Before I started really paying attention to Hip-Hop I was the strange, fat boy in the neighborhood who played the clarinet at school (inspired by Squidward from Spongebob, by the way). I always remind myself that the First time I EVER listened to a Rap CD the whole way through was in 2003-04 when I bought Beg for Mercy on bootleg, to remember exactly how new I am to this culture, in comparison to the 30 years of history that took place prior.
Hip-Hop would soon take the place that drawing, Dragon Ball Z, and collecting Action figures once held in my life. In fact, the trips on the weekend to the argue with the clerk at comic book store about why Smallville should serve as a prequel to a new Superman series on the WB, were soon replaced by trips to Best Buy to see who’s CD was on the “best sellers” shelf.
I was in a house full of women, all my uncles were thousands of miles away, and if I was lucky I’d catch glimpse of my father for a week every few months. It sounds crazy now – but truth is the rappers I was listening to then were like father figures to me (sad but true). I wanted to get money like them, dress like them, get girls like them (football helped), and although wanting to be like them so much lead me astray on several occasions, it helped me find myself, and learn to be my own man in doing so. To a certain, extant even provided me with some of the morals carry with me now.
For a long time, maybe going on 5 years now, I’ve been trying to make sense of why I’ve had trouble relating to something that was once such a big part of my identity. And the answer is simple: the elements that I found relatable are no longer prominent within the culture I fell in love with, at this point. That doesn’t mean I change who I am, it just means we’ll have some of tatted-up, confused, metro-sexual, pot-heads, running around in seven years; if not already.
This is Hip-Hop Now:
Hate it or love it, YMCMB IS Pop Culture’s representation of what Hip-Hop is at the moment, Followed by Ricky and his boys (MMG)… The sad truth, coming from a fellow Stan, is G-Unit in the Shady/Aftermath era of Hip-Hop as we knew and loved them is Dead.
Welcome to Hip-Hop in 2012…
In light of Dr. Dre’s current affiliation to MMG (the label backed by Rick Ross , 50’s arch-nemesis) and lack of support from Eminem and the whole Shady/Aftermath staff in general, Curtis “50 Cent” (formerly ‘Interscope’) Jackson is damn near being disowned by his onetime mentors. His career as a rapper is on the rocks, seeing as how he is being shelved after the less than stellar performance (at least by 50 Cent standards) of his last commercial release. He doesn’t seem bothered by this however. Nor should he be, seeing as how he’s made hundreds of millions of dollars from Hip-Hop in brand extensions, and isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.
With the $200 Million deal between Chettah Vision Films (which he owns) and Paramount Pictures in 2010, and the rising popularity of SMS Audio and SK Energy Shots (not to mention its philanthropic ambitions of feeding a billion in Africa), it’s safe to say 50 will be okay.
Musically however, after countless disappointments from his once dominant G-Unit imprint, 50 is currently trying to rebuild. And if I may say so myself, he better hold on to that DJ Pauly D for dear life if he EVER wants to get back in Pop Culture news for something other than his now infamous twitter rants.
He was once G-Unit’s rising star, but despite the “Hunger for More” theme to his albums, Lloyd Banks seems to be satisfied with his Mix-tape Legend status. Coming off of the success “Beramer, Benz, and Bentley” in 2010, and a somewhat successful independent album, he really didn’t capitalize off of his return into the spotlight as much as his fans would have hoped.
In fact, aside from a guess spot on DJ Suss-One’s “Champion” (alongside Jadakiss Beanie Man, and French Montana), and the release of a mixtape that had little to no promotion
last November, he hasn’t really been active musically. Much like the little bit of buzz he managed to build back up in 2010, he spent much 2011 fading into the background, where he’s spent most of his career since 2005.
As far 50′s right-hand man goes, some say his popularity peeked when Eminem wore that “Free Yayo” shirt while performing at the Grammys. Those people forget that fact that he’s sold somewhere around 750,000 records as a solo act; something that not too many can say in this day in age.
Hopping on mostly G-Unit affiliated features on occasion and releasing mixtapes and singles here and there every now and then for the sport, Tony Yayo remains Hip-Hop’s best paid Hype-Man. Word is that he is now the head of the A&R Department over at the G-Unit offices… And for what it’s worth, I still think “Live By the Gun” is one of the most underrated songs ever.
We’d be here for hours going down the list things 50 Cent (and every other leader in history) could have done different to keep his crew on top (a lot of them being what Lil Wayne is doing RIGHT now [pun intended]). All this time I’ve been feeling like this whole “Young Money” thing was a fad, until the thought occurred to me that Roc-A-Fella fans probably felt the same way about G-Unit, just like Wu-Tang Clan fans felt the same way about them, and so on… And we’re all correct! The lesson to be learned here is this, as long as there is a genre called ‘Hip-Hop’ it is always going to have it’s changing of the guards. This is just me sending my long overdue, final goodbye out to my favorite dynasty and era in Hip-Hop.
Now I’ll speak of G-Unit like the old heads used to speak to me about Wu-Tang in the Barber Shop, as I smiled and nodded politely.
