“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 […]
I don’t know about you but I need racism. Just imagine a world without racism. It would be boring. Cambridge police officers arrested Henry Louis Gates Jr. for supposedly breaking into his own home on July 16th after receiving an anonymous call about someone jimmying the lock to a Cambridge residence. Even more than […]
Paul Scott “I’m kickin’ cold facts so true Feels like I’m livin’ in a zoo” Public Enemy Step Right up! In this cage we have the tame, “Negro-intellectualus.” Notice his freshly pressed shirt and creased pants. Go ahead and pet him. He won’t bite…However, watch out for this next animal, “Thug-ignoramus.” Beware of his gold […]
Last week Prez Obama stood before a packed audience and essentially preached to the choir. He spoke about the great accomplishments of the NAACP and how the organization ironically celebrated its 100th anniversary the same year he became the country’s first (official) African American president. Then he did something that was quite surprising. He […]
“A lot of yall comment on how stupid it is. It might be stupid to you, but this is what we do. We eat, we kick it, we throw money. Don’t make this one situation blow the whole thing out.” Rappers love making it rain on these hoes! Yeaaaaaa-AHHHHHH! Recently, Jermaine “JD” Dupri […]
I am pro-social media, but I am also pro utilizing the medium for some sort of long term, fruitful strategy. It is already happening now, but I predict that in years to come there will be a terrible negative backlash on the open nature of the internet, specifically social media. Right now, there are […]
Pharrell is clearly in love with this Lanvin “Piped Blazer,” because the rapper-slash-producer-slash-rocker has been seen rocking it quite frequently this year. Most recently, Pha-real, as Jay-Z once called him, was seen wearing it to the BAPE Flagstore opening in London. This time, The Neptunes front man wore it with a brown and beige […]
“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 […]
Jay-Z must respond to The Game with force to this barrage of disses I won’t dilute the point with a bunch of over-intellectual ramblings in an attempt to complicate so simple. So, above you have this editorial in a nutshell, but if you want, read on. Jay-Z is at a proverbial fork in […]
What about your friends will they stand their ground Will they let you down again What about your friends are they gonna be low down Will they ever be around or will they turn their backs on you -TLC (1992) Friends. Sometimes I hate them, I swear I do. I am […]
It is pretty common knowledge that it is high time that the recording industry re-evaluate its practices and business M.O. This is a direct result of the digital era, however I have an archaic response to the resurgence of the new indie and internet movement. Record labels need to make the record deal […]
TODAY WAS almost A GOOD DAY! On Wednesday, July 8th I got out of bed feeling a little bit better than good! IntelligentSeedz were finally going to interview Mr. Rodney Lofton – Superintendent of Trenton Public Schools. We were happy that we had been granted the interview and it was finally about to happen. Mr. […]
“Half these rap lyrics ain’t thought-provoked/ Just a lot of beef till they get caught and smoked/” —GZA, “Illusory Protection,” Grandmasters. “If I rhyme about home and got descriptive/ I’d make 50 Cent look like Limp Bizkit/” —K’Naan, “What’s Hardcore?,” The Dusty Foot Philosopher. Nowadays, nothing seems to annoy this writer more than the fecklessness […]
I took a bit of a break from writing. Life is real and some of my previous editorials had some people after me. I have been running in fear of my life. The thugs…The E-Thugs. I’m petrified of all these E-Thugs roaming the Internet Superhighway terrorizing everybody like they own the ‘web or something. If […]
Def Jam and Adidas; two disparate companies sharing innovative pasts and futures. The former holds place as the essential Hip-Hop label, built on acts like LL Cool, Slick Rick and Public Enemy. The latter is a bedrock in sportswear, and inadvertently or not, Hip-Hop fashion harking back to the debut of ubiquitous Pro Model/Superstar (aka […]
Perhaps I’m not surfing the dark corners of the Internet closely enough, but I haven’t come across any amazing conspiracy theories in a while. I’m sure paranoid people are still out there telling anyone who will listen that Prez Obama is the anti-Christ, the government flushed drugs into the hood (are they still doing it? […]
“Now, I’m sure that some of my “post racial” Black and liberal White friends will say that I need to calm down… Back in the late 1800’s a Scottish woman wrote the controversial book “Little Black S####.” Although, the story was about a dark skinned Indian child with exaggerated Negroid features who liked to […]
“Hey young world, the world is yours/” —Slick Rick, “Hey Young World,” The Great Adventures of Slick Rick. “Do we sell our souls to the Devil/ For yellow pieces of metal/” —M.anifest, “Wahala,” Coming to America. You’re between the ages of 9 and 16, reading this. All your life, you’ve been told that the world […]
“I am a nightmare walking, psychopath talking/King of my jungle just a gangster stalking”-Ice T on “Colors”Back in ’94 Dr. Dre and Ice Cube did a video for “Natural Born Killaz” that gave the viewer a glimpse into the mind of a psychopath. While Hip-Hop fans were bobbing their heads to the beat, little did […]
Known as “the first Dominican Male Supermodel”, Miguel Perdomo sort of “fell into” modeling about five years ago. Miguel Perdomo After repeatedly being stopped and asked whether he was a model, he decided to try his hand at it. Chris Collins, a Ralph Lauren model and friend of Miguel’s, helped the aspiring […]
