Killa Cam HP Parody – Nothing New.

On the 15th, I got a bunch of messages (thanks Mirateck, Iain and the slew of others) telling me to check youtube’s front page. As soon as I got back to my computer, I was greeted with an officially HP-sponsored ad:

What you must understand, though, is that this was up on the front page of youtube, with an HP banner. HP was officially endorsing this. It’s confusing, because the Killa Cam (killa!) is essentially lamenting his (killa!) being forced to shill for HP (killa!) to pay his bills (killa!). Which one would think casts HP in a negative light. Regardless of the fact that this actually sounds like something (killa!) Cam would say – why sponsor something like this? Why not actually have the real Cam’ron do an HP commercial? Why go with a parody, when you could get something serious?

I’ll tell you why – because somewhere, some young advertising intern had an epiphany. And that epiphany is:

There is nothing serious about hip-hop*. It is a parody of itself.

I remember when I first got Soulja Boy’s “I Got Me Some Bathing Apes”. I thought it was the most hilarious thing ever. And I’ve always found something inherently amusing about Dipset, to be honest. Rap at this stage is so cooned out that nearly everything is a ready-made caricature of itself.

*I shortened this phrase to make it cuter. By “hip-hop”, I mean “90% of today’s mainstream hip-hop”. Obviously not the stuff that I play on this show, though some of that is also funny to me.

Let’s see some evidence, shall we?

Exhibit A:

This cut contains what is currently my favorite Lil Wayne quote. “Sometimes I pick up a magazine / or a tabloid / or a tambourine / Sometimes I wanna go and just smoke a bag of weed / and leave the Earth on a motherfucking trampoline”

So strange! So creative! Clearly the work of a drugged out of his mind tortured genius. A lot of people don’t “get” Lil Wayne’s more esoteric stuff, but I think I do.

One problem – that’s not Lil Wayne, or Kanye. It’s a parody – but it’s damn near as good as anything either of them would put out (possibly better). Listening to this thing, there are some funny lines, but one of the things that was keeping commenters on the Youtube thread confused as to whether or not this is an authentic track is that so many artists – Lil Wayne being a prime example of this – dance the line between “insanity” (genius?) and sanity (mediocrity?) so often and imperceptibly that you’re never really sure why you enjoy a song.

Is because the media pushing it down your throat? Are you just settling for it because nothing better is out there? Or is the song actually good?

And for that matter, does an artist actually need talent to make a song that is “good”?

Exhibit B:

I don’t have any point to make here, I just think this video is hilarious.

Exhibit C:

Here, we see that this has even infected the UK’s grime scene. Am I the only one that laughed through this whole video? I mean, dig D Double E – that dude looks like he’s had polio for 22 years and somebody just found the cure but it hasn’t quite worked its way through his body yet. Why is he moving like that? And is he vomiting blood? Then you have Discovery Channel outtakes with Napper, and by the time Forcer comes on with the spinning rims and unnecessary booty, it’s one white boy short of a Weird Al song.

Don’t get me wrong, though, this is an awesome song. The fact that the song itself was banned is also pretty cool, I guess.

So, yeah
I don’t know, kids. I feel like I could make some point here, but I suddenly find myself losing the desire. Rap is funny, in a Kurt-Vonnegut-so-it-goes sort of way, because on one hand it entertains me, but on the other hand I realize that a lot of kids don’t quite understand how to differentiate between reality and fantasy and they actually believe what these men are saying.

Tears me up inside, innit.

I also wonder if I should feel bad that I produce a show about something that I can’t take seriously.

MIXTAPE 71 – FEATURE – IMUS, STOP SNITCHING, AND RAP

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This is not a simple interview, and it’s definitely not just another episode. This is an hourlong (!) special on the state of hip-hop in the media today.

This special covers everything from the Imus-inspired backlash on Hip-hop to sexism/racism in the media to the Stop Snitching ‘movement” to the number of people that actually dictate what videos get played on BET and subsequently MTV (hint: it’s less than four).

During the last few weeks, Hip-Hop has been under serious fire from the mainstream media – not only because of the backlash following Don Imus’ termination, but the more recent 60 minutes interview featuring Cam’ron and Anderson Cooper’s interpretation of the Stop Snitching mantra. So in order to bring some clarity to the situation, I spoke to several different community leaders, all of different backgrounds.

Aishah Simmons – An African-American feminist and activist documentary filmmaker, producer of the award-winning No!: The Rape Documentary, and perhaps best known to longtime listeners of the Mixtape Show as the older sister of Atlantic Recording artist DJ Drama (previously interviewed here).

John Robinson – also known as Lil Sci – a producer, MC, and President of Shaman Work Recordings, which has put out releases from artists such as Emanon, CL Smooth, and MF Doom.

Willie D – a solo artist and core member of one of the most influential rap groups to ever come out of the South, the Geto Boys.

Davey D – Hip-hop historian, journalist, deejay, and community activist, whose website, Davey-D’s Hip-Hop Corner, is one of the oldest and most respected Hip-Hop sites on the net.

and David K Far-El – aka D-Brad, the former producer for BET’s Rap City and the creator of Spring Bling. He was fired some time after Viacom’s buyout of BET and is currently working on a book and DVD exposing the commodification of the nation’s biggest outlet and representation of Black and Hip-Hop culture.

I encourage everyone to listen to this feature, pass it on (messageboards, myspace, wherever), and continue the discussion both here in the comments and elsewhere. Or hell, request this on your local community station (see below).

So, yeah. What do you think? Hit the comments section.

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MIXTAPE EPISODE 35

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Lupe Fiasco – Kick Push. It’s always nice to see people breaking down barriers for Black people. I remember when I was younger, it was all but illegal to get on a skateboard if you were darker than oh, say, Denise on the Cosby Show. Considering that Lupe probably has at least a year or so on me, it seems that dude was really just on some of that Rosa Parks civil disobedience shit. I’ll be damned if any (hypothetical) son of mine is ever caught on a fucking plywood board with wheels strapped to it, though. lupefiasco.com

Wordsworth – Run (Oddissee Remix). I got a double CD from Wordsworth a bit ago – I forget who sent it to me, but good for them. (by the way, peace to David at Halftooth). It’s funny, because even though dude has people like Da Beatminaz lacing up tracks for him, the second CD – the Mirror Music Oddissee Remixes – spent an awful lot longer in my Volvo CD player. Words seems to be a big fan of the epic story type joint, so if you’re into that, I’d recommend checking more of his shit out. halftooth.com.

Gnarls Barkley – Crazy. I heard this was on KROQ. I don’t give a fuck. Come on, it’s Cee-lo. Also, I felt like this was a good way to publicly apologize to Dangermouse for publicly calling his last project an abortion. gnarlsbarkley.com

Lil Wayne aka Weezy featuring Snyp Life. Okay, enough of that soft shit for the kids. Here’s where I bring the funk. Weezy kills it, as does Snyp. This is off the latest Sin Sizzerb mixtape. sizzerb.com.

Sin Sizzerb feat Camron, Bezel, and Tom Gist – Thanks To Me (Certified). Oh, shit. Yes, you’ve heard the other version with my man Agallah, now check out the motherfucking remix. I don’t think I need to say much about this one – if you need a reason to download this episode, this right here is probably it. Sin, get at me with that new shit… sizzerb.com

Scan - Freestyle. If y’all think you can do better and want to be featured on the freestyle section next week, hit up the hotline voicemail – (310) 928 MTSN.That’s it for this episode. Coming soon, be on the lookout for even more crazy shit on the hottest hip-hop mixtape podcast you’ve ever seen, ever.

Oh yeah, that reminds me. I’m putting together an all-instros episode in beattape fashion. If you got beats, get at me. kucrdex [at] gmail [dot] com. rolllllll

MIXTAPE SHOW EPISODE 30

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This show concept for this week’s rap podcast basically came up when Ike Eyes sent me a copy of the Propane Piff mixtape. Trust me, when you hear Ag shouting over the top of some old crack era S.O.S. band shit, you know you’re in for an experience. If you’re interested in scoring your own free copy, read the full post for details. Not only that, though, but there’s a freestyle from my man Respect up in here, as well as an old Smoke and Numbers joint that y’all prolly ain’t heard, either. Start the track and follow along…

Agallah - Whoop Ya Head f/ 50 Cent. Yes, the almighty Fiddy shows up on this joint, which makes sense if you know your history. Don’t hate. If anyone somehow forgot that despite the Top 40 shit, 50 actually has bars, you’re about to get reminded.

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