Read My Lips: No More Ni**adry!

            “And all you coon-a** rappers—ya’ll should all get lynched/ And all you fake-a** gangsters—ya’ll should all get lynched/” —NYOIL, “Ya’ll Should All Get Lynched,” Hood Treason, 2007. The stakes are higher than they’ve ever been, and it seems some would hate nothing more than to see Ni**adry completely blotted out from Hip-Hop music. After […]

Fans Are the New Record Labels

“Slave to a label but I own my masters/  Still get it poppin’ without artist and repertoire/” —Pharoahe Monch, “Desire,” Desire, 2007. Last week, LA Times Staff Writer Chris Lee revealed the details of Cash Money artist Drake’s blockbuster record deal. In addition to a $2 million advance payment, he “retains the publishing rights to […]

Ebonics 101: Big L & E. B. White Break Bread

“Euphemisms are misunderstood as mistakes/ But it’s a by-product of the ghetto music we make/” —Canibus, “Poet Laureate II,” Rip the Jacker, 2003. Of the many reasons Hip-Hop music dogged for, one of the most unremarkable is that it teaches bad English—broken English—Ebonics. Critics argue that it celebrates anti-intellectualism, with an emphasis on rhyme rather […]