Hip Hop Drama.
Hello Folks:
Yeah, I know; I am asking about yet another question that is unsettling to many people. Even though I do not keep up too much with rap music or hip hop, (I now either listen to World news or classical music.) I still hear a lot of guys at my job (I work at a plant that processes margarine.) who are very hood. The dominant conversations among them are sports (mainly football and basketball) and music (hip hop and r&b). Many of the fellas that I work with happen to be convicted felons and/or ex-gangstas themselves. Oftentimes, rivalries and beefs in the hip hop music industry are frequent (if not dominant) events of discussion. In fact, I know that at least two of my fellow plant employees are hip hop emcees themselves, with their own CDs and everything. ( Check them out at http://www.myspace.com/jodoja and http://www.myspace.com/ramillione . ) So then, I want to ask the following question especially to all insiders of the hip hop music industry.
Why is hip hop littered with so many beefs? I mean, I know that the artists, bands, performers and industry executives of many other forms of music have had their share of rivalries too, like what's been happening over in the Norwegian Black Metal scene with the Satanists burning down Christian Churches and Count Grishnackh (or however you spell his name) doing time in jail for murdering his ex-bandmate Euronymous, (By the way, what is the current state of the European Black Metal scene?) or for that ex-Marine guy here in the USA charging at the stage while Damage Plan is performing, and thus eventually shooting and killing Dimebag Darrell, ex-member of the legendary "action" metal rock band known as Pantera. I recently heard that there were even fueds among classical musicians, country music artists and r&b artists, even though they were usually on a less violent scale. Even though there is not too much violence per se within the techno/rave club scene, I do acknowledge the fact that many of the rave clubs are run by people of shady persuasions (such as mobsters), which is why there is so much ecstasy distribution at many of those kinds of shows.
Still, though, why is there so much hatin' amongst the hip hop community? Given the fact that much of the "outside" World - such as government officials, law enforcement personnel, conservative talk show hosts and other civic/community leaders - already still has a HUGE bias against rap music, it would be necessary for the Hip Hop Community as a whole (not just the well-known artists) to unite and bring some more diversity and positivity back to the music genre. (Check out the song "Mean Streak" by Rakaa. Look it up on Google; I just love that track!) Don't get me wrong, I am a FIRM believer in the First Amendment. After all, if it's OK for neo-Nazi skinhead rock bands to say the types of things that they say in their music, (Look up the Angry Aryans and Johnny Rebel on Google when you get a chance.) then I believe that it should be OK for rappers to say the types of things that they say in their music. It's just that while I occasionally hear all of this talk and read magazine articles about today's rappers, all that I ever learn is that they either have some kind of financial/copyright dispute with someone or that they have a beef with one another. Back in the early 1980s, when I first really got introduced to rap, I kind of enjoyed hearing about the ROXANNE saga. (Some of you do remember "Roxanne, Roxanne" by U. T. F. O., and some of the retaliatory songs after that?) Then, there was almost a mess between Kool Moe Dee and L. L. Cool J. (LL also publicly dissed the now-late, great Michael Jackson over who was bigger and BADDER, since they both came out with records virtually entitled BAD around the same time.) Also, there was the controversy surrounding Run-DMC (because they were first thought to add inspiration to gang violence in Los Angeles, California USA), Public Enemy (the "pro-Black radicals" who have called for rebellion against the "anti-Black system" and whose member said something against Judaism), NWA (the "World's Most Dangerous Group" of the late 1980s and early 1990s who bashed the police and who was first known to use the dreaded n word in their songs on a regular basis), Ice T (who also said stuff against the government and police and courted gang violence in both his rock and rap albums) and finally, 2 Live Crew (the original Kings of Southern X-Rated Rap). However, I still think that the beef that I recall - along with a lot of other people - the most was the "East Versus West" rivalry between Tupac Shakur (and the Death Row Records Posse) and the Notorious Big (along with the Bad Boy Entertainment Crew), which starting happening a few years after the members of NWA broke up, started forming their own record companies, and fought amongst themselves over money, fame, and who was the "realest". I know that MOST of you know about the end results of this particular story very well; I just think that it's sad that the bicoastal beef ended with Big and Pac getting killed after catching a few slugs. (It got so bad that Minister Louis Farrakan - leader of the Nation of Islam - had to get involved to mediate things among the gangstas and rappers.) A few years back, I also learned yet of some more hip hop rivalries, one over in Detroit, Michigan USA (or somewhere near the Midwest) where two feuding rappers eventually got killed, and another rivalry further down South (in or near New Orleans, Louisiana USA). Even some of the female emcees are catfighting, such as the beef between Ms. Kim and Foxy Brown and Ms. Kim and Nicki Minaj. (Was that Nicki on the 2010/2011 New Year's Celebration opening up for Mr. Wayne while dressed up in all of that fur? If so, she was really beautiful! I like a woman in fur.) Lastly, as expected, many other rappers are beefing with our CURRENT "Vanilla Ice" (Eminem, Slim Shady or Marshall P. Mathers), partly for obvious reasons, I suspect, but then, I think that's another story...
Are certain people in hip hop beefing just to generate record sales, or is it simply because they have nothing else to talk about? If someone can give me the answer to this, I would appreciate it very much. (Also, I would like to know of any more musical feuds, whether they concern hip hop and/or even other forms of music, that resulted in some serious stuff as well. Thanks!)
Also, I have another question. This question is a less serious one, this time. I know that many of you are familiar with southern emcee Master P and his No Limit Records label. Even though I have not really bought or heard much of his music, I found the cover photographs/artwork on many of the early CDs (mid 1990s to early 2000s) from No Limit to be very awesome, examples being the 504 Boyz CDs, the Hot Boyz CDs and the Big Tymerz. Who designed, created and produced the cover art for those No Limit CDs? Do they still have an internet site? Are they still in business? Do they do cover art for CDs of other types of music too? I would like to know. Thank you. (It's funny how I would even think about asking questions like these at the start of the new year/decade, isn't it?)
Note to EACH respondent: Please refrain from using any derogatory terminology, any obscenities, and/or any language involving death threats. I would appreciate it very much. If this conversation otherwise gets too much out of hand, I will most likely delete this ENTIRE thread myself. I prefer an honest but intelligent dialogue, please. Thank you very much.
WebJock