Where’s the Inspiration Pt.3
Salutations!! As I left the last segment of this blog I mentioned that there was a silver lining in the hip-hop culture. These next few artists in MY opinion are the closes thing to the Platinum era titans that the game needs. In this age of ringtone rap and hip-pop, there still are those relics who think that a mean pen game is still relevant and don’t want to just survive on beats and hooks. These artist may be the future of hip-hop and real rap. While each one does have there own pop hit they still find away to keep it lyrical and creative without dumbing down their bars.
It bothers me when the Gods get to acting like the broads
Guess every team doesn’t come complete with niggas like ours
That’s why I see no need to compete with niggas like y’all
I just ask that when you see me you speak up niggas that’s all
Don’t be ducking like you never wanted nothing
It’s feeling like rap change
There was a time it was rugged
Back when if a nigga reached it was for the weapon
Nowadays niggas reach, just to sell they record
Spaguetti bolognese in apollo lounge
Me and my G from DC, that’s how I roll around
Might look light, but we heavy though
You think drake would pull some sh-t like that you never know
Million dollar meetings in apollo lounge
Me and my man Oliver North, that’s how I roll around
Shorty wanted to tell me secrets about a rap nigga
I told that bitch it’s more attractive when you hold it down
Kobe about to lose a hundred fifty M’s
Kobe my nigga I hate it had to be him
Bitch you wasn’t with me shooting in the gym
(huh!? bitch you weren’t with me shooting in the gym)
Tell lucien, and I say fuck it
I’m tearing holes my budget
Bag it like we in Publix
And take her ass out in public
Order her a filet told her butterflies, she’ll love it
She’s used to soda and nuggets, she’s really just out here thugging
I’m just hitting my pinnacle
You and pussy identical
You like the fucking finish line
We can’t wait to run into you
But let me get my mind off that young rich motherfucker getting mine off rap, with my niggas!
At 26 Drake is a repeat hitmaker and a triple threat in entertainment.
However take away his r&b side and focus on his rap side he reminds me of a Jay-Z his consistency ability to change flows depending on the track and he’s the hottest in game right now hands down. His popularity has surpassed that of his boss Weezy and while Lil Tunchie star is burning out Drake’s is Just getting brighter.
While I’m watchin every nigga watchin me closely
my shit is butter for the bread they wanna toast me
I keep my head, both of them where they supposed to be
Hoes’ll get you sidetracked then clap from closed feet
I don’t sleep, I’m tired, I feel wired like codeine, these days
a brother gotta admire from four fiends away
My pain wish it was quick to see, from sellin ‘caine
til brains was fried to a fricaisse, can’t lie
At the time it never bothered me, at the bar
gettin my thug on properly, my squad and me
lack of respect for authority, laughin hard
Happy to be escapin poverty, however brief
I know this game got valleys and peaks, expectation
for dips, four percent pertation we stack chips, hardly
The youth I used to be, soon to see a mill’in
No more, Big Willie my game has grown prefer you call me William
Illin for revenues, Rayful Edmonds like
Channel 7 news, round seven jewels, hand gettin the mic
Forgettin all I ever knew, convenient amnesia
I suggest you call my lawyer, I know the procedure
Lock my body can’t trap my mind, easily
explain why we adapt to crime
I’d rather die enormous than live dormant that’s how we on it
Live at the main event, I bet a trip to Maui on it
Presidential suites my resedential for the weekend
Confidentially speakin in codes since I sense you peekin
The NSX rental, don’t be fooled my game is mental
We both out of town dog, what you tryin to get into?
Viva, Las Vegas, see ya, later at the crap tables
meet me by the one that starts a G up
This way no fraud Willie’s present gambling they re-up
And we can have a pleasant time, sippin margaritas
Ge-ge-geyeahhh, can I live?
Can I live?
When you read this and then read what Drake wrote you can see that Drizzy is a student of the game and still cherishes that ability to really write a verse with substance and creativity with the attitude to go in on every verse and never slack when it comes to the pen. That drive is what made Jay-z the best to ever do it. If Drake attacks the game with the same passion every verse when his career is over he will be harold as one of the top 20 to ever do it. I say top 20 because that is still a very prestigious rating when you do the history of the game.
Another rapper that has really come into his own and is already a star and has the making for a rapper with a long career is Lupe.
Now imagine there’s a shawty, maybe five maybe four
Ridin’ ’round with his mama listening to the radio
And a song comes on and a not far off from being born
Doesn’t know the difference between right and wrong
Now I ain’t trying to make it too complex
But let’s just say shawty has an undeveloped context
About the perception of women these days
His mama sings along and this what she says
“Niggas I’m a bad bitch, and I’m bad bitch
far above average”
And maybe other rhyming words like cabbage and savage
And baby carriage and other things that match it
Couple of things that are happenin’ here
First he’s relatin’ the word “bitch” with his mama, comma
And because she’s relatin’ to herself, his most important source of help,
And mental health, he may skew respect for dishonor
The social conscientiousness portrayed in this song is once again one of those glimpses that rap still can be saved. He was able to keep the song relevant, put it on a beat that the youth would still consider hot, and relay a message a lot of our young women need to hear! In retrospect he reminds me of NAS. He is a relevant lyricist that has a very loyal following, and even taken a hiatus from time to time and not releasing as consistent as other artist, his projects always do well when dropped.
A young wild beautiful love child
You like them thug style link rockin, then mink coppin
Hit you on the sink a hundred dollar drink poppin
The head’ll make you take him shoppin, a foul doctrine
Reminiscent of my first time up in a chick
You was innocent, but now you rent-a-dick, wear the tightest shit
Chanel lookin real, airbrushed nails
Hit the gym, hit the scales, heaven-sent but negligent (so fine..)
To see a prophecy, your ebony tone is lockin me
The way you moan make me daydream of you on top of me
Wishin I could be the one man; but you juggle
way too many Willies all in one hand
You wanna run up in clubs, gettin rubbed on
Niggaz pull your hair, shake your fat rear
Get your fuck on – followin week, you back there
But what you stuck on, weed, clowns and cars
Puffin with some lil nigga, husband not knowin she’s out
Could you believe Eve, Mother Earth of the seas
Niggaz thirst you, you just let em hurt you and leave
What up mah, frontin like you naive
Push her man’s whip, callin police when you flip
Can’t understand it, yo it should be a throne for us
But for now that’s a whole different zone from us, word!
When it comes to social awareness and political topics in my opinion it seems Lupe and Nas are cut from the same cloth. While Nas is not and would never be as popular as Jay-z,he is and will always be consider a Hip-Hop/Rap ICON. I think that is the same path Lupe is heading down he is not going to be as big of a star as Drake however when its all said and done he will leave his mark on the culture.
The next artist is actual from the same city of the artist that I am going to contrast him to. He provides the feel of the grind and you can hear in his voice that he is one of the rare few that is pretty much reciting what he saw and lived. Reality rap is a an endangered species in hip-hop nowadays, and there’s a feeling of relief when you hear a song you can relate to and use it as your soundtrack of life. I call it that goose bump music that shit you can feel in your bones and in your stomach.
I’m a chase my dream
Coming to America like Prince Akeem
I ain’t never give a fuck then I seen
High definition to get what’s forever given
But nothing was never given
I build it from ground up
I started out from my basement and builded my house up
I’m rich off opportunity, money gon’ pile up
My swag on a hundred mill, how the stylist gon’ style us
Caught up in the light, caught up in the life
I see youngin on the corner with a quarter of that white
He just tryna chase his dream plus his daughter needs some wipes
And some pampers so he don’t give a fuck about the slammer
He just tryna stay alive, clutching on his hammer
World full of problems, ain’t nobody gotta answer
Mommy in the grave, daddy gettin’ high
Bills steady rollin’ in, he barely gettin’ by
Same clothes everyday, he barely gettin’ fly
Erryday he wake, he just swear to do his job
What that is? Chasin’ dreams, time is tickin’ so it seems
On his downtime he’s spittin’ and he’s sick, his flow is mean
He just want his real chance, no reality show
But the graveyard the jail cell, reality though
Crack house was his crib, the streets fathered him though
And he ain’t got no twitter page but you can follow him tho
Woah
Meek has become what most of us thought Beanie should have been given the proper promotion. His passion, his wordplay, and his bars are a remanence of the grimey philly street life. It’s no coincidence that he has worked with most of the state property team not only as Philly fam but had he been out in that era he surely would have been a member. 
Niggas wanna know if Beanie Sigel life is real
Nigga twenty-five ta life is real
I get a body, take me right ta jail
I know what it’s like in hell
I did a stretch in a triflin’ cell
What you know about twenty-three and one
Locked down all day, underground, neva seein’ the sun
Vision stripped from you, neva seein’ your son
You got bricks on the strip, neva see ’em get done
What you know about all day
Them Little Debbies and them Chi Chi’s, they makin’ you sick
You gotta wash out your drawers same water you shit
Brush, gargle, and spit same water you piss
You down wit this nigga, you done killed his brotha
But dog, don’t think he don’t know it
Think he a sucker cuz he don’t show it
Paybacks a muthafucka, and he won’t blow it
What you know about them 4 letters, not the kind you write
Or the kind you sit down and type
Sign at the margin, get it right
I’m talkin’ ’bout that real time
Life like Eddie or Martin
Ta my niggas, that’s up the fort
When I get there fuck a pack, hand me a log
And a push rod toilet sword
So when I hit these niggas up they can’t call the guards
All threw the spring and summer of 2000 you couldn’t move without hearing somebody bumping a joint off that “The Truth” album. In my opinion that is a Classic joint and could never get old . with the proper promotion and the right backing and if he could of stayed out of trouble Sigel would have went a long way. Fortunately for Meek he has landed on the hottest label at the right time. He has created a crazy buzz using the lil wayne and 50 cent tactic of releasing free mixtapes hosted by the hottest dj’s. If he can keep it going and learn from the mistakes of his Philly counterparts he will have a long and prosperous career only time will tell though.
There are some honorable mentions such as , Wale, Kendrick Lamar, J-Cole and B.O.B look for these young artist to take the game back to what we all once loved, and hopefully all this other tomfoolery is a fad like backwards clothes and hammer pants .
That’s it for now, please give your feedback and who you would have chosen in the list and why, until next time I leave with this .
“There is no greatness where simplicity, goodness, and truth are absent.”
— Leo Tolstoy