Bad Boy Latino?

I have always been open minded to Latino rap. I've brought a substantial amount of it, from Latino Velvet (of which I am a big fan) "Raza Park" to alot of the CD's of Cypress Hill, probably one of my favorite groups of all time. I also like the Kid Power Posse, El General, Mellow Man Ace, and Lighter Shade of Brown. Of course Pun was another one of my favorites, in addition to Fat Joe. Then there are alot of those violent Mexican rappers all based in Cali, which I like but have very limited mass appeal.

Looks like P Diddy is looking to get into the Latino rap game (what's up with Diddy and Latinos, first J Lo now this LOL)with PitBull to create Bad Boy Latino. But I don't know if this is old news, after all, didn't he sell Bad Boy? Oh yeah, that was 50%.

Anyways, this news is bubblin' up through the industry, with stories on ChronicMagazine, and AllHipHop.

Note to Diddy: I hope your Latino talent is better than your black talent (think G Dep, Black Rob, etc.)

Thanks to GNextInc for the link!

Hispanics gangstas-the new Sambos?


Latinos as gang members-the same ol' same ol'.
Image from Chicago Hoodz

Now, it's a given in movies like "187" and "Training Day" that all hispanics are portrayed as violent gangbangers, but I've been noticing lately in the shows I've been watching such as The Shield on FX (in just about every episode)and Eyes (in tonight's episode) on ABC an overabundance of Latinos as these very stereotypes. Its always the same old stereotypes, which I thought went out with the movie Mi Vida Loca and the rapper Kid Frost!

The Latinos in the TV shows always talk the same way, they have these gang tattoos, and a penchant for random violence. To me, the problem is that these very shows don't balance these negative stereotypes with positive Latino characters. For a minority that is as diverse as it is, that is growing in terms of population, and that is becoming more politically influential, I would think that there should be more respect given to this group.

With the hype over illegal immigration, and the even worse hype of equating MS-13 with Al Queda as exemplified in this FBI memo, I think that there is a lot of hate for Latinos. People think that Latinos take everybodys jobs, they take advantage of so many social services, and they are more of a liability to this society in the eyes of many ignorant people. Also, they are different, and people are fearful of that which is different.

On that show I mentioned, "Eyes", there is a slick, well spoken black brotha who seems to represent those upwardly mobile African Americans who are confident, well dressed and succesful. That's a long way from "Huggy Bear" on Starski and Hutch. I guess we'll have to wait for the mainstream media to give the same respect to Latinos.

Reginald C Dennis playing Mother Goose

I was reading the whole article "The Greatest Story Never Told" where Reginald Dennis breaks down the whole story of what happened to him at the Source Magazine. I thought the article was very interesting and he had alot to say(in 3 whole parts!). I found it through the Can't Stop Wont Stop weblog, and it was on Hip Hop DX.What I liked was one reference to the present day corporate driven hip hop scene:

“One of many problems, I’m afraid. The industry is all about the hard sell and they make no secret of it. This youth market – the largest ever – will be the name of the game for the foreseeable future and with hip-hop already established as the world’s most effective delivery system, young consumers are about to be taken for a ride the likes of which we have never seen. But it’s not their fault, because until you are old enough to develop some semblance of critical reasoning, you will fall prey to every bright, shiny object that comes along. The industry is in the middle of the perfect storm and they plan to stay awhile. They are no longer compelled to listen to our wishes, and as consumers we don’t do nearly enough to voice our displeasure at the way things are going. So we get what we get.

I'd take into consideration Reginald Dennis's story about Ray Benzino's and David Mays relationship with a grain of salt (How'd "Made Men" get 4.5 stars?) only because he's pretty extreme in describing David Mays as a whiny lil' bytch. However, I know that the Source has been highly critical of Interscope Records, and though his story is pretty funny at the same time I'd have to counter with something I read in the Source about his magazine XXL and their relationship with Interscope records:

"When the Roots planned to go public with their displeasure with MCA records (a now defunct subsidiary of Interscope), it was rumored that the label threatened to pull advertising from the magazine. The interview was eventually published on Citypaper.net. For their compliance, XXL has seemingly been rewarded with non-stop financial support from Geffen/Interscope, whose artists in turn continue to get favorable review and press from the magazine." The Source May 2005 pg 120

Can the strong opinions he has towards his former co-workers at the Source be distinguished from his relationship and financial support he gets from Interscope Records? I don't know if I can trust him at his word.

Another thing about this interview is Reginald Dennis addressing the Source's beef with Eminem. If I remember correctly, XXL had a beef with Eminem 2 years before the Source had beef with him, but he is strangely quiet about it; he talks like "Who could ever possibly imagine beef with Eminem?" But strangely I remember XXL back in like 2000 dissing Eminem so much because he was white and doors were opening for him because of that, and Eminem on one of his songs dissing XXL, saying he brought XXL with a food stamp, so I don't understand:

This whole thing with Eminem, try as I might I really can’t figure out what the beef is. I mean, I know that Ray is going on and on about “the machine” and how it’s racist machinations sustain artists like Eminem at the expense of others, but I really don’t see it that way. If anyone has benefited from “the machine” it is Ray.

I wish I could pull out my old XXL magazines from back in the days when they dissed Eminem so much he wouldn't grant them an interview, and they had to piece together interviews from other sources. Now he wants to play innocent. How interesting.

In conclusion, though this article seems to be an eye opener, it is hardly "The Greatest Story Ever Told". I'll bet that 5 other people in the mix got stories to tell, I'd have to hear them all. As a whole, his interview is interesting, but Reginald C Dennis is lacking credibility in his story-telling in my opinion.

....And It Don't Stop!

It's not that I have lost interest in blogging. I have pretty much just been working so much. It's hard to keep track of what's going on in hip hop along with everything else in the world! I mean, you got the stuff going down at the Source, you got artists climbing the charts, and don't get me wrong, even at my age I can get into all the current hip hop trends, and I listen to stuff people don't mess with. But, I dunno, Im just bored with the hype.

I did find the last issue of the Source funny though. With the problems at the Source, and the fact that I've been reading the Source ever since I first saw it in a DJ store back in the day. But, it's funny how they gave such a great review to Benzino's album, and they basically dissed 50 Cent's album. I don't like either rapper really, but it trips me out, I mean, what would happen if they gave Benzino a bad review? Now that would be funny. I know that sounds inside out, but basically it's a fact that Benzino sucks. He was good in Almighty RSO for some things, but basically, well, he sucks. I even wasted 99 cents downloading that "Look Into My Eyes" nonsense, but couldn't get past the first couple of seconds. Hey Benzino, gimme my dollar back!

Anyways, Im listening to hip hop now more than ever because of my I Pod and between I Tunes and Emusic Im very much covered, but hip hop news just bores me. I will talk just from the perspective of what interests me at any given moment.

One thing, I have to give credit to the Source for being so obsessed with outing that snake Jimmy Lovine. In their last issue, they did an interesting commentary on how all the bad stuff that happens in hip hop goes back to him. From the Tupac thing all the way up to the 50/GAME beef, he is like the one who takes in all the profit, making money off of people's tragedy. I guess that's why I like the Source now, because I hate the scene now, but I wish that the main player in this was someone more credible than punk ass Benzino. Now, if it was Tupac himself who was a main player, that'd be the lick, but Benzino needs to give it up.

Sensitive Whites and Hip Hop

There was a track on Public Enemy's "Fear of A Black Planet" called Incident at 66.6 FM in which people are calling in to a right wing radio talk show and they are offended by Public Enemy. One of the callers was complaining about them after having seen them open up for the Beastie Boys. He said they were "scum" and anybody who liked them were scum to. Hell, Im proud to be given the "scum" label by the Right.

That is what I am reminded of when I read this entry on "Light of Reason"
entitled PATHETIC, OVERLY SENSITIVE WHITES THREATEN FREE SPEECH! This is about a speech given at a Catholic school in New Jersey by New Jersey Secretary of State Regina Thomas.

Many of the white students and faculty members were offended by what they called an overly confrontational and unprofessional speech by the secretary. Some felt she was calling them racist and a backlash on some black students fueled the fire.

"They don't know what it is like to open up your locker and see a KKK letter there. It's not the most comfortable feeling at all," said African-American student Kristen Minoh.

Im glad that Regina Thomas stuck her neck out and spoke her mind. After all, isn't free speech what this country is all about? Furthermore, I went to a Catholic School and I was the only black in my class, so I know that racism amongst the student body and the teachers as well is a given.

As for rap music, this makes me think of the song "Why" by Jadakiss where he asks "Why did Bush take down the towers?" I'm not one of those who goes out of their way to make such an assertion, but it's funny how the Bill O'Reilly types get pissed offed. I guess it is okay for the right wingers to say whatever racist crap they want, but when white students are called out for their racist behavior, as they should be, that is too much for people to touch. More power to those like Jadakiss, Public Enemy, and Regina Thomas.

Strobelyfe Entertainment

Check out the website for Strobelyfe Entertainment, its got some Screwed and Chopped stuff, news, events, mix CD's, all that.

Spring Break


I've finally discovered what the hell "Screwed And Chopped" music is. I've been only getting through numerous downloads to my Ipod from Emusic.com. So far, my favorite "Screwed" song is "Don't Take It Personal" by D-Bo, on his "Jealousy and Greed" CD. I basically like how they talk their talk, all slow and it just sounds more ill that way. I think you can only do that with that Southern rap, which is all good to me because I've been digging Southern rap ever since I got the Geto Boys album like 10 years ago. I also like this song "Dat's What Dat Is" by Paul Wall and Mike Watts off their album "Chick Magnet", that's also a good tune. I hear that if you're going down South to check out the Spring Break events, the locals will all be on that "Screwed and Chopped" tip, listening to that music.

As for Black Spring Break, I didn't know Freaknik was dead, since I went to the event back in 1997 and I saw that it was getting lame, in that you couldn't go down the street without cops being on your tail and shyt. I knew that when I came back from Freaknik that year that a) I wouldn't go back and b) Freaknik and stuff like it was going to get commercialized. To me, Freaknik was a word of mouth thing, promoted by party promoters, college students and whoever else wanted to go. It got bad to me when all the youngstas wanted to come out; I liked it when it was college kids getting together to have fun.

I've been to the Black College Reunion in Daytona Beach, Florida, which is happening this year on April 15-17, 2005. I went back in like 1995, and it was real ill back then. I only know what I know about The Kappa Beach Party (or Kappa Beach Fest?) in Galveston Texas( April 15 -17, 2005)because it's all over the internet, but I haven't been to Texas at all.

The Miami Springfest hosted by P.Diddy in Miami, Florida(April 29- May 2, 2005) is what I was referring to as the "commercialized" Beach Party. Now, Im not hating on P Diddy (who now is up to his ears in child support; you know that now he is up to paying $51,000 a month to Kim Porter and some other girl?), but this event has all the glitz and glamour and whatnot, it's on that "Spring Bling" shyt. I guess that would be another event which I have no date on yet, but I liked the Freaknik and Black College Reunion back in the day! I remember going to Freaknik back in 1994, when Too Short and Luke performed. Now that was the lick! But I wont go this year, Im too broke for all that.

Vibe Magazine:Merchant of Crap

Too much happening in the world. You know, after the whole 50/Game beef came and went, I set updating this blog at low priority. I just didn't know if I really gave that much of a damn what the rappers were doing or saying to one another. I will admit that the whole idea of "hip hop press" is lame, and these rapper beefs are totally for the brain dead. That would make for an interesting site in and of itself, but I don't know if I would waste my time with that.

With all that in mind and after witnessing the distasteful overexposure of the deaths of Terry Shiver and the Pope, today I got the latest Vibe, and that cover was disturbing as phukk. It has Tupac, a thinner Biggie and Jam Master Jay in black suits standing in front of a graveyard. Inside, they interview people associated with the three slain stars, but to me Vibe trying to get all gushy about something they had a hand in, including allowing Biggie and Tupac to go back and forth at each other because it was such a "hot story" back then, is sickening.

But that's the "Hip Hop Press" for ya; exploitative, intrusive and money hungry vultures. They are the hip hop counterpart of the Crappy News Network and the Crox of Shyt News Channel, which seems to take milking tragedy to monumental heights. Just like how CNN milked the whole Terry Shiver thing and then they milked the Pope's death to the hilt, and it was shameful in the Terry Shiver case because they really should have been left alone, Vibe once again shyts on the graves of Biggie, Tupac and Jam Master Jay for more CREAM.

If you believe the conspiracy theories about JMJ getting killed resulting from his associating with 50 Cent, then we can add him to the casualties of rap beefs which the hip hop press (XXL, Vibe, and even the Source in the past) makes all this $$$ from. And the new Vibe cover shows that culture-vulture Vibe magazine just won't let Biggie, Tupac or Jam Master Jay rest in peace. Their exploitation partially led to the deaths of Biggie and Tupac; and now these money-hungry bastards want more blood money. What a shame.