"100 Guns, 100 clips"
-by Boogie Down Productions.

The first amendment of the United States guarantees the right to bear arms....of course with a few loop holes. I was compelled to write 'cause in this climate its a touchy situation for hip-hop in general especially for "the King" aka T.i. or was it Tip. (I am confused who got caught.)

If one lives in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Chicago, Compton, Detroit City, Atlanta,New Orleans, St. Louis or even Baltimore there is a street understanding that there are folks that are just jealous and hate to see other folk come up and be successful. Those "haters" are upset that they were not a part of that success and cannot share from it. Instead of being self-sufficient the "haters" enjoy creating a negative situation that end up evening the odds for both parties. This isn't exclusive to the US, its true over seas in the Caribbean, in Africa and South America too. The Police already have a hard time controlling d'evils that men do in the urban minority communities so there is no urgency to protect them neither. In that case one must protect themselves often by any means necessary. That means one must carry the piece, the nina, the oo-op, the burner, the ratchet, the toast, the tool, the grips, the heater, the gat, the strap, the chopper, the hammer or whatever name is appropriate. (Funny that I used a Malcolm X quote 'cause some folk respect the man only for image of him carrying a rifle looking out the window and not for his views. Better yet don't know a thing he taught.)

There is a severe punishment in the US involving getting caught with a pistol which can lead you to many years in prison. (Just ask Tony Yayo or Prodigy from Mobb Deep.) That doesn't apply to folks with good lawyers i.e. Queen Latifah. I know a dude that has missed all the details of his daughter's life for being in the car with a guy and a gun.

In the hood, its a bit of a prerequisite to walk around with something especially if you neighborhood is not necessarily safe. Ask Beanie Siegel or Fabolous who got shot in their own neighborhood. Me....I carried a solid metal pipe in my book bag to high school every day hoping I don't get mobbed on the train by Decepticons or other gangs in BK or Queens. I am not a artist or anyone with anything. I was a loner and I had to do what I felt would even the odds if things went wrong.

As an artist you can get the attention because people see you on TV or hear your music but you have to live up to the hype of the fame. Drug dealers, pimps, gang members or thieves wanted that same notoriety and even would test or disrespect the artist by throwing insults or wads of money at them or even robbing them. That means the artist have to step their game up [compete]. Wear more jewelry. Walk with more goons. Carry more equalizers. Thus the reason for Shyne getting locked up for a ten year stretch. (Diddy had a good lawyer too.)

There are have been many cases of folks getting shot or carrying weapons: i.e. Gravy, Maino, 2pac. Too many to mention. If only outsiders (I mean folks who don't live in the hood) could get a glimpse of the reality that some folks must live with daily.

I am for the protection of self and family but there is always some fool that must take it to the next level and do something stupid like in the case of the murder of Busta Rhymes bodyguard, robbing Fabolous or even Virginia Tech.

TI hold your head up. (pause) I don't know you but for all I know that you may have been a collector of rare artillery. Silencers take it to the next level. I personally believe it is entrapment. But who am I? ( just the girls them suga!! lol. Only Beenie Man fan would understand.) If he gets locked up it will be a travesty for Hip-Hop and a win for everyone else against it.
Shyne comes out. TI goes in. Again.

"Start the Show"
by Common

After the Hip-Hop Honors on Thursday night I went to the Common concert at the Nokia Theater that Sunday. Opening up for the artist from Chi-City was none other that Q-Tip from a Tribe Called Quest. Now I have been a fan of Tip from the first time I heard his voice on the Jungle Brothers' song "Black is Black" and "The Promo". I have every song Tribe or Q-Tip has ever recorded on my Ipod. Common on the other hand was a slow favorite of mine. Meaning it took me a while to admire him as an artist. I knew folk that worked for Relativity Records, the label which debut Fat Joe and Common as artists. Time and time again they would hand me samplers and the only one I enjoyed was "Soul by the Pound" then "Take it Easy"- tunes that you will never hear Common perform. As a shorty I always wanted to see Tribe perform but to no avail. The first time I have ever seen Tribe or Q-tip perform in all my years of concert going was at the Hip-Hop Honors. Well at least that is what I can remember.

I was excited because I had confidence that Common would put a good show cause he always does from the time I see him at SOB's, the Hammerstein, Central Park, wherever. Peep my blog last year. The Q-tip show was off the hook. Tip had a live band consisting of a bass player, a pianist (snicker..I am so immature. pause.) and a DJ. But not any DJ....Super DJ....DJ Scratch from EPMD fame. It was great. Tip (not TI) did classic tribe stuff. He let his band catch wreck and let Scratch show his awesome skills. As a matter of fact, Tip did some scratching of his very own. (I hear he is a good DJ. He did his thing.) Q-Tip did some covers of other classic hip-hop tunes which brought fellow comrades KRS-ONE and even Dres from Black Sheep onstage. Although Q-tip's new material has a lot of singing (which is just decent) it still came off great.

Common was up next. I can feel the Kanye influence becuase he added an element to his show that he never used to do......the infamous wardrobe change. It added a little flavor to the performance of the songs... I guess. Finding Forever tunes banged all night and a freestyle session with Q-Tip and KRS. If you never heard Common freestyle its sick!!! He adds that to the routine to show the crowd he is that dope. He could easily record classics off freestyles like no other. I won't elaborate any more. It was a great night for Hip-Hop.

When Com is your town you should "GO!!!"

"Don't Let it get to your head" by Brand Nubian

The other night I got to work backstage for the 4th installment of the Hip-Hop Honors. I was really excited 'cause although I missed the preparatory meetings, I learned that I would be working with one of my favorite groups of all time....... a Tribe called Quest. But on show date, I was given the task of working with one of the artists that would honor them....(Damn. ) I think is name is.......... Busta Rhymes. Nah, it was him and I was excited and not so excited. Busta is one of my favorite artists too. From the very first night I heard his verse on the "Case of PTA" way back in 91. I have supported all his material. Starting from his stint with Leaders of the New School to his solo career. I even supported all the work he has done as an actor. His best work was "Finding Forrester" with Sean Connery. so I consider myself a true fan of his....well, from a distance.

Now in person would be a new challenge due to the number of run-ins with the law in and out of court ie. the slapping a woman, beating a kid for spitting on his car, a number of traffic violations and the murder of his bodyguard. I knew it was gonna be a repeat of my 50 cent incident at the VMAs. (check my last year blog.) I am 6'1 and about 255 lbs. I am beginning to understand that folks give me the guys that would/could be a problem. I knew a dude that used to do security for Busta present at the event. I thought he could put in the good word to make this smooth but didn't help a bit.

As Busta comes in to rehearsal (3 hours late) in his Maybach he steam-rolls his way into the Hammerstein totally ignoring my introduction. Cool, cause I don't get upset. At least he didn't just play me only. Security couldn't maintain him either all night. (Well not all night but a majority of it.) I figured that since this will be some work I should get in good with the entourage. I made connections with the manager and Spliff Star, his sidekick. They were cool. Good thing Busta had other things to do. He was in and out of rehearsal until later in the evening.

Everything worked out kinda. It got better as the night progressed. As long as I didn't have to communicate with him. Busta was rude to fans but nice to some artists and especially women. So the next time I will make the request to be paired with a woman.

To get right down to the point, there are some artists that we all love and we are dying to meet. It doesn't matter whether the setting is most of them are just @$$holes. It sad to lose fans that way but fans make artist feel like deity...where you can't look them in the eye (Lauryn Hill) or they don't want folks to take pictures from the left side (Mariah), walking with an entourage of 40 people, (J-Lo, Fifty Cent, Jim Jones.) , throwing tantrums or some other foolishness. Some poor sap carried Kerry Washington's dog... B$#^& is you smoking reefer!!! (that couldn't be me. even if she fine and all that. sigh.)

It's gotta be the money that makes them act a fool where they can make requests to remove the yellow M&Ms or disrespect all their lady fans, show up late where ever they are needed and other selfish acts. While the smaller artists like Mims or Red Cafe are really cool to the point that you could be friends. Man, I hate it. I met a lot of folk thought out my life especially in the rap community. Its a far search to find humble people. Sad.

"You Must Learn" by Boogie Down Productions

The other night I watched the film "Higher Learning" with the Mrs. starring: Tyra Banks, Omar Epps, Micheal Rappaport, Ice Cube and others. The 1995 drama film dealt with the classicism, racism and sexism found on a fictitious college campus, Columbus University. I recall going out to support the film in my junior year of "high learning" and relating to a lot of the goings-on at Queens College campus in Flushing, NY. John Singleton's perspective of realism on film mimicked that of my favorite director at the time Spike Lee ( I still got love for you Spike. pause) evident in Singleton's debut film "Boyz in the Hood". Each of The characters, have a personal issue that develop the climax of the story which ties them all together at the end of the film.

Racism was the more predominant theme in the film. As an African-American student I could relate to some of the issues the Malik (played by Omar Epps) went through. In those days Queens College was a racially charged environment with students strongly voicing their opinions on issues like Tawanna Brawley, etc.

The perspective I had then and now digress a bit. The one thing that I really regret was not networking with my peers. I had many "friends" but failed to step out of my comfort. As did Malik.

Today I look at students as sheep-mindless creatures that follow the herd. Laurence Fishburne who portrayed a professor on campus emphasized that he wanted his students to be thinkers. Create original thought and the ability to express that thought intelligently to others. A skill that I have not mastered and took many years to learn. I admire the fact that John Singleton showed that the students reacting out of anger and frustration, often in scenes with them yelling or shouting. This anger probably synthesize from our ignorance, stereotypes and disapproval of any assimilation.

If only Singleton could put out a superior film like that today.

"Don't Curse" - by Heavy D.

The other night BET aired the news special "Hip-Hop vs. America". I didn't get to see it but I made sure I got it on my DVR. I did get to hear about on the radio on my way to work. Free, the guest on the show was on air with Ed Lover. I missed most of the conversation but I did catch the concern of language in Hip-Hop. Ed mentioned that Chamillionaire and Master P have made the decision to exclude offensive language in their music. Another proposal was to censor the music too.

My thoughts- I am not a big fan of the profanity in music. Don't get it twisted either, I will curse the #$%& out of you if I must. (My wife says I have a potty mouth.) My concerns are really for the people who don't understand i.e. people who are not fans and mostly children. I cringe when my favorite artists (i.e. DMX, Kanye, Jay, etc) drop the N-bomb on TV or at concert. It is a moment of ignorance. This moment re-enforces folks to think it is OK. Actually......It's not cool.

Excluding profanity is not new idea in fact, Pete Rock and CL Smooth, Heavy D, LL Cool J, Jungle Brothers, Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince and slew of artist have all dabbled in the concept in the past. Keep in my mind the only promotion fro music was radio and an artist needed a clean record to drive sales. There were underground stations that played the uncut version of our favorite tunes too. I remember recording the original uncut version of "La-di-da-di"with the verse about Vanessa Williams. I eventually had to delete it because if my parents heard it they would destroy all my tapes. (I really regret deleting it. I am a pack rat because of my new point of view.)

Placing stickers or censoring songs have an adverse affect to consumer. Instead of detering consumers, the package is more attractive. I know I was giddy the first time I heard the debut albums of NWA or Eminem. The material is offensive but, material that goes over the edge is what people are looking for. "The Departed", "Reservoir Dogs", "Kill Bill", "Scarface", "The Godfather" although were a good films attract folks to purchase DVDs in mass consumption. More and more television is crossing those boundaries too. I won't get into the double standards but I will say that no artist in any genre/art form should appreciate any form of censorship. Anyone of them can easily fall victim.

There are folks that rely on the "shock" entertainment to maintain their careers: i.e. Madonna, Luke Campbell, Too Short, NWA, Eminem, Marilyn Manson, Richard Pryor, Howard Stern, even Don Imus. Lets imagine America where the government shut down these folks before they spoke. Then the list would add Kanye West, Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, Dr. Martin Luther King, etc.

I do recall the days when there were more radio friendly music. Songs that you wouldn't cringe when your children singing it like "Hot Wuk" by Mr. Vegas or "Shawty is the SH--" by The Dream or worse "My Girl Got a Girlfriend" by Ray Lavender. These catchy jingles spread faster than butter on hot toast.

Personally, I make the choice to go to Wal-mart or FYE for clean versions of new discs. This is my effort to try to clean up my act. Not just for myself but to allow me to share with my peers without any embarrassment.

-Social Responsibility.

"I Got a Story to Tell" by Notorious BIG

I have a serious affinity for my hometown: Brooklyn, Bucktown, BK, Brook-nam, the Planet, whatever you wanna call it. although I left there about half my total existence but I have a hard time telling folks of where I am situated now. Don't let the DJ say "Is Brooklyn in the house!!!" You bound to hear a lot of noise from my side of the room. I love everything Brooklyn: the look, the sound, the women. My wife is definitely from BK. I couldn't have it any other way. Many of my favorite emcees came from Brooklyn: Jay, Big, Kane, Mos, Tek, Steele, SP, Fab, Buckshot, Masta Ace, Lyte, etc. The latest cover of XXL Magazine host the new cats that are on the come-up. a few dudes that are good some that I'm not feelin at all. One dude which I been warning cats for yeears was Red Cafe.
Its been many years in the making. Hot singles that never took off. Bad deals with labels, etc. He has the skills, the punchlines, the hooks, the voice, the drops, the appeal to the ladies and having recently signed a deal under Akon's label "Konvict" can place the chips in the right direction -considering the success of T-Pain. Lasltly he is from Brooklyn!!! The precursor album that mack 10's imprint on capital Records never was relased but leaked on the internet. A very decent attempt but not strong enough to create a buzz as leaks from artists like Kanye or TI.
My connections landed me an opportunity to sit in on an interview for his latest project the Co-op with DJ Envy. The boy can spit. The same hook-up allowed me to go to the listening party for the album set to drop on Oct. 8th on Koch Records. All I can say is Damn!!! With productions from Rockwilder the beats are on another level. I wasn't a big fan of the skits but the album is fire. My prediciton is Cafe is that dude. My personal feelings -it should have been releases on a major. Konvict Records release soon to follow. "What else!!"