The Hip-Hop Herald 07.02.09: Obsession For Men

Posted by Patrick Robinson on 07.02.2009

Mariah Carey thinks Eminem is still obsessed with her, Lil Wayne has an obsessed fan calling 911, Foxy Brown issues a statement about her preferential treatment, and the driver in T.I.'s friend's shooting is sentenced to jail! Plus: A look at some of the best verses in hip-hop's history!

I don't want to dwell on the Michael Jackson news, and I will only add that even though he has passed, it will probably be easier for his family in the long run not having to watch as his life became a media spectacle. Once everything calms down, I'm sure his kids and loved ones will be able to remember him fondly and not as the weirdo the media constantly depicted him as.


The News

Just a quick note, I won't be dwelling on MJ stuff, it's already been comprehensively covered elsewhere on the site.

Top Story

Driver In Philant Johnson Shooting Receives 17 Years

A second man involved in the death of T.I.'s assistant Philant Johnson in has been sentenced to 17-years in prison for his role in the deadly shooting. He admitted to driving the vehicle that chased and exchanged gunfire with members of T.I.'s entourage on May 3, 2006, after a dispute in the club earlier in the evening.

His brother, Hosea, was convicted of being the trigger man in the deadly shooting. In December, Hosea was convicted of Johnson's murder based on his brother's testimony and will be serving 66 years in prison.

"I was a knucklehead," Thomas said after being sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith. "I wish I could take it back."

Thomas was released from prison in 2002, after he served 14 years for rape and robbery. Thomas, 41, was also involved in a massive drug conspiracy, which sent hundreds of pounds of marijuana from California to Cincinnati.

I don't know there weren't enough details, but it sounds like he was only the driver, and didn't actually fire anything. 17 years is probably mainly based off probation violation which I'm assuming he would have been on for more than 7 years after the 2002 release. It's good to see this story come to a close though.

Foxy Brown Speaks Out



Foxy Brown is defending herself over reports that she received preferential treatment while serving a nine month prison sentence at Riker's Island. According to the NY Post, Brown had prison officials acting like "fawning valets," allowing her unlimited TV/phone use, makeup accessories, luxury clothing, and outside meals.

Brown was released last April, after completing a parole violation conviction for assaulting two nail salon employees in 2006. In a statement released by her publicist, Brown refuted every allegation made in the Post article.

"In response to the sensationalized front cover article and erroneous allegations made by the NY Post, NO special privileges were afforded Foxy Brown at Riker's Island," said Brown's publicist. "In fact, due to her celebrity status, many basic privileges were denied by the Warden and rules over-enforced. Her meals were served off the tray, she wore prison garb, and had the same phone time allotted her as any other inmate."

The NY Post also claims the rapper's special treatment was due to the work of prison Imam Umar Adul-Jalil, who networked with the prison's warden to make sure Brown had the resources to continue interviews and photo-ops.

Regarding this allegation, Foxy's management team counters that the NY Post is simply launching another attack against Hip-Hop culture.

"Once again Hip-Hop is on blast, denouncing our brand and depicting our culture as having an irreproachable ‘sense of entitlement,'" they stated. "There was no valet service, meals from Mr. Chows, makeup, or C.O. gatherings in her cell. It was incarceration, not a vacation. These invidious allegations, obviously made by an envious corrections employee are clearly fabricated."

That's not a terribly good defence to use to be honest. I don't think they were emphasizing her as a hip-hop artist, but rather a musician who is receiving related benefits such as the interviews. Still, you can't say that mainstream media publications aren't entirely innocent of placing undue blame on the hip-hop culture.

Some Bizarre Wayne News

A Florida man was arrested last week for calling 911 repeatedly, seeking a police escort to the residence of rapper Lil Wayne. Michael Kruse was charged with making false emergency calls by the St. John's County Sheriff's Office.

According to thesmokinggun.com, Kruse called 911 on his cell phone, from his Ford Taurus repeatedly, asking for a police escort by helicopter to take him to Miami so he could meet with Lil Wayne.

An arriving officer probed Kruse, who admitted to calling 911 the previous day as well.
In that incident, Kruse told 911 operators that he might need medical attention because he was under the influence of an unknown substance. When the arriving officer attempted to help, Kruse refused medical attention.

That's probably the strangest thing I've read all week. Why on earth would you want a helicopter to take you to Lil Wayne's house? I'd be asking for a Hummer personally…

Mariah Carey Cross-Dresses


Thankfully, not here

After taking a few shots at Eminem, Mariah is now seemingly ready to fire back full blast with "Obsessed". The track, which many speculate is a dig at Slim, has been creating buzz online and on the radio. Now, she is readying her music video for the single and she has decided to dress like a man, with a beard and all.

The clip shows Mariah dressed as a chauffeur and a young man, sporting a hooded sweatshirt and baseball cap. Both looks also consist of a goatee beard. The hoodie-look seems to be another shot at Eminem.

"It must be the weed. It must be the E," she says. "Why you so obsessed with me? Boy, I want to know. Lying that you're sexin' me…You're delusional. Boy, you're losing your mind."

The remix features Gucci Mane, where he adds other lines that may or may not be directed at Em.

"I wish I had a lie detector test right now...I know he a nerd."

Oh my God, why is Mariah doing songs with Gucci Mane? GUCCI MANE! It's a battle to determine who is more annoying for me, Gucci Mane or OJ Da Juiceman. Oh Mariah, couldn't you do a song with Common instead? Arg Gucci Mane…


Reader Feedback

(I've had to cut bits of the verses you guys quoted, the column was too long for the system!)

"I laughed my ass off when I heard that Perez Hilton got KTFO - one Hollywood attention-seeking parasite down, a million more to go. And yes, it was only a matter of time before something like this happened. Hilton couldn't back up the trash he spews in his blog and apparently in real life, and dare I say it...boom, boom, pow?" - Nick M.

There will come a day when all of the gossip-mongers like Perez will be brought down by a plague of biblical proportions. When that day comes, we shall all rejoice, and I do believe every single female celebrity in the world will stop wearing underpants and everybody will get drunk off their asses. Why? Because there's nobody to post it all over the internet!

Unless CNN or Fox decides to go gossipy on us that is. I think the day that CNN does that is the day that news media as a whole dies.

"Everyone and I mean EVERYONE who has heard or bought the Ecstatic said the same thing about Reservations. I think its universal we need a remix with MF DOOM just to make us happy. Priority was criminally short. The beat is beautiful work of art that could have been my favorite track if it was 3 minutes long

I think MF DOOM is the only rapper that can make a 1 minute song seem complete."

I think that's the reason I liked MM…Food so much because apart from the skits in the middle of the album, the shortest song was about 2:50. The extremely annoying thing is that it's not as if The Ecstatic was pushing the 80 minute mark either! I could understand him cutting it close on those songs if he had a lot of other tracks, but it's almost as if it got cut off somehow during the recording session and nobody realized it wasn't recording anymore. At least on other short songs they end with a cliff hanger, or something to think about, but this was just "beep" next song. Gah

With DOOM's inclination to do remixes, we might see a DOOM version of The Ecstatic pop up. It certainly wouldn't be the most random one he's ever done. That would go to one I found called Enter The 36 Chambers Of DOOM which involved getting Wu-Tang vocals from their debut album and blending it with DOOM's own production.

Listening to DOOM at the moment, is it just me, or does anybody else think he could pull off an ODB accent if he really tried? It just seems that if ODB was a little less wacky on the mic, he'd end up sounding a little like DOOM.

"Oh my God, Patrick that BEP and Perez Hilton thing maybe the funniest thing I ever read. Ever.

Made me laugh for 5 minutes straight, fell out of my chair and almost died from laughing so hard. And my sister busted into my room ready to call 911 (insert joke here 911 and near a computer too easy) thinking there's something wrong with me until she read it and did the same thing. Thank you and thank God for Perez lacking common sense and NOT GIVING AN ADDRESS"

Glad to make your day hahaha! Seriously though, I can think of literally BILLIONS of things to call products and Twitter wouldn't be one of them. Just like the MySpace craze a few years back, once it starts reaching the parody movies and other such outlets, it's time to move on to the next craze.

If Perez HAD given an address, he'd probably be receiving a package any day now from yours truly. Inside would be a canister saying "Will.I.Am sex tape inside" because you KNOW he couldn't resist checking that out. When he opens the canister, some gas of some sort shoots out and the message inside reads: "ESSENCE OF SWINE FLU BITCH!" Needless to say, I imagine it's difficult to get swine flu in a gaseous form, so it would probably just be like, a fart from my dog. Still just as deadly though.

"How the fuck is Lil Wayne always in court? This has got to be like the 36th time in this column alone I read about him in court."

It's getting ridiculous and it's certainly kicked up a notch since Tha Carter III blew up because he's now a viable target for the mass media and my column alike. He's probably good friends with a number of the judges and admin staff at the court houses now too.

"Are there any Australian rappers?"

Australia's hip-hop scene is largely underground in a sense that most of their shows take place at the small say 100-200 people theaters, but a couple of them do occasionally get a video played on MTV and the other various music channels. My favorite would be a guy called FiggKidd because I feel that he manages to tone down our accent a lot whilst rapping. I'm proud to live in Australia and call myself a Citizen of the country, but we really do have terrible accents when rapping. He manages to tone it down a lot though. Figg actually also got a lot of comparisons to Slim Shady LP era Eminem though when he first started making a name for himself and I can certainly see some of the comparisons as being true. For one thing, they both had a very distinct style of telling a story whilst rapping. Slick Rick is the master story teller when it comes to hip-hop, but on a track like "My Fault" it's a different kind of storytelling, and that is what FiggKidd is able to do. Plus he has a versatile flow and can REALLY ride a beat well.

The other main Australian hip-hop act would be Hilltop Hoods who have been releasing albums since 1999, but didn't get their first major break until 2003. Their latest single is also actually their first Top 10 in Australia too, but the video pisses me off so I can't really get behind it when it comes on TV hahaha.

Oh, we have another guy called Joel Turner who is an extremely good beatboxer who won the World Beatboxing Championship back in 2005. He actually beatboxed all the majority of the production on his group's debut album too as well as played the piano and guitar throughout. I haven't heard his more recent work but his debut album was pretty good.

We've also got a couple of R&B acts who have done well for themselves. Israel is a singer who's got a song called "Freak Tonight" getting a lot of airplay on radio and TV at the moment. Jessica Mauboy does a mix of pop and R&B tracks and the lead single off her latest album actually featured Flo Rida.

The unfortunate thing is that Australia seems to have a significantly stronger affiliation to rock and house/techno/electro music than hip-hop. Exhibit A, at the big chain store in the city, they've put the hip-hop section in the middle of a damn walk way so that you can't stand and look for an album, you have to duck in and out around customers. Its like; DO YOU WANT ME TO DOWNLOAD THE SHIT? I'm actually there to BUY something and they're doing their utmost best to stop me. Plus we never seem to get anything decent until months later, and even then it's about twice as expensive as the 50 Cent album. Woo.

"I may understand what it's like to be a Stan. Lupe's new song came out and I love it, not as good a single as superstar but there still some metaphors you have to decipher while listening too. The only thing keeping me from being a Stan is that I don't get butt hurt if someone doesn't like my favorite rapper."

Dammit this is what I mean. I'm stuck here in the worst position because I find out about songs that are released late, and by the time I've listened to it, and moved on to the next single the artist has released, the first single I'm sick of FINALLY reaches the radio here in Australia and I have to suffer through it. Or rather try and survive it as "Kiss Me Thru The Phone" shows no signs of going away anytime soon much to my extreme displeasure. It was annoying when I had to review it back in December, and it's damn sure still annoying now that we're in July.

Maybe I'll buy one of those $1 houses in Detroit. Having no running water is probably better than another Top 10 hip-hop session on TV where we get an Akon track that I'm 5 months past, two Black Eyed Peas tracks (YAY) and then Soulja Boy.

Anyway, that's the main difference between a Stan and a fan. A fan can accept the fact that their favorite rapper isn't God to everyone and they occasionally make an "oh really?" song whereas the Stan seems to think that if a rapper took an audio clip of them taking a crap and looped it over a drum snare, it would warrant 5 Mics in The Source.

"I refuse to justify hitting a woman but Chris Brown actually got off WORSE than normal men do for the same crime. It sucks but it's true.

Get well soon, Pat." - Dab

Ah thanks Dab, I'm actually quite a bit better this week. I need to check with a doctor at some point though; these headaches keep popping up too often for my liking. I think it might be related to my blood pressure for two reasons. The first being that I get way too worked up over trivial shit like the Top 6 (where did we get SIX from anyway) hip-hop countdown I was watching on MTV this morning and secondly because I think my sodium intake is about 3 times what it should be.

Chris Brown is being made an example of sorts. I think they want to send a message of sorts to the young up and comers in the music business that you can't get away with that kind of nonsense, and with due cause too. For my Aussie readers out there, "Violence against women – Australia says NO" hahaha. Ok it's a serious ad campaign, but the amount of times I start saying "Violence against women…" and someone finishes off with "Australia says YES" as a joke is probably too much for it to be really funny. Then again, my mate's girl is extremely scary and tried to kick him in the balls once for no other reason than to "see what would happen" so bringing back some form of restraining device probably wouldn't be such a bad thing in that case…

"Holy shit Foxy Brown and Rihanna pics in the same week?

Pat if there's an issue with women and men NEVER have pics of the men. NEVER. That means Fergie without the rest of the group too" - Brian Griffin

I tried EXTREMELY hard to find one where she didn't look like a cactus with makeup on and resisted the temptation to post a particularly funny looking one I found for Foxy Brown hahaha. But I shall keep that in mind, never fear!

"If this cock sucker goes to jail he would feel like a kid in a candy store during shower time, I mean if he kisses guys on the lips in front of a camera imagine what he does behind closed doors, I heard that when he kissed Baby on the lips Baby said his breath smells like T-Pain's nut sack" - Ramirez

Hahaha oh man that's a nasty image: "Ey Playboy, why your lips smell like T-Pain huh?" Ah I think I need to wash my eyes with soap.

Anyway, there's a "Lollipop" joke in there somewhere but I don't want to dwell on the mental image of Lil Wayne in the prison showers for too long.

"I didn't really like The Ecstatic, felt disjointed to me. I think I'll give it another listen.

And yeah, it probably was a matter of time before someone smacked Hilton around and he's lucky it was just the manager of one of the weakest groups in music. One day he's gonna piss the wrong person off and disappear permanently. My money's on Suge.

I would gladly call Jay-Z the "Greatest Rapper Alive" if he ghostwrote a track for Soulja Boy where SB just started dissing himself on the track. Takeover caliber stuff too. I want Soulja Boy to Ether himself on his own track on his own album, dammit!" - AlaskanHero

The Ecstatic certainly is disjointed, and that style of rap certainly isn't the easiest to digest the first time round so give it another go when you've got a bit of time to be able to sit and listen. Part of the art in that style of rap I think is just HOW disjointed you can be without making "Lil Wayne on drugs" kind of rap that's funny for the wrong reasons.

I'm surprised Suge wasn't on him for posting all those pictures of him lying sprawled on the concrete after that guy smacked him in the head and knocked him out. Perhaps he's biding his time for the right moment to strike, OR his Hitmen got taken away as part of the Death Row Records label acquisition.

That would be hilarious, especially because there's a really good chance he wouldn't realize what he'd done until he read a review of his album online. Oh wait, he only uses the net for making pointless YouTube videos and making a nuisance of himself. Guess we'll have to mail him a copy of it on tape. He strikes me as one of those guys who put "Books, wut r dose ha ha ha" (and I actually know a couple of people who have this) when asked "What Are Your Favorite Books" on Facebook or something.

"This Perez Hilton guy is one of the harbingers of the apocalypse, I'm certain. He's more than a blogger; he's a warning, sent down from God Himself, to show what our culture is coming to. Thus, when you slap the taste out of his mouth (and we can all guess what that taste is), you are doing God's work. Keep up it, Black Eyed Peas Inner Circle!"

LOL of the week, I LOVE the justification here and it would make me feel warm and fuzzy inside knowing I'm doing the world some good, instead of satiating my desire to slap him in the face with a tuna fish. He also really needs to wear ACTUAL clothes, instead of random pieces of cloth he finds in various clothing bins for the homeless. And no pink because a man of that size wearing nothing but fluorescent pink is enough to kill your retina permanently.

"Seriously, we need a law that says that if you run your mouth on the internet, and then you get bitch slapped in real life, it's justified. I mean, near as I can tell, bloggers do nothing but try to bring actual successful people down. The Peas can say they felt that Hilton was a threat to their money, like some bizarre, eunuch thief, and they were only defending themselves. Case closed!" - Sam!

Excellent. Absolutely excellent. If there's any justice in the world, the manager will get away with a slap on the wrist, and a minor probation period, or forced to attend anger management classes for 2 months or something.

"Is it me or are there NEVER any fans of the mainstream bullcrap on any Hip Hop site?" - The Rapper's Rapper

Ah, the problem is that you get STANS of mainstream artists on hip-hop sites. Thankfully, I think I made my column's intent fairly clear in the first month or so of me writing here that I'll tolerate most of the mainstream stuff, but I certainly won't accept mediocrity which has helped keep them away from here on 411 for the most part.

Still, the amount of times you read comment flame wars on websites where people are going at each other for someone saying that so and so is the Greatest Of All Time is amazing. Just don't respond! There's a fair go that you can let people believe that. They'll come to their senses one day that Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy and Soulja Boy aren't some of the Greatest ever and that sales DO NOT equate skill.

"Courtesy of HipHopDX

"I understand a lot of us want to be famous and rich…I get that. What I don't get is why do people in America allow other people with no kind of talent of skill to become famous? Someone tell me why the fuck is this dude in the news? What does he do? What is his talent? I mean really! What is it? He blogs about people? Blogs about people! Ummmm? And it isn't just him but I'm gonna keep my focus…that's the problem with the net it gives everyone a false sense and they get to feel like they're a star (in their own minds)…like the number of Facebook friends means something.

I actually had someone say to me once, "well you only have 100 friends on MySpace which means you have no life" to which I replied "You're comparing us based on the amount of random people I've added on a website that essentially means nothing in the grand scheme of things and I'M the one with no life?"

"All the talented journalists who cover real news and grind to make a living have to take a back seat to a dude who blogs! So print is dead because we go blogs now? SMH, so if the net wasn't the net then he wouldn't be shit right? You tell me! Kind of like if mainstream media (popular rap stations, MTV, BET etc.) wasn't the newest way to dumb people down you would still hear (insert target "real" rapper) on the radio. What stories does he cover? NORE getting arrested a Fat Burger! Shit is lame dude! And are you serious you pop shit behind a computer to the point where you think you're somebody! Then you think people are going to let you live when they see you? You real lucky someone told you to chill when you came at NORE! How the fuck is this guy famous! Where's then talent? He's lame as fuck…and I'm a punch him way harder then whoever hit him did." " The Rapper's Rapper

That's quite a rant and I take my hat off to whoever wrote it. It's so true though. Suddenly because you're an Internet sensation, you immediately have STAR POWER! Sometimes I wish the Internet wasn't as influential as it is today you know.

"Good God, Patrick, that BEP vs. Perez is HI.LAR.I.OUS (there's an emcee name for you)!"

Expect Nick Carey to change his rap name any day to that now.

"Just the other day I was discussing with friends some of the DOPEST verses – what do you feel are some? Here's the one's I could think of...

*Snoop's opening verse for "Lil Ghetto Boy": Perfect mix of beat and emcee coming together."

When you talk to a lot of new hip-hop fans these days, it's a shame they don't realize how truly monstrous of a flow Snoop had when he first came out. His verses on The Chronic and Doggystyle should be "How to Flow 101" for up and comers. Seriously, what happened after Doggystyle? Snoop just seemed to lose that ability to ride beats so well and it only pops up here and then such as on "Think About It" off Tha Blue Carpet Treatment.

"*Rev Run's opening verse for "Sucka MC's": Just great old school rapping right here."

Another excellent verse. You know, the old school style is actually a lot more enjoyable (for me anyway) than a lot of stuff that we hear these days. So many rappers come out with a mumble, mumble flow or don't put enough emphasis into their lyrics thereby leaving them devoid of emotion and you end up with a very bland product. The old school style REALLY gets you pumped and excited to rap along if you're inclined to do so.

"*Slick Rick's verse for "La-Di-Da-Di": He was so far ahead of everyone else at the time it was crazy. Stretchin' & Yawnin'."

Slick Rick will, and forever shall be (in my mind) the Master Storyteller of Hip-Hop. "Children's Story" alone is going down as a Top 100 hip-hop song of all time in my opinion. "La-Di-Da-Di" will also be remembered as being an excellent example of bringing detail to your raps without making it seemed forced.

"*Andre 3000's verse for "Int'l Playa's Anthem": One of those where I actually REWOUND the track just to hear the verse again before the actual beat dropped."

That year Andre had some amazing verses and made me crave a pure rapped album from him. Along with that, he had, over the course of about 18 months I think, "Throw Some Ds" remix, "Walk It Out" remix, "The Art Of Storytellin' Part 4" and one other song I never seem to remember. It would be interesting to see what Andre could do with the "International Player's Anthem" beat (as it was for his verse, so no bass line etc.) for a full 3-4 minutes.

"*Nas' opening verse for "The World is Yours" or anything from "I Gave You Power": Every time I hear these I just shake my head at the genius of wordplay."

"The World Is Yours" is my second favorite track on Illmatic. The beat is divine and Nas is just…damn. Speaking of top verses, since we're on Illmatic, AZ's verse on "Life's A Bitch" is certainly one of the best I can remember and easily one of the best debut verses of all time. That WAS his debut verse wasn't it? I've always assumed it was so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

"*Rakim's opening verse for "Eric B Is President": Just iconic."

It's damn hard to single out any song on Paid In Full but for me it's "My Melody". That song is ridiculously full of lines that have since been quoted by other artists. Plus the moment he says "I'm letting knowledge be born and my name's the R" you KNOW he means business on the mic.

I'd love to talk to Rakim one day and just chat about his mindset when he wrote the raps on Paid In Full. He was seriously ahead of the times at that point.

"*Big Daddy Kane's final verse for "Raw": How fast was he moving at the end?"

The beauty of Big Daddy Kane was no matter how fast he was kicking things, unlike other guys like Twista in his early days, BDK enunciates the words clearly so you can understand what's actually being said. Combine that with the relentless punchline flow, and it's like being pummeled in the face with pieces of chicken.

These food references represent the fact that I think of food far too much.

"* second verse of the Ultramagnetic MC's "Ease Back": A non-rhyming flow that is just RIDICULOUS!"

I actually don't know that one. I'll have to check it out once I track down the album.

"*Notorious B.I.G.'s opening verse for "Juicy": I think everyone on the planet knows this one."

Another song in the Top 100 of all time songs. Biggie's flow is ridiculous on that song and for anybody doubting his claim for one of the Greatest to bless the mic, just point them at this song. Quick wordplay, and if Diddy shut up in the background it would have been even better. I never realized but he adlibs more than Jeezy and Wayne's unholy love child would.

"*Masta Killa's verse in "Da Mystery of Chessboxin": He was just MAD!"

Interesting side note with this song, the final verse was actually in contention at the time. RZA often had people battle each other for a spot on the song, and in this case, it came down to Killah Priest and Masta Killa. On the DVD I was got with No Said Date, Killah Priest was saying that when it came down to the night before, he fell asleep half way through writing his verse, and when he woke up, he discovered that Masta Killa had been working on it all night and it had made the final cut. Who knows, had it not been as good as it was, Killah Priest may have ended up being the Ninth member of the Clan.

I have a big soft spot for 36 Chambers as evidenced by my old column name probably. Let's put it this way, if 36 Chambers suddenly became a person, I would probably marry that person in a heartbeat, that's how much I love that album.

"*Busta Rhymes' final verse in "Scenario": "ROWR ROWR LIKE A DUNGEON DRAGON!" gets me every time – probably cause it came out of freakin' NOWHERE!"

Busta's actually done that a couple of times. Naturally I can't think of any instances now, but there's a good few that he's done where he just suddenly screams out some animal noise like that. It's almost as if he's worried you're going to fall asleep (like you really could during a Busta verse anyway) so he busts out a random noise to wake you up.

"*RZA's verse in "Tearz": The emotion he spits is so raw."

Hahaha I've professed my love for the album once, better not do it twice. RZA is underrated as an actual rapper. His style is a bit hard to digest, but once you get past the unorthodox nature of it, he's got his own brand of lyricism that he uses well.

"*Even though everyone shits on the album, I really can't sleep on "Buckingham Palace" by Canibus – I really can't even pick a verse cause he was just batshit insane on that one."

Longtime readers will know WHO I blame for Can-I-Bus hahaha, but he really did cut loose on this track and it was beautiful. My favorite Canibus track though is definitely "Poet Laureate II". If that song could be converted into some kind of weapon, it would be more dangerous than all the WMDs in the world tied together with silly string and given to a blind man to look after.

"*Opening verse of Eminem's "Lose Yourself": Chalk up another one for iconic. –OR- Eminem's second verse for "When I'm Gone": It's one of the few times where the rhymes are simple, but the flow and emotion make up for it in spades."

No contest there from me. One of Em's best verses was on "Renegade" though with Jay. Personally I prefer the version with Royce over Jay's verses though, mainly because I think Royce went a LOT harder than Jay did with his. Plus Em's hook gets stuck in your head for days.

"*Rock's final verse in "Operation Lockdown": I think this is the first time I ever heard "Ya'll" used as a rhyme transition and it was blazing hot "...From Buckshot all down to the rest, ya'll/we runnin' through your SESS, YA'LL!" "

Hmm, another one I'm not familiar with. I'll check this one out too.

"*Big Pun's opening verse for "Deep Cover Pt 2": Just for "Dead in the middle of Little Italy..." – I think I collapsed hearing that the first time; I think it's probably one of the greatest moments, not just in hip-hop, but in any form of music – period."

I damn near shit my pants when I heard Pun kick that Little Italy line. I mean, it's a tongue twister to rival any tongue twister in common circulation today and the fact that he spits it so effortlessly is amazing. That's one of my favorite songs and Pun and Joe did the in/out style well. Pun's multi-syllables though are nuts.

"*2Pac's verse in "Hit ‘Em Up": Just the sheer audacity of it all. DID HE SAY HE F*CKED FAITH?!?!?!?"

This came out really before my time given I got into hip-hop around 1999 for the first time, but I remember people telling me that I hadn't heard diss tracks until I heard "Hit ‘Em Up" (this was during the height of the Nas – Jay-Z beef, so diss tracks were flying around everywhere). I remember saying something along the lines of "DAMN! That's a pretty big thing to say…DAMN that's an angry man right there"

"*Em & Dre's final verse in "Guilty Conscience": "I'MMA KILL YOU, YOU LIL' MUTHA/Nah-Uh, temper, temper/Mr. Dre/Mr. NWA/Mr. A.K.-Comin'-Straight-Outta-Compton-Ya'll better make way!" – how did he allow Em to just slaughter him like that?

Keep up the good work, man!" - The 8th Samurai

Hahaha I can't honestly see him letting anyone else get that close to the heart with a line like that. Not even 50, his main cash cow for the label. I crave the day when Em and Dre decide to go back to that more pertinent in/out style (I'm a big fan of the in/out style) than they have in recent times. Their chemistry on "Guilty Conscience" rivals that of Run and D.M.C. and Styles and Jada for sure.

"bobert back in mini rant building. Love this hip hop herald. not much for me to rant on, I hate black eyed piss, hate gay boy, hate foxy, and ill pee on Rihanna man ill do what i wanna."

Hilarious rant man.

"love Mos def as an actor but he's not for me but I def respect his style."

That's fair enough. It took a while for Mos to grow on me, but I certainly understand where you're coming from. I think he's going to be a really household name actor one day. I just hope he finds time for an album every now and then. Look, if Will Smith can manage an album I'm sure Mos can.

"Quick question for u and all on here and p rob, nick cannon and dick Ross (LOL) both dissed Em b4 his CD totally dropped, do you all think they heard Relapse and was like I'm not fuckn with dude cuz he's still got it, lil longer then I wanted sorry thx" - bobert

No need to apologize. Ranting is certainly allowed here and I encourage it so long as it has a point.

I think you've definitely got something there. Nick Cannon was making a ruckus, and Mark II was even saying that he was going after Em, but since then…nothing. I think they were possibly basing their assumptions that he'd lost it on the album as a whole up until "Underground". The moment the beat really kicks in and he starts rapping is an "oh shit" moment for me every time I hear it. Considering it's the last track, and right before "Crack A Bottle" they were most likely thinking "oh dude's not going THAT hard", then BANG.

Basically, "Underground" is that track that reminds us that he's still got the ability to destroy you lyrically if he feels inclined to do so. He's just at a point in life where he's not getting that thrill out of beef like he used to back in the day.

"The 8th Samurai is on to something.

I'd add: Rugged Man's verse off on Common Valor (I think that's the title) it's a Jedi Mind Tricks song"

JMT is another group I need to educate myself on one day. I really should because if Stoupe's work is anything like it was on Rip The Jacker, I'll be very happy.

"The second verse from "Real Recognize Real" a song from Lupe where he describes "The Game" "

I'd throw in Lupe's opening verse on "Daydreamin'" as another contender for his. The thing I love about Lupe is that he can be mad lyrical at times, but tones it back enough for us to understand his message fully.

"Blu- 1st verse of "Show Me the Good Life""

A damn fine song all round, but Blu definitely steals the show with that verse. Speaking of Blu, anyone know if another Blu & Exile album is coming?

"Nas verse off off "Verbal Intercourse""

Which album is that off, I don't seem to have it in my obscenely large iTunes collection…

"Biggie's verse on "Warning" (I think that's the song)"

Biggie's flow is head nodding, let alone the beat on this one. Considering I'm mentioning flow a lot today, anyone want to give their thoughts on who has the best flow in the game right now?

"Lupe Fiasco- "The Cool" (the song) is just a sick story."

Agreed. I love how he eventually expanded it on his next album, even though I'll admit the concept did fly over my head the first time I listened to it hahaha

"Nas- Undying Love (my favorite song from Nasir Jones) and Rewind (a story told backwards one of the most unique things ever told"

"Rewind" will never be matched. Nas' level of detail and the ease that he recites the rhyme is scary. Same with "Undying Love". Nas always paints a picture in your head and when he does it WELL, you can literally picture yourself standing beside him as he goes through whatever it is he's saying.

"Canibus- Master Thesis"

Mic Club is really underrated I feel. It always manages to get overlooked and I suppose some people don't like it because of the absence of hooks for most of the album, but if you're studying that flow of conscious style rap, Canibus is the man to look to.

"Andre 3000- ATLiens (Now, my oral demonstration be like clitoral stimulation)" - Dab

I think the way Andre uses his delivery is very important for his raps. If you picture someone like 50 Cent saying the same thing, you'd cringe, but the way Dre says it, it doesn't sound sleazy like if 50 said it.

"This is a great column, Patrick. I've only been reading for about a month or 2 and this is my first time commenting.

This is kind of a confession."

Glad you're enjoying it!

"I have only been into Hip Hop since 2006. And coincidentally that was the year "Hip Hop is dead" was formed. But one album gave made me realize that there is no way Hip Hop is dead and that was Food & Liquor. Now mind you this is the first complete rap album I have ever heard, but the way he told stories and songs like "Hurt Me Soul" and "The Cool" just inspired me. Hell for the first month I listened to him I wanted to become a rapper. Anyway, I have an issue with the Hip Hop community especially those who grew up in the 1990s and BRAG ABOUT IT ALL THE TIME. Coming from a new fan who's now finding out about Illmatic, 36 Chambers and The Chronic, Hip Hop fans make it very tough for new fans to enjoy themselves on websites."

It's never too late to be a fan, and you're never too old either, despite the fact that my parents keep telling me I'll be listening to smooth jazz by the time I'm 30 or something. Hell no, I'll be bumping "Straight Outta Compton" as I roll around on my automatic wheelchair in the nursing home doing drive-by pudding cup snatchings.

Food & Liquor is certainly a good place to start. As I've mentioned many times, I started out with Straight Outta Compton which really isn't the best thing for a 12 yr-old kid to be hearing. I assume you've checked out The Cool as well, but if you can, see if you can track down copies (on the net, I don't think they exist in a physical format) of his Farenheit 1&15 (that's how it's spelled, no error) series. There were 3 tapes under various names in that series, but they are truly excellent and showcase Lupe's creativity and lyrical dexterity.

I can certainly understand where you're coming from about being a new fan. The problem is that many of us who grew up in or on 90s hip-hop is that we're quite rabid in our defense of it.

"For example if I were to leave a comment saying "who's Eminem, is he any good" there would be 50 comments cursing me out. And I don't understand why? To me the 90s fans are like my parents they hate all the new stuff because they don't understand, but at the same time they're missing out on some great music."

The main issue is that after Biggie and Pac died, we entered Diddy's "Shiny Suit" era and he and Master P basically had radio on lock for a long time after. Hip-hop never really recovered as such, and the mindset grew that commercial flossing was better than being able to craft a story or boast about your skills as a RAPPER. As such, a lot of people tend to crap all over new artists and you're right, they do miss out on a lot of good music out there. Heck, I can find decent tracks on Jim Jones' albums so there MUST be good music out there!

"I'll be the first to admit, I don't have the same emotional ties to Illmatic Ready to Die, ATLiens like I do Food & Liquor, Untitled, Below the Heavens but I that doesn't mean I appreciate those albums for the work of art they are."

The difference is that a lot of fans today don't even bother trying to learn about those albums, or they dismiss them as the past and don't see their importance to today's hip-hop scene. It'd be like saying "George Washington is so last millennium so let's not learn about him", despite the fact that if it wasn't for him, the world would probably be a very different place. Kudos to you for taking the time to check those albums out. Hip-hop is a very history orientated genre and many artists are constantly referencing past songs through their own sampling of them, or copying small chunks of their verses. Unless you're Jay-Z when you seem to do it far too often hahaha,

"I know I'm ranting about nonsense but I'm TRYING to learn more about Hip Hop but assholes make it tough by bashing everything I like. (Because I do like some rappers like Ludacris, Rick Ross, Young Jeezy and The Game who get a lot of hate on other sites) I don't maybe 411 is a better environment"

It certainly is a better environment and I've personally strived to make it such in my column. I tend to focus on hip-hop I like, rather than what people think I should like. Don't worry about the ranting either. You should hear me go off on some customers at work when they do something particularly obnoxious.

In my opinion, the best thing is to find artists who YOU like, and screw what everyone else says. Just be ready to defend your choice, and don't say things like "because he's RICH BITCH!" because that won't fly hahaha. Nah seriously though, if you like Soulja Boy, and can defend why you like him, that's fine. If you don't like Nas, and can defend why you don't like him, that's fine too.

Having said that, you WILL occasionally come across an artist who you can't seem to reasonably defend your choice over. You've probably read me saying this, but I go through phases of liking certain artists for no reason at all. Currently it's Maino and I really liked If Tomorrow Comes, but I accept the fact that not everybody will like it.

"*God please don't be like the wrestling fans of this site*"

Oh my God, some of the comments I read on the wrestling articles are unbelievable! There's a LOT of really rabid fans out there who can't seem to negotiate on any point and the hip-hop equivalent is definitely a Stan.

"Are there any old rappers anyone here recommend? I'm currently listening to The Ecstatic and the guy at Best Buy recommended Black on Both Sides and that album is AMAZING BTW, both are."

You're lucky you actually have hip-hop fans working in those stores. For my Aussie readers who may know of the JB Hi-Fi chain HOW FRUSTRATING is it when you walk in and there's nothing but Emo fans everywhere. I found the person in charge of the hip-hop section and asked "When's the new Method Man and Redman album going to be on the shelves? It's been out for a while now in the States?" to be hit with "What's Method Man?". YOU'RE IN CHARGE OF THE HIP-HOP SECTION?

"Oh and that thing you said about new fans being attracted to mainstream rap is true. Until I stopped paid attention to the songs and realized some rappers say ABSOLUTELY NOTHING I was one of those people dancing. Then I realized it was ignorant nothing. I'm starting to like party songs less and less."

Hey don't worry, there's nothing wrong with liking that kind of music. There's a time and a place for dancing and party music, whether it's in the car with a subwoofer, or on the dance floor as Sam! described it last week, looking for "a nipple slip" hahaha (legendary defense of "Boom Boom Pow" still Sam!).

We all go through periods of different music, but eventually we settle on something that resonates with us on a deeper level. Whether it's the emotional connection we get, or the interest in the intricate wordplay, we all come across an artist who we can call our favorite.

"Anyway I just needed to get that off my chest and I wasn't going on Twitter (God that word sucks) to do so. I hate twitter to be honest where people post stories about doing nothing and expect people to read...fuck that" - Bobby McKay

One day I'll find the creator of Twitter and ask why they insisted on calling it something so…unusable. I can't, with a straight face, say "I just Tweeted something, check it out!" No I'd much rather be a Facebook status update whore than a Tweeter to be honest. Hahaha tweeting…

"If you people think Stanky Leg is bad then stay out of Miami clubs where you're ears will be mistreated by a song called "P*ssy Stank" I kid you not. From some Miami dude trying to "make it big" *cross my fingers he don't*"

Sounds about as fun as a stick-job. Points to anyone who gets that.

"It is the SINGLE most annoying thing ever. Wrap Hurricane Chris, Plies, Soulja Boy, Tony Yayo, D4L, Dem Franchise Boys, the guy who made Chicken Noodle Soup and Madonna (a fan of her 80s work) circa 1999 and that doesn't even explain how painful that song is to listen to. I haven't been to a club since. And I'm gonna start dating college girls because of that crap" - Southern Born or Born Southern

Hahaha that sounds like a really unholy combination of artists. Then again, don't spread that around too much, you know how easily influenced people are and word might get back that a collaboration between everyone you mentioned is "highly anticipated" and it might come true…

If that does happen, may I suggest we make a petition force them all to take mandatory writing classes and learn how to craft an actual rhyme.

"McKay touched on something that got me thinking. I totally agree with the whole early hip hop fans bash anything new and treat the new generation like crap. I agree with that about 95 percent.

First thing, the whole bash everything that is new is simply based on the fact that a good 80 percent of hip-hop today is crap. I was listening to The Ecstatic and started thinking, what new artist has come out lately, released an album that I've been able to listen to all the way through? I really can't think of any! Hip-Hop has always been a young man's game, I remember laughing when I heard Jay-Z say 30 is the new 20, yet he has a point."

I found Jay's statement ironic in the sense that he's closer to 40 than 30 too, but he does have a point. There are still rappers out there going hard like they did close to 20 years ago.

"The only quality albums I've listened to in the last couple of years are by established or veteran artists, Ice Cubes "Raw Footage", Nas "Untitled", Mos Def "The Ecstatic", Busta Rhymes "Back on My BS", "Blackout 2", "Relapse", "The Last Kiss", "Sickology 101", "Return of the MACK" etc. There have yet to be any new artists that can put out a quality album, if singles and ringtone sales are all that matters than Hip-Hop truly is dead."

I agree. The moment people start putting all the emphasis into sales is the moment the genre's spirit is dead. That's not to say I'm not interested in sales, because as I've said in the past, it's satisfying to see your favorite artist do well. I mean, rapping is their job, and it's good to see them rewarded for a job well done.

"Now I don't mean that there aren't any young artists that have been putting out good music, Lupe certainly has, Game is consistent with quality albums and mixtapes, Chamillionaire does as well, The Strange Music label has dropped quality albums for the past 2 years from multiple artists, Krizz Kaliko, Kutt Kalhoun, Scatterman and Snugg-brim, and the leader of the pack Tech-N9ne. This brings me back to a Q-tip and Busta Rhymes line from the Big Bang, "These niggas in the game don't sound the same (What happened) They ain't got it in 'em to make a classic (What Happened) These Niggas can't hold the torch so why pass it?"

I'd add Blu into that list of names too. Cham's mixtapes are excellent as well. What Busta and Q-Tip said is true. If the future of mainstream hip-hop is someone like Soulja Boy, why bother passing the proverbial torch?

"Now for artists to recommend to McKay, first off, what kind of hip hop do you listen to? If you like The Game, some quality Gangsta Rap that you can listen to is the first self titled Westside Connection album, Too Short has some good albums, DJ Quik "Trauma", Spice 1 "Amerikkkas Nightmare", and don't forget the Death Row holy quartet, Dr Dre "Chronic" Snoop Dogg's "Doggystyle", Dogg Pounds "Dogg Food", 2Pac "All Eyes on Me"."

DJ Quik is an excellent choice. He's the kind of artist who's always rapped about what he sees in life, and never tries to embellish the truth or make outlandish claims. He's a REAL rapper without trying to keep it TOO real. Xzibit's early albums are also very good, and so is his more recent albums, but his first two were his best I think. Kool G Rap also helped bring the gangsta rap style into popularity, check his two albums with DJ Polo, Road To The Riches and Wanted Dead Or Alive. Oh and Cypress Hill's debut album is a fun listen too. For an East Coast take on gangsta rap, Biggie's Ready To Die is a classic example of Mafioso rap.

"If you like Mos Def style of Hip-Hop, you can't go wrong with Wu-Tang "36 Chambers", Royce Da 5'9 "Death is Certain", Chino XL "Poison Pen" Talib Kweli "Eardrum", Dead Prez "Let's Get Free", any Nas album, Big Pun "Capital Punishment" most Pharoahe Monch albums and MF Doom and Danger Mouse "Danger Doom", Keith Murray "He's Keith Murray"."

Common's Be and whole catalog (but start with Be), Little Brother's work, Kweli and Mos Def's self-titled group debut album, Black Star. EPMD did some excellent albums together, in particular I think their best effort was Strictly Business. From the Wu-Tang Clan, GZA and Ghostface are two artists who have been consistently releasing quality albums. Method Man had a brief period where he dropped off a little, and Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II is looking at becoming one of those albums I dream about but never get to actually see released.

Once you've been listening to hip-hop for a while, check out Run-D.M.C.'s Raising Hell album, and Eric B. and Rakim's Paid In Full. As you're listening to them, it may surprise you to hear just how many lines from those albums are sampled in today's hip-hop scene. Someone actually worked out once that those two albums were two of the most sampled in the history of hip-hop.

"If you want something different from what everyone listens to, I recommend seeking out some hard to find material or even downloading music from Dirty Birdy, Sly Boogy, Glasses Malone, Crooked I, the original Juice, the Black Wallstreet's Juice, Clinton Wayne, Kam, Tech-N9ne "Sickology 101" Devin the Dude, Suga Free."

I could bombard you with names but I don't want to overwhelm you Mr. McKay at this point hahaha. I'll add some others next week if you'd like, and if you want me to expand on anything I've written here, just leave a request in the comments section!

"Damn that was long, as for good verses, the top 5 that I can think of right now off the top of my head

5. Game "The Pledge (freestyle)"

I haven't heard that track from him. I'm dismally behind on Game's mixtape work. I think the last mixtape I downloaded from him was back in 2006 or something. I'll track this one down.

"4. Rakim "Guess Who's Back" from the 18th Letter,"

Ra's ridiculous with his lyrics. He could literally make reading the alphabet into an unbelievably dope song if he wanted to I think. The way he blends religious and historical references together though is truly amazing.

"3 Crooked I "Watch What You Do" from Sway and King Tech Back to Basic, all 3 verses are fire, but for now "Don't me put you underground like a backpackers rap career, I send 3 through your chinchilla, and I haven't seen a nigga, rise from the dead since Thriller, Crooked the self defense killa""

Crook's another artist to watch. With the Slaughterhouse group effort coming to fruition, I think it's going to help his exposure a lot, which can only mean a better deal for the man in the end. Kind of eerie with the reference to "Thriller" though isn't it?

"2 Chino XL "Sickology 101" from Tech-N9nes Sickology 101"

My dream is to eventually see a friendly battle between Canibus and Chino XL. I think the sheer volume of lyrical dope we'd be getting hit with would probably put someone in a coma, most likely me.

"1 Canibus "Second Round K.O." from Can-I-Bus" - Kurruption

That whole song is just painful, and I'm not even LL Cool J! If there was any justice in the world, Canibus would have gone on and got a decent record deal, and I would not have this hatred for Wyclef.

"As you see Kurruption, I am straining away from those rappers and I am enjoying more lyricists and conscious rap.

I see what you're saying. My main complaint wasn't the quality of the music but it's that veteran fans can just recommend rappers or albums without being dicks about it.

There's no reason my intelligence should be insulted because I'm trying to branch out. Is that not what ya'll want the younger crowd to do? As of now me and 3 other friends are trying to explore new artist and one way is asking but we keep getting crap for asking "Is (name good rapper) any good?". All I want is someone's opinion so I know I'm investing in something worth wild. Hell the reason I starting branching out was: 1. Lupe Fiasco's first CD
2. I got sick of the radio but still liked some rappers I heard here and there." - Bobby McKay

You can always ask here! I'm more than happy to help introduce someone to a new artist, and the other readers are too I imagine.

"my top 12 verses
12) Andre 3000 "What A Job" from Devin The Dude's Waiting to Inhale.."

Ah THAT'S the other Andre verse I couldn't remember earlier. Again, as you can see, the way Dre pronounces things is part of his appeal and ability to convey a message without sounding sleazy or tacky.

"11) MC Ren "Fuck Tha Police" from N.W.A.'s Straight Outta Compton, verse 2 = CLASSIC"

Hahaha this is my favorite N.W.A. song of all time! I have fond memories of this song because when I first heard it, it was immediately after a long lecture from the local police at school about how "Cops are Tops" or so the slogan went I think. Needless to say, my cousin's corrupted me very nicely at that point in life.

"11) DJ Quik "Dollaz + Sense" from DJ Quik's Safe + Sound , the song has to be one of the greatest diss songs ever but verse 3 just has classic written all over it "you left out the G cause the G ain't in you…"

That is how you should write a diss track. It's kind of hard to respond to something like that though too.

"10) Talib Kweli "Get By" from Kweli's Quality the first lines from verse 1 made me an instant fan"

I think "Get By" is one of the best songs this decade, and it's not hard to see why when you listen to verses like that.

"9)Kurupt "NY NY" from Tha Dogg Pound's Dogg Food "

A lot of people slept on Kurupt after the Space Boogie album, which was a little odd, but I think it was a fun album to listen to. Back in the day though, Kurupt was in a league of his own. Dogg Food is a hard album to find (or so I've found), but if you do manage to track down a copy, grab it!

"8)Dirty Birdy "Gamed Up" from Dirty Birdy's Tweet Tweet, no specific verse all are great"

Another one I don't know. I've got a lot of research to do this week.

"7.) Big Pun "I'm Not A Player" , from Capital Punishment , Pun is one of the best that ever did it"

Pun was a dude who was so incredibly versatile. It's a damn shame that we didn't get to hear more from him before he passed, but Capital Punishment is one of the few albums that I think was universally regarded as a Classic before the 10 year time gap had passed.

"6) Royce Da 5'9 "Yeah" from Independents Day , verse 3

There were some excellent tracks on Independents Day, and I think it's one of those forgotten albums, mainly because it dropped with very little promotion. I actually thought it was a mixtape for a long time after it was released, and it was only when I checked something on Wikipedia I realized it was an actual album. My absolute favorite Royce track though is "Boom". Beautiful Premier beat backed by Royce's immaculate delivery make an excellent track.

"5)Nas "Ether" from Stillmatic hands down the death blow to Jay's best ever claim"

In terms of diss tracks, it's pretty hard to determine whether "Ether" or "Hit ‘Em Up" is Number 1, they're both vicious.

"4) KRS-One "Clear Em Out" the teacher doing what he does best on verse 1"

I never know why Nelly tried to pick a fight with KRS. Nelly's good for party rap and all, but in terms of making a dope track, I don't think anyone would bet on Nelly over KRS. Still it made for a really entertaining interview with KRS on the Beef series DVDs.

"3) Rakim "The Watcher 2" from Jay-Z's Blueprint 2 , Rakim displays why he is God to a younger gen."

Ra stole the show on that track, and it makes me even more frustrated that an album couldn't come out between Dre and Rakim during his time on Aftermath.

"2) Crooked I "I'm a G freestyle" Week 34"

That word play over two bars is hard to do well, but Crook always manages to do it really easily. I finally managed to track down the rest of his freestyles as I was previously stuck at Week 27 for some reason.

"1.) Chino XL "Beastin" from Chino's Poison Pen" - Ramirez

I found a copy of Poison Pen the other day, but it was a censored copy so I didn't end up buying it. I possibly should try and track the explicit version down, because it's an outstanding album and shows why he's one of the most underappreciated lyricists in the game today.

"Seriously...When you cut down verse-for-verse, there is no reason to say why Rakim is NOT the greatest emcee ever.

I think when people actually dissect rhymes - like when people actually compare verses and actually study wordplay, flow and versatility - I don't know if there's anyone that comes close...Maybe Em, maybe Canibus, maybe Nas, but still - they all got it from Rated R." - The 8th Samurai

They did call Nas "The Next Rakim" when he first came out, despite the fact that Rakim was still floating around the scene and hadn't really gone anywhere, but the accolade was certainly appreciated I imagine. Basically, without Rakim, the way hip-hop is done would be very different today.

"As the resident lawyer of Patrick's 411 blog I will attempt to provide some insight on the search of the bus. Essentially (I presume of course) Wayne's attorney will be attempting to argue that the dog was not trained properly and therefore the search of his vehicle was a foregone conclusion. Also he's requesting video from the night in question... All of this is more than likely just a stall tactic. The hope is to create the appearance of legal issues in an attempt to negotiate a favorable plea for Mr. Carter. Problem is he's in AZ and from what I know about their criminal justice system; they tend to frown on guns/drugs being found together. The fact that the gun is registered in another state bodes well for Wayne. Taking the gun across state lines is more of a Federal offense. I'm curious to actually get a look at the charging documents."

I reckon Wayne has some of the richest lawyers in the country given they seem to be working 24/7 for him. Whether it's the gun and drug charges, the various lawsuits due to Tha Carter III, missing countless shows without reason or this whole documentary business, it's safe to say if you want to be a lawyer, contact Lil Wayne. I have a feeling though, this situation will go away quietly, Wayne IS pretty rich after all.

"Also with respect to new artist having quality material. I just listened to the Willy Northpole "The Connect" LP it's actually a pretty solid album, you should give it a review." - justin

Arg I tried to download it last week, but ended up hitting the limit of my download for the month and got stuck going at 4kb/s on some other file. I'll check it out for next week, I've been hearing some positive things about the album so far.


Before We Go

Apologies again for chopping the comments up, but this is about the ninth time I've tried in the system to make sure EVERYTHING gets in instead of being chopped off randomly at the end!