The opinions expressed in the following editorial are not those of AllHipHop.com, it’s staff, affiliates or associates and should not be construed as such.
I apologize to
all real hip-hop fans and fans of real hip-hop for my waiting so long to skewer
MTV’s “Brain Trust” – the assembly of new age sharecroppers who host the
network’s hip-hop ranking specials. My
response time to cultural negligence of this magnitude is generally much
faster, so my only real excuse is that I didn’t take installments such as “The
Greatest Hip-Hop Albums of All-Time” seriously enough to flip on instinct. I should have reacted when they named L.L.
Cool J one of the “Greatest MCs of All-Time,” or when they put UGK and Salt ‘N
Pepa on the “Greatest Groups of All-Time” list over The Roots and The Beastie
Boys, but I didn’t, and for that I’m truly sorry.
According to the
notoriously mannequin-like MTV News correspondent Sway Calloway, who himself is
a member of the so-called “Brain Trust,” the group is comprised of the
“smartest, most knowledgeable hip-hop minds at MTV News.” I know – that’s on some smartest
retard/coolest nerd s### to begin with – but it gets worse. These are the puppets who smile as Wayne and T-Pain
monopolize airwaves, and who benefit when record labels fill MTV coffers with
payola. They’re the swine who push
deplorable materialistic tomfoolery on near-captive audiences and then claim
that they’re quelling popular demand; not since that painting of dogs playing
poker have so many b###### gathered around one table.
I hate to dig too
vehemently into the individual “Brain Trustees”; as a whole, they’re a team of
shills who shamelessly perpetuate ignorant trends, but as fans, I believe that
most of them, at least at one point in their lives, valued rap music over
hip-hop hype and image. MTVNews.com
Senior Producer Rahman Dukes proved his knowledge by nominating Public Enemy, Wu-Tang,
Black Moon, Mobb Deep, De La Soul and Brand Nubian on the “Greatest Groups of
All-Time” episode (only Wu-Tang made the final list); as did MTV Radio Network
writer Bridget Bland, who outsmarted her peers by being the only one to
advocate Chuck D for “Greatest MC of All-Time.”
Gentlemanliness aside, though, these are some serious sellouts.
The sin that
broke my back fell in the first few minutes of the recently aired “Hottest MCs
in the Game 2008,” during which the “Brain Trust” apologized for Flo Rida and
Plies not making the list. One robot
even went so far as to defend Plies for his originality (I suppose he does call
himself “The One” Plies rather than “Your Boy” Plies). From there, the group actually proceeded to
negotiate whether or not Soulja Boy should qualify. I changed channels, but, according to
MTV.com, Kanye West, Jay-Z and Lil Wayne emerged on top. Shocking.
I understand that
the discussion regarded the current “Hottest MCs in the Game;” I’m not here to
suggest that Immortal Technique, Sean Price, Slug, Qwel and Cormega should have
trumped creative inferiors such as Young Jeezy, Rick Ross and T.I. After all, it is a popularity contest – not a
talent competition. What I will say,
however, is that it’s incredibly sad that these clowns are positioned in such
ways that they consider those latter artists the “Hottest MCs” in the first
place; on their own time do they tap into the underground, or, God forsake, the
international rap scene at all? Or do
they genuinely believe that their narrow tastes better represent hip-hop than
do the millions of young people who reject MTV and embrace originality. It’s like presidential politics; in the end,
it seems that all the worthwhile candidates are condemned to regional destinies
while the phoniest machine-generated frauds enjoy national spotlights.
It’s no secret
that the “Brain Trust” thrives off the controversy that its ignorance stirs;
the web explodes with a rash of traditionalist backlashes (like this) every
time they dumb out. My only problem is
the nature of that controversy; it’s the kind that one would instigate by
claiming that a dog is actually a cat; not the type that one would spark by
claiming that a dog is a better or worse house pet than a cat. It’s unconscionable enough that MTV spawns
unenlightened megalomaniacs like 50 Cent; now they’re building pedestals to
place them on.
I know exactly
how every major label pawn and “Brain Trust” w#### will respond to this; I have
friends in comparable positions on commercial radio stations and big imprint
promotion teams who constantly pull defense mechanisms against my vitriol. They’ll say I don’t understand the music
business; that I’m a rap snob; and maybe, just maybe, they’ll accuse me of
being unqualified to evaluate what the streets want. (You know, since the rap videos they play on
MTV (when they actually get around to playing videos) truly reflect street
life). But I’m sure they’ll miss my
point. As a dedicated hip-hop fan and reporter,
I consider myself responsible for discovering and propping new artists who took
lessons from KRS-One, Rakim and Nas and extrapolated on them; not MCs who
disgrace the gods by reducing rap music to ringtones and club anthems. It took me some time to backslap the “Brain
Trust” because in discussing the best rappers, groups and albums in their first
episodes, they performed an honorable service to viewers who needed basic boom
bap history lessons. But while I
commended that, I believe the “Brain Trust’s” collective suggestion that their “Hottest
MCs in the Game” are the artists who carried forth Old School and Golden Age
traditions is an irresponsibility of unforgivable proportions. Kill your television. TO DISCUSS MTV’s HOTTEST RAPPER LIST WITH THE ILL COMMUNITY, CLICK HERE
