What Is Happening To Hip Hop?

Over Spring Break, I found myself watching a late night television show on VH1 about Hip Hop, and what it has become. Turning to it about a quarter of the way through the show, I watched as they talked about the late Tupac and Biggie Smalls, and all of the East Coast-West Coast nonsense that took place in the early to mid nineties. During this time, I was still really young so anything music related besides the Barney song "I love you, you love me," did not exactly fascinate me. I later realized that these two men played a huge roll in the lives of rappers today such as Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, T.I., Plies, and many more. I'm not exactly a huge rap fan, but the show held my interest because it showed many clips of these two individuals and how their lives and deaths impacted the hip-hop community. In my opinion, these were two very talented individuals who lost their life way too early, because of a bunch of stuff that could have been prevented. East Coast-West Coast, who cares where you live or where you were born. Anyway, I was writing this because watching this show also made me realize the mess that they call rap music today is just that "mess." I watch as many of my peers rap and say how they are going to make it, because they look at people such as Soulja Boy, and feel that if he can do it, then they can do it. I laugh because as much as I hate to say it, Soulja Boy is far from a real rapper, yet I find myself watching his videos and singing along to his songs. Overall, I am wondering what has happened to today's rap music. Sad to say, but did rap actually die along with Tupac and Biggie. Come on..."do the stanky leg,"...that has to be the worst song ever, yet it's making it to the top of the charts. Can those guys actually make an entire CD that someone would listen to fully through?

It Seems To Be Farewell To Rapper T.I.

Although rapper Clifford Harris, also known as T.I. has singles at the top of the charts right now, he is also not at his best. The rapper is soon to be facing jail time for gun charges after he was arrested in 2008 for possession of a firearm on several different accounts while the rapper was already a convicted felon. It’s bad hearing these type of stories because it seemed as if the rapper was turning his life around and now he can possibly face no less than a year in prison. The rapper will not only leave behind thousands, possibly millions of fans, but a girlfriend and six children, all of whom are under the age of thirteen. It has to be tuff on the little ones having to watch their father prepare for his sentencing, while all along remaining in the spotlight. Counting down his days, the rapper has a television show on MTV called “T.I. Road To Redemption,” in which the rapper tries to turn around the life of young adults who are leading down the wrong path in life that seems that they will ultimately end up in jail or dead. It seems to me that he has good intentions in life, he just messed up and now has to do the time for the crime that he committed.

Hmm...A Little More With Chris Brown & Rihanna.

I decided to base this blog on a follow up of the Chris Brown and Rihanna situation. I guess I may be reading into this entire thing too much! This past weekend, while in the store I noticed the many tabloids that read things such as 'She was pregnant', 'He sends her gifts', 'The couple was recently spotted together'. I laughed at some of the ridiculous allegations against the two. The fact that writers would make up such stories that Rihanna was pregnant during the time is ridiculous. I don't think they fully understand the significance of the trouble that Chris Brown could get in if this were true. I completely disagree with them putting that as a headline on a Magazine cover. Also, the fact that he may have sent her gifts during all of this is a typical guy thing. He messed up...terribly, and is trying to make up with gifts. Only difference is, just about everything that they are doing is very publicized right now. On to the one that caught my attention the most, the fact that they were seen together. Not saying that this may be true, but I do believe that the two are going to stay together. It's sort of hard on singer Rihanna because so many people are looking for her to step up to the plate and be against the violence. They are looking for her to speak out against it, and really...the only thing she needs to be worried about right now is her own personal safety. Though I may not follow this entire story, the tabloids I saw this weekend really caught my attention. Some being ridiculous allegations, others seem to be possible true stories.