I previously touched on the era that led to the birth of the original backpackers (1990 & 1991) as it was a transition period between the First Golden Era Of Hip Hop (1986-89) and what would eventually become the Second Golden Age Of Hip Hop (1992-96) in a piece called “A B-Boy’s Alpha © Cannibal Ox (The Evolution Of the Backpacker 1991-2011)”. I went into depth about the origins of the backpacker but I didn’t fully explain a phenomenon that occurred between the years 1990 and 1992 that I now refer to as the “Backpacker Uprising”. By 1993, several established emcees would be forced to switch their styles up because of it.

I’ll paint the full picture and explain the climate of the Hip Hop scene at the time to put things all in perspective for this post entitled “Born Into The 90’s © R. Kelly & The Public Announcement”. As I explained before, in urban music between 1990 and 1991 we had R&B (New Jack Swing), House and Hip Hop all occupying the same space and vying for the ears and hearts of listeners. The beginning of the problem really occurred when all of these fans came face to face in a club or party setting and had to interact with each other.

In 1990, a phenomenon occurred that led to the eventual birth of the so-called backpacker. MC Hammer (who had previously dissed Run DMC and was dissed by 3rd Bass) dropped a single “U Can’t Touch This” that crossed over and hit #1 on Billboard which singlehandedly ushered in a new era of Pop Rap. In February 1990, the LP “Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em” dropped and sold like hotcakes made from crack batter. If you say “Hammer”? Proper. Rap is not Pop if you call it that then STOP © Q-Tip, 1991

The backlash against Pop Rap was further fueled by the breakout success of Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” (people forget that BET was the first station to play Vanilla Ice’s videos) and his album “To The Extreme” moved like cocaine straight from Bolivia in the Summer of 1990. Both MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice (who were once tourmates) had made Rap music cross over much to the dismay of a particular segment of Hip Hop fans. These less than enthused fans would later be known as “backpackers”.

The proto backpackers were up in arms when Salt N’ Pepa opted for a more Pop orientated, radio friendly sound. Many of the songs on their 1990 album “Black’s Magic” incorporated Club MTV leaning fare that lead to them selling a ton of records and crossing over to a pop audience. In 1991, both Queen Latifah and MC Lyte would follow suit and alienate their original fanbase in hopes of attaining similar success. However,  an anti-Pop Rap sea change had occurred. This gradual switch in Hip Hop’s overall aesthetic was mostly engineered by this new breed of Hip Hop fan, the backpacker.

That being said, you had the more aggressive Hip Hop fans who were becoming more and more infuriated with what they felt like were outside elements watering down Hip Hop music. Two of those elements were New Jack Swing and House which rappers would often use in their songs in hopes of achieving a radio hit from time to time. This led to animosity between Rap fans and the much more respectful clubgoers that belonged to the New Jack Swing or House crowds. Between 1990 and 1991 these clashes began happening so frequently that something had to give.

The House & New Jack Swing heads got along fine and the dancers rarely clashed with each other even though they battled often. The Hip Hop heads of the era frequently clashed with both the House & New Jack Swing fans and the dancers often clashed in battles over dress, style, approach and overall aesthetic. The House & New Jack Swing crowd on average were of college age and the Hip Hop crowd was on average a bit younger so they were still in high school. Since the New Jack Swing and House crowd were older, dressed up when they came to the club and they both got along it was an easy call. Those damb Rap fans had to go…

By 1991, the first uniform dress codes were instituted across the board with the intention of discouraging the younger unruly and problematic Hip Hop fans out of not only the club but from other places of business as well. These “backpackers” were the new undesirables. The new urban underclass even within their own world. What’s crazy is within 18 months time these very same “backpackers” would become the new mainstream and people would be switching up their styles and dress code to avoid being left behind.

After all the ice grilling backpackers were finally removed from the club scene in 1991 it really took off. Cats were freely dancing to C & C Music Factory, Black Box, K.L.F, Crystal Waters, Adeva, Guy, Ralph Tresvant, Madonna, Cathy Dennis, Mariah Carey & CeCe Peniston with less worry about physical harm being brought to them by those damb thugs who got pissed off if the DJ didn’t play any Hip Hop for a stretch longer than an hour. They were happier nodding their heads to the beats blaring out of their cars’ tape decks or headphones instead anyways.

I was part of the burgeoning group of backpackers listening to A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Black Sheep, Cypress Hill, Ice Cube, Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, Showbiz & AG, Del The Funkee Homosapien, EPMD and Leaders Of The New School while doing the East Coast Stomp on tapes by P.M. Dawn and Candyman. We were middle fingering all that “punk smooth shit”, all those bubblegum Pop Rap acts and anyone blatantly trying to cross over by diluting their sound. Little did we know that we were about to bring about a revolution in Hip Hop in 1992. We were just outcasts in the world of urban music (and culture) at the time…

1992 opened with an event that reverberated throughout Hip Hop. The latest Pop Rap act P.M. Dawn was doing a set at Sound Factory. They’d recently become media darlings leading to a number of interviews where Prince Be said some less than flattering (and downright stupid) things about Public Enemy and KRS One. KRS One, BDP and crew rushed the stage, tossed him off and rocked “I’m Still #1”. The backlash against Pop Rap and Alternative Rap had begun. The backpackers had usurped the throne and the underground had become the new mainstream. The cover of issue #39 of The Source declared 1992 “The Year Of The Underground”. From then on? If it wasn’t rough, it wasn’t right.

The new face of crossover Hip Hop success in 1992 was Das EFX. The dread headed emcees spit verses with a new style and an aesthetic that screamed underground outcasts. Morlocks that emerged from the sewer to invade Hip Hop. Their videos were dark and somber. Their style was hoodies, bubble vests, bubble gooses, backpacks, baggy jeans & Timberlands. They rhymed about drinking 40’s and smoking blunts AND THEY WENT PLATINUM DOING IT! Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Young MC, MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice had to make radio friendly fare in order to cross over and sell in excess of one million units before. Times had indeed changed.

Everyone had to fall in line with the new Rap aesthetic (which had actually been the aesthetic since about 1991 but whatever) so Young MC switched his style up and dropped “What’s The Flavor”, Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince came with “Code Red”, LL Cool J countered with “14 Shots To The Dome”, MC Lyte came out with “Ain’t No Other”, Queen Latifah dropped “Black Reign” , Da Youngstaz released “The Aftermath” and The UMC’s dropped “Unleashed”. It had gotten so real that even MC Hammer dropped “The Funky Headhunter” in 1994 (and returned the MC to his name) while Vanilla Ice became a Rasta and a dropped the Chronic inspired “Mind Blowin’” LP. “Keep it real” and “represent” were the new Hip Hop buzz words.

Beginning in 1994, the NYC club The Tunnel actually began to do a night specifically for these Hip Hop fans or “backpackers” on Sunday nights called ‘Mecca”. Those same cats that got pushed out of the club just three years prior were now being called back to it and there was no House or New Jack Swing popping off from the DJ booth. Also the beef between Hip Hop and House dancing was a wrap because they’d all morphed into a new style every serious dancer was doing. The last became first. The underground became mainstream. The backpackers had conquered Hip Hop. Then a few years later, a piece of paper got signed that eventually turned the whole Rap world upside down…

One.

I’ve grown to abhor doing these end of year lists. I’m currently entering my 6th year of Hip Hop blogging and as opposed to becoming a celebration of the best and often most overlooked Hip Hop releases of the year, it’s merely a long list of albums that were largely ignored by the majority of Hip Hop fans and Rap music listeners. I see these lists differently because of the sheer volume of music I hear yearly, mind you. I’ve heard hundreds of Hip Hop LP’s, EP’s and mixtapes this year.

I’ve heard about 100+ non Hip Hop albums in 2011 and as for instrumental projects and beat tapes? Let’s just say I posted up about 600 beat tapes and instrumental projects on Producers I Know over the 365 days of 2011. Keep in mind that I didn’t even begin to really assert myself on that site and aggressively seek out beat tapes to post until about April. The point I’m making is that I’m deeply immersed in music and I hear so much of it that sitting down and listing it all then paring it down to a top 100 list is more of an undertaking than you can possibly imagine.

I really abhor the whole “post up a list to get a gang of hits and site traffic” game but I overstand that I need to make this list because a fair amount of the projects on my list won’t be on many other people’s list’s. I regret that albums like Hopie Spitshard’s “Raw Gems”, Moka Only x Chief’s “Crickets” or Styles P’s “Master Of Ceremonies” didn’t make the cut. Conversely, I don’t regret that albums like J.Cole’s “Cole World: The Sideline Story”, Big Sean’s “Finally Famous”, Drake’s “Take Care” or Jay-Z & Kanye West’s “Watch The Throne” didn’t make the cut.

Without any further ado, here’s my damb list. I’ll post up more lists in the near future. Here goes:

9^th Wonder “The Wonder Years”

Action Bronson “Dr. Lecter”

Action Bronson & Statik Selektah “Well-Done”

A.Dd+ “When Pigs Fly”

Apathy “Honkey Kong”

AssociatedMinds x EatGood Records “The Highball EP”

Atmosphere’s “The Family Sign”

The Away Team (Khrysis x Sean Boog) “Scars & Stripes”

B(lu) “J E S U S”

Blu “NOYORK”

Bamboo Bros. (Kurious x Dave Dar) “American Jibaro”

Beneficience “Sidewalk Science”

Big K.R.I.T. “Return Of 4 Eva”

Black Milk & Danny Brown “Black & Brown”

The Black Opera “Overture

The Black Opera ““EnterMission”

Blu x Exile “Give Me My Flowers While I Can Smell Them”

Brutal Music x Blaq Poet “Black Poet Society”

Bumpy Knuckles & Statik Selektah “Lyrical Workout”

Castle “Ditch Effort”

Celph Titled x Buckwild “Nineteen Ninety More”*

City Slick (Decay x Fluent) “The Money And His Fool”

Clan Destined’ “Self Titled”

Common “The Dreamer/The Believer”

Co$$ “Before I Awoke”

CunningLynguists “Oneirology”

Curren$y x Alchemist “Covert Coup”

Danny Brown “XXX”

DJ Quik “The Book Of David”

DJ Revolution presents Malcolm & Martin “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me”

The Doppelgangaz “Loan Sharks”

DTMD “Makin’ Dollas”

Edo.G. “A Face In The Crowd”

Elzhi x Will Sessions’ “elmatic”

Evidence “Cats & Dogs”

Fortilive “I vs. I”

The Four Owls “Nature’s Greatest Mystery”

Gangrene x Roc Marciano’s “Greneberg EP”

Grap Luva “Neva Done EP”

Haassan Mackey x Apollo Brown “Daily Bread”

Has-Lo “In Case I Don’t Make It”

Has-Lo “Conversation B”

IMAKEMADBEATS “IMAKEMADBEATS”

J-Live’s “S.P.T.A. (Said Person Of That Ability)”

J The S “The Sky Is Falling”

Jedi Mind Tricks “Violence Begets Violence”

K-Def “Night Shift”

Kaimbr x Kev Brown “Alexander Green Project”

Kendrick Lamar “Section.80”

Kooley High “David Thompson”

M.E.D “Classic”

M.O.P. x Snowgoons “Sparta

Maffew Ragazino “Rhyme Pays”

MarQ Spekt x Kno “MacheteVision”

Median “The Sender”

Meyhem Lauren “Self Induced Illness”

Mr. J. Medeiros “Saudade”

Murs x Ski Beatz “Love And Rockets Vol. 1: The Transformation”

Neek The Exotic x Large Professor “Still On The Hustle”

Oddisee “Odd Seasons”

Oddisee “Rock Creek Park”

Pac Div “The Div”

Paul White “Rapping With Paul White”

People Under The Stairs “Highlighter”

Pete Rock x Smif N’ Wessun “Monumental”

Pharaohe Monch “W.A.R. (We Are Renegades)”

Phonte “Charity Starts At Home”

The Primeredian x Tall Black Guy “Darling Lure”

Prometheus Brown & Bambu “Walk Into A Bar”

Quelle Chris “Shotgun & Sleek Rifle”

Raekwon “Shaolin vs. Wu Tang”

Rapper Big Pooh “Dirty Little Things”

Rashad & Confidence “The Element Of Surprise”

Rasheed Chappell “Future Before Nostalgia”

Reef The Lost Cauze x Snowgoons “Your Favorite MC”

REKS “Rhythmatic Eternal King Supreme”

Roc C “Stoned Genius”

The Roots “undun”

Royce Da 5’9” “Success Is Certain”

Saigon “The Greatest Story Never Told”

Sean Price x Guilty Simpson x Black Milk’s “Random Axe”

Self Scientific “Trials Of The Blackhearted”

Senor Kaos “The Kaos Effect

Shabazz Palaces “Black Up”

Sykzoo “The Great Debater”

Slaine “A World Without Skies 2.0”

SONNYJIM “The Psychonaut LP”

SoulKhan “Pursuance”

Statik Selektah “Population Control”

Strange Fruit Project “A Dreamer’s Journey”

Talib Kweli “Gutter Rainbows”

Tanya Morgan “You & What Army EP”

Thurz “L.A. Riot”

TiRon & Ayomari “A Sucker For Pumps”

Torae “For The Record”

Trek Life “Wouldn’t Change Nothing”

TzariZM “[DAY] Dream EP”

Vakill “Armor Of God”

Vandalyzm “The Proposal”

Willie Evans Jr. “Introducin’”

yU “The Earn”

 *Technically a bonus edition but it’s too good to leave off this list

One.

This particular post was inspired by my younger brother and I watching the documentary “The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975” yesterday with his sister (my niece) yesterday afternoon. While I was born in 1975 & he was born in 1978 we were well aware of this era and what happened through our mom and older siblings (our eldest sister was born in 1967 and our eldest brother was born in 1969).

As I watched this documentary I saw how the world looked. How the cities looked. The cars. Street signs. Store awnings. Old logos on different products. I remembered all of these things because with the urban blight of the Reaganomic era few of them changed until the early 80’s. Since I was born in 1975 and my brother was born in 1978, pretty much all the TV reruns we watched still contained images or content from this time. Whether it be the films we say on TV, the TV shows that were in syndication at the time or even the educational shows we watched on PBS.

We regularly watched “Sesame Street” and “Electric Company” segments that were from the late 60’s and early 70’s. Even though we weren’t there to witness the era ourselves, our parents and older relatives told us more than enough stories about what happened and how it affected them.

I remember the late 70’s pretty clearly but I grew up in the 80’s. That being the case I also recall how completely different things were in my community between when I first entered Kindergarten (back then you had Kindergarten 1 & Kindergarten 2) in 1978 versus when I went to middle school/junior high in 1986. Whereas we’d come out of the turmoil and uprisings of the Civil Rights/Black Power Era where awareness was raised, we’d entered the “Me Decade” where Jimmy Carter was supplanted by Ronald Wilson Reagan. During this time, the inner cities and urban communities of America would suffer tremendously.

As a little kid growing up in South End/Lower Roxbury, Boston I remember the sense of community that once existed. Parents would look out for each other’s kids. If Lil’ Hakim & Deron were doing something they shouldn’t have been doing over on Lenox, then Miss Wilson was going to get a call from Miss Ruiz about it. By the time crack hit, if Miss Ruiz made that same call, there would be a gun in her face or her kid’s lives would be threatened later because she wasn’t minding her own business and stopping Hak & D’s money.

I still remember heroin fiends on the cracked sidewalks of Boston and the collection of winos that used to hang out in front of the Harriet Tubman House when I lived on Mass Ave. in the South End as a little kid. I remember sitting in the welfare office with my mom in the late 70’s and noticing that the girl sitting across from us had the shakes then she started scratching herself. Mom told me that she was a heroin addict and explained what it was in detail when we finally got home a few hours later.

I remember the parties the adults had around that same time when they’d be smoking weed and slide into the bathroom to do some coke. I also remember when those parties stopped. There’s a reason those scenes were in “Menace II Society”, we mid to late 70’s babies remember all of that shit. It all gradually changed somewhere between 1982 and 1984. This is also when crack first hit the streets and inner cities of urban America.

Those were transformative years for the Black community in general. The music on the radio went from mostly being traditional instruments played by musicians to synthesizers and drum machines. The Hip Hop & Rap the kids listened to went from being a nuisance and what was once thought to be a fad to the leading youth culture/movement in the United States (then later on Earth itself). Once heroin was flooding the streets but now crack had turned the inner city into a warzone. Those Blaxploitation film era heroes were nowhere to be found. COINTELPRO had all but wiped out our real life heroes. Who was going to save us now?

As it turns out the way we mid to late 70’s babies learned to survive the 80’s was thanks to the kids that were born just before or during the era of 1967-1975. Chuck D was born in 1960. KRS One was born in 1965. Most of the emcees and artists that helped us weather this tumultuous time and instilled pride in us while making music that stuck with us for life were actually kids and impressionable youth during the Civil Rights/Black Power Era.

They saw firsthand how the Civil Rights movement lead into the Black Power movement and they lived during the end of the Vietnam War and the fallout of it. All of the things that were covered in “The Black Power Mixtape” they got to experience firsthand. This was the same generation that would help empower the younger generation through their words, actions and music. They were the ones that told us to stay off crack, be proud of our heritage and to aspire to greatness in the 80’s just like James Brown did back in the 60’s and 70’s.

This same generation would continue to help us well into the 90’s until of course artists from younger generations who grew up with those same influences came into prominence. I’ve heard the voices of Huey Newton, Fred Hampton, Bobby Seale, Angela Davis, H. Rap Brown, Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Toure), The Last Poets, Gil Scot Heron, Gylan Kain and several more all through Hip Hop albums during my younger years. I was introduced to literature that changed my life by these same emcees through their music and interviews. They continued the grand tradition of leadership that these slain, exiled and imprisoned leaders began so many years ago.

So here we are in the Post Telecommunications Act Era where any trace of consciousness or dissension has been systemically erased from mainstream urban music. Where I had Brand Nubian and Poor Righteous Teachers during my teen years alongside acts like Kid N’ Play and Kwame & A New Beginning there’s no real balance in today’s Hip Hop scene. Sadly enough, it’s been that way for more than a decade.

It’s almost as if the musical equivalent of COINTELPRO came into the industry and made sure that no revolutionary or conscious voices would exist on major labels past Dead Prez signing to Loud/RCA in 1998 or get burn on urban radio. So whom exactly is instilling pride, teaching and leading the youth of today through their music? Lil’ Wayne? Nicki Minaj? Drake? Big Sean? Wiz Khalifa? Mac Miller? B.o.B? Tyga? J.Cole? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

One.

Twas the weekend before “undun” dropped and all through the Hip Hop bloggerverse sites are posting videos from it and Twitter is alight with talk of the album, including shining review after shining review of it. However, on some of these sites, not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse. This is odd given that when other major label album dropped these same sites either heavily promoted each of these albums to the point of what could consider “dickriding”.

In the case of most albums that the majority of music sites and Hip Hop bloggers will consider album of the year in a few weeks these same sites turned a deaf ear to each of these releases. Look back to their coverage of releases like Big Sean’s “Finally Famous” or Wale’s “Ambition”. Them only promoting J.Cole’s “Cole World” on a day when a dozen Hip Hop releases dropped and J. Cole’s wasn’t even the best one to drop out of North Carolina that day (Phonte’s “Charity Starts At Home” and 9th Wonder’s “The Wonder Years” were each miles better)!

The most glaring example being the Rap Radar coverage surrounding the release of “Watch The Throne”. I sure hope those dudes used lube because if not there should’ve been a lot of chafing from all the dickriding that was going on. Where was all this coverage when scores of better albums dropped in 2011? Where was this enthusiasm when other albums by legends came out on previous Tuesdays? Where were the twitpics of THOSE albums being purchased on iTunes or via Best Buy and Wal Mart? They don’t exist. They had nothing to say. Nothing to write. Not a peep from them. Oh word?

Clan Destined’s “Self Titled”? Silence. IMAKEMADBEATS “IMAKEMADBEATS”? Silence. Talib Kweli’s “Gutter Rainbows”? Silence. Malcolm & Martin’s “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me”? Silence. Meyhem Lauren’s “Self Induced Illness”? Silence. Kaimbr & Kev Brown’s “Alexander Green Project”? Silence. Has-Lo’s “In Case I Don’t Make It”? Silence. Self Scientific’s “Trials Of The Blackhearted”? Silence. CunningLynguists’ “Oneirology”? Silence. Oddisee’s “Odd Seasons” & “Rock Creek Park”? Silence. Raekwon’s Shaolin vs. Wu Tang? I think I heard a faint noise.

REKS’ “Rhythmatic Eternal King Supreme”? Silence. Beneficience’s “Sidewalk Science”? Silence. Action Bronson’s “Dr. Lecter”? Silence. Pharaohe Monch’s “W.A.R. (We Are Renegades”? Silence. Atmosphere’s “The Family Sign”? Silence. DJ Quik’s “The Book Of David”? Silence. Sean Price x Guilty Simpson x Black Milk’s “Random Axe”? Silence. Vakill’s “Armor Of God”? Silence. Apathy’s “Honkey Kong”? Silence. Curren$y & Alchemist’s “Covert Coup”? Silence. Haassan Mackey & Apollo Brown’s “Daily Bread”? Silence. Gangrene x Roc Marciano’s “Greneberg EP”? Silence.

Elzhi x Will Sessions’ “elmatic”? More silence. Evidence’s “Cats & Dogs”? Silence. DTMD’s “Makin’ Dollas”? Silence. Rapper Big Pooh’s “Dirty Little Things”? Silence. Torae’s “For The Record”? Silence. Senor Kaos’ “The Kaos Effect”? Silence. The Black Opera’s “Overture”? Silence. Paul White’s “Rapping With Paul White”? Silence. Bumpy Knuckles & Statik Selektah’s “Lyrical Workout”? Silence. Brutal Music x Blaq Poet “Black Poet Society”? Silence. M.O.P. x Snowgoon’s “Sparta”? Silence. Statik Selektah’s “Population Control”? Silence. Quelle Chris’ “Shotgun & Sleek Rifle”? Nary a fuckin’ peep from ‘em…

Hold up. These muhfuckas didn’t even bat an eyelash when Willie Evans Jr.’s “Introducin’” dropped? How is that even possible? Are we in an alternate universe or some shit? If these asshats were a command away from making mouth love to the entire Maybach Music Group after “Self Made” dropped then what would they have done if J-Live’s “S.P.T.A. (Said Person Of That Ability)” dropped on the same label? People Under The Stairs’ “Highlighter” never made their iPods. M.E.D’s “Classic” was completely lost on them. Danny Brown & Black Milk’s “Black & Brown” got drowned out by the 6th encore of “Niggas In Paris”. That shit cray…

I’ve dealt with 11 full months of this halfway Hip Hop coverage bullshit and I’m already fed up. As I see album like Action Bronson & Statik Selektah’s “Well-Done” get ignored in favor of whatever mediocre major label drek just dropped I’m not having it. In December too many excellent albums are going to drop and if cats try to front on them I’m straight up pulling ho cards out this bish for real.

If these same cats don’t at least give The Roots’ “undun” the same exact attention, fanfare and coverage they gave Jay-Z & Kanye West’s “Watch The Throne” I’m gonna be heated. It’s a masterpiece of an album. It’s from one of the most important groups in Hip Hop history. It’s executed flawlessly. DO YOU WANT MORE???!!! Forget that there’s no monetary gain in actually promoting the culture over the bottom line for once and do it anyways.

In the final weeks of this year several excellent albums are going to drop in addition to The Roots’ “undun”. They include Kooley High’s “David Thompson”, yU’s “The Earn” and K-Def’s “Night Shift”. I’m more than sure that each of these releases will end up on most Hip hop album of year/end of the year lists on music blogs worldwide. However, I KNOW they’ll by and large go ignored by most supposed “Hip Hop” blogs that claim to keep you abreast of everything related to the culture. BULLSHIT. They ain’t gon’ say shit like Deebo’s standing right next to them. Watch, son. Watch! © J-Live

One.

In the world of graf writing as in the world of blogging there are different philosophies as how to go from being a toy to becoming All City or attaining the title of King. In graf you can bomb relentlessly with tags displaying your your unique handstyle opt for throwups to save time and get up quicker and more frequently and when time and space are no issue, put effort towards banging out a piece or undertaking a fully planned out production.

In the past, in order to truly attain full King status you had to be able to do all the above. In blogging? Not so much. The ironic part is that when I was a writer I specialized in doing tags & throwups but I simply wasn’t gifted enough artistically to pull off full lush production like the ones my favorite writers were capable of. I’m the complete opposite at blogging. This is as close to a quick post as I get, B….



The tag or sticker with a tag on it posted all over the place in graf is akin to posting up a pic/pics or an imbedded video on your blog with a couple of sentences to go along with it. You can do this multiple times daily and draw a gang of eyes to your site provided you get it up early enough and have people link to it. Difference being that if you’re a big enough site then everyone else will begin posting exactly what you just posted. Not possible in graf where you’re supposed to have your own individual style and not copy others…that kinda shit will get you fucked up if you ever get caught (in some cases even bodied).



Next comes the throw up. It’s a mini piece that doesn’t take much time or paint to do and in one night you can do a gang of them to get up whereas someone would spend all night and use up a gang of paint just to do one huge piece or full production. The throw up is analogous to posting up an mp3 or video along with a paragraph to describe or comment on it. This is similar to what I do on Producers I Know when I post a Bandcamp, SoundCloud, Vimeo or YouTube link with a short explanation of what I posted.

Oftentimes these kinds of posts on other blogs consist of quick commentary on something that happened recently in pop culture along with a picture on a video link. You give the appearance of putting in serious work without doing the often time consuming research and writing that a full blog/piece would require. Some blogs post between 1-5 times a week and others can post between 25-50. It all depends on what you want to do, what audience you’re looking to attract or what style best fits you.



The piece/burner or full production usually requires scouting a time and location to execute, careful planning, a team to finish, a disgusting amount of paint of various colors and a sizable chunk of time not to mention serious physical exertion and supreme effort to pull off successfully. For that reason alone this is hailed as the gold standard of how to determine who is truly a King or not. If you get busy in EVERY imaginable way I’ve listed in both disciplines you’ll be considered an All Out King.

You can bomb mercilessly with tags, stickers and throwups all over the place but if you can back that up with ill pieces to go along with them? Respect is undeniable. The blog equivalent are these long, well thought out pieces that people link to all over Twitter and others post a TL: DR on. That’s my personal chamber, hence me naming my first blog Poisonous Paragraphs and this one Bastard Swordsman. While we all have different approaches to blogging we must remember that we’re all under the same umbrella and to keep respect of the culture(s) at the forefront.

One.

One of the biggest complaints I hear from heads that can recall the two previous Golden Eras of Hip Hop is that mainstream/major label Rap/Hip Hop has strayed too far from what made many of us initially fall in love with it. Now, it’s almost 2012 and things still aren’t getting any better. If anything it seems things may be getting exponentially worse for Rap music quality wise. For those of us that remember better times this is hard to stomach and/or accept.

There were many of us (myself included) that pretty much abandoned mainstream Rap altogether circa 1997 instead opting to listen to underground or indie Hip Hop while waiting for things to “get back to normal” or for “that real shit” to return to prominence once that era ended. Going on 15 years later not only have things continued to deteriorate but the rift between the underground and mainstream that first began to open after the signing of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 has also managed to widen exponentially with the passage of time until it has become a chasm the size of the Grand Canyon.

At one point in time the underground actually helped to fuel the mainstream and major label Rap industry and spur it on. The competition created by up and comers in the Rap game kept those in the spotlight on point for fear they’d get outshined by a hungrier young emcee or producer. Steel sharpened steel. Problem is, nowadays the dull knives in the drawer are the shiniest ones thus attracting the most attention and those with superior lyrical prowess or a higher syllable count are looked down upon. Boom bap production is cast aside as people gravitate towards Pop leaning Electro or Techno beats with weak, filtered out drums. This can’t be life! © Shawn Corey Carter

Since Hip Hop has turned into two separate scenes instead of just one with many different aspects, the old natural checks and balances that were once in place are all but gone completely. The industry has taken complete control of the mainstream Rap game and has all but removed the skill, artistic or innovative aspects from the music. Now only but 5 artists move any significant number of units or are even allowed to do anything remotely smacking of being “different”.

Since the mainstream or casual Rap fan is completely oblivious to any rappers or emcees that aren’t currently on the radio or getting spins at the club they stay in the dark. Since none of the more substance based artists with advanced lyrical content ever get heard next to the current crop of Short Bus Rap that’s all the rage nowadays there’s no direct competition between these emcees for the fan’s ears. Without that balance and that much needed direct competition between these artists there’s no chance we’ll ever see another Golden Era in Hip Hop.

In any profession, no matter what it may be you get better at it when you’re constantly pit against competition or forced to compete against the best in a particular field. Sink or swim. In each Golden Era of Hip Hop not only was the competition at the highest level between emcees, DJ’s and producers in terms of skill and innovation but to gain the hearts and minds of the fans. For the most part the best and the most respected in Hip Hop were the most relevant in each era. What a coincidence! Relevance depended on the quality of your music which in turn dictated the level of attention you got from music outlets (radio and video) and the Hip Hop press.



In conclusion, with the current status quo in place and given the current trajectory of the industry and the present mainstream Rap aesthetic there will never be another Golden Era in Hip Hop. Due to the fact that not only is there no balance at the major label level in terms of the lyrical content, subject matter or skill level of the rappers that get airplay or media attention while the entire underground Rap scene goes all but completely ignored by the majority of potential Rap listeners and purchasers.

Without both sides coexisting (like they did during the last two Golden Eras from 1986-1989 and 1992-1996) instead of this “separate but equal” Rap Apartheid/Jim Crow situation we have today nothing will ever get better. Emcees will never be forced to have to step their bars up. Producers won’t have to stop doing the same damn drum roll at the beginnings of songs for fear of being overshadowed by other producers that were once kept under wraps. Fans will never discover that lyricism actually isn’t dead and Rap publications will never be forced to stop putting mediocre rappers on their damb covers.

One.

I was in the 7th grade at Boston Latin School and my big brother Dave and his friends were picked to be in a Black History showcase. In it, the showcase ended with the acting out of the famous Lorraine Hansberry play. The sad part is while my mother and sister both had the book I’d never even attempted to read it. I remember catching pieces of the movie with Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee in it occasionally on TV but I never once sat down & watched it. Just thinking back, I’m still sort of ashamed of a young Steve Adams for that.

Maybe it’s all for the best considering that a young me wouldn’t have fully comprehended what the play/film was actually trying to say or the concepts and family dynamics it portrayed would’ve sailed above my head back then. It would be about 4 years later in the 9th grade (No. You all read that right. I was only two grades ahead four full calendar years later) when I finally read the play and saw the film version and I got it. I really got it. The thing that really amazed me about the film was that it was 30 years old at the time but that same struggle between the generations in Black families still existed and played out much the same way even in the early 90’s.

My older brother David was in college and he’d often have clashes with my mother much in the same manner that Walter Lee Younger had with his in the pages of “Raisin In The Sun”. My mother was a Baby Boomer, born in 1943. She was from the the deep South, Alabama to be exact. She followed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and was card carrying member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).

She had her children in Boston, the home of Malcolm X and Louis Farrakhan between the late 60’s and late 70’s. We grew up in one of the fistfight capitals of these United States. Needless to say we didn’t share the same views as our mother. Not in the least.

There always comes a time when the eldest son wants to take his place as the leader of the family. He wants to do what it takes to make his family proud of him and be a success. Sadly enough, it’s often as much for him to show appreciation to his mother for all her back breaking labor throughout her life but so he can finally look himself in the mirror and respect himself as a man. It slowly eats away at him that he hasn’t been able to “make it” or provide his family and/or mother all the things they so richly deserve. This is something I call Walter Lee Younger Syndrome.

A testament to the timelessness of “A Raisin In The Sun” is that 50 years after this film first premiered it resonates with people the exact same way with no need for updating. The same issues with Black identity, familial dynamics, the lasting psychological effects of racism on people and the need for a man to finally become a man in the face of his own waning confidence in himself. The very same money argument Walter Lee Younger had with his mother has been had for the past 50 years with countless Black mothers and their sons.

The generation gap, the changing world, growing up in a city versus your parents growing up in the country or small towns are among the many obstacles families face. Add to that having some of your opportunities or access be denied to you merely because of your background or the color of your skin? Over time that’s going to create a powder keg.

Another important part of this dynamic is the Black male/female relationship that’s explored in this film. Walter Lee’s interaction with his mother, wife and sister all affect him in different an distinct ways. He feels like all three women don’t understand him and are helping to keep him back much in the way the establishment is.

His mother is the head of the household, which in his mind means that she is preventing him from having any real say or authority in the family since he has no real power out in the world. His wife not only doesn’t understand his need to fulfill his dreams but she is dismissive of his ambitions thus he sees that as a lack of support.

Furthermore, by her not building him up he feels like he isn’t even the head of his own family unit. In regards to his younger sister, who Walter sees as a “New Negro” and an educated, liberated woman he resents her for her education and her insistence on pursuing her own dreams because they run counter to his.

Not only can her pursuit of her own dreams directly affect his, but if she attains her dreams with the support and backing of his mother and wife that would do further damage to Walter Lee’s already fragile psyche. Furthermore, he’s being compared to his father who by all accounts was a great man. Walter Lee not only wants to make something of himself for his family (his son especially), but so his father’s hope for his son to have a better life than he did won’t be in vain since his passing.

All those things and far more have made new audiences fall in love with the complex drama and even though it was set in a very different world 50 years ago, the more things seem to change the more they stay the same. I’ve experienced many of the same things Walter Lee has. I’ve made many of the choices I’ve made because I didn’t want to end up in his same predicament just to end up in one somewhat similar.

My mother had her 68th birthday a few months back and the only thing I could give her was a card and to say “Happy Birthday” to her. Something I put off doing for as long as possible because doing so reminded me that I had nothing else to give her for all those years of hard work and sacrifice for her children.

I was supposed to be the one who made something of myself and set the world on it’s ear. I was regarded the “smart one” in a family where my older sister and brother each scored so high on the SAT’s that they earned scholarships to college. I’m 36 now, a year older than Walter Lee was. That hasn’t happened yet. Oh, but I have plans. Big plans!

I remember times when we were children and we were on welfare. My mother was jobless at one point and we sometimes went long stretches without electricity and years without luxuries like hot water. Yet and she still managed to raise four children that all went to advanced classes and attended Boston Latin School. She managed to get us all into college and none of us ever did any time or because drug abusers. Intravenous or otherwise. Considering where I grew up my mother deserves a medal for that alone.

I used to do homework by candlelight in the 6th grade because the space heater was plugged into the hall outlet so we wouldn’t freeze in the wintertime. My mother sometimes got us all up & ready for school with no working alarm clock. Here I am close to 25 years later with no way to show her my appreciation for it. That eats me up inside as much if not more than the fact I still ain’t shit yet. I am Walter Lee Younger. I am bitter that I can’t reach the stars although I can see them off in the distance.

I’ve held onto my dreams and fought for them for my entire life. Even while those that pose as dreamkillers would try to take them from me and cast doubt in my heart. It’s these same dreams that not only give me hope for the future but simultaneously bring me internal anguish and turmoil with each passing year that they go unreached and unfulfilled. I often need to step back and remind myself that it’s all well and good to protect my dreams from those that hope to kill them, I need to keep my dreams from potentially killing me as well.

Good night, Prometheus! © George Murchison

One.

Let me rehash my day for you all. First off, it’s a holiday so there’s no mail. Secondly, I’m watching my nephew for the extended weekend. Third, benefits don’t kick in until the 11th and it’s the 10th so I can’t shop for food until tomorrow and I’m down to three slices of bread in the loaf so only the nephew gets the luxury of having toast with his breakfast today. I’m a 36 year old Hip Hop blogger. One of the most respected in the world. Just one thing, critical acclaim and respect doesn’t pay the fuckin’ bills.

Last week, I agreed to go to a show tonight to write a review of the show. Since then I paid rent, got a birthday gift for my niece and sold an iPhone 4 to buy an iPhone 4S just for me to discover I can’t upgrade MY phone until late November. Presently I use an LG Shine II which makes people think that either I’m being extremely frugal or I’m a terror suspect. Even moreso when I’m at an event and I’m the only “writer” or blogger there without a business card. Then again, my wallet is just for show. Plus it looks like it belonged to a dead hobo from the 40’s who carried a stick with a kerchief tied to it.

I leave my house and walk to the Green Line MBTA station that will take me to the show I’m supposed to go to and write a review of it. I don’t bring money because I have none. Sure I have a wallet. It has my ID’s in it. Also my CharlieCard and the $10 MetroCard I bought when I visited New York back in May. It also holds my PayPal card which is empty and when I get money in my PayPal account I need to transfer it before I can use it on the card. Don’t ask why. In any event, I arrive at the venue to discover that I’m not on the list. Great.

I call my contact and as would be expected the act I’m going to see is hella busy so they can’t be bothered to add someone they don’t know to the list. Completely understandable. My contact says something I can’t hear over the frolicking youth that reek of marijuana. I ask her what she said and she says “Just buy a ticket and I’ll compensate you via PayPal”. That’s actually a fair thing to do. Problem is I’m completely broke. I’m 36 and broke. One of the kids reeking of the pungent aroma of weed in the line asks me if I’m Dart Adams. Yep. Thar he. I’m a glorified bum that still depends on other people to get into shows I should be able to afford by now.

I had two options left, hit up my boy who was opening and try to get him to get me in. Problem was he was actually spinning at the time this was all happening. Second option, call my other boy who was there and ask him to buy my ticket for me then when I got compensated I’d pay him back. Yeah. No. I instead decided to walk all the way back home from Allston to the South End rather than spend any more money on my CharlieCard. Me and my integrity went for a long leisurely stroll. On the plus side? It’s a gorgeous night to stroll along the Boston University campus.

In conclusion, I had a bad night. No one was at fault, shit happens. If anyone is at fault here it’s me. Sure I have a book I still need to finish editing so it drops before world ends. Sure I’m still in the process of waiting for a few unfinished projects to actually come to fruition but there’s no excuse why after more than 5 years of busting my ass writing like a madman and the year plus I’ve been doing online radio I’m still essentially nowhere. Don’t think that’ll make me stop doing what I’m doing though. This will just make me work harder so I’m still not in this same exact situation next year. Most bloggers wouldn’t dare write any shit like this because it’s a bit too real. Fuck ‘em. They ain’t me.

One.

Nostalgia has all but been ruined by advances in modern technology. There was a time growing up when I was  convinced that there were things or details from my past that I’d never be able to find again. Things, products and items that would just go completely forgotten about as the years passed. Now even trivial minutiae can be looked up, searched for and found thanks to search engines. Great.

When I was a kid, if I wanted information I had to crack open either a dictionary, encyclopedia or an almanac of some sort. Either that or you called someone that seemed to store information in their brains. I was one of those people. I would get phone calls at all times of the day and people would ask me questions hoping I knew the answer. Oh, and the phone had a cord and it was attached to the wall. Point being was there wasn’t yet this place where information was stored that could be updated in real time like Wikipedia yet. It was all stored up here *points to head*.

There was a time when people used to ask other people if they remembered things then they would respond with the details they had from their own memories. There was no real place to go and get definitive information about random things from recent popular culture. When I was a kid, my big brother had a Tiger Electronic Football game for two players and a Wildfire electronic pinball game that took a gang of batteries. Now, I can find old TV commercials for it on YouTube from users that uploaded them, read about it on Wikipedia or even BUY one from several places online & have it shipped to me the next day. Well damb!

My father was a computer programmer, he knew several computer languages and he owned an Apple II and a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A home computer. He also bought my brothers and I a VIC 20 which he soon returned for a Commodore 64 back in 1984. He also got us a subscription to a magazine made for VIC 20 and Commodore 64 users and those who programmed BASIC called “COMPUTE’S Gazette”. It was an obscure ass publication that we got regularly until about 1986. I found a stack of them when I went into my old storage a while back and I tossed them out thinking they’d never be seen again. Ever. Wrong.

I was talking to my big brother Dave on his birthday and we began talking about those magazines we had and testing our memories of them. The video game ads from old obscure 80’s computer and software companies. We began to discuss how small the community that read that magazine was but they were all computer geeks. We bet that you could find those almost 30 year old magazines online in some form.

Sure enough, a simple iPhone 4 Google search revealed that you could find that entire fringe magazines run online for download in PDF format. You can even play the old TI-99/4A, VIC 20 and Commodore 64 games on emulators or find footage of them on YouTube or Dailymotion. Most people 30 or under have little to no knowledge of these things existing but all it takes is one person to create either a site or a Wikipedia page and others will fill in the gaps with information.

No matter how obscure the show, toy, product or publication may seem it can probably be found in some form or another online nowadays. Companies looking to capitalize off of the nostalgia of Generation Xers have been more open to releasing products from this era due to the fact that interest has been raised in them because of the internet. The most obscure arcade game I played back in the 80’s can be found online in ROM form in under 15 minutes and played on an arcade emulator whereas you thought you’d never see it again, forget about owning and playing it!

I remember reading a series of expensive ass Robotech Art books that my brother’s artist and graf writing friends used to cop almost 25 years ago when I was a kid. The were collector’s items with a limited printing run that was sold to a small fanbase. The company that originally printed these books folded 20 years ago so you’d think the only way to acquire a copy of these books is via used book marketplaces or from dealers.

Back in 2000, I thought I’d have to search and find these books individually then pay an arm and a leg for physical copies of them. They’ve been online in RAR and ZIP files in both PDF and JPEG formats for years now. I ended up reading books I thought I’d never even see again in my living room on my TV using my own PS3 to zoom in and out on individual pages. It doesn’t stop there, however…

Whether it be obscure regional PSA’s, discontinued diet products, long canceled obscure TV shows, long forgotten Saturday morning cartoons or old ass toys commercials few can recall. If you can remember it, it’s all just one click away. This is all the more true to me as I was born in 1975 but I have memories going back to 1977 so I end up looking for things just to test my the accuracy of my memories. One last thing before I go…

As a kid I remember seeing certain movies on Pay TV and cable (cable the way we know it didn’t exist until the mid to late 80’s, before that there were several regional Pay TV providers like Star TV and Prevue) that I thought i imagined because few other people remembered them. Obscure movies like “The Mouse And His Child”, “Hugo The Hippo”, “Animalympics” or “Grendel Grendel Grendel” were thought to be things I imagined as a child before I found details about them online between 1996 and now then saw them for the first time since I was a small child just to discover that I remembered them quite well, even after more the 25 plus years.

Whether it be obscure animated films like “The Point” or some random independent comic book from the 80’s you can find damn near everything you thought would go completely forgotten from years ago. All it takes is one person to possess it or find it or another person who is searching for it. With the advent of messageboards, websites and online communities it’s built demand for obscure items. Every day another piece of the past that most may have forgotten will end up online.

There was a LaserDisc arcade game from 1983 that belonged to a company that’s been out of business for 25 years now. Due to so many Generation Xers that remember this game and many others like it you can find video of these games all over the internet. In some cases you can find playable ROMs for them so you don’t even need to find the old cabinet, you can play it in the comfort of your own home. As great as that is, it’s pretty unnatural.

In previous generations we weren’t able to access things from the past and simply upload them to an intangible information cloud. I can only imagine what the future by products of this occurrence will bring. I’m an uncle to a few children that only know of living in a world full of On Demand, Google and YouTube. We had to rely on our memories. They don’t really need to remember anything, they can just look it up anytime they feel like it or simply bring it up when it’s needed.

Nostalgia was achieved because we often longed for the past knowing there was no way to go back to the way things were. Part of that included losing information, details and minutiae about the past along with it. Then years later when we’re different people we ultimately realize that the reason things seemed so great was mainly because we were young and in a different place in our lives and our development. Since things from the past can now be recovered at the drop of a hat how will future generations handle it? Only time will tell. As for dredging up things we thought were lost forever from the past? All you have to do is a little digging…

One.

It’s finally over. The dread I’ve been feeling for the past four weeks came to a head earlier tonight. I’m familiar with this feeling, actually. Growing up in Boston being a Red Sox fan I’ve had it often. The last time I had it was back in October 2003, I almost forgot what it felt like. Back then Red Sox fans expected everything to go wrong. They HOPED things would go right but they fully resigned to themselves that all of their hopes and dreams would ultimately to turn to shit. And in the most heartwrenching way possible. It all fit into our miserable existence as frustrated, fistfighting Bostonians. We were cursed, right?

The Red Sox’ historic collapse was compounded by several factors, some that didn’t even involve baseball. It all involved the culture surrounding being a Bostonian. Outsiders thought we were a miserable lot of insular knowitalls with an inferiority complex in regards to New York and a woe is me mentality. In 2004? That all ended. When the Red Sox won it sent a ripple throughout Boston in ALL aspects of our culture. Let that old mentally die. Boston is full of winners now. We came back from an agonizing failure and staged a comeback for the ages and won the ultimate prize. No more loveable losers. No more reason to have a inferiority complex in regards to New York. WE’RE ON TOP NOW. Let’s never go back to that old mindset…

During this entire month, I tried to fight that same feeling I remember having much of my life. This is all going to go badly. The Red Sox are going to choke. They’re going to lose this lead. And in the worst possible way imaginable. It’s the Red Sox, after all! It’s what they do. It’s what Boston does! I tried to block this feeling out with all my might. I was unsuccessful, I KNEW what was coming. I didn’t want to go back to the old days when this was seemingly inevitable every season. Boston would ultimately wane and New York would advance. After all, what is Boston in comparison to New York?

The Bostonian culture is one that stresses that even when you’re successful you better not try to think you’re “better” than your fellow Bostonians. Familiar Bostonian phrases are “You think you’re better than me?” or “Don’t get fancy!”. When Ben Affleck, Matt Damon or the Wahlberg’s come back home you know what happens immediately afterwards? Their family and friends make fun of them or make them do something menial to remind them that their just like everyone else.

Some say it’s to keep them grounded. I know better, it’s to make sure they remember that they’re Bostonians and to be a Bostonian means failure may ultimately be right around the corner so don’t get too full of yourself. Look at what happened to Troy Duffy. A Bostonian got a film deal with Miramax AND a record deal. The studio bought him the bar he worked at to sweeten the deal. What happened next? He lost it all. in spectacular fashion. It’s all caught on film in a documentary called “Overnight”. Watch it. He was one of my idols at one point. I rooted for him to succeed but ultimately? He was a Bostonian so you kinda knew he’d fuck it all up…

Being a Red Sox fan used to fit in perfectly with being a Bostonian. You’d succeed to a certain level but the ultimate prize would always elude us. It was our lot as Bostonians. When the Red Sox won in 2004 and again in 2007? That whole shit was dead. Boston was now the home of champions. Then the Celtics won in 2008. All of a sudden New York’s hatred of Boston took another dimension because we were kicking their asses and we had a completely different identity now. I dug that. Boston NEEDS to win. For all the kids that grew up with that old “ain’t shit” mentality that are adults now. Moreso for our kids that won’t grow up with that same feeling of Bostonian inferiority we grew up with.

Tonight, as bad thing after bad thing happened I began to realize why this month has been so hard on me. Not because of the Red Sox collapse, more because I fear this is the beginning of us sinking back into that cancerous mindset again. I refuse to go back there. I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that kids and young adults from my city know that being from Boston is a source of supreme pride. We’re not a joke nor do we take a second banana position to ANY city. New York. Philadelphia. Chicago. Los Angeles. NO ONE. If you’re from Boston, shout that shit from the rooftops. Succeed in the face of every imaginable adversity. It’s what we Bostonians do after all. WE WIN.

The Red Sox collapsed. In epic fashion. One of the worst collapses in MLB history. Then again, didn’t the Red Sox fail horribly the year before they won? Weren’t the Patriots terrible right before they began dominating the NFL? Didn’t the Celtics have a season where they lost 18 straight games before they became champions in 2008? Didn’t the Celtics in 2010 struggle for most of the second half of the season until they gelled in the playoffs and pushed the Lakers to the brink and were only 6 minutes away from banner number 18 without their starting center?

Didn’t the Bruins choke in the playoffs in heartbreaking fashion in both 2009 AND 2010 before ultimately putting it all together and winning the chip in 2011? I believe they all did. Success never comes before failure. Every failure gives you an opportunity to learn from it, apply what you learned and build toward the next reach for the brass ring.

In conclusion, I’m really pissed off and disappointed right now but I’m a Bostonian so I’ll be just fine. I’m going to turn this negative energy surging through me at this moment into something positive to glorify the name of my city as others will slander it. Things go in cycles. The last shall be first. Keep that in mind, people. Also…don’t ever fuck with Boston. EVER. IN. LIFE.

One.