Today’s social media driven society has always come with a double edge sword. It’s strength lies in the ease you can access information and therein lies the problem. Although it is rife with information that information is not always accurate, and has even culturally shaped what is important in society; e.g. The Kardashains and Ice Bucket Challenges taking precedent over the Flint water crisis and a recent election with tipping point type ramifications.
What social media has also provided is an outlet for today’s athlete and entertainer to circumvent the fifth estate known as the media in favor of creating their own personal media rhetoric which is often in conflict with the hard work and reporting that trained professionals have made their livelihood in respective fields. This is not to say that the media is always fair. I am personally afraid to cut on CNN, MSNBC, and I was not putting it on Fox News anyway – my point is I do not know if they are creating the hysteria or reporting it and my fear it is more of the former. Beyond my fear of that is the hysteria is justified when our new President’s tendencies in personality and policy closer resemble that of a fascist like Stalin than an enlightened forward thinking mind like Lincoln. Hell – on a lighter note I am an Atlanta Braves fan and Barry Bonds was the best ball player I ever saw by a large margin and it staggers me every year when the media denies him a spot most people (with and without muscle enhancements) seem to think he deserves. I am a member of the fifth estate and I do not trust it all the way either is my point.
There is foreshadowing to this moment in history where stars strike back and view the media as a speed bump instead of a conduit. In 1995, Method Man, along with Redman on their hip-hop ode to being connoisseurs of fine cannabis “How High” embodied the current mood without an emoji but in one simple bar: “Fuck a rap critic, he talk about it while I live it.” In all fairness to Mr. Meth he has been consistent in his ethos; Meth did not like the media and 95 and to this day he still does not even in the early throws of 2017.
It is the irony of all this I find staggering in all honestly. Rap is a craft that is built fundamentally since it’s origins not just on showmanship but one up man-ship as well. The greats have always studied the greats before them and critiqued their styles in comparison to their own and others. Great emcees existing in the same era have almost always collided and thrown shots whether thinly veiled (Rakim throwing epic shade at EPMD on “Let The Rhythm Hit Em”), or of the more personalized variety (KRS-One letting the world know the only thing Roxanne Shante was good for on “The Bridge Is Over” comes to mind). I have personally seen the one up man-ship which I will get to a little later as well. This begs the question, why do artist in the limelight who often obtain it by critiquing one another get more emotional than a Carl Thomas and Keith Sweat duet when the critical breakdown is offered by the media. Let’s dig in the crates and see if there is not some facts to back my biases.
The artist formerly known as Common Sense in his scathing diss of Ice Cube “The Bitch In Yoo” had Com going in with commentary exposing Cube’s contradictions and devolving hip-hop status – check the rhime: “You slangin’ St. Ides and bean pies in the same sentence – You ain’t made shit dope since America’s most…” Yikes! If I did not know any better I would think Common was criticizing Cube’s lifestyle and career choices but I guess it is behind a beat so it is not the same? Maybe?
Or, how about when Jay-Z appropriately states on “Encore” off The Black Album – “Yea hearing me rap is like hearing G Rap in his prime.” Tables turn almost a decade later when Pusha canonizes Jay and G Rap on “King Push” – “Inside track on a G Rap poster/best d-boy all I’m missing is a Dash/difference between me and Hova/… Are these not critiques (personally I think very accurate ones) in which the artist has analyzed the scope of not only their music but those before them? I do not have any real validations for my intelligence but I am fairly certain that falls under the critiquing, but once again, to do it with just a pen is a sin but behind a beat is sure to avoid the heat.
Then there is the clash between Nas and Jay-Z that is a young rapper’s guide to throwing shade, taking cheap shots, being critical, and just petty as hell in general. These are the elements of the greatest rap battle in history; along with a couple of great sub plots intertwined. Jay-Z on “The Takeover” actually shines through because he sounds like a disappointed fan who used to like Nas and now has reduced to, you guessed it, criticism. Check how Jay trolls Nas you can damn near put in 140 characters and post it as such. “Fell from top 10 to not mentioned at all… Had a spark when you started but now you’re just garbage… One was ehh (It Was Written) the other was Illmatic… That’s a one hot album every ten year average.” Jay would have made a hell of a writer for The Source or XXL in his hey day with quips like those. And lest not forget the pettiest critique of all – “Cuz you know who, do you know what, with you know who, let’s keep that between me and you…” While he Is telling millions of the rap and entertainment world. A battle of the ballers looks eerily similar to the kids who can’t share toys and play nicely during recess in Kindergarten.
With that said that is why the media will always be around. You cannot trust peers to evaluate themselves; fact is there too damn critical. Fact is there too damn emotional too which brings me to my last few case studies.
When I was in high school I had the pleasure any young hip-hop head would love; I actually worked at a record store where I met a plethora of artists in all genres of music. I was the “hip-hop” guy (which is inherently racist and a topic for another day soon) so I got to deal with all the artist up front on the rap end which like the game was full of ups and downs. Let’s keep things positive and speak on some of the ups. Slick Rick and LL Cool J were both humble and beyond class personified, a young, round the way Eve who did not yet have an album under her belt came in some Dazzies and a tank top and stole a brother’s heart. An unsigned artist named Ludacris came by one day and dropped off 40 copies of his independent release Incognegro – those tracks in addition to some new joints would be his Def Jam debut a year later. Nelly showed up two hours late, his people rolled two in the back while we waited… Good times for a young brother.
Then, there are the other moments. The moments where if you trust an artist, their ahem, alternative facts might become convoluted with the truth. Take for example Canibus whose album would soon be vying for biggest hip-hop bust ever came in one day and took the whole store under siege with his behavior would likely not tell you of the disrespect he showed a fellow employee and friend who was a rabid and avid fan of his. He would also not likely tell you tell how he and nearly came to blows and had to be separated by my then manager and his security. His narrative would probably consist of him coming into a store for a signing, being harassed by some groupie teenagers who did not know how to conduct themselves and you get the rest. The truth is somewhere in the middle most likely. Was Canibus a prick, yes. Was my friend going from fan to Stan status a little, yes. Me, not so much. I always thought DMX was a better potential song maker at the time and he and Canibus were the hottest up and comers in the street and was ridiculed in my circles for such talk. Until It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot Came Out… Thank you Darkman X!
My favorite was the Ja Rule/Bleek signing one weekend followed by a Lil’ Cease/Lil’ Kim pop-up to promote Cease’s album. So me and the homie roll up on Ja Rule asking if he want to cypher after the signing. Now this is when Holla Holla had already blown up and Ja had just achieved platinum status and was definitely feeling himself and rightfully so at the time. He declined and chalked it up to needing to preserve his voice to which I retorted quietly to my friend “Is this nigga Chaka Kahn or is he a rapper?” He offered his autograph and I told him we weren’t “autograph guys” gave him some dap and kept it pushing. That’s not the part the though. Memphis Bleek and Ja Rule came in a van together with about five other guys and Bleek was ready to go and had voiced so on numerous occasions while Ja was still shopping. He picked up a copy of Makevelli: Don Kilumanti The 7 Day Theory and a couple of other joints. He walked by Cease’s album which was on display because it was a new release and he and his crew had a few chuckles and hurled a few jabs that I will not repeat because I have already done enough by telling this story. Finally, Ja yells “Let’s Be Out” and the posse moves which then moves Bleek to a verbal expletive riddled tirade with a full on storm out as well. Emotional as hell. I get it too. Dude was ready to make a move and was not trying to wait for another man I get it. I can’t knock the hustle but keep in mind the streets is watching and that was not the impression maybe he should have left on a potential room of fans is all I am saying.
It gets better. Lil’ Cease shows up the following week minus one Lil’ Kim which left us and a store full of people beyond disappointed but Cease actually turned out to be a really funny down to earth guy. He told a few Biggie stories which I am keeping under wraps still, and even gave me a little insight into why Kim was not able to make it. She was on set with Mobb Deep doing a video for the Quiet Storm Remix which sent the small circle of us who heard the information and Kim’s stellar verse on the track, into a small frenzy. Seeing how Cease and his crew were much more accommodating than the previous week’s guests were, so were we as a staff and audience in turn. So when Cease picked up a copy of Ja Rule’s album, I felt so inclined to intercede and alert him of the events occurring the weekend prior which prompted him to fling Veni Vetti Vicci into the oblivion labeled Bluegrass/Folk halfway across the store.
Did I dry snitch on Rule and his crew? Hell yeah and I would do it again a thousand times and here’s why; they were assholes and you do not ever shit on fans they are reason you get paid and you never know, they might grow up, become a contributing writer for an online hip-hop magazine whose name and following his growing into the hundreds of thousands as we speak and use it as a platform to put that ass on blast almost two decades later. And that is exactly why we need the media and need critics – we cannot trust you entertainers, artists, and athletes to be left to your own devices because you yourselves are usually the biggest critics and sometimes self absorbed to the point of creating your own reality and the stories attached to it.
So when Method Man says fuck a rap critic do I love the line, yeah, do I think it is applicable actually, no. And I fucks with Mr. Meth. He is on my top 5 delivery and voice list and the only other emcee to do that on my list is Biggie. But since we are being honest, and I am a critic, Redman really faded you on that third verse to How High but he faded almost everybody that year with that one do not feel bad. And please do not listen to me, I’m just a critic what the hell do I know.