of the Black nation. It is not the Chinese, Japanese or Asian culture from which the white rapper is imitating. It is not the Arab or Jewish culture from which the white rapper is imitating. It is not the Latin or South American nations from which the white rapper is imitating. Most of all, it is not their own European culture from which the white rapper is imitating. It is the Black nation from which the white rapper is imitating. The Black nation owes it to itself to demand the unpaid arrears the white rapper owes it for their ongoing campaign to seek Black validation in self serving entertainment endeavors which do nothing to benefit the Black nation. By not benefitting the Black nation, these white rappers’ allowed and self aggrandized neglect toward their agency to the Black nation does more to degrade the Black nation than it does to build the image of the white rapper. The Black nation must recognize this as evidence it has to set an embargo on fraudulence and begin to demand and reap these too often and long squandered earnings which leave its market and never return.
“Con coco o sin coco?” Is what brothers and sisters ask when you ask them if they have any weed to smoke in the Dominican Republic. With cocaine or without cocaine? In the Dominican Republic cocaine is a more socially accepted drug of choice than marijuana. Weed is actually looked down upon in the way smoking crack is looked upon here in the United States. This was a very bizarre state of affairs when I realized the ramifications of such a construct. This meant that in the Dominican Republic, I was a crack head and the coke heads were the laid back stoners. My how the truth can be malleable and ambiguously obscure.
When I went to a close friend’s potluck a week ago, who is actually Dominican himself, I kept hearing him and his cousin yell out “I’m in love with the coco!” They finally played the video for everyone and we all were glued to the monitor as we watched a man sitting at a kitchen table with his friends, seemingly spreading powdered cocaine over it with playing cards and rolling up blunts. How simply sensational of a sight I thought! Who cannot relate to this image? How can you not see how relevant this scene is? I thought all of this at the same time as I thought how disgusting the video was. The mundaneness of what Hip Hop or Rap has degraded to. Who could support such garbage! These were the conflicting debates floating in my mind as I continued to stare and listen to what one of our good friends from college described as a nursery rhyme. He was right. The lyrics were so simple a two year old could recite and comprehend them after one listen. It was actually kind of disturbing to think of the influence this video will have on younger viewers.
It was stuck in my head. I walked home with my girlfriend singing “I’m in love with the coco” out loud. We would both laugh and shake our heads at our own senseless embarrassment and juxtaposed affinity for the simple yet catchy tune. I asked her to play it again when we got home. We watched the whole thing, twice. I watched it again, alone with my headphones. I bobbed my head. I lip synced the single syllable lyrics to myself. I smiled at the screen. I enjoyed it. It was addictive.
The beat! The foundation of the auditory retention is the low frequency of the sub bass line in the background music. The engineer of the musical score synthesized the reverberations of the low tones very well, and in unison the sound effects which work congruently with the bass are mesmerizing. If there were no lyrics, the song will still have a profound affect onto the listener. I can imagine watching the video with the instrumental only and still fully understanding the theme of the song. Without a doubt, like many other current rap hits, the beat carries the song and without it I sincerely believe it would not work or feel the same. The producer and his engineer did an excellent job.
The lyrics are simple, as already stated. However, the lyrics are contrasting to what is the current political atmosphere in the Black community. Whether Genasis intended to cause a debate or not is not the question. He has most certainly done so. While at my friend’s potluck, I recall a divide amongst all who were watching the video. Some loved it. Some hated it. I did find myself somewhere in the middle. The melody of the lyrics and the cadence of the rhyme took me back to “con coco o sin coco” in the Dominican Republic. It reminded me of a time and place when and where I was unsure of my political stance on drugs and what is socially on the fence, and what is totally overboard. I will not promote violence and I believe guns should be used only for protection, however I was reminded of the G Thang video when the guy had the pistol tucked into the back of his pants while working the barbecue pit. The guns looked real and I looked at them closely. I was drawn to them the same way I have always been when watching a movie or television show. This video was no different. This was a good rap video. If we must separate Hip Hip and Rap to achieve a sense of clarity and social aptness in our culture and responsibility to our community then I say this is an excellent rap video.
Whether Genasis will stand the test of the fickle music industry is oh but yet to be seen. I for one could not care less how things play out, but best of luck to him and his family. As for this record, very disturbing yet highly intriguing. It is extremely interesting how the same thing can be done in so many ways and still one out of the million appears and feels so different. This one was like tasting something different in a corner store bottled water and thinking “wow, what is this?” Only to look and see it is Poland Spring with a new logo and feeling unconsciously satisfied with what you perceive as something new.
First I wanna say that Camille is an extraordinary artist and she has a powerful and chilling voice when she sings. Fred Focus is a true visionary and the images he captured in this video are beyond explanation.
I wanna bring forth my thoughts on one particular part. When the black and white scene of Camille on the porch with the dog comes on I swear my heart skipped a beat. I almost forgot I was watching a music video on my iPhone. I for a second believed I had travelled back in time and was watching a real image of some 1930’s back alley shanty town performance.
This is by far the best work I’ve seen from these two artists, in regards to them working together. I know the both of them personally and would like them to know I’m deeply proud to have been graced by their artistic presences’ in my lifetime. I hope to see more collaborations between them and riveting and provocative works of art in the near and later future.
William Roberts ended gangsta rap because he went from being a prison correctional officer to using the most famous black cocaine dealer’s real name as a stage name for his gangsta rap persona. And this is the man who runs gangsta rap today.
Pearson is an up and coming rapper who goes by the stage name Real Rap. He hates his nine to five job and feels trapped in a corner. He finally gets his big break when he gets signed to a major record label. Things get tough when he sees how it really is to be a star.
I saw this sticker today at work and it brought back the childhood memory of Naughty By Nature’s hit single “O.P.P.”, which was my shit! You had to respect the intensity and how gangsta’ the track was in 1991. Rap ain’t what it used to be.
This is one of Herbal Essence’s tracks on the Shaken: Not Stirred album. I ran across it on my Pandora and fell in love with the smooth jazz fused with a hip hop drum pattern sound. I think anyone can vibe with this record.
Beanie Sigel spoke with XXL Magazine today and apologized to Jay-Z for his 2009 diss record “What You Talkin’ Bout (I Ain’t Your Average Cat)”. If you ain’t got nothing nice to say, don’t say nothing at all. Beans should have thought about that before it had to come to this.
On one hand, I understand why he did the diss track. Hov did drop the entire label without much warning, leaving mad unemployed rappers in the wake; Beans, Freeway, Peedi Crack, just to name a few. But still, dissing the guy on wax was asking for embarrassment.
Jay never directly replied to Beans’ diss, and it ended up making the whole idea insignificant. Now that he’s saying sorry publicly, it’s only reminding people that he mad a fool of himself by doing so.
Whatever though, all the best to Beans’ career, and he’s still one of the top ten greatest gangsta rappers of all time.
Erick's Brain 