Since the passing of two Hip Hop titans in the Notorious BIG and Tupac Shakur, rap beefs have become an ongoing joke amongst fans whenever they surface. The last little spat that was taken seriously was between Jay-Z and Nas but that was strictly musical and came off more as Jay-Z breaking Nas’s balls in order to have him up his game and do better. Rap beefs in general just seem lame nowadays being that we have seen the worst part of them with shoot-outs in the street and artists losing their lives. Mention a rap beef to someone today and you get feedback like “that little cornball?” followed by a laugh and a question on his sexuality. Rap Beefs shouldn’t be announced So with that being said, why would you announce to the world that you are making a diss record and then drop the name of your victim? Lame! The best beefs were… [Read more]

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Okay where do I begin… sigh, if I can just stop laughing for a few seconds I can take this inmate in and lock his ass up for awhile. Hammer! What are you doing man? I thought you were out of the game making back your money on some real square deals, now I see you are taking the Christian rapper route to fame by dissing bosses. Crime: Making A Jay-Z Diss Music Video Alright, lets list all the things wrong with this new music video by MC Hammer: Fake business meeting to fool us viewers that he is such a mogul (FAIL), okay he’s jiggin (FAIL), he has a douchebaggy tee on (FAIL), he looks like your buddy’s embarrasing daddy trying to stay cool (FAIL) and It’s MC Hammer! You remember… parachute pants, the typewriter, Mr. Too Legit to Quit. Ya… Look Hammer I know you’re a Christian rapper, and we all know that… [Read more]

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Ever so often a phrase or cliché is brought into circulation that people love to chirp as if they live by it as their raison d’etre. The phrases either originate from a public speaker, a guru of some sort or a song (Jay-Z is good for creating nice one-liners). Phrases such as “30 is the new 20”, or “Work smart not hard” number the many that pop up to result in me rolling my eyes, but none bugs the hell out of me more than “fake it till you make it”. This phrase, while true of hardcore, ambitious people who act and dress the part of the wealthy, is not a reality for most who utter it. People like this live large the days after payday, they stay up on the latest and greatest and they scoff at those who don’t keep pace with their destructive lifestyle. It works really well too as those on… [Read more]

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Recently I was involved in an email discussion with some good friends in regards to two new albums being released: The Blueprint 3 by Jay-Z and Only Built 4 Cuban Links 2 by Raekwon Da Chef and Ghostface Killa. What started out as a funny moment of reminiscing (being that we all at one time had been engrossed fully into the Hip Hop culture) degenerated into a bout of ageism and elitism. Some of them had apparently outgrown Hip Hop, here is a quote from one of my more successful, respected and intellectual friends: “I’d only share that the majority of hip hop music (both now and in the “golden age” too) rang empty to me once I personally matured to an extent.  The musical celebration of themes like misogyny, substance abuse, drug trafficking, gunplay, misogyny, homophobia, pride in incarceration, satisfaction with poverty, misdirected territorialism (aka a stolen people reppin’ their stolen land to the… [Read more]

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I recently read an article that basically stated that marriage is a dying, archaic institution, especially for Black folks.  Marriage is to partnerships what Beta-Max was to the revolutionizing of in home movie viewing.  If 30 is the new 20, as professed by Jay Z, and we all agree that 20 is hot,  then marriage is like 104 years old.  Suffice to say, it is not hot.  It is allergic to being hot. Now, as a married woman of some years (even that ever crucial 5th one), I can’t, for the life of me, understand what the problem is.  Marriage offers so many benefits, why would one try so hard to avoid it?  First off, umm… the tax break.  And please don’t mess around and throw a kid or two on top of that (only your own please), it’s like Uncle Sam is making it rain and you are the gleeful recipient.  Single Super Mama,… [Read more]