Now Soulja Boy, or Soulja Boy Tell Em should I say, is a very popular rap artist who even had your Pastor "supa soak dat H#*@" with hits such as "Crank Dat Soulja Boy", "She Got a Donk" and My Favorite "YAAA Trick YAAA". His first album "souljaboytellem.com" sold over a million records and over 5 million singles and ring tones, He even was nominated for a grammy. however his second album lacked such success, being debuted at 43 in the billboards top 100. out of frustrating of no1 wanting to "Crank DAT" like they used to, soulja boy stated on a video of him talking with friends that "Fa real dawg... the nigga that killed hip hop was Nas dawg... he said hip hop is dead and after that everyone is like 'hip hop is dead, hip hop is dead'" he continued on to say "If Nas had never said that hip hop was dead, ain't nobody ever thought it had died" he later cleared up his comments in an interview with DJ Skee saying what he meant was that he wasn't selling neither is a lot of rappers other than Kanye and Lil' Wayne and if Nas hadn't stated hip hop is dead than more people might have been selling.
Now what really boils my eggs is not the fact that he basically blames Nas for people not wanting to buy his album, or that he actually said the words "Nas Killed Hip Hop" without saying "lol" or "jk" or even like that little smiley that sticks its tongue out that lets you say something really dramatic and mean and offencive but in "I'm just Joshing ya. I love yam, buddy" kinda way. No, What really upset me is that Soulja Boy is claiming to be a representative of hip hop.
Okay, lets get this one thing clear: HIP HOP IS NOT, I REPEAT, IS NOT A MUSIC GENRE!!! hip hop music could be genre'd as Jazz, soul, R&B, funk, rock, etc.. What makes hip hop music is the more in the culture and the content. The culture is based in an atmosphere surrounded by a state of impoverishment and/or negativity however rather than to conform to it something that sort of self destructive state of mind you break away from the influence and use what surroundings and upbringings to express yourself, to teach, to entertain and mostly to tell a story; whether that is through rapping, cutting the records, dancing or even graffiti writing. To be a hip hop rapper or M.C. you have to be original, genuine, raps for the love of the music and to express themselves with actual lyrical content and not just as a hustle to make a hit song and make money.
With that, I chopped off a lot of the hit rap records out and than think "I'm confused Mikey, wouldn't that mean that hip hop is dead." Well what if I said that they are many hip hop artist out, but not all there music is hip hop music. Look, the music industry... is an industry. That means its a business which means sometimes you might have to go commercial. For example RunDMC is hip hop correct? However, the Christmas son they wrote was NOT, dope song but not really hip hop. Nas Is Hip hop Right? Ochie Wally was NOT Hip hop, it was just a club joint, but yet again it was a hot song. Its like how Kanye West is a rapper (and hip hop artist in my opinion) but "heartless" is not a rap song, or how Garth brooks did that weird Chris Gains thing.
So there you have it, Hip Hop is not dead, Its confused. Hip hop is not a part of rap, Rap is a part of hip hop. And a lot of rap music and rappers aren't hip hop. Not to hate on Soulja Boy, because he is a young black fella making money and I respect and applaud him for doing what his doing. And I'm not going to lie, I stay jamming when the play "put my swag on" in the club; and when they play "she got a dunk"... awww suky suky now, lol. But you gotta know your place dude, be honest with yourself, you are not hip hop. You dont know what it means to be hip hop and you don't have what it takes to be, and that's not just for you, that's for all the mims and the plies and the M.C. Hammers too (Yeah, I said it, M.C. Hammer was NOT hip hop and I will DIE with that engraved in my tombstone. Why would M.C. hammer be hip hop and vanilla ice not? there the same person, just different skin tone!!!). So Ice-T, Your wrong, and not just for putting "Ice-T" in all the credits in the movie in t.v. roles you play like you dont got a real name and you mama dont call you Tracey (even "The Rock" use Dwayne Johnson now!!!), But your wrong for saying Soulja Boy killed hip hop, because he never was even close to touching it. Saying Soulja is Hip hop is like saying The Jonas Brothers are rock. If hip hop was a club, I would let Arron Carter in before Soulja Boy... But that's just my opinion...
Until next time,
Outtie 5000 mane,
Mikey RoXxtar of FFC
