(AllHipHop Editorial) In the last few days there’s been a flurry of different people arguing on the Internet in the hip hop world. It all started when Kanye West decided to change the name of his forthcoming album from Swish to Waves. At this point the Internet and Twittersphere turned on Kanye. To most people this might not make sense at all, but it is all centered around a NY rapper named Max B.
Charly Wingate, also known as Max B, is a hip hop artist from Harlem, New York. Back in 2006 he signed a deal with another fellow Harlem rapper named Jim Jones to his label ByrdGang. The two met through Max’s childhood friend Cam’ron, who was part of The Diplomats with Jim Jones at the time. It was a short lived relationship because in 2008 the two had already split ways in an angry feud. Allegedly Max B was getting paid pennies on the dollar of what he thought he deserved significant compensation for.
Max B is best known for two separate series of mixtapes. One titled Public Domain and the other Million Dollar Baby, both of which you can download for free on DatPiff. One of the things he is most well known for is creating the term “wavy”, and bringing it into popular culture as a slang word. According to Urban Dictionary, “wavy” is a futuristic way of describing something positive. And it is also a word attributed to Max B. He is also well known for a collaborative mixtape series called Coke Wave. On the series he worked with fellow NY rapper French Montana who signed to Diddy’s Bad Boy Records some time back.
In mid 2009 things took a turn for the worse for Max B. He was sentenced to 75 years in prison for conspiracy charges for a variety of crimes. He was not at the site of the crimes, but was still charged on 9 of 11 counts. To this day he remains in jail, and is not set to have a parole hearing until 2042. There have been issues surrounding the case including testimony of Gina Conway.
What is troubling about this whole situation is how people have reacted. The Internet is upset about Kanye West stealing a term from Max B, but their Internet outrage is as far as it goes. People love to be keyboard warriors on social media, but are not willing to do anything more. Sometimes that little thing could be as easy as signing a petition on the Internet. And that petition could help who these people on the Internet went to bat for with their tweets. Well, there is a petition available that anyone can sign here to help. At the time of writing this only 1,043 people have signed it. If this gets to 100,000 signatures then the White House and Barack Obama will take a look at it. So take a few minutes out of your day to sign this, and then tweet it out too. Because if you are upset Kanye West is using a term this man invented then you should also be upset about a harsh, cruel, and unlawful prison sentence.
This editorial was originally published on Medium.com.