G.O.O.D. Music Cypher

If you have not witnessed the reemergence of Kanye West's miraculous comeback after his disastrous almost career-ending Taylor Swift altercation/debauchery that happened a year ago, the rock you have been under must have its own kitchen and bathroom because you were obviously pretty comfortable down there.

This past year Kanye West took some time off, staying out of the spotlight to get his life together as well as working on honing his craft, taking his new material/music to new heights. This pause in the spectrum may have been the best thing for him as well as the music world.

Since his return, Kanye has done nothing but drop G.O.O.D. music that in a sense has returned him to the beginning, which is the type of music the people have yearned to hear from him since day one.

Seeing Kanye's work ethic as of late has made it almost impossible for me to want to slack off just even a little bit. It seems Mr. West took some advice from the college dropout album teacher and woke up only to be refreshed with a new look on life and a brilliant new career.

The fact that Kanye didn't give up after having a melt down from his mother passing away, losing his girlfriend and whatever other person battles he had to overcome showed the preservance and humility within his spirit. Honestly, by him taking a break to do some soul searching is very commendable.

Not to mention, watching Kanye screw up royally, then come back to the spotlight not only better but stronger, I think its safe to say that if anyone makes a mistake, which all people do, the only way to rectify the situation is apologize, don't dwell and get back to the roots of whatever it is that makes your gift, to be perfectly clear, great.

Many times we go through things in our life that will push us close to the edge almost destroying us, but the human spirit, ever so resilient, always fights to make things right.

The truth is most people may not have been able to handle that amount of overwhelming pressure and this is the very difference between those that are stars and those that never quite make it. The stars continue to shine even when everyone else says the light is out.

Personally, I always feel like every piece of hard work you put into your talent is worth something awesome. The minute you decide to give up, is the very moment some schmuck will pick up your left-over pieces, only to take "your" spot and shine exactly the way you were meant to.

I just have a never give up attitude because I don't want anyone taking the place that I worked hard for. I don't know that's just me though.

Anyway, Kanye and his record Label G.O.O.D. Music crew including Common and Pusha T, formerly of the Clipse, performed the last of 4 cyphers at the 2010 BET Hip Hop Awards. From this heart felt performance, I think its safe to say that Mr. West is still MAJOR.

2010 BET Hip Hop Awards G.O.O.D. Music Cypher

*source: www.theboombox.com

Battle Of The Sexes...

If you have ever watched Black Entertainment Television and have any bit of intelligence, you must have noticed time and time again that BET continuously chooses to ignore the positive elements of a genre known as hip-hop or urban culture by ONLY showing the commercial side of urban culture that demeans Black entertainers and entertainment.

Allegedly, this side of hip-hop is what sells hence they continue to push it. The same mentality can be flipped because if you continuously push ANY product it will eventually sell. So in hindsight, if they pushed the positive, the positive would sell.

This repeated strike against the genre that only shows stereotypical hip-hop cultured videos while passing on the elite, conscious, uplifting artists that can possibly change the way hip-hop culture is viewed in the mainstream is a direct slap to my face, personally.

As a true fan of hip-hop culture, I have listened to many facets buried in the genre, so I know every hip-hop artist doesn't rap about a materialistic lifestyle such as the having money, cars, clothes and oh-no's...

Someone that has a warped one-sided view of hip-hop should listen to artists such as Lupe Fiasco (his debut single Kick, Push was speaking intellectually on how he grew up a skateboarding kid, not an inner-city, gangsterfied thug), Mos Def, Talib Kweli and even Nas from time to time.

If you are from Middle America and not in tune with urban culture you will only be aware of mainstream media and its contents. Hip-hop is very much mainstream now, but people will only hear what is pushed into the mainstream.

I want to be clear, ALL hip hop music does not degrade women, talk about selling drugs or talk about negative aspects of life. Although, hip-hop does hold a direct reflection of some artist’s background and how they grew up, it should in no way be the voice of a whole genre.

That’s like saying McDonalds is ONLY known for selling French Fries. What about the Burgers, Apple Pies and Orange Hi-C? There are many facets to that business and the same goes for hip-hop.

It’s a dirty game because the voice of some hip hop is definitely the mirrored image of how they perceived life, living throughout a less fortunate, poverty stricken environment, but I despise how some people relate only this side to the genre. Education is the key.

I believe people born with a silver spoon do very much need to hear that side of life because if you never knew there are people less fortunate than you then how can you learn to appreciate your blessings. i.e. Trading Places.

It seems that BET has yet once again stepped on toes and dropped the ball yet again by banning Ciara’s Ride video but choosing to continuously run Trey Songz videos, The Neighbors Know My Name and Invented Sex.

To me, that is an oxymoron of monumental proportions and I say an SSD flag should be thrown! This gesture to show a male sexually explicit video but not a female version of the same magnitude is not only sexist but contradictory in the same breath.

In Trey Songz videos respectively, they are both very illicit and subliminal with half naked implied nude sex scenes all while containing strong sexually powered, lyrical content.

What does that say to one of BETs prime target audience of 13-25? It’s okay for them to show a half naked man talking about wanting sex, but if a 2010 sexually empowered woman wants to discuss her sense of sexuality its wrong?

Now what’s interesting is these videos are both very steamy, very sensual and sex driven, so of course discretion should be exercised on both, but to ban one over the other is just nonsense.

Truthfully, the song title "Ride" is implied to that of riding a beat on a track while "Invented Sex" is blatant and forthright. I mean really? Come on, who has a crush on Trey Songz at BET, seriously!?

Not to mention, since we are going there, I am a man so why would I want to see Trey Songz in proactive scenes!!!? I want to see Ciara.

But then again, like I said before, BET concentrates on what sells and I guess the BET prime target audience is FEMALE 13-25. Hmmmmm SSD!