Pac Man woulda definitely have to say 'No Homo' after chompin' on balls these days.

I can' t laugh at this enough. Just when my Wednesday was going slow I stumble upon this gem. This video is filled with gut-busting moments that will have you laughing your ass off. A few moves they go through are Basketball, Rabbit and the Running Man...I know, hilarious right? I think Jamie (around 00:30) country'ed it out way more than the others, he kept his hand on his belt buckle all while doing the shuffle.  Watch as Heidy, TJ , Susan and Jamie all work it out in the name of all that's good in Hip Hop. Diana Horner (the host) is just fantastic!

No Limit-The covers that changed the face of Hip Hop album artwork.

Master P - Make'em Say UGH

Hip hop has been driven by the streets since inception. Most Rappers were from notorious cities and neighborhoods such as Compton and Brooklyn and Street Credibility was a major part of a hip hop artist brand. Granite, the doors were never closed to artists that didn’t rap about “The Block” and there was always room for artists with a different type of message (ie. Tribe Called Quest), however those type of rappers were the clear minority. From N.W.A. to Jay-Z every almost rapper who was mentioned in the conversation for the coveted title of being the hottest rapper in the game was considered a “Street Rapper”. If we go down the list it goes 2 Pac, Biggie, Nas, Jay, Wayne. Not to say that list is 100% dead on but looking back at hip hop from a casual fan perspective I would have to say to torch has been passed in an order very close to that. The 90′s was a very Gangsta era in hip hop, it was a time when beef led to gunplay. When most of the people talking it were living it. Many rappers were former drug dealers who had used hip hop as a way out of the game. The Rap Game was more raw back then. Before his death, Biggie was almost killed in California by gangsters due to a comment in a magazine saying that he wasn’t feeling E-40. (E-40 Did provide security for Biggie after the incident and saw to it he made it home safely). This street element didn’t only lend itself to the music and culture but also to the business as well. The Rap Game functioned like a legal dope game. Buy your product, load up the trunk, hit the road, flip it and re-up. There was a simple formula that worked. If you had the money to finance a project and press it up and you had the grind to get out there and sell it, you could make a lot of money.

The Game was driven by The Hustlers mentality, People like Master P took this system and milked it for every penny. Young black men became millionaires almost overnight. Long before Cash Money signed it’s 30 million dollar deal with Universal they were putting out independent albums selling 40-100 k a piece. Back then an indy label would put out an album every month, you do the math. This catered to street guys, because they had that grind already and they had seed money. They also had a lot of connects with people in their cities and surrounding towns which made distribution of their music easier. So in essence the streets became the key holders. And since the streets had the keys the streets unlocked the doors for street artists. No Limit had C-Murder and Fiend, Cash Money had The Hot Boys etc.

Cash Money fostered in their own style and hustle.

Lil Wayne feat. Big Tymers - Tha Block Is Hot

Fast forward 10 years and The Rap Game is a new landscape. Today, it more resembles software development where everyone wants to develop some new technology and give it away for free (ie. Twitter, MySpace, YouTube); whereas bootlegging used to result in a beat down from a rap crew. Today, Artists make music and solicit to blog sites to help them give their music away for free. Blog sites are run by bloggers who post what they like on their blog when they feel like it. Fans expect mixtapes, EP’s etc. to be free. And the power has shifted from the Hustlers to the Hackers. From street guys to kids in their dorms. And just as The Street guys looked out for their own, this new era is doing the same. Not to say Gangsta Rap isn’t still appreciated, it is still loved by the masses. It’s the process of gaining entry into the rap game today that is the biggest threat to street rappers. Where as the Rap Game was once a process of making music hitting the streets, wrapping a van and selling it. Now the game has become make some music, promote it on twitter, email blogs sites and give it away for free with the hopes that I’ll get hot enough for people to pay for shows.

So many steps have been added to the process of getting paid that it isn’t the great investment that it used to be to a hustler. Most of my success as an artist has come from networking online and getting promoted by blog sites. But thats because I’ve always been an internet head since childhood. However, when I try to explain the blog concept to the street guys I know, I might as well be speaking French. They don’t know or care about most of them, there’s only one website that is unanimous with them and that’s World Star hip hop and that’s more for the visual then the music. So, we find ourselves at a cross roads. Not to say that there aren’t tech savvy dudes walking the streets because I know they exist, but they are a rare breed. Since the blogs took  off there has been a very sharp decline in Gangsta Rap. Most of the current Street Rappers (Jezzy, Gucci etc.) were already in the game before the blogs blew up so they’ve been Grandfathered in. But in this new era what successful street artist have gained entry to the game without at Co-Sign? I count Maino, and recently Jay Rock and Freddie Gibbs. I’m a fan of Gangsta Rap, I love it just like I love all other forms of hip hop. I think rap is at it’s best when it’s balanced. There is room for everyone, but the question I pose is Can Street Rappers survive in todays internet age of hip hop?

Rob Jay is a hip hop artist based in Houston, he can be reached at www.twitter.com/robjay09 or www.robjay.com

---Mos Def ("Hip Hop"Black On Both Sides, 1999).

Mos Def - Hip Hop:

Does the mainstream Hip Hop culture see lyrics as anything of value these days? Do the collective artists that sell millions of albums, millions of ring-tones, singles, you name it, really care about the culture? Is lyricism on commercial radio something of the past? And more importantly, what the hell is a Waka Flocka? These are just a few of the questions I asked myself as I sat back and replayed one of my favorite joints from Mos Def (see audio above).

I think Mos Def really hit the nail on the head with how serious one should be towards their craft:

...I write a rhyme, sometimes won't finish for days
Scrutinize my literature, from the large to the miniature...

Those few lines sparked something that I think needs to be addressed in Hip Hop today, lyricism.

Lets take a quick peek at what good ol' Webster says about it:

lyricism:
1: the quality or state of being lyric
2a: an intense personal quality expressive of feeling or emotion in an art (as poetry or music).

If you turn on the radio right now what do you hear? Do you think the average 'rapper' on the radio is critical of their lyrics? Lets take Waka Flocka Flame for example (For the love of Pat thats one bad stage name). Below is a snippet of lyrics from his hit single "O Lets Do It" aka Oledoit:

Call me waka flocka aka young wild nigga
Aka young drug dealer
Got purp, got kush, got pills got white
In the trap all night with the hard and the soft
Stacks on the flo' [inaudible]
Shook it to the left then he shook it to the right
So icey brick boys got it all night
These lame ass niggas aint got no fight
Kick in my door we gon shoot out all night
Home of he braves shawty shoot em wit a k

Waka Flocka Flame - O Lets Do It

In the words of Cleveland let me just say: "Thats Turrible".

Before you say "Damn Steve don't hate on Flocka his lyrics are dope" while twisting your red-tipped dreads around your pinkie finger; Lets be honest here and point out the fact that real Hip Hop fans are also the most critical of the genre and whats out there, especially lyrical content. And I'd like to think of myself as a Hip Hop fan. No 'hate' here.

Do you think that Hip Hop in Pop/Mainstream Culture should be renamed to Pop-Hop? There is clearly a difference in the two.

Not to compare Mos Def to a 'rapper' that might not even be here next year, but the differences in lyricism AND production is key here. Some of the production out here on the radio sounds like my nieces first attempt at playing around on a 15 key casio from the flea market (shes 2 by the way). I hear more and more 'rappers' out now with sub-par production and even lower-par lyrics, and thats saying the least. Lawwwd make it stop!

Without me getting to preachy let me be 'frank' for a minute here and say, yes, I like my fair share of that 'Ignant Shit' but would I purchase it with my left ova money after paying my 3 baby mamas child support for my 5 illegitimate kids? Sheeet naw, sorry Flocka, you're welcome kids. Its good for a quick minute but almost never has any replay value years later, let alone next summer. To further explain myself let me just say this, I like all aspects of Hip Hop but what I don't like is the absence of all the various types of it in the media. When it becomes one-sided thats when I turn off the radio, and its been off for a while now...sigh. I don't know when the DJ's stopped being cool with the Talib's and Mos Def's of the game but good music is out there, don't lose hope (thank God for the internet and Satellite Radio!).

With all that said, there are tons of good underground artists that are keeping Hip Hop alive; Which leads me to my next question, Do you think that Hip Hop in Pop/Mainstream Culture should be renamed to Pop-Hop? There is clearly a difference in the two.

(steps down off soapbox)

LMAO!!! If this is just a made up story and you told me it was made up I still wouldn't believe you. Goin in on Yezzy. Why hasn't this guy had his own movie yet?

DANGAAAA!!!

Uh-ooooooooh *side-eye* Seems like when 1 go in, 1 come out. It’s like the rap game is a phone booth or I guess the sound booth.

The magical microphone emcee I mean yeller I mean rapper is outta jail, yall. “WATCHA-SELF” First I’m VERY curious to know if he swelled up to the size of Kimbo Slice doing all them push-ups and bench dips off the end of his jail bed and what’s going on with them braids Mystikal??? I know you had to cut em’ off and from what I remember you had a little retraction going on with that hairline maaaaaan. Don’t front (no pun intended). We wanna know! “I SAID SHOW ME WATCHA WURKIN WIT!”

After 6 years gone, many tragedies and triumphs like, Hurricane Katrina, our 1st black president, all the untimely deaths of 2009 and just the fact that this senseless war is still going on, the Gulf War veteran [slash] 12th Ward native, Michael Lawrence Tyler received his “get out of jail free” pass this morning.

Initially sentenced and locked up in January 2004, Mystikal plead guilty to extortion charges and sexual battery. While serving his time for [those] acts, he accrued one additional year concurrent with his six year sentence for tax evasion for his 1998 and 1999 taxes. And here we are, 6 years later: myspace, facebook, twitter, reality/edited TV, skinny jeans, mo-hawks, new trends, old trends, common slang, opinionated children, jerkin’, rejectin’, yooooooulin’, souljah boy (not to be confused Souljah Slim RIP) I-phones, touch screens, skype and all the other Tom Foolery involved in this game called entertainment Mystikal is out and ready to shout (literally).

In an interview this morning with Wild Wayne from Louisiana’s Q93, Mystikal explained his future plans, all the writing he’s been doing (off course) his various offers for a reality tv show and still being signed to Jive Records and owing them 1 more album. He also plans to exercise his benevolence and start a few mentoring programs.

Well Mystikal, technically you’re a free agent so “Ain’t No Limit” to what you can do (yes pun intended and shout out to Silkk the Shocker). Well there’s probably a few limits but, whatever. This is your time to start anew. Congratulations Brutha and I’ll be looking for that new album equipped with my ear plugs when necessary. I’ll be more than ready to SHAKE IT FAST!

I’m not ashamed to admit that I was seven years old in 1984. I happen to have been lucky enough to say that by the time Def Jam found its' legs, I was old enough to be along for the ride. The label created and provided the platform for hip-hop music to truly thrive in a time when it was still young and considered a fad. It’s first single, T La Rock and Jazzy Jay’s “Its Yours” (which Nas would later sample on his classic debut) set the tone for what would become an amazing string of artists who are now icons in hip hop: LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys (whose “Licensed To Ill” gave the culture it’s first Billboard Top 200 #1 album), Slick Rick, Public Enemy, and EPMD.

You can’t go to any corner of this earth and not find hip-hop’s fingerprints somewhere. Def Jam is part of the reason for that...

Def Jam, and their ethos of allowing the artists to be themselves, is the blueprint for every other independent record label that ever created anything remotely close to hip hop music. Uptown Records, Bad Boy Entertainment, Rocafella Records, and Death Row Records all gave the world memorable music, and they all owe a debt to the house the Rick and Russell built. It’s not enough to simply say that Def Jam is important to hip-hop. DEF JAM RECORDINGS IS HIP-HOP. Today you get Ghostface, The Roots, Rick Ross, Young Jeezy, Nas, Method Man, and Redman music straight from Def Jam. Jay-Z became a household name after his tenure in it’s hallowed halls, even briefly becoming it’s president. Some of the hip-hop/r&b joints you’ve jammed to at the club were provided via DefSoul. They gave you comedy with Def Comedy Jam, breaking acts like Chris Tucker and Bernie Mack. Def Poetry Jam introduced a larger audience to the joy, pain, and beauty of performance poetry. Def Jam even gave us video and film directors: Hollywood filmmaker Brett Ratner got his start shooting videos, including clips for Redman, LL Cool J, and Public Enemy’s first video “Louder Than A Bomb”. He has since directed great music videos for Mariah Carey, Mary J Blige, Jodeci, Wutang Clan, P. Diddy, and Madonna. He also directed a little film called Rush Hour, and the sequels that followed. Guess what record label did the soundtrack?

Def Jam, and their ethos of allowing the artists to be themselves, is the blueprint for every other independent record label that ever created anything remotely close to hip hop music.

But Def Jam’s biggest contribution to us all is that twenty-five years after it exploded onto the scene, it’s still here. It’s still relevant, and it’s become a symbol of respect, and a reminder of all the things we love about the culture. Def Jam has been a huge part of my life, from my earliest days as a military brat and hip-hop ambassador around the world to my later development as a writer and filmmaker. This label’s legacy plays a huge part in the foundation of my own company and the documentary film I am currently developing/directing, “Tougher Than Leather”, about the globalization of hip-hop culture, and how it changed the world. You can’t go to any corner of this earth and not find hip-hop’s fingerprints somewhere. Def Jam is part of the reason for that, and just like that very first single, hip-hop is still yours.

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.

Am I high or did somebody around the office spike the water cooler with a mickey? Wow. If you don't laugh your ass off at these pics then you don't have a funny bone in your body. Even though this isn't a joke at all maaaaan, how hilarious!

Either he has a serious case of the Wayans Brothers White Girls syndrome or he fell into a big ass tub of Middle Aged White Guy circa 1973. Either way it goes, those steroids do some strange mutant things to your body. Keep your eyes on the lookout for the strange after-effects of steroids on Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco. I'm guessing next up is *Mark McGwire transformed as Popeye (finally!) and Jose Conseco as Wendy Williams. Zing! "How you doin?!"

Check out the original and True story here >>

*Mark McGwire:

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: