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.