RAPPERS AND JEWELRY:A CASE STUDY ON PLIES.

I have always wondered why rappers and every person associated, affiliated with hiphop pay so much attention to jewelries; big chains, big bangles, bracelets, watches, rings, iced-up grill and all that. They get their advance money and spend half on jewelry and then a year later they are broke.
I was going through an old issue of 'black beat' magazine and plies had some pages dedicated to him as he was interviewed in the issue. And i was trying to estimate howmuch all the jewels he had on in the 4 pages that had his pictures, and i was like, damn!
This dude had different diamond studded chains. Madalions with white; black, pink, blue, red diamonds were hanging from his neck. Gold chains, diamond studded silver watches, black diamond bracelets.
This is what he had to say:
'i always like to get a new piece for every album. i think after this situation right here, i'm goin to tone down the jewelry a little bit. i only got one wrist and one neck, so i don't get a chance to wear a lot of them...'

Well said plies.

CAMRON COMMENTS ON MOVE BY 50CENT TO SQUASH THEIR BEEF.

CAMRON HAS COMMENTED ON THE MOVE BY 50CENT TO SQUASH THEIR BEEF. 50 said in an interview that he was planning a gathering that would surprising include one time rivals, d-block(jadakiss, sheek louch and styles p), dipset(jim jones and juelz santana), and he said he might just reach out to camron.
Camron responded to this by saying that he would not squash the beef in 50's old hood, queens. He'd rather sit and talk with 50cent in harlem, where he is from. Both boroughs are in new-york.
Cam said he was not going to be used as a tool to get people to come for 50's show. He said 50 knows he is no longer loved in the hood and is trying all he can to make the show a hot one by putting other artist like d-block as guest performers on that day.
Cam said he wouldn't be a party to that and would rather meet with 50 anywhere inbetween queens an harlem.
The beef between this two heavy weights sprang up in 2007, when 50 called koch records a place for dying artist. This led to an arguement between the 2 artist on radio.

WHY I THINK NAS IS THE BEST RAPPER ALIVE.

A lot of magazines, radio stations, and music t.v stations keep giving jay-z the title of the best rapper alive. I get their drift. They base their judgement on what was hot, what has been hot, and how successful the artist is in record sales. But you have to stop and think, what if that person knows what the people want and he gives them just that, no matter how out of his lane it might be.
I am not hating on jay-z or his legacy. I like that he came in the game, and gave it his best. He has dropped 10 albums so far since 1996, and all have gone platinum. That is what he bases his judgment on, that he is the best rapper alive.
Let's go to nas; He came in the game a young artist in 1994, with illmatic An album with no popular name featured on it, and he was crowned the best lyricist at 21. That means he was respected for his craft alone and no form of gimick whatsoever. Nas has stuck to that since his 1994 debut till date, never selling out. He has never followed the trend that be. He does his rap thing,. and is still relevant till date. A lot of youngstars just don't relate with him, because he is not the swagger showing rapper. He does not talk about money, or clothes, or living the life. He is a poet, a great story teller, and a damn impeccable lyricist. Not being as successful as jay is why he is not as relevant as jay in the eye of the present public eye.
A lot of old artist in the game, and even the new ones have nas on their top 5 rappers of all time. And some even give him props for being an incredible rapper. Common, lupe fisaco, slick rick, cool g rap, kanye west,fat joe, the game, and even jay-z himself, are some rappers that have testified to nas's greatness, one time or the other in their rap, or through interviews.
I want you to think of one rapper that has been around as long as nas has been that still makes relevant music and is able to sell records and compete with the present rap scene, and not sell out. Nas's last album, "untitled", has sold over 500,000 copies. He didn't have any song on heavy rotation on radio. He didn't have any champagne popping, or ice wearing video, or number one single And he did those numbers, after being in the game for over 16 years. Even busta rhymes, that you can say has been in the game as long as nas has been, with all the videos he released for his latest album and all the gimicks he pulled, he is yet to eclipse the 200,000 scale for his "back on my b.s" album.
There is no rapper you can name that came out in the era nas came out in that is still relevant and making some money off his music till date. Rappers come and go. Even the legendary members of the wu-tang-clan like ghostface, method man, reakwon, e.t.c, can't say they have stayed relevant like nas has.
What i am saying is that, giving that nas has stayed true to the game, and has in no time tried to go commercial to sell records, and is still relevant in todays rap, and can still crush any m'c on the mic, new or old, he is entitled to the title of "best raper alive.

Jay-Z gives reason why he is the "best rapper alive."

You can't doubt that jay has achieved a lot since his first album, "reasonable doubt" was released in 1996. He dropped albums non stop, relevant albums, for eight summers. Went for on a short hiatus/retirement from 2003 till 2006, then he dropped his ninth album, "Kingdom come", Which still sold in excess of a million copies in the u.s. But i would still ride with nas for the title of "best rapper alive", that's just my opinion.

This is what jay had to say about this controversial issue;



"But when I say I'm the best, I don't say that outta my a**," Jay said in the interview. "I say that with all my stats behind me. I put that against anybody. I mean anybody. I really believe that...I believe in a lot of things. I believe that "SportsCenter" is the best thing on TV. I shouldn't have to prove it. But I do have these stats to prove it. I'm talking about real run. I'm not talking about years off. I'm talking about straight--boom, boom, boom--back to back. We're not talking about heritage acts either. We're not talking about respect what I've done. I'm talking No. 1 [albums] 10 times. The Beatles is the only one [to have more No. 1 albums]. They got 19, and if I get a surge of create 9 albums next year."





That's what jay has to say. And you have heard what i have to say. Let's get word from another rapper on the issue.

This is what mos def had to say on the issue;



"My response was to me seeing an article where [Jay-Z] was referred to, with trade marks following it, as the 'Greatest Rapper Alive,'" Mos explained in an interview. "Now that don't have nothin' to do with me, but if you saying that, that's a trade claim...If you saying that, you saying you better than Slick Rick, whose still very alive and well? You saying you better than Rakim? You saying you better than Black Thought? People making that claim have never been in a position to defend that in an open forumn. I'm not talking about making a diss record or trying to go in on somebody's girl...When people start coming out and making claims they're gonna have to defend, like, who have you had to defend them against? It's certainly been with people not on your level." ("The Angie Martinez Show")



So what do you think? What i think is everybody is entitled to his/her opinion. And you choose what you want to believe.

THE FALL OF EAST-COAST RAPPERS IN HIPHOP (PART 2)

I was on a hiphop site yesterday and someone gave a reason for the fall of the east-coast rap legends, especially new york rappers. The two reasons were actions made by jay-z and 50cent.
In mid to late 90's, nas and mobb deep were rap legends, respected for their mic skills. Then jay-z drops takeover in 2001, dissing mobb deep and nas on basis of money and album sales. That should not have been the criateria for judging a good rapper.Making rap legends look like nothing in the eye of the public. He was at his peak then so he rode on that. Thank God nas was able to show him that skills matter a lot.
Then secondly, 50cent, who had been relevant for just about 3years at the time, went on a rampage on more rap legends.
In a bid to promote his 2005 album, the massacre, he dropped a diss track taking jabs at rap legends like nas, fat joe and jadakiss(the l.o.x).
You would never catch t.i taking lyrical jabs at bun b(ugk), even though he's more successful. That's what keeps southern rappers relevant.

THE FALL OF EAST-COAST RAPPERS IN HIPHOP (PART 2)

I was on a hiphop site yesterday and someone gave a reason for the fall of the east-coast rap legends, especially new york rappers. The two reasons were actions made by jay-z and 50cent.
In mid to late 90's, nas and mobb deep were rap legends, respected for their mic skills. Then jay-z drops takeover in 2001, dissing mobb deep and nas on basis of money and album sales. That should not have been the criateria for judging a good rapper.Making rap legends look like nothing in the eye of the public. He was at his peak then so he rode on that. Thank God nas was able to show him that skills matter a lot.
Then secondly, 50cent, who had been relevant for just about 3years at the time, went on a rampage on more rap legends.
In a bid to promote his 2005 album, the massacre, he dropped a diss track taking jabs at rap legends like nas, fat joe and jadakiss(the l.o.x).
You would never catch t.i taking lyrical jabs at bun b(ugk), even though he's more successful. That's what keeps southern rappers relevant.

THE FALL OF EAST COAST RAPPERS IN HIPHOP(PART 1).

In the 80's and 90's it was all about the east coast rappers. The west had some dominance around this period(late 80's to mid 90's), but you had more of the east. The east gave us most of todays respected rap legends like k.r.s 1, rakim, big daddy kane, cool g rap, ll cool j, the whole wu-tang-clan, the late biggie, nas, jay-z...And the list goes on and on.
Around the early 2000's, rappers started getting respected for howmuch money they had and could spend, as opposed to how skilled they really were.

FABOLOUS'S TOP 5 DEAD OR ALIVE.

Allhiphop.com caught up with fabolous through his tight schedule. And they were able to squiz out his top five dead or alive list.
What do you think about his list?

1. biggie.
2. jay-z.
3. tupac.
4. eminem.
5. big daddy kane.

Before i saw his list, i made a guess of four rappers i believed would be on his list judging from his own style of rap. I came up with; jay-z, biggie, eminem and ll cool j. I was not surprised that i was on point, apart from ll cool j that is.
The big dady kane addition on his list didn't come as shocker cos kane more or less mentored jay. So jay got much of big daddy kane in him. Old rap listeners can testify to this.
The one thing majority of the people on his list, including he himself, have in common is wordplay. They are the masters of wordplay.
I most say though that the tupac addition made the list odd. It made it seem like he just threw in tupac's name because people like to put pac and biggie on their list. More like respect for the dead. Or just the band wagon effect.

RUFF RYDERZ RE-UNION.

Ruff Ryderz as a group, consisting of rappers dmx, eve, the l.o.x(jadakiss, styles p and jadakiss), infa red, drag-on and beat maker, swizz beats, is making a come back this year.
The group was put together in the late 90's by brothers dee and wah. DMX had a wild buzz back then, so he more or less gave the group recognition. Also, the legendary rap group, l.o.x had made a name for themselves being signed to Bad Boy records. Eve's rap career blew up with the ruff ryderz group.
It was confirmed by wah that the rap group would be dropping another compilation by early 2010. But before then, dmx is goig to be dropping a new album by december. Then eve's album would come shortly afterwards.

BOW WOW SIGNS WITH CASH-MONEY RECORDS.

BOW WOW just confirmed via his twitter page that he has signed a deal with cashmoney records. Home to two of the most celebrated hiphop acts in the game right now, drake and lil wayne.
Bow wow got into the music industry at a tender age of 13, under j.d's so-so def record label. He has released 6 albums since his 'beware of dog' debut in 2000, that sold over 3million copies worldwide.
His most recent effort, 'new jack city2' dropped earlier this year and is still yet to cross the 20Θ,000 mark sales. The must dissapointing record sales of any of his solo albums since his debut. This most likely prompted his decisiom to inc a deal with cashmoney.
With the right mechanics, i feel he can be relevant again.

CELEBRITY WEDDINGS.

I don't know why celebs marry each-other. They end up getting divorced or seperated. The ego always gets in the way.
And the present day celebs don't seem to want to learn from the old ones. Nas is a great rapper, my best rapper, but see what he is going through with kelis. They were married for about three years and just when they are about to have their first child, kelis asked for a divorce. And the week that his son is born is the same week the judge preciding over his divorce case with kelis, grants her monthly spousal and child support of $44k from Nas. Where did the love go? I actually saw them as a perfect match.
Then you have jay-z and beyonce. I ain't a hater, but i personal think they got married for the money and fame. They just thought they were the perfect couple even before they hooked up. Jay, the leading rap artist, and she the divalicious, bootylicious, princess of r&b.They feed off each others ego. Is there real love involved? Or their love grows off of their individual success's.

CELEBRITY WEDDINGS.

I don't know why celebs marry each-other. They end up getting divorced or seperated. The ego always gets in the way.
And the present day celebs don't seem to want to learn from the old ones. Nas is a great rapper, my best rapper, but see what he is going through with kelis. They were married for about three years and just when they are about to have their first child, kelis asked for a divorce. And the week that his son is born is the same week the judge preciding over his divorce case with kelis, grants her monthly spousal and child support of $44k from Nas. Where did the love go? I actually saw them as a perfect match.
Then you have jay-z and beyonce. I ain't a hater, but i personal think they got married for the money and fame. They just thought they were the perfect couple even before they hooked up. Jay, the leading rap artist, and she the divalicious, bootylicious, princess of r&b.They feed off each others ego. Is there real love involved? Or their love grows off of their individual success's.

GAME'S D.O.H(DEATH OF HOVA) CAMPAIGN. (PART 2).

Jay has responded to game in a couple of interviews, and in the most recent one he says he might just go in on game.
I'm waiting for that, as i think it would be a very interesting beef.
Its all about being controver cial to get noticed in the times we are living in. I remerber watching kim kardashian giving ray-j a blow job and doing all sorths in a sex-tape. The funny thing is, that actually blew her to lamlight. And now she has a tv show with all sisters in it, keeping up with the kardashians. And congrats to kourtney kardashian on her just revealed pregnancy. Although the father has not been confirmed.
Controvercial issues can act as a catalyst in a person's career, as long as the person is ready to pay the price for it. In game's case, a lot of enemies, as jay has a large followership.

GAME'S D.O.H(DEATH OF HOVA) CAMPAIGN. (PART 2).

Jay has responded to game in a couple of interviews, and in the most recent one he says he might just go in on game.
I'm waiting for that, as i think it would be a very interesting beef.
Its all about being controver cial to get noticed in the times we are living in. I remerber watching kim kardashian giving ray-j a blow job and doing all sorths in a sex-tape. The funny thing is, that actually blew her to lamlight. And now she has a tv show with all sisters in it, keeping up with the kardashians. And congrats to kourtney kardashian on her just revealed pregnancy. Although the father has not been confirmed.
Controvercial issues can act as a catalyst in a person's career, as long as the person is ready to pay the price for it. In game's case, a lot of enemies, as jay has a large followership.

GAME'S D.O.H(DEATH OF HOVA) CAMPAIGN.(PART 1)

Compton-California rapper, the game, has been on a fuck Jay-z campaign for several weeks now, ever since jay put his name in a freestyle recently. Jay claims there was no disrespectful comment towards game in the song, but game challenges jigga for even bringing up his name at all, knowing that he was not on good terms with game in the first place.
Eventhough the game has been on a european tour since the feud blew up, he has never-the-less slow tracked his rain of disses on jay. Disses in all forms, from on-stage disses at concerts, freestyle disses from hotel rooms, through interviews and a full-fledged direct diss track at jay-z, titled, i'm so wavy.
The latest of the movement is a d.o.h(death of hova) t-shirt which he arranged for in mass production at his present tour location in australia and is having it shipped all over the continents.
Wow! Is this going too far or what? But we know what game is capable of.
One would also stop and ask if this is just another publicity stunt. Controvercy sells.

GAME'S D.O.H(DEATH OF HOVA) CAMPAIGN.(PART 1)

Compton-California rapper, the game, has been on a fuck Jay-z campaign for several weeks now, ever since jay put his name in a freestyle recently. Jay claims there was no disrespectful comment towards game in the song, but game challenges jigga for even bringing up his name at all, knowing that he was not on good terms with game in the first place.
Eventhough the game has been on a european tour since the feud blew up, he has never-the-less slow tracked his rain of disses on jay. Disses in all forms, from on-stage disses at concerts, freestyle disses from hotel rooms, through interviews and a full-fledged direct diss track at jay-z, titled, i'm so wavy.
The latest of the movement is a d.o.h(death of hova) t-shirt which he arranged for in mass production at his present tour location in australia and is having it shipped all over the continents.
Wow! Is this going too far or what? But we know what game is capable of.
One would also stop and ask if this is just another publicity stunt. Controvercy sells.

BIG PUN'S WIFE VERSUS FAT JOE (PART 2).

If she got $125k for the endangered species album, and she sold his publishing for over a hundred thousand dollars, then she should be good. I think if she had the rights to his publishing and got all the money off his third album, endangered species, then joe did the best he could. She should try and be creative and market her late husband's legacy. Instead, she made a dvd of how she was physically abused by her late husband, big pun. How does she suppose she would get profits from his legacy when she goes on to murder his already dead character.
I think it would be better if she had fat joe as an ally not an enemy

BIG PUN'S WIFE VERSUS FAT JOE.(PART 1)

BIG PUN PASSED IN 2000 AND HIS WIFE, LIZA RIOS HAS BEE TAKING SHOTS AT FAT JOE, ACCUSING HIM OF NOT HELPING HER OUT SINCE PUN PASSED.
Bìg pun was fat joe's employee and good friend. And pun's wife believes that it should be his responsibility to see to it that she and her kids are okay financially. Joe said he has helped her out in the past and that he has not made a dime off pun's music since pun died.
They have been going back and forth for a couple of years now. Recently, they have started their on and off arguement through interviews. Pun's wife claims joe has not helped out since pun died.
Joe said she got all of the endangered species album(pun's third album) earnings, and also got pun's publishing. Pun's wife claims she only got $125,000 off the album.

JOE BUDDEN WAS BEAT DOWN BY REAKWON AND ENTOURAGE.

I remember a couple of months ago when joe budden made some negative remarks about methodman, and the whole 'budden versus wu-tang-clan' beef begun, raekwon was quick to warn joe that he is known for confronting people he had problems with. I guess rae stood by his words as a video surfaced on the internet yesterday of the beat down.
Joe budden was approached by rae and his entourage back stage of the rock the bells concert, and after some questioning, budden was punched by a man from rae's camp.
Joe budden hit the internet shortly after the video surfaced on the internet. In the video, he was holding a towel and ice pressed to his face. He didn't deny the incidence, just commented that he didn't respect how raekwon went about the whole matter.
To speak my mind, i don't respect rae's move. He is a 38 year old man for christ sake.
He could have just sent niggers to shake budden up, not show up himself.

JARULE'S COMEBACK (PART 2).

After hearing him rap on rick ross's song, mafia music(remix), alongside fat joe and the game, i knew he still had what it takes to leave millions in awe. Just for those that don't know, ja sold 4million copies each of two of his albums, 'RULE 3:36'(2000), and 'PAIN IS LOVE'(2001). And that was in the u.s alone.
Ja is working on a new album, which he believes would put him back on the hiphop map.
I think the hunter is now the haunted, the victor the victim, as 50 is at the lowest point in his career. His last album, CURTIS(2007) barely sold platinum. And he has been pushing back the release date of his latest work, 'BEFORE I SELF DESTRUCT', since 2008, as he is has not been getting the response he expects.
This is the best time for ja to make a come-back. He plans to drop a mixtape, 'welcome to rule york', before the album drops in NOVEMBER.

JARULE'S COMEBACK.(PART 1)

A lot of people believe 50cent ended jarule's career. Personally, i don't totally agree with that. He might have hit ja hard on a couple of comical songs, plus help from eminem, busta rhymes, the whole g-unit squad, and even the legendary producer/rapper, dr dre. Come-on! All those guys against one man. That's crazy. To top it up, 50 was the hottest out at that moment. 50 took the assault to another level by testifying against murder inc as a record label, and keneth 'supreme' griffin(80' mob boss and affiliate of irv gotti and jarule.), claiming supreme issued the 2000 hit on him as a favour to murder inc.
People should be giving ja props for still attempting to rap after all that.
Jarule's last studio album was in 2004(R.U.L.E). And he was supposed to drop an album in 2007(The mirror), which didn't see the light of day, as the two singles dropped prior to the album's scheduled drop date, 'uh-oh' and 'body' refused to gain radio play.
Ja is back in 09 to give the public what they've been missing.

WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING IN THE WORLD OF HIPHOP (PART 2).

In the video that mariah shot for the song 'obsessed' she potrays eminem as a white guy chasing her around.
Eminem didn't think this funny as he recently released a warning diss track towards mariah and her husband, nick canon. EM claims he still has pictures of when he and mariah where dating and that he would expose that and more.
Please eminem, go at someone with some testerstorone and not at a female. How can a grown man of 37years, sit down and write a diss track directed at an r&b songstress.
In other news;
Nas and kelis have finally split and gone their seperate ways. Whoever thought that this couple would be getting divorced anytime soon. July 2009 would not leave nas's memory in a hurry. Because that's when his baby with kelis was born, his first son. And just days after that the judge preciding over his divorce case with kelis granted his ex-wife $44,000 monthly payment in spousal and child support settlements.
Wow! Are they trying to wreck nas? Is she planning to buy a brand new benz every month?

WHAT'S BEEN UP WITH THE WORLD OF HIPHOP.(PART 1).

Before i start, i'd like to apologize for my long absence from my blog, it has been due to some circumstances beyond my control.
That aside and back to business, alot has been going on in the rap game. Game and jay are still on the beef thing. More like game taunting jay for the beef, after jay baited him(or thought he baited him). Jay has been responding through interviews, giving clues that he might just go in on game. And game is still touring Europe, and making thousands of his concert attendents chant 'fuck jay-z old ass'. All the way from france, to spain, to the uk, to amsterdam...
On the subject of beef, we have another entanglement of fued between nick and mariah canon, and eminem.
After em claimed he peed on mariah(em and mariah dated sometime in the early 2000's),on a song on his latest album, relapse, nick went on an internet war against em. Then later mariah herself dropped an eminem diss song titled 'obsessed', where she claims em is obsessed with her.
Then she short a video to the song.