I'm not sure what the fanbase is for hip hop around teamliquid is, in fact the only group I can remember ever being mentioned was Jedi Mind Tricks. That's good shit, but I digress; I'm just trying to put this out there for people who are interested and may not be aware of whats going on with the hip hop scene.
So... the Birdman JR aka Lil Weezy went platinum in his first week of sales with the Carter 3.
What the hell is going on with the world. I don't despise lil Homey 100% because the original Carter album was fire. Nowadays however he seems to have lost the battle with drugs. He spits incoherently and without purpose. Its awful.
On the other side of the tracks is an up and coming rapper out of D.C. : Wale, pronounced Wall-eh (and don't say wally). He has been on his grind lately and recently put out a free project, a Seinfeld themed tape aptly named "A Mixtape about Nothing"
I suggest you do as well, there are a couple classics on there. He speaks on the 'N' word issue with the song Kramer, as a counterpoint to Nasir's recent single "Be a Nigger Too."
As a bonus loosy, another heater from Wale featuring Skyzoo - one of the most underrated rappers in the game mainly because Lil Wayne steals all of his lyrics - called the Hacksaw Jim Duggan, rasslin fans should remember him.
In my opinion the only reason Carter 3 went Plat that quickly was because of this song:
It's OK. It's definitely better than most of Wayne's work. The original is pretty good as well(that's the remix). I live in Houston, and both versions get a retarded amount of radio play.
I think this is most definitely "music" and that almost all rappers should most definitely be considered "musicians". It's just a matter of good musicians and bad ones.
And even though Wayne's rapping can seem aimless and incoherent, most of his fans appreciate him as a lyricist... as in... "... make her feel right when it's wrong, like lying"
Wayne's got punchlines, I think that's what his fans call lyricism, the problem is he doesn't say anything, its just punchline after punchline. He's about as good as soulja boy in my book.
Fuck Wayne, Soulja Boy and all that bullshit. True rap is like Lupe and shit. Underground has some good shit too. Jedi Mind Tricks, Immortal Technique, and all those dudes kill the majority of mainstream. I've been starting to listen to more old school shit as well, such as Wutang and Gangstarr.
Edit: 1..2..3..4.
I said shit 4 times in this post, 5 including this. I swear a lot when I talk about rap I guess?