5 Worst Rappers of the Last 5 Years

Hip-hop has changed dramatically since its beginnings in the late 1970s. The days of socially conscious lyrics produced by the likes of Kurtis Blow, Public Enemy, and Eric B. Now such lyricism and dedication to the challenges associated with being an African American are lost to many so-called rappers with the exception of a few like Immortal Technique.

The sad reality is that most of the folks on the airwaves today have no talent and confuse illiteracy and megalomaniacal gloating and grandstanding as being representative of art when, in fact, it is merely garbage.

This list is not based on promotion or marketing or image, which the latter could also be included on, but rather sheer lyricism and verbal alacrity, or better yet, the lack thereof.

5] Jim Jones: New York Rapper and member of the Dipset could easily make the list if it was based on lack of character alone. If it were not for liquor, handguns, money and cards it seems that his vocabulary would be limited to pronouns. For example: "The .40 cals is mine, the nina's we could split; Cock back, squeeze off, started feedin 'm with the 5th …"

On a level of skill from one to 10, he gets a negative integer, and he uses the N-word so much he could be the black Mel Gibson.

4] OJ Da Juiceman: Representing the dirty south, this rapper has a similar preoccupation with guns, money and drugs as rapper number five. Moreover, he loves to use pseudo words, which by definition are words that don’t exist and are completely made-up. For example take these lyrics from his song "Make The Trap Say Aye": 'm boomin I'm buggin I'm termin all the Baites; Rap game ezy but da dope game gravy; Young juice man and my life is the Japerz; With stupid fruity crazy swag jumpin in Yo lader; Banana donk chevy interior like the Lakers."

For the record, baites and japerzs are not words, not to mention da is a prefix indicating to the 10th power, not an article. As much as he talks about numbers, one would have anticipated that he would know better.

3] Plies: This rapper sounds more like a circus clown and looks just as bad with a dash of oompa loompa and leprechaun thrown in for flavor. Although his popularity has increased and by some miraculous feat he has become a sex symbol, he still demonstrates limited ability to use subject verb agreement. I'm not sure but I think his name is an acronym for Pathetic Lyricist in Everlasting Suspension, because all of his songs are monotonous and misogynistic and should be labeled DNR — do not resuscitate. This is evident by the number of times the pronoun "I" can be heard in his songs. Take the lyrics from "Me & My Goons": "I am come solo tonight, I'm wit' my clique; I haven't seen her since I f---ed that b----; And I haven't called her so I know she sick …"

The first stanza shows that he did not attend let alone complete the fourth grade and the rest that he has no respect for women. I guess you could call him the Trey Songz of hip-hop because all he talks about is sexing women. I am sure there is more in his mind than that — psych.

2] Waka Flocka Flame: I think he would better be served if he was called Waka Flocka Fool, for a fool by definition is one who is deficient in judgment, sense, or understanding or more fittingly, one who acts unwisely on a given occasion. I don't have enough content to evaluate his true lyrical astuteness but I can say he needs to work on his enunciation of words. His club banger, “O Lets Do It,” highlights his lyrical deficiencies: "1 shot man down; His brains go ka-pow; … But that happen often off in riverdale georgia; You gone pay the life you live off in riverdale georgia”

What is this, an episode of “Batman?” Ka-pow? Plus it isn't hard to rhyme Riverdale, Georgia with Riverdale, Georgia. All it tells me is that I’m glad my kids are not in school in Clayton County.

1] Soulja Boy: Probably one of the most popular on this list, yet least talented with respect to lyrical prowess and content. Jewelry, fashion designers and I seem to be the only nouns and pronouns used in his songs. Moreover, it is more than obvious that if the pseudo word "swag” had never been created, he would run out of song titles and hooks. In " Turn My Swag On" he uses the word seven times and in "Pretty Boy Swag" it is mentioned 19 times. And let us not forget the song "Booty Got Swag." His “talent” can be summed up with these lyrics from the song "Gucci Bandanna." It's Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, I roll with Shawty Lo; I got so much snow, Gucci head to toe; Chain on chill, watch on freeze; So much ice I got lookin' like Chinese." What is the relationship between ice and Asians, can someone tell me?

Now there were others in the running, including the entire Dipset, Lil Flip, and Slim Thug and many others who are deserving of honorable mentions. Maybe one day rap will return to its greatness and be more than what many of today's rappers talk about (or maybe not), but I will keep my fingers crossed.

Thought Amnesty - 10-9-09

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Slim Thug Feels the Recession
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

America's taliban

I have been reading of the increased number of attacks across Afghanistan and Pakistan by suicide bombers. It seems as if the problem has only gotten worse and that the Taliban is making good use of an untapped resource, adolescent Muslim males from both countries. It appears that the young males have become the target of increased recruiting efforts because of their age and due to the fact they are very easy to influence mentally. And although the Taliban are not trained psychologist, they have managed to brain wash these young men beyond the [point of no return in most cases. Meaning they are will to die, kill and maim without fear or remorse for who they may harm.

I think in America, we have just a lethal concern with respect to brain washing of young men, in particular African American males. Unfortunately this influence comes from a large corpus of rappers. See to me, having a kids mind to the point of carrying chrome, and popping trunks, and pulling out choppers is just as nefarious as the Taliban influencing young Muslim kids to wear bombs and blow folk up. Such a belief is often recanted so much on television in the form of videos and on radio, that young males in this country take the belief that fighting and shooting another person is accepted behavior and remember lyrics loyally like young Muslims chant the Koran.

I am blessed to have raised what I perceive to be a fine young man, going into the 12th grade with a 3.1 GPA, 28 ACT (top 92 percent in nation), and a star baseball player. But I still worry about his future, I know he has made it to the 12th grade, something that less than 20% of African American males achieve, but I do want him to finish, graduate and attend college. Which bothers me because there are the other 80 percent American Taliban trained fools who, don’t read, and accept with out question, because they would rather attend to things they like, such as following athletes and rappers, than what may assist them in becoming worldly. For the truth be told, only an empty mind is acceptable to believing such tom foolery. So for me we have a big problem, and down here in Atlanta, it has only gotten worse. So let us see what we can do, and I’m not talking military intervention, but more so to provide alternatives to conflict resolution via words as opposed to guns – think we can get some stimulus loot for that?

microphone, excuse me studio gangstas

Cooked Jambalaya last night with ground Italian sausage. Can you say yum yum eattum up? My son can ,three bowls worth, and me likewise, same number too. But lil momma, she didn’t want any and instead wanted Pistachio’s and Cereal. So I gave it to her.

But before we got home, had to pick little daddy up from baseball practice. He gets in the car and changes the radio station. I had it on NPR. The first song that cam up was Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop.” And two seconds had not passed before little momma started to sing the hook. Before I could tell him, he changed the station to Radio Disney, and she got plain right upset.

I always listen to NPR or RADIO Disney When she was in the car. I mean if I get in and NPR is on she straight, but if Visa Versa, I am at a loss until the next time we get in vehicle. What cut was she knew lollipop (even though she knew hat word well already) and juicy.

Now I know everybody got DIRT BEHIND THEIR EARS, thus the name of my latest book. I also believe in artistic freedom and expression. But I also acknowledge must be acted upon in an accordance with reason and personal responsibility. I got no problem with little Wayne making what he creates, but I do think I have the right to call folk a dumb ass fuck boy if he does not consider the state of urban radio, our schools and violence in the general community or that criminal behavior is not a positive identity to promote. Yea, it is fiction, but considering the aforementioned, a man that doesn’t even attempt to control what he submits or releases to a radio station that kids mainly listen to, and who places money over all else as a rationale for doing such, one has to call it like they see it.

Personally, I have never been, claimed or known thugs or gangsters. A few felons maybe, but none of the previous. See we valued education and such a self-proclamation tells folk that you foul, selfish, and really aint about making money as you say. Personally I have never been to prison and am proud of such. I give the credit, maybe to my brain cells and thought. Nobody I knew wore a lot of jewelry, drove a fancy car, or tossed around and flashes loot (in particular in an attempt to impress some broad or dame, since only broads or dames are impressed with such – women have their own). Folks just realized you can’t make money in jail or prison and that telling you a thug or gangster will get you there. But I guess talent alone aint enough, and that bravado is required. Just ask Akon, who felt that his talent wasn’t enough and needed to say that he was convicted, sent to prison from term 1999 and 2002 and facing 75 years. Truth was he stole a Bimer, got hemmed up, and the prosecutor dropped all charges without serving a day of time.

What makes it so bad is I heard a taped interview with T.I. (should be TOO Ignorant) and he never accepted responsibility for the image he depicts. Instead he blamed TV’s without indicating that he made media for TV’s, which content he can control’s if he KNOWS such. He blamed high school in the ATL for not letting him speak to students (I don’t know why, unless they do not think he is sincere). He didn’t even admit that he may have been part of the problem, I mean aint we all. I like the music of all TI, Wayne and Akon. See I consider my self a scholar and a father first not an idiot, rapper, banker or none of that. I am what I am and proud. However, I cannot tolerate folks not accepting their responsibility to the community as a man. And I shole don’t tolerate microphone, excuse me, studio gangsters to avoid their responsibility. I say leave the gangster to Al Capone and Meyer Lansky, its unbecoming, but at least thee latter dressed well and wore belts. And no, im not hatting even though they kust as bad as the KKK.



My book release party will be held at the M-Bar - April 24, 2008 from 7 to 10pm
257 Peters Street, Atlanta, Ga 30311- phone: 404 523 1555

The teaching of sociopathy

This past weekend I was in DC presenting at a conference. One of the presenters on the agenda with me made a presentation on how music, in particular hip-hop music has turned into a means of teaching sociopath behaviors to young children and adolescents. It was an interesting premise. He based it on the stages of cognitive development as expounded by Piaget. In essence, he said since young children learn through images and music, it is not unlikely that the images seen on videos, associated with certain words and lyrics and music, can lead to mental disorders including but not limited to oppositional-defiant disorder.

ODD is a psychiatric disorder that is characterized by two different sets of problems. On the one had, there is aggressiveness and a tendency to purposefully bother and irritate others. Individuals present with this disorder tend to display a pattern of negativistic, hostile, and defiant behavior lasting over extended periods. Such individuals often: loses their temper, argue with other regularly, actively defies or refuses to comply with requests from significant others, deliberately annoy people, blame others for their mistakes and behavior, angry and resentful and are spiteful and vindictive. As a result, this may lead to major impairment in social, academic, or occupational functioning.

He suggested that the images in most Hip-hop music tends to focus on violence, illegal acts, criminal behavior and lewd sexual behavior so much that in many respects it may play a role in forming behaviors in the same manner that nursery rhymes do for children. He went on to assert that as a function, children are learning and hearing things that only adults should hear and consequently may continue childhood behaviors even well into adulthood since they may skip valuable phases of their cognitive development.

I say this just to remind us that the problems that we may be seeing in many of our children and young adults may actually be due to the message and images that they get on television, in movies and videos and music. Now I am not saying this is a function of pure causation, but it is funny to note that our environment contributes a lot to our personal and cognitive development.

Used to be a time, when groups like NWA even presented Hip Hop as a form of social commentary. Now, the messages we hear mainly deal with the preaching of sociopathic practices that have no benefit to the good of our community. Parents, let get back to parenting, before we raise a cadre of adults, who are merely child-like, irresponsible and take their values from celebrities and what they see and hear in music and television.

tony hey-ho

There are some things that we know are wrong and that should never be done. I guess G-Unit member Marvin Bernard (Tony Yayo) never learned this growing up. Recently, the 29-year-old hip-hop artist was arrested for physically assaulting a 14-year old child. The child was the son of Jimmy “Henchmen” Rosemond, the head of record label/management firm Czar Entertainment. The incident occurred when Rosemond's son left school and was on his way to his internship at his father's offices on West 25th Street.

According to reports, Tony Yayo and several of his friends were leaving Violator Management and saw Rosemond’s son walking down the street dressed in a Czar T-shirt. News reports suggested that Yayo then backhanded the boy with his jewelry-loaded hand and proceeded to curse at the child and towards Czar Entertainment. Witnesses claim that Yayo pushed the boy against the wall, showed him his gun that was tucked in his belt, asking why he was wearing the t-shirt and how old he was. While he was being transported by police, Bernard bragged to reporters “Fitty’ll get me out- I’ll be out tomorrow”.

The child’s mother released a news statement in which she described Yayo’s actions as a “cowardly act” and that it “was a step away from child molestation.” I honestly do not get what is wrong with folks who let celebrity and the so-called credo of violent behavior for the sake of keeping it real; make them not see right from wrong. I agree with the mother, this is a bitch move and we should not tolerate such nonsense anymore. In addition, we should be very careful about how and who we place on pedestals as a function of their celebrity status. Marvin Bernard from this vantage point is just another punk who should be in jail. The problem is that his fans, and the women how admire his lifestyle will still seek to be with or want a person like him in their life.

The New Knights of the KKK

The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan used to wreak havoc around these parts. Now they have basically banished, or better yet morphed and transformed into either: 1) white men with blue eyes in business suits, or black men driving expensive cars, wearing big platinum chains, with dreds, fades and gold-teeth encrusted with canary diamonds. Yep, bitch I am speaking to you and as you can see, some of you folk is bitches too. I am so sick and tired of young men from my loin that claim to the public that what they have, and doing crime, defines who they are and a makes them what they have become.

It really is the best dream of the Knights of the KKK – I mean have people they despise and deplore do their dirt for them. To make it simple, they continue to encourage the stereotypes and promote self destruction to the extent that it has reached pandemic proportions. I hear songs that proclaim the manliness of killing and shooting another. I hear songs that encourage women to be unfaithful to their commitment to their men. I hear songs that give confidence to the ill importance of school. There even seems to an inordinate amount of songs that target “baby mommas” and how delightful it is to receive sexual gratification from this select bevy of women. And last but not least, songs that proclaim the material riches that you accrue are more important than anything else – in particular if they are displayed on one’s car.

The Ku Klux Klan was formed in the Late 1800’s as a social club by a group of Confederate Army veterans White superiority and violence were used to show blacks there place in American society for lack of a better phrase. Please folk, especially my men in the entertainment industry, lets try and check ourselves and decide what type of legacy you desire to leave for your kids and others, one of self-enhancement, or one of self-destruction by a new invisible empire.

claimin Tru

Folk bout to get ghost, heading to the home front, flip town – Memphis. I will be traveling with my body god, or as Charlie Chan would say, his number one son. And dont forget numbe one daughter - body guard number 2. So I’m making a cd for the road trip. Got some us for certain (savagbeastmonsta-sameblakmuthafucas), and some Three six, Rick Ross, and some more assorted folk – mostly Memphis and ATL.

I can’t wait, Memphis like my woman, for she raised me not to mention that outside of my writing and music, no woman ever loved me so much. It’s like Rick Ross say coincidentally, “I got a V-12 sweeter than a female." That’s how the cut, writing and music are to Jones main. And being as such, I can’t claim no other. I would never dare to do such for it would in evidence say I was a mark, Busta, faker or lame. Of which for the record I aint am (I’m country) of the above. This inclusive of a nigga being up in the ATl for double figure years removed.

Specifically, I claim where I was born, lived and raised, which is a mixture of time periods in Castalia Heights and on Castalia in addition to South Parkway. I would never claim Evergreen, North Memphis, Bing Hampton, or Orange Mound for I am a South Parkway nigga.

Some folks don’t take this serious and may even relegate this disposition evinced by myself as being rudimentary, elementary or even childish. Whatever the case it is what it is and I cannot do anything other. To me, it like a brother from Cobb County in Atlanta, Georgia proper claiming Bankhead – God forbid. So really this is Shakespeare (Much to Do About Nothing). I mean, I took up and used all these words to say, be proud of what you are and never forget, regardless where you come from. For many of us, that include Africa, for as Dr. Yosef A.A. ben-Hochannan said, just because a cat has kittens in an oven, don’t make them biscuits (paraphrased). So don front, you can be who you are still even if you from Cobb County. I’m just from South Memphis and claim tru with three fingers down for M-town..