411 Music Fact Or Fiction 10.30.08: Week 73

Posted by Dan Haggerty on 10.30.2008

This week Fact or Fiction brings in the Hip-Hop heavy weights to take on the industry: Is Kanye West the man to beat in hip-hop? Will you be checking out the new 50 Cent reality show? Does hip-hop need to get its street cred back? Plus we ask about the Beastie Boys LP and see if you think Jay-Z should of dropped $5 million on Lil Wayne! It's all debated in the latest edition of 411 Music Fact or Fiction!

Greetings everyone and welcome back to the home stretch, the day you ease into the reality another weekend is thankfully around the corner. It's time for another edition of the mighty music zone's Fact or Fiction, and this week we have a hip-hop edition firing on all cylinders for you. But first I need to give some big time thanks to Ben for stepping in and covering the show last week. My computer went the way of the dodo, the compassionate conservative, the mainstream liberal, and Chris Cornell's new album… Which means it's dead on arrival.

But enough of that BS. We have the ultimate hip-hop throwdown as master rapper Patrick Robinson of The 37th Chamber returns to offer his cut on the scene. Not to be out done, and make waves for himself is new recruit Stormin' Norman who heads up the 411 Country Connection, a man who loves his country music along with his rap.

So let's burn the mother down and get to the good stuff:


Round 1!


1. Kanye West is the man to beat in the hip-hop scene.

Patrick Robinson: Fiction. -That's a tough one though and it's really only Fiction because "Love Lockdown" isn't giving me high hopes for his new album. Sometimes the auto-tune works, but when it's used to such an overbearing degree...not so much. Really, the two guys to beat this year will be T.I. and Lil Wayne. T.I. because of his record breaking singles chart success and strong sales, and Lil Wayne because of his ridiculously successful sales as he's STILL selling around 20k a week.

Norm Williams: Fiction - For me this is a no brainer, Kanye is a very creative and high talented artist but if there were a race for the title of man to beat on the hip-hop scene he would be battling it out for the #2 spot with T.I. who I feel has the edge. Kanye has had a couple of heaters on each of his albums but his guest appearances on compilation singles have been subpar. When he was featured with Lil Wayne (the actual man to beat on the hip-hop scene, 1 million records sold in the first week!), T.I. and Jay-Z on "Swagger Like Us" his verse was by far the worst.

Score : 1 for 1


2. Led Zeppelin just needs to shut the fuck up until they decide if they will tour without Plant

Patrick Robinson: Fact. - I'm out of my element here so I imagine I might annoy some readers, but from what I've read Plant isn't too eager for a long national tour. In terms of it being Fact though, the band really needs to have a concrete decision in mind. There's nothing more frustrating to a fan of any artist when tours, new albums or a reunion as the case may be, only for the rumors to ultimately fizzle and lose steam over time. Just ask any hip-hop fan about Detox. In terms of Led Zeppelin though, I can't say I know how strong their remaining fan base is, but I'd think that a new vocalist (particularly one from a different country) for a tour and album may alienate some of the fans. If we had to find a replacement for Chuck D and they released an album under 'Public Enemy' still, I wouldn't think of it as the same Public Enemy I know now.

Norm Williams: Fact - Why would they begin talking about reunion tour before the band has been reunited and agreed to do the tour? And if they can't get Robert Plant to agree, are they going to get a Plant sound-a-like? If that is the case they might as well just become a tribute band. Look, get all of your ducks in a row before you start getting fans, old and new alike, excited about a tour that may or may not happen

Score : 2 for 2


3. You'll be checking out the new 50 Cent reality show.

Patrick Robinson: Fiction. - Just because I don't think it's going to air in Australia. Although, if it was, I'd probably watch the first episode, expecting an absolute farce and even if it did rise above expectations, I probably still wouldn't watch because my hatred for 50 Cent burns with the intensity of a thousand suns. Though you'd be hard pressed to find a better business mind in hip-hop, I'll give him that.

Norm Williams: Fiction - Not interested in another Ultimate Hustler/Apprentice type reality show. As a matter of fact I am not big fan of reality shows period. Although I am sure it will have some entertainment value and offering the winner a scholarship to the business school of their choice is innovative, but I refuse to listen to anymore of 50's gibberish than I have to.

Intermission Score : 3 for 3


SWITCH!


Round 2!


4. Hip-hop needs to return to the underground so it can get its street cred back.

Norm Williams: Fiction - I don't feel that hip-hop needs to return completely to the underground to get its street cred back. In fact I don't think it has lost much street cred at all. Hip-hop has become extremely popular and as a result is widely accepted. What made hip-hop so gritty is that it was in fact "underground" and not accepted with the open arms that it is with today. It continues to evolve with time but it does need to revisit its underground roots.

Patrick Robinson: Fiction - Norm touched on a really good point how hip-hop was never welcomed with open arms when it first emerged, but it is still resisted by some outlets today. I think many artists could do with a whack on the head and a stroll through their old neighborhoods before making the hundredth song about how much they got paid for their last album, hip-hop as a whole however, doesn't need to return to the underground as such. We've had a pretty strong year for hip-hop so far, in particular Nas, the original 'street poet' proved that you can be signed to a major label, and still make an album that the streets will feel.

Score : 4 for 4


5. You'll be checking out the new Beastie Boy's album

Norm Williams: Fact - I was never a big Beastie Boy's fan, as a matter of fact with the exception of "Brass Monkey" and "Intergalactic" I couldn't name another Beastie Boys song. But chances are I will end up checking it out online.

Patrick Robinson: Fiction - I like and own both Licensed To Ill and Paul's Boutique, but I've never been a big fan of their work. I'll never take away from their accomplishments or their impact, but their music just isn't for me these days. If we got rid of the sampling laws for a week, and allowed them to go wild like on the two releases I've mentioned, I'd check it out definitely though.

Score : 4 for 5


6. $5 Million to sign Lil Wayne? Evidently Jay-Z likes to throw money out the window.

Norm Williams: Fiction - Wayne flips hot bars and catchy punch-lines which equals dollar signs in today's music industry. And Jay, being the business mogul that he is, has capitalized upon this and now has the hottest and most sought after rapper in the game on his squad. So if anyone is throwing money out of the window it is Cash Money Records. I guess they have high hopes for Glasses Malone….

Patrick Robinson: Fiction - Gotta agree with Norm again. Wayne = Money as Tha Carter III is STILL selling over 20k copies a week (as of last week anyway) having been on the charts for almost 20 weeks. Jay has the best business mind in hip-hop (closely followed by 50 Cent) and signing Lil Wayne just goes to show that he recognizes money when he sees it. $5 million may seem like a lot, considering when 50 Cent got signed back in 2002 to Interscope for $1 million, we were impressed, but given that was for a 5 album deal, the money evens out. So is $5 million a lot? Depends how many albums Jay is going to squeeze out of him as the $5 million was just to RELEASE Wayne from his current contract.

Wait...does this mean we're not getting a Like Father, Like Son 2?!

Final Score : 5 for 6


FACT OR FICTION OPEN CHALLENGE

OK folks, time to hear what you think. Is Lil Wayne worth $5 million or did Jay-Z get robbed on this one? Hit the comment section and let us know!


And on those happy words, we're calling it a wrap this week. I'm out of here so we'll see you Friday in the The Mosh Pit and we'll see you back here is seven.