First T.I. then Lil Boosie now GUCCI! (Let’s not forget about Da Brat or better yet, LET’S); and the other “vacationers” that have temporarily traded in writing their 16 bars for standing behind them. Shoutout to Remy Ma, Prodigy, C-Murder , Mystikal, Black Rob, just to name a few, and the recent release of John Forte’ and Shyne. Ok, now that I’ve gotten that out the way.

Is JAIL the new black?

I’m trying to figure out, when did the music contract get mixed up with the court papers? Our new hip-hop habit demands the artist to be “Out with the skinny jeans and in with the P.O’s”! I mean seriously, I’m starting to think fame and freedom is not fashionable (here’s another F) F**k that! I know you gotta do what you gotta do but “C’MON SON” (in my Ed Lover voice) this is RIDICULUUUUS! (in my Gucci voice). And don’t give me that “this all I know Son” and “it’s hard in the yard, blah, blah, blah” Whatever! Knock it off and put them two eggs in ya back pocket it and beat it!

There’s a fine line between stupidity and tendency and in this case both are moronic so, why straddle the fence? I always hear people talk about the first thing they would do if they came up on a “real, legit” meal ticket; “I’mma pay my debts and help my momma and blah, blah, blah” Well, If paying your debts includes tickets, court cases, child support, a new transmission, community service or whatever, I’m sayin’ JUST DO THAT SHYT! Why keep fueling the fire and making it harder for your-self.

I’m trying to figure out, when did the music contract get mixed up with the court papers? Our new hip-hop habit demands the artist to be “Out with the skinny jeans and in with the P.O’s”!

Personally I can’t [keep] a job because I don’t like authority so, I can only imagine having to do what somebody else says for more than an hour and then I gotta live in this little a** room with this hard cot/ bed and a toilet that’s inches away from it. WHERETHEYDOTHATAT?

Well Gucci, 6 to 12 months without you around will be like…well, 6 to 12 months without you around (shrugging shoulders) HA! Not to be funny but aside from the down time this is working out in your favor. You stay out of trouble, you clear your “debt” and you got a whoooole lotta time to write; just like your other peers that are away “at college”. And it’s guaranteed you’ll move units. Ain’t that the way it goes?

I guess it can be considered unfathomable to comment, standing on the outside of the situation. But, real talk; some stuff is just common sense. We want all “our” people to be successful but not at any cost. So please do yourself and US a favor, don’t become another “Family Guy” episode. (wait that might help with your popularity too). Because while some of us will (maybe) be offended MOST of us will be laughing.

Hold ya head…GUCCI!
Keisha B.

While the fingers being pointed, who decided on DJ Drama to represent the hip hop community? Wasn't his house raided by the Fed's a few years back for racketeering? Someone should of told him to take his damn hat off, and while he was at it throw on a suit. I'm sure he has the money, since that's never a issue in hip hop right? Hey call me old school but I thought we could of sent someone in his place who was better equipped for the job, I'm just sayin'. We should of sent Gucci Mane....Its all love. LMAO

Side note: Is it just me or did it look like DJ Drama wanted to burp so bad? Forward to 2:40 in first video. lol. I've included a few of the more interesting topics which were in discussion below.

The African American Family:

Excellence and Education:

Crime and Community:

Ok ok, but really in all seriousness who knows what happened? I guess we will have to wait and see. In all honesty do you guys think it goes both ways in this situation? I could go deeper into what I think about it all, but after seeing the weapon above her eyebrows do you still think in favor of one person over the other? I guess in all consideration Chris could of lisped her into submission but I'm not sure his powuzzz would've sufficed that head. lol

Sneak peek of interview:

*E.Honda style headbutt (aka. Rih-rih's haymaker)

Look at that thing! She could of..I mean the weapon is right there at her disposal, KO. Lights out. Done. Gooooooodnight! lol.

*We here at ArizeMag in no way support abuse of any kind towards men,women or animals. Please don't start sending emails.

Some speculate the show piece to be his way of apologizing OR it [could] be a jab at the media and masses that assumed they knew the story first hand. (since this sighting Chris has released an on-line apology). Word has it, the icy “Oops” admission took 218 hours to make; custom designed my Jason Arasheber aka “Jason the Jeweler”.

“Chris has been a client of mines for sometime…It’s always a pleasure to work with him because it gives me a chance to be creative”.
The Beverly Hills jeweler says Chris came to him with the idea and he [Chris] was very pleased with the finished product.

Chris, sweetie, we still love you but keep up theses kind of antics and we [ya peoples] treat you like you wear a boot and a shoe; SO KNOCK IT OFF! Thank you.

THIS JUST IN: Rihanna will be releasing a twitter video explanation in addition to her previously leaked nude photos that will explain her involvement in the incident with the pop locking prince Chris Brown. She’ll be wearing a hand crafted puka shell necklace from Barbados with a charm made of bedazzled jewels and old plantain bits with the words “Island Grind” attached to it.

For me it started with friends of mine trying desperately to listen to the new Rick Ross album "Deeper Than Rap". Not only did said friends purchase the album, but spent the better part of an hour telling me how well produced it was. Good production is a must when it comes to an album, but that's only a part of the equation. Presentation and content are the other pieces I need to consider purchasing a record. Rick Ross is not an emcee, lyricist, or even interesting. At least not in my definition. Convincing me that Rick Ross deserves my hard earned cash is like saying George W. Bush spent the last eight years making the United States an amazing place to live and work. I watched Ross perform his single "Magnificient" on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Even with the world famous Roots crew backing him up, Ross didn't convince me. Black Thought? Amazing lyricist and performer. Rick Ross? NO. I'm not having it, and I'm not buying it with or without a Def Jam logo on the cd. Period.

Swine flu dropped out of the sky onto an unsuspecting world. First it was a few confirmed infections in Mexico. Next thing you know, people are running scared and there's talk of pandemics, swine flu "protocols", and people burning mass amounts of actual swine in the Middle East for fear of catching said "flu". The fear machine is greased up and in full effect people. Break our your gas masks and dive into your airtight doom shelters. Don't get me wrong. I'm all for making sure everyone is as healthy and safe as possible, but the idea that swine flu will wipe out as many people as the bubonic plague? Journalistic cynicism aside, NO WAY people. I'm not buying it. Combine the possiblity of swine flu annihilating the world with the effects of the ever present recession and we've got ourselves a fully functional fear bomb ready to explode and blow us all away.

I think we all need a little break from swine flu (Alert Level Five!), obsessing over the economy, and really bad albums (because alot of people are buying it anyway). Take a breather. Make sure you wash your hands really well after the bathroom, show up to your job on time and do your job, and turn off the radio for a while. Let the paranoia rest for a bit. The summer is almost here, and with it we can expect music festivals, blockbuster films, and cookouts. Let's look foward to that. And if you happen to feel sick, stay home!! Stock up on medicine, hand sanitizer, tissue and the NOTORIOUS dvd while you're at it. We miss you B.I.G. Stay up and Be Easy out there.

In 1987, when I was just ten years old, I had three things on my mind: Music, Movies, and Comics. Growing up as a little boy in the 80s was a special thing, being exposed to several different movements in different areas of popular culture that would later be known as "classic". The birth and explosion of hip hop as a whole. The arrival of anime in america in the form of several Saturday morning cartoons. Reaganomics. The Cold War. The maturation of television advertising. But for me things were a little different. My father served in the US Army, and in 1987 I was living in Livorno Italy. Keeping up with what was current and hot was kind of a job in itself for a kid who was out of the country for three years or so at a time.

You may wonder what I'm trying to get at here, and it's really simple. Having been around long enough to see the mediums I came up with mature and expand (for better or worse) is an amazing thing. It gives one the ability to discern what to draw inspiration/enjoyment from, and what to avoid like the plague. I lived through the inception of Def Jam Records, which they call "old school" now. The hip hop dominance of 1988, and Rakim, KRS ONE, Public Enemy, LL Cool J, Slick Rick, and a whole slew of others who are now legends in the game. Frank Miller's legendary run at Marvel Comics on "Daredevil". The birth of the Michael Jordan phenomenon, and those amazing Nike commercials directed by Spike Lee, who would become one of my heroes later in life. Do The Right Thing and Boyz in the Hood. New Jack City. The Source Magazine. The beautiful rise and tragic fall of Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace. It's what we call having a cultural filter.

That's what I intend to do here at Arize Magazine: let you into my world. It's a world of music of all kinds, fresh sneakers (mostly Adidas I must admit), a whole lot of films, video games, political commentary, fashion, comic book writers and ill graffiti artists. It's also the world of Precise Minds Inc., the film production company I co-founded in 2005 and run from Chicago. It's a little bit of everything, because I think that's what Arize is about as well: CULTURE. I want to give Steve "Pyro" a shout for allowing me to find a literary home here. So, stay tuned people. In the illustrious words of Raekwon, "Blow a fuse you lose/half ass crews get demolished and bruised". Welcome to My World...

Not that long ago, in a time that was called the early aughts and we had just elected a white guy (or had we?), the world actually made sense; or at least underground rap made sense as an entity. Being into underground rap meant three things about you as a person: you listen to music from small label like the aforementioned Rhymesayers, Def Jux, and the like, or you listened to music made mostly in the 90's and mainly from New York or other Northeastern cities, and you went to shows where a solid 60 percent or more of the audience was male and white. Now that's not nearly the case and I have to say that this doesn't upset me in the least, if only for the fact that more ladies are at shows.

A new path is being forged for music, not just hip hop, where the playing field for all artist is being leveled for all artist to received exposure and recognition: now album sales may never return, or to putting it more succinctly paying for actual music may never return, but artist can be perceived as on equal footing. The only province of old school patriarchal behavior occurs in that wasteland called FM radio and there has to be a way to eliminate it's influence: it's called the Ipod. So the game is wide open and I hope the artist see this as an opportunity, not an hindrance.

The “angry black woman” stereotype is so played, and I don’t want this article to be an ode to this misrepresentation of myself as a black woman, but rather a declaration of my being a woman. I remember as a child watching music videos and to see a woman in a sports bra and biker shorts, paired with black combat boots was considered a revealing outfit…movies with partial nudity were considered Rated-R…but my how times have changed. It seems nowadays the sensuality of a woman is no longer contained within the mystery, but rather with the barring of all.

To make matters worse there seems to be a large disparity between the less than conservative antics of black women as opposed to white women. Maybe this is just the portrayal defined by our media, or maybe it has deeper ties to the age old perception of the black woman as a wild, promiscuous being. We are bombarded with nudity and lewd acts of women…some are considered sexy and erotic, others tasteless and whore like. How can this be? ...Well apparently it is contingent upon the color of your skin.

From “Girls Gone Wild” to the various reality television shows we see white women engaging in same sex intimacy, nudity, promiscuity, and other less than commendable behaviors, and this behavior is rewarded with high viewer ratings. Conversely, the response to a black woman in a music video that is sporting a revealing outfit is frowned upon, and the black woman is continuously portrayed as this “whorish baby making machine” in today’s society. That strikes me as odd as we are not the ones plastered all over the media engaging in un-lady like behavior.

Black women have constantly had to deal with feeling inferior to white women…not because we actually were, but because their elevation has constantly been shoved down our throats, and in today’s media, when a white woman is glorified for being a whore…that is an ultimate low blow for black women. Especially since this is the very thing we were labeled and condemned as throughout history. Because we were the proverbial whores, we have seen nothing but judgment and ridicule for it, but when a white woman plays the actual whore, she deserves praise and interest… why? Because it is some sick extension of the Woman’s Suffrage Movement with her, but for us it is in our nature? Is it that she is declaring her independence when she does it, but if we even exhibit a fraction of that behavior we are doing nothing more but acting as our wild ancestors that were animalistic and non-discriminatory in nature…

I guess when assessing the overall picture, white women have been hailed as the “forbidden fruit” in society and to see the pure, untainted, wholesome fruit act in such a way is beyond intriguing…it is something that many have fantasized about…and now their wildest dreams have come true. Almost any channel they turn to, they can see this fantasy materialize in some shape, form or fashion. Black women…there is not much fascination in seeing a whore behave as one. There is no mystery in guessing how the black woman will act…her actions have been “noted” throughout history…her ancestors came from a country where many children were created and breast were bored as shirts…how dare they be comfortable with their bodies…how dare nudity not be an indication of sin…Animalistic, bestial, savage…or maybe it is simply that we are comfortable with our femininity and in an effort to reach our level of comfort white woman have went astray; they have confused the confidence and sensuality of the black woman and mutated it into their own lewd and slutty behavior.

Most of the letter is right on point and nothing most fans would not disagree with. The game is diluted right now and most of this stuff would not have been allowed even five years ago. I especially like the part about people who get the chills when they hear Rick Ross because I have witnessed and been disgusted by it myself.

But then he had to attack Crooked I and Rich Boy (I am going to conveniently forget FloRida), to which Crooked I has already responded. Now I know that P hasn't had access to the internet, but these kids have been killing it. I would die to hear a song with those three. But the Paranoid one does not mind burning bridges. Maybe he thought he was remaking "LA, LA".

I've been investigating hip hop beef a bit lately and the beef that has me excited is not the 50 Cent/ Rick Ross Thrilla in Vanilla, but rather one for the ladies: I really, sincerely hope that Keri Hilson drags Beyonce' through the dirt. Now Hilson has tried to send Polow da Don onto the Ryan Cameron show on Atlanta's V103 to defuse the situation and personally ensured Ciara and the radio audience that she was not going at any other R&B chick, but I'm not buying it. You can listen to the song yourself and decide: the jabs weren't even subtle.

Now why would I be against such a fine young lady such as Beyonce? There could be the reason that I think her music is insipid, but it all comes down to one thing, really: her brand of "beauty shop feminism" (I cannot take credit for that phrase, it came from a review of her album in Creative Loafing) is a force of evil in African American sexual relationships. I have heard more than a couple of guys actually call her music poison and this was from a broad spectrum of guys, even so called ballers. The main pitch that most guys seem to put forth is that Beyonce' could not have experienced everything she's sung about. "Bug-A-Boo" came out when she was about 17 and there's no way that Matthew Knowles let any guy near that body, much less some bum trying to get change from her.

So basically this resentment is about someone soundtracking other women pain and profiting off of it. Something about the way Hilson said "tell them who wrote your songs" that finally set me off at least. Not that I'm a Hilson fan, but at least she seems to care if her songs are good. I can't give Mrs. Hova the same credit.