The 37th Chamber 03.20.10: Forgive And Forget Young'un

Posted by Patrick Robinson on 03.20.2010

This week, rants on child rappers who have made a name for themselves, artistic license vs. controversy, hip-hop's embrace of Justin Timberlake and the most irritating T-Pain hook in recent memory!

I know a couple of games and movies use the "Lux Aeterna" (you may know it from Requiem For A Dream) theme for their trailers or in the game/movie itself, and I know there's a fairly extensive list of the times it has been used on Wikipedia, but honestly, I think we need to use it more.

Even in daily life! It would make the most asinine or simple tasks seem INCREDIBLE. Washing the dog? Throw that on and suddenly it's a war for the ages against the evil forces of DIRT! Writing a letter? Well you COULD be scripting your speech to deliver to the world leaders as you declare your campaign for WORLD DOMINATION!

The possibilities are endless.

Reader Feedback

(Note, may be edited for grammar/spelling etc.)



"What are those people going to do to Guru? Kill him? Solar needs to step aside." - #Guest4946

Hahaha yeah seriously, Solar makes it sound like the people are going to come in and try and extract a pound of flesh for payback due to the Gang Starr break up!

There wasn't much news on Guru this week so HOPEFULLY that means the situation has calmed down, Solar has backed off a little and Guru's family have either seen or heard from him at least.

"I know a few people that went to that Doom show in Toronto. They said it was horrible. I'm glad I picked up tickets to Tech N9ne instead. Tonight!!!" - Guest#3517

It's disappointing that one of the hardest working guys (check out DOOM'S catalog, it's quite extensive) in the industry cops out when it comes to live shows. Yes a stage show shouldn't just be 90 minutes of you walking back and forth rapping, it should be an EXPERIENCE. But not a BAD one! I wouldn't mind if the impostor bit had lead to something, such as DOOM appearing after the impostor does one song and kicking him off stage in a grand show of theatrics, that'd be kind of cool. Or they have a ‘battle' where DOOM takes on the role of one of his other recording personalities and they duke it out that way, whatever, but to claim that the impostor represents ‘art' is silly.

Actually ‘art' and ‘artistic license' in general has gotten to be very silly in the last few decades. In Australia for example, we have an award called The Archibald Award which is for portraits that have been painted by artists and submitted to a judging committee. What makes the award ridiculous is the fact that each year, someone comes up with a painting that is unnecessarily controversial or offensive and claims it's ‘art'. Like this year for example, there was a picture of a convicted child sex-offender who was recently released and living about 5 minutes away from where I live (where he was quickly driven out by the residents, and rightly so considering he has not shown any signs of regret or shame for what he did) which portrayed him as a victim of society. Now I'm not sure if this painting actually made it into the final selection or not, but the point is, IT WAS BEING CONSIDERED AT ONE POINT! Anyway, it seems that every year there's some clown out there who has obviously inhaled car exhaust for too long and believes that it's a GREAT idea to paint something ridiculously controversial instead of actually you know, doing a GOOD painting as some of the final paintings look seriously terrible but get in because people are talking about it.

To conclude this rant, I don't particularly like the justification of anything by calling it ‘art', if the person is being so damn ‘creative', perhaps they can think of a slightly more creative and reasonable defense.

"Decided to not take drugs as a five year old when I saw my aunt making an absolute fool out of herself and her family at a party. It was a choice I made to not use and yeah if you have a couple of mil to throw around and a guys offering it to you then it is going to be harder.

Lots [not all] of the blame can be put on the entourage [leeches] who hang around the artist."

I think that really is the major problem. You've got one guy in the crew who is looking to make some extra cash. So he says, hey, why not get MC GULLIBLE onto the coke? So he contacts a dealer, cuts a deal that he will get MC GULLIBLE to buy from him, the dealer makes big sales because MC GULLIBLE has lots of disposable income, the crew member gets a bit on the side as a ‘finder's fee' and MC GULLIBLE ends up on the evening news after an overdose.


It was the anniversary of Biggie's death recently

"And yeah if there is another East and West feud ending in the death it is over for hip hop. The artists who survived the previous beef like:

Diddy
Mobb Deep
Snoop
Dre
Chino XL
Even Suge
and the families of Pac and BIG need to step in and stop this shit before it becomes too real for my liking" - DaMic

With the power of the media these days, and pretty much everybody using the internet or having access to it, if there was a violent East vs. West war again that results in a death, the news would spread damn quickly. With the power of the media, the story would get way, way blown out of proportion and calls to ban hip-hop or censor it in various ways would come in. It may not be the death of hip-hop as a whole, but certainly as we know it today as it wouldn't be the same.

"411 is a site that likes to add humor to their columns. Which is why I'm so surprised there isn't some kind of inside joke about DMX yet. He's been arrested 3005000 times the jokes practically write themselves" - Dab

I'm kind of surprised too. Like the wrestling zone has its various jokes and the fact that AJ Grey somehow manages to post over 1000 pictures a week is funny in itself as well but yeah, we seem to have left DMX alone for the most part.

Possibly because he was once on the list of Legitimately Scary Dudes and there is always the chance that DMX will rock up at your door with a couple of pit bulls and a club (people of Arizona beware, he might DRIVE INTO YOUR HOUSE instead).

I'm of the belief that DMX possibly has a handcuff fetish or something because it would certainly explain his almost willingness to get arrested at times. Even when it's not for violating parole due to drug use but instead driving at speeds possibly to qualify for the next F1 circuit.

"That sucks, Michael Jackson dies, but a mockeries like Soulja Boy and "Waka Flocka" are still alive........ so not fair!!!!" - Guest#1909

As grim as it may sound, whenever one of my regular customers passes away at work, I often have a moment where I think, "Why couldn't it have been the dickhead who never seems to realize we don't stock that product anymore because it's not made any more!" or my next door neighbor who is a complete and utter tool and needs to be punched repeatedly.

But yes, why Soulja Boy hasn't met with some misfortune before now is amazing. I suppose Karma decided that letting his second album reach WOOD Certification was enough of a punishment.



"You can't tell me that some of your favorite rappers do coke and stuff. Just too much money NOT to be doing that shit. I'm just an herbal/natural kind of guy. Would never touch a man made drug, but with 50 mill just chillin I'll be like Tyrone. Throwing $250,000 crack parties for the hell of it." - Guest#4097

Oh I'm not saying they don't. I imagine some of my favorite rappers use drugs of some sort, but the difference is that they haven't succumbed to a ‘problem' yet. I mean, if someone told me that Common was smoking a kilo of marijuana a day, I wouldn't care because you NEVER hear of Common showing up late to shows, getting arrested for wild behavior, forgetting the lyrics whilst on stage, falling over randomly at award shows or giving drugged acceptance speeches. It's the rappers who develop a problem that impedes their ability to record, perform or simply to live in society that annoys and saddens me.

"The issue you are talking about is not just a rap issue but a society issue. Also the nature vs. nurture debate comes into it. There are people who have drug addicted parent and decide to go another way because they see the damage. But their brother or sister will follow the same route because they see it as normal. They have grown up in the same environment but because they are also different people they make different choices" - scouser

You definitely make good points here. I think it comes down to the strength of the person's will, and their ability to interpret various situations they come across in life. A person's ability to learn from their environment or draw inspiration from it to become a better person is what I'd like to see in more rappers as opposed to so many we see today coming up and making an ass out of themselves by doing interviews under the influence or getting arrested for the most stupid shit.

Actually, I'm not sure if I've posted this here before, but this is a question they gave us in one of my Management classes back at University and is a test to see how you interpret a situation. I'll post the ‘correct' answer at the end of the column.

You are driving along a dark and quiet road at 2 in the morning in your brand new Ferrari. As you are driving, you come across a bus stop where three people are waiting.

- Your friend who has been robbed and has no money or telephone
- An elderly lady who needs to be taken to a hospital NOW or she will die
- The lady/man of your dreams who you will spend the rest of your life with

The problem is however; your car only has two seats, the one you are currently sitting in and the passenger seat. What do you do?

The Mini Rants

So this first one is a bit of a poll actually, but does anyone think there is a rapper out there, who has a decent amount of mainstream exposure, I'm thinking say, Common or better levels of mainstream exposure, who is almost universally LIKED? So, 999 of 1000 people like them for example.

POLL:

Who is the most beloved rapper with a fair amount of mainstream success?

I tried thinking of someone the other day but kept coming up with blanks. I'd like to hear your thoughts on who is the most beloved rapper who has achieved a fair amount of mainstream recognition.


You know…Wayne has a really huge jaw and from certain angles, it looks like he has no chin but simply a face that merges with a neck

Another thing I was thinking of was young children or teenagers in hip-hop. Young Money for example has Lil Chuckee and Lil Twist (I actually have no idea how old they are but I'm assuming based on their looks and voices that they are under 16) and of course, are lead by Lil Wayne who got into hip-hop at the age of 11.

Cash Money label mate Bow Wow got into the game with his debut album at the age of 13. Some of you may remember this song:



In all honesty, he's got a decent flow on the track and the beat is pretty catchy but yeah, it's somewhat corny otherwise.

Anyway, it's certainly clear from Lil Wayne's success that the fact he came into the game as a child rapper hasn't really impacted on his career like it would in other aspects of the entertainment industry. Child actors for example often end up disappearing or in some cases, develop drug problems or end up on VH1's The Surreal Life.

You could argue that Bow Wow has also seen a fair amount of success with a Double Platinum album, a couple of Platinum albums and a Gold album, not to mention roles in Roll Bounce, Tokyo Drift and a recurring role in Entourage.

Is rap a more forgiving place than we think? I know when we see young musicians in other genres, we often make fun of them for whatever reason. I've seen a number of groups on Facebook making fun of Justin Bieber and the fact that he's supposedly 12 (which is silly because he's actually 16).

I remember when I first heard Lil Chuckee I thought that Lil Wayne had somehow managed to run his voice through an auto-tune device which made him sound like a kid, then discovered it actually WAS a kid and was shocked considering how similar he sounded to Wayne. Maybe it's because he's not really that big yet, but nobody seems to care that Lil Chuckee is running rampant in the "Bedrock" video.

Nas himself made his first appearance on a hip-hop record at the age of 18 which is older than the aforementioned names, but still very young when you think about it. And yet, Nas has become one of the few artists from that era consistently making quality music and still sees a fair amount of financial success from sales. Although I imagine that the fact he came into the game so young was actually MORE impressive in his case than it would be others, especially considering Illmatic.



Hip-hop in general actually seems to forgive and forget in some cases very quickly. We, as fans, don't easily forget some of the things our favorite artists for do like dropping a bad album (word to Common, Nas and Eminem for starters) and yet, all it takes is one above average album after and we're all smiles again. Oh we haven't forgotten about that crappy album, but we're willing to overlook it for the time being.

Similarly, when an ‘outside' artist treads in the realm of hip-hop we are somewhat skeptical. Remember Justin Timberlake's first forays into a hip-hop sound? He had production from Timbaland and The Neptunes as well as appearances from Bubba Sparxxx and Clipse on his album. I remember people writing him off as corny for his attempts to get into the hip-hop soundscape.

Three years later however, he drops another album, featuring production almost entirely from Timbaland and Danja and has appearances from T.I. and Three 6 Mafia. A guest appearance on other tracks such as "Ayo Technology" and "Dead And Gone" and suddenly, we don't particularly care if he pops up on a release so long as he drops a decent hook on it.

I suppose we are either very relaxed or selectively forgetful when it comes to certain aspects in hip-hop.



Final rant but is it just me or have T-Pain's hooks recently become worse? They were never that great to start with but listening to "All I Do Is Win", I think that T-Pain's finally cracked.

"All I Do is win win win no matter what
got money on mind I can never get enough
and every time I step up in the building
everybody hands go up

(LONG. ASS. PAUSE.)

and they stay there
and they say yeah
and they stay there
Up down, up down
cause all I do is win win win
and if you goin' in put your hands in the air.."

I mean, it sounds like Dr. Seuss wrote the hook! Ok, the first part of the hook could have been serviceable for the track, but yeah, after the long-ass and incredibly noticeable pause, it just drops off the proverbial cliff. Akon as well actually as he's suddenly taken to yelling all his hooks despite whatever the general theme of the track may be.

It's like 50 Cent's hooks. When he dropped Get Rich Or Die Tryin', one thing that he was almost universally praised for in reviews, regardless of whether the review was overall positive or negative was that his hook work was very well done. Fast forward to Before I Self Destruct and some of the hooks seriously made me want to spontaneously combust.



Nate Dogg has essentially retired from hip-hop due to various health reasons but perhaps he just felt that he wasn't needed (WHICH IS A LIE! WE NEED NATE DOGG LIKE A FAT KID LOVES CAKE) and possibly even lost confidence in his own hook writing abilities.

Who knows? Oh well, rants over.

The Signoff

The ‘correct' answer to the question I posted earlier, is that you get your friend to drive your car with the old lady to the hospital, whilst you wait at the bus stop with your dream partner, obviously to start the relationship. There are many ways to interpret and answer the question, but that one is supposedly the ‘best' option although I'm sure someone will imagine up something entertaining as well.

I shall catch you next Thursday if I can pull myself away from Final Fantasy XIII (which I managed to play for 3.5 hours straight the other day, something I haven't been able to do on a game for a long, long time. Usually I switch games periodically) long enough to write a column!