change tha game

When you're hungry...you're supposed to eat.

You can either eat to be briefly satisfied.

Or you can eat to be full.

When I think about the quality of music that's out today, I think that we're being served appetizers (at best). Especially when it comes to my beloved hip hop. See...I'm a hip hop head. Always have been...always will be.

Sometimes I tend to wax poetic about how hip hop USED to be. It's something that I have to do. At this point, real hip hop barely exists. NaS created an uproar a few years ago when he said "hip hop is dead." It aint dead but it definitely is on life support. Hip hop has been taken over by rap. There are a slew of rappers that are out today. Very few MCs. There is a difference between the two.

Black Thought of the Roots said it best..."The principles of true hip hop have been forsaken. Its all contractual and about money making." That is so true. Record labels are more concerned with making great singles that will climb the charts. Record labels USED to be concerned with making great albums.

Take a second to think about one of your favorite hip hop albums. Odds are likely that you can listen to it all the way through. That's not the case with rap music today. The music is packaged and marketed like a piece of meat. In fact, you'll probably hear more about who's on the album or who produced it than you will about how good it is. Sign of the times? Or a lack of talent?

Both!

Where does rap go from here? Sales are fading fast and the industry is filled with gimmick/commercial/wannabe thugs/drug addicts who get in a recording booth who get high and say whatever they feel. Honestly, I don't care what happens to rap.

Just give me my hip hop. And you'll see me...a 37 year old, married, father of 3...in my b boy stance...cold chillin in the place to be.

Why?

I Still Love H.E.R