Article: “Has Hip-Hop Had an Adverse Effect on Our Young?” by ScholarMan
The other day while I was updating my account on Twitter, I noticed a “re-tweet” from an associate of mine. For those new to Twitter lingo, a re-tweet is when you re-post something someone already posted, including the original author to give them credit for their post. For the sake of non-name dropping I will leave their account names out. 

The re-tweet was this: 

“i HATE to say it but truly think hip hop had an adverse effect on a lotta brotha’s character development [folks gon b mad i said it]

2:07 PM Sep 15^th”  (more…)

The New York Times announced this morning that HipHopLinguistics.Com is the world’s best hip-hop website! Well, not exactly. But why else would they show us love on page B5 of the Metro section in today’s special Independence Day issue – unless they thought the site was good, clean and wholesome? (more…)

Gangster rap, or hardcore rap, is generally considered a subgenre of the larger category of rap music, which itself is a subcategory of hip-hop. Gangster rap is differentiable from other rap music in that it makes use of images of urban life associated with crime (Haugen, 2).

According to the Encyclopedia explanation of gangster rap, the top four images associated with the genre are violence, drugs, materialism and sexual promiscuity. (more…)

Hip-Hop has historically existed as a male-dominated industry. Being a reflection of urban life and struggle, past Hip-Hop artists have been forced to maintain a certain level of masculinity in order to be accepted by their urban communities. Old school rappers who talked about love were often viewed as soft or corny.

Because of this perception, the existence of love in Hip-Hop is a fairly new concept. As the movement has gained support and recognition throughout the world, love has become an increasingly common theme in Hip-Hop music and poetry. (more…)

I came across an interesting forum discussion today. The topic was “Why don’t the majority of blacks support pure hip-hop?” As overly-discussed as this issue may be, I always find these debates not only informative, but entertaining at the same time.

Some of the questions posted in response to the forum were “What do you consider pure hip-hop?” by several individuals, and “Is this a subliminal way to bash the mainstream?” by others. Though I believe that there is no one answer to this question, I will share my sentiments nonetheless. (more…)

Thursday morning, Nov. 29^th, 7 a.m. As usual, I am up browsing the net, researching random news, hip-hop updates and promoting the latest and greatest from my label: TrueBless, Mission ISpossible. I get an email from a friend, “Check out this garbage!” It’s an editorial by Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star about the death of Sean Taylor. According to Whitlock, guess who killed him: hip-hop. (more…)

Ahh, the VH1 Hip-Hop Honors show. Overall great, but the many comments about Lupe Fiasco’s slip up while performing on the show is becoming ridiculous. For those who do not know, yes, Lupe forgot a piece of the lyrics to Electric Relaxation, a classic A Tribe Called Quest (ATCQ) track from the early 90’s. Yes, he took defense to many comments, yes, there has been a bunch of he-say-she-say, and yes fans and various hip-hop websites have been trying to execute him since. (more…)

Give Madlib a compliment, and you get back a question. I told the idiosyncratic underground hip-hop producer I liked his new record, and he asked “Which one?” It’s a reasonable response.

Since the year started, Madlib, 33, has released four albums, counting “Liberation,” a full-length collaboration with rapper Talib Kweli; a deluxe rerelease of “Champion Sound,” his project with dearly departed producer J Dilla; “Yesterday’s Universe,” a collection of amorphous jazz fusion; and, most recently, the latest installment of his instrumental hip-hop series “Beat Konducta.” This is to say nothing of the numerous tracks and remixes he’s done for other artists over the course of the year. (more…)

No matter what faith you follow, every person’s existence is because of a greater purpose assigned to that individual. For some people, their purpose may be small; to others extremely large. Regardless, we were born to do something positive to contribute to the great mass of energy this world generates.

As a writer, I contribute ideas on paper, as an emcee I contribute my life experiences through music and as a producer I contribute various emotions through rhythm. What is your purpose? (more…)

Here we go again. I love Hip Hop, although, not as much as I love the people that created it and continue to shape its destination. With that being said, I do have some things that I dislike about Hip Hop or more specifically the people who say they “love” it. I’m talking about the “neo-conservative” crusaders for what is “real” Hip Hop!

You know the religious Hip Hop “purest” that draw a line between what they consider “real” and for lack of a single term “commercial/mainstream/jiffy-pop” or just plain ole “rap.” Some argue that “real” Hip Hop has been regulated to the “underground” by major record companies who only want to exploit, control and further ruin Hip Hop culture. (more…)