Ne-Yo = Stop Snitchin’

 

This is in no way a dig at Ne-Yo, he’s a cool dude. In fact I’ve told him this very same thing a million times: ”Why all the women anthems dude?”.  Why are you uniting the women against us, man? I mean first, he’s Got Beyonce kicking dudes to the left.  Then Rhianna, telling dudes to keep “Ackin, Sorry you got caught”. Now, dude is on his own album talking about he likes, “When women got their own..” Knowing good and darn well 95% of the women singing along to that song, do not. 

Wants some evidence of Snitchin’/Hating?:

Exhibit A: His string of Hater songs: Irreplaceable, Unfaithful, Take A Bow, Single, Ms. Independent (yes it’s a hater song!) 

Why do women need HIM to tell them what they should do? It’s like the “Magic Revealed” guy on TV with the mask. He knows that if David Copperfield, Chris Angel, or David Blane found out who he was they’d kick the “magic” out of him. Stop before you tell them ”why we do/act/say stupid things”, you’re slowly giving them weapons of male destruction (WMD) the tools to completely make us do whatever they want. You don’t see Keri Hilson telling us “secrets”.

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Exhibit B:  ”If you came here by yourself tonight…cause he wouldn’t pick up the phone. He was suppose to bring you here tonight, couldn’t find him so you came alone. It don’t matter cause you’re here now, and the music you’re enjoying. So for the next couple minutes, baby I’ll be your boyfriend…”

Now he don’t know what that dude was doing. He could be on the side of the road, dead, missing (aint the same thing, you can be missing and not dead), at the hospital, church, etc..but it don’t matter, he wouldn’t pick up the phone. So she got ready and still brought her “Non-Single” self out to the club, but your steady saying, “Pretty mama, are you single?”. We’ve already established at the beginning she wasn’t. You can steal a man’s girl, just not by filling her head up about HIS whereabouts. Player Code baby…you must have forget. As Diddy would say, that’s a bit of Bitchassness!

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Exhibit C: He recently went on record saying, “Omarion & Trey Songs grew up because they cut their cornrows”. He said Ludacris also realized that you can’t rock a 3 piece suit with cornrows. Year of the Gentleman.

You already know what I’m going to say right? How many times have you seen Ne-Yo’s scalp? Dude will wear a hat into church, weddings, swimming, bath tub etc. Before you talk about other’s fashion faux pas, practice what you preach. We all got over LL Cool J’s odd shaped head, we can learn to get used to yours.

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Exhibit D: The Official “Milli” Remix

Who likes when a cat who sings all of a sudden starts rapping about how rich he is? Nuff said.

Hip Hop Is Dead?..Vol.1

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve all seen the T-shirts, album covers, and magazines. Heard the chatter of unsolicited underground backpackers. Read about the arrest and lawsuits of the illegal downloaders. What’s next?

Will record companies continue to send their underpaid, overworked, fame starved interns to the strip malls, clubs & sidewalks to plaster cars, people, and walls with more ridiculous psychobabble? Is everyone really thinking it, or is it just Nas? And why are still listening to Nas after he was TKO’d & “So Uglied” by Jay-Z? Is it just propaganda from the North to explain why no one from NY is #1.

Yes, the south is responsible for some of the craziest music trends ever created. Yet, it is arguably the most entertaining of the garbage out. Maybe I’m just an “old head” I prefer to get ignorant with my booty shake and old school bass music. It’s the “dancer” in me, pop locking, rag topping, & YEKE! is just in my blood. I rarely get into the discussion about real hip hop because no one knows what Hip Hop is!

In the commercial sense, is Hip Hop dead? Yes! It’s been chewed up, chewed some more, swallowed, digested, and spit back up. It’s part of the big “money” machine of Corporate America. Once people see you can make money with something it turns into a business.

I remember sitting in my music history class astonished by how much I didn’t know about the beginnings of “Hip Hop/Rap/R&B”. That was years ago, I’ve been working in the music industry for over 10 years now. From radio to print, I’ve been surrounded by it. My brother, my cousins, my friends all are deep into the industry. And I’m still a cynic. I’ve met some of the dumbest people in the world, astonished they can even walk around without hurting themselves. I’ve also met people who are grounded and just want to make good music. Some of the most grounded people are the ones you don’t even see. Which means they are the ones you don’t even listen to. Is Hip Hop dead to them, for them? No.

But in a industry where the only the strong survive, does it matter that there are real artist out there? To a few of us who hold out hope that music will one day be restored to it’s root, yes it matters! But do we matter? My opinion is no more valid or important then the next man’s when viewed in a forum. So how do we figure this out? Definitely not by watching BET. A station created for “us”, by “us”, but not sold to one of “us”. Therefore it mishandles the expectations we have placed on the network. It misleads us to think that it delves deep into our issues. When really it’s a victim just like Hip Hop. Maybe a better word is “tool”. It’s a tool to make us think that it’s part of us. Yet it’s driven by a force that has nothing to do with us.

My previous endorsement post, was a dramatization of how an artist has so many different avenues to make money in this industry. “Product Placement” is part of the destruction of hip hop. Artist getting paid to write a song about their favorite gadget, beverage, shoes, etc..has turned most albums into a continuous commercial. Where are the lyrics? Somewhere sandwiched between the hook about Air Force 1’s and Vitamin Water. So is it the artist responsibility to have some tact to want to stand for something? Can you blame a one hit wonder for “selling out” for a million dollars? Look at the people on Fear Factor, Moment of Truth the rest of the dumb reality shows. People do a lot worse for a lot less money. Still doesn’t mean it’s not killing TV. It’s slowly eating away at our brains and turning us into “ad zombies” (see even I promo my own post).

Whose responsibility is it to save an art form? Stay tuned… 

Where Is The Music?

“You download it for free/We get charged back for it/I know your saying/They wont know/They wont miss it/Besides I aint a theif/They wont pay me a visit/So if I come to your job/Take your corn on the cob/And take a couple kernels off it/That would be alright with you? – What a Job Is” – Andre 3000 

 

Who should the average person feel sorry for? The artist who suffers a loss in royalties or the consumer who is expected to pay their hard earned money on half of the garbage released these days? Andre 3000’s analogy is on point, but unfortunately most artist these days are selling corn on the cob with teeth marks.

What happen to the good music? Remember when you bought an album and every song was fantastic?  If your under 25, probably not! And surprisingly the “age range” for this is getting higher as the years progress. Are our children even going to know what music used to be? The production, songwriting, delivery, and distribution have all become lax. It’s hard to picture artist slaving away in a studio for hours on end, when you always see them at Somebody’s club. With Somebody’s clothes on, Somebody’s jewelry on, & Somebody’s champagne dripping down their iced out neck. You watch MTV/BET/VH1 and see everything about their personal life, instead of what they expect for you to pay for. Where is the music?

The average person downloads or listens to a song on line because the quality of Cd’s have decreased. I remember a few years back, I was in the studio listening to Brandy’s “Afrodisiac”, and one of the artist asked me to copy the CD. So I just handed him the CD I was listening to and he starts lambasting me about having a burned CDR. The same guy who was asking me to make him a copy was fussing at me when it was actually just a copy of the album I had purchased. That’s when I realized most of these artist are just full of B.S. and drama. I can understand the argument from the producers, engineers, songwriters, labels, and publishing companies.  These are the people who are really losing income, not the artist. Truth is, most artist royalties are split by so many people the artist never really sees any of the money to begin with. The battle they are so into fighting at the end of the day is dealt with by other people.

The day Mary J. Blige comes to my house, knocks on my door and demands her $13…is when I will reach in my pocket and give it to her. I should just start a Mary J. Blige folder for the IRS and send her a 1099 form. After all, I drive a Chevy Impala, drink Coca Cola, lather up with my Jamaican Punch soap from Carol’s Daughter, while I shop on line with my Mac Powerbook at Target with my American Express card. Somewhere along the lines she is making some money while I continue to afford her and others with endless endorsement money for the products I use everyday.  Seems like I should be knocking on her door, right? I’ve supported her since she looked like Keyshia Coles. What has she done for me?

Let me stop before I get into trouble, Ha!