Hip Hop Hooray on a Tuesday : The Talented Mr Taylor

Six years ago beefing with 50 Cent was career suicide. Remember how Ja Rule became irrelevant literally overnight? Ok so maybe his music wasn’t as good as before but the beef with Mr Jackson didn’t help his case. It’s ironic however that (the) Game also beefed with Fiddy but his career is going from strength to strength. Frankly he’s doing a lot better than 50 Cent(who’s laughing now).

4 albums later Jayceon Terrell Taylor is still relevant and doing pretty well for himself while he’s at it. In terms of rappers, New York is well accounted for with people like Jay-Z, Fabolous and Nas. LA as the birthplace of Gangster rap and home to Tupac Shakur seems to be running out of great rappers. Snoop has lost it, and Dr Dre is more producer than rapper so I think it would be correct to say that Game is holding the flag of the West up high. I have a lot of respect for this guy, he has stayed true to his roots and delivered an amazing album R.E.D which was released earlier this year. Game oozes West Side swag and R.E.D is so Compton you feel like you’re riding in his “Cherry 64” with the ocean breeze in your hair. From the epic words, “this is how we do” until now he has stayed true to himself. He raps about life growing up in a tough city, and escaping it’s traps and life on the other side. From an abusive childhood, foster care, loss, and near death experiences this guy’s life story is remarkable. The fact that he rose above all this and became so successful makes him admirable in my eyes. It’s not about where you’re from it’s about where you’re going. You can feel pain, determination and most importantly passion in every rhyme and verse.  R.E.D is a brilliant album with a wide range of songs for any moment. I listen to this album everyday and it sounds better everyday. By today’s low musical standards, if you can listen to an album without skipping a single track, you have a good album on your hands. Some albums have a few great tracks while others get boring by the 7th song, but not R.E.D. This is an exceptional work and the collaborations with Kendrik Lamar, Tyler the Creator, Nelly Furtado, Big Boi, Lil Wayne and Chris Brown show is far reaching talent.  2011  has been a great year for hip hop and R.E.D has contributed enormously to this fact. That’s why Game is stuck in my headphones..

Fall of the Gentleman?

After the dismal failure of his fourth studio album, it seems that Ne yo went back to the drawing board (or so we thought). Year of the Gentleman was such an impressive album because it epitomized the reasons why we fell in love with Mr Smith in the first place. That voice,  those poetic lyrics and that oh-so-smooth gentleman status he exuded so effortlessly. This man looked like he had been lifted from the most posh, exclusive gentleman’s club and he not only loved women but he treasured and respected them at the same time. I have no idea where all that went in Libra Scale because I couldn’t recognize him. He exchanged musical quality for dancing shoes with dismal results.

I usually write blog posts from inspiration, this one however stems from seething anger. What happened to the man who serenaded us with Part of the List, made us sad in So Sick and thrilled us in Closer. What is the difference between the Ne yo of Because of You and the Ne yo of Libra Scale? One word-arrogance. I mean I don’t blame the fella, if you have penned hits like Irreplacable and Take A Bow and have half the music business clamouring   to work with you, the angle of my nose would be a little higher too, but what he’s exuding is 100 times more than a little cockiness. I always liked Ne yo because he was humble and easy to relate to but he is now turning into those R n B singers who think the world revolves around their music  and their autotuned, oversexed, overpayed personas.

Ne-yo I am sad to say this but you are starting to really annoy me…I have resorted to listening to your early albums and reminiscing about the days when you were a shining star. You used to stand out, you were so different but now you just blend in with the already dead genre of RnB (check my last post). Case in point, Ne-yo’s new single The Way You Move from his new album The Cracks in Mr Perfect. The album name might be a warning that he is losing it, remember how 50 Cent called his album Before I Self Destruct and his career did just that (and then some). Anyway back to Ne-yo. I feel like 7 other people have a song called The Way You Move so what’s so special about your song Ne-yo? Huh? I mean it’s a song about strippers for crying out loud and ever since “I’m in Love with a Stripper” I think that theme is a lot old. Dude you just had a daughter and you’re praising strippers in your song? Are you serious? And then you had to feature Mr “I’m in Love With a Stripper” himself-why is T-Pain still getting any work. Ne-yo you used to make timeless music now your music belongs on the playlist of a bad RnB radio station. I am saying this with a lot of love because I am actually a big fan but I am really disappointed in you right now. Why are people making songs about strippers anyway, there are many other things going on in the world that do not revolve around poles.

And why is Mr Trey “sex on a stick-I sing like a horse” Songz on your song, can’t you get creative with your collaborations. Look for Frank Ocean’s number or you can even call Mario/Omarion everyone knows those dudes need work right now. Look, maybe the new Ne-yo album will be amazing, it’s really too soon to tell so I might be proved wrong. But if the album flops I won’t say I didn’t see it coming.