First Up

I'm kind of new to this blogging thing so readers please be easy on me. There are alot of things going on in the world today.I could start off with politics. Maybe sports. But I wouldn't be the "Hip-Hop head" that I claim to be if I didn't break in my first time with something from the wonderful world of rappers.

As I was being escorted to Circuit City yesterday (thank you Channel Baby) I thought of which CD's I would add to my collection. One of the most obvious choices for me would be "Paper Trail". I had been anticipating T.I.'s release for awhile (no homo) and since the scheduled release date had been pushed back more times than Wayne Brady's hairline, the extra day i had to wait had me on edge. The second CD I had on my radar was "Lupe's Food and Liquor". No this isn't a Latino woman's ode to spanish cuisine and a good time but rather Lupe Fiasco's first album. As I crutched up and down the hip hop aisle, I quickly spotted "Paper Trail" because of course it was just released 3 days ago. But to my horror, and yes I do mean horror, I could not find Lupe's debut album anywhere. I saw alot of artist that graced the so called "Hip Hop" aisle. A bunch of LL Cool J. Alot of Lil' Wayne. Even some Ice Cube. But no Lupe. This got me to thinking. Why would they have this CD at an electronic store? Because even though they have CD's here, it technically isn't a record store (or music store which ever you prefer). So I went to my mental yellow book to figure out where I could purchase the CD. Then it dawned on me, Every record store I grew up buying music from is closed. Driving down Branch Ave. I come up on Iverson Mall and to my surprise the record store that usually sits out from the mall (Sam Goody I believe it was) was replaced with a DTLR (or whatever they're calling themselves now days). I was equally surprised when I was driving down University Blvd. (or Md rt. 193 for you people who know your way) and the pink sparkly building that we use to know as Willie's records was replaced by someone selling Pupusas (somebody please tell me what the hell a pupusa is). So I'm left wondering, if I can go to a electronic store and purchase the albums of two of the most mysognistic, arrogant, self promoting artist out there, (sorry Kanye you'd be on this list too) why can't I find one of the more positive guys that hip hop has to offer?

I have an idea. Simply put, Nas was right. Hip hop, I mean true hip hop, has died and gone to hell. It has been succeeded by this genre of music that has taken it's name but fails to display the principles of that it was built upon. What happened to the social awareness? I mean true enough Ludacris attempted, although he failed miserably, to raise political conciousness with his homage to democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama. The same single that Obama later chastised him for because of his harsh attacks at republican presidential hopeful John McClain and former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. And Lil' Wayne shared his synopsis, all though he was heavily under the influence at the time, about the plight of the black man on the last track of his latest album "Carter III". But this has nothing on what artist like Afrika Bambata, Public Enemy ( yes i know this is a group), and Common Sense (I had to use someone fairly recent) were able to convey with this special art form of making words ryhme over a carefully orchestrated beat. I mean honestly, how can I relate to artist today? I make what you would call minimum wage for a college grad, how can I go to the club and make it rain? And if I didn't have a girlfriend, how many women would be standing in a line waiting to take a crack at ol'Jethro? Probably none. This is why in my opinion hip hop has to be dead. And if it isn't, it has to be in ICU taking it's last breaths. If it wasn't, why are artist like Lupe Fiasco and Talib Kweli struggling to sell records? And better yet why are they being left out of the same stores that you can find other artist? The answer. People like me. Even though I went to a store to buy the album I wanted, I still bought albums from artist whom I wouldn't consider to always uphold the principles of hip hop. I guess I can't really complain about the death or near death of hip hop if I'm in the hospital room yanking at the plug.