Hip-hop article on CNN (Kanye vs. Justin Timberlake vs. 50?)

[Nev]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Music/0 ... index.html

Anyone who doesn't care about hip-hop can bow out now, but I know Seeker at least is a head, and I kind of found two parts of this amusing.

1. Apparently Kanye says he sees Justin Timberlake as his main rival in the music industry now, as opposed to other rappers. One thing you have to give Ye credit for, he's not afraid to be honest and say things that offend people's cultural sensitivities. I don't know how many black rappers would actually have the balls to admit rivalry with an white R&B boy-band-pedigree singer, but honestly, I see where he's coming from in some ways.

2. 50 Cent has claimed that he will quit his solo career if Graduation (Kanye's next joint) beats Curtis (50's next joint) on the charts.

This is the one that really got me, because I think 50 has a good shot at getting just destroyed here.

I know 50's albums have been chart monsters up until now, but I've heard the singles from both of those albums, and watched the videos with some friends in a hip-hop group. At least two of us think Kanye's singles are off the fucking hook, but near-universally nobody's been feeling 50's singles. I really actually think that if Curtis is mediocre or even bad, he could just get destroyed here. Be interesting to see if anyone calls him on quitting if he does!

Anyway, just my opinion.

[Eric]

I'd buy Kanye and JT's albums before 50's. The Massacre sucked, come on man, Candy Shop? Are you fuckin serious? How do you go from Many Men and In Da Club to Candy Shop, fail fucking less.

[Nev]

Yeah, I kind of agree. Many Men >> Candy Shop. Candy Shop was chick porn.

The *actual* G-Unit "I want to fuck you" track that should have been a hit, "Wanna Get To Know You", I never even heard on the radio.

Though I do have to say, when 50 has it, he has it fucking going. Have you heard Freestyle B4 Paystyle, one of his new mixtapes? 50 has one of his early cuts on there called "The Glow" which was just smoking...

[SineSwiper]

It really goes to show, when it wants to, this country can really stand up and show its support for the handicapped. After all, how else can a rapper who was shot in the jaw nine times become a chart topper?

[Eric]

It really goes to show, when it wants to, this country can really stand up and show its support for the handicapped. After all, how else can a rapper who was shot in the jaw nine times become a chart topper?

He was shot 9 times, but not all landed in the jaw =o lol.

That's a funny thought though....err assuming the person lived of course. >_>

[Nev]

...I have no doubt that you could have called Fitty "crippled" after he got shot in the face, but it does seem at least to me that he's healed up at least passably.

Think maybe the police would give him a ticket if he parked in a handicapped spot...don't know really, just guessing and all. (To be honest, he probably wouldn't have registered the car in the first place.)

And yeah, IIRC only one of the slugs hit him in the jaw, another one took off his pinky toe or something? And then the rest "just" hit him in the chest.

(shudders)

[Nev]

From Wikipedia:

"He was shot nine times—in the hand (a round hit his right thumb and came out of his pinky), arm, hip, both legs, chest, and left cheek.[4][8][24]"

[SineSwiper]

I think if I'm in a gang, and I'm going to pop a cap in somebody's ass, I would shoot them in the jaw nine times, and once in the heart. That way, if he happens to live, at least we won't have to listen to him rapping.

[Nev]

If you ever muster up the courage to actually suffer the vicious physical beating that is generally associated with joining a real street gang, let me know.

[Andrew, Killer Bee]

I would shoot them...

You'd leave the safety on, I bet.

[Julius Seeker]

I'd buy Kanye and JT's albums before 50's. The Massacre sucked, come on man, Candy Shop? Are you fuckin serious? How do you go from Many Men and In Da Club to Candy Shop, fail fucking less.

I am thinking essentially the same as Eric on this one.

[SineSwiper]

Seeker, dude, the pic is too big. Resize that bitch.

[Julius Seeker]

Seeker, dude, the pic is too big. Resize that bitch.

There's no instructions for resizing pics in the BBCode FAQ. Otherwise my picture would be smaller.

[Tessian]

Seeker, dude, the pic is too big. Resize that bitch.

There's no instructions for resizing pics in the BBCode FAQ. Otherwise my picture would be smaller.

Is Paint broken on your PC? Geez man, copy it-- paste in Paint, resize the image, save back into photobucket and you're done.

[Julius Seeker]

Damn, I have been using this BBCode shit this WHOLE time when HTML works?!?!

[Imakeholesinu]

What a burn Seek.

To be honest, Kanye's new single hasn't really impressed me. All he did was take Daft Punk and rap against it. Nothing really new there. Yeah he's got a message other than "40's, bitches, blunts and guns" but I was really expecting something along the lines of "Addiction" or "Heard'em Say". Then again I didn't like "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" either but really liked "Gold Digger".

I picked up "The Massacre" because of 50 and The Game's collaboration track "Hate it Or Love It" which was absolutely butchered on 50's album. I did like "Get in my Car" mostly because of the beat. It sounds like urban drive music when you would roll up to valet. It's almost like it would be someone's theme song. "Ski Mask Way" was alright also. I think 50's problem was he had different producers for almost all of his songs which is good for making the music sound different but bad because the album felt like he was going off on so many directions you couldn't tell where he was going to end up.

Just my 2 cents.

[RentCavalier]

Daft Punk rocks, so Stronger is AOK in my book.

[Nev]

I think you could probably flip that entire Daft Punk album he got the sample from and have a good chance of scoring with every song, to be honest. "One More Time" is on there too, as well as some other gems.

[Imakeholesinu]

I think you guys missed the point I was trying to make. Late Registration and College Drop Out were both unique in that he didn't oversample a lot of people's stuff (Except 'The Wire'). I guess I was expecting him to grow as an artist and start doing more of his beats on his own and not just relying on a simple overlay of the song and an 808 in the background to do it for him.

[Nev]

Ahhh, I'm fine with Kanye looting Daft Punk. I see where you're coming from, Barret, but the thing about it is that mainstream America will never, never, but never actually come around to a French house/progressive electronica act like Daft Punk on its own anyway. At least now they get some exposure.