Comments on: City of Dope [Excerpt From the Dec./Jan. 2012 Issue]

By: raka nation

raka nation — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 23:25:08 +0000

i can’t believe XXL would touch on the diversity of the Bay and not even mention the Latino community. one of the hottest and independent-movements OF THE MOMENT is coming from the soul and flavor of the Hispanic community in the bay…LOS RAKAS. NPR even named their debut EP as a ‘Top Release of 2011′ alongside Kanye, Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar…get with the times XXL! These guys deserve their own FEATURE!

By: Itzmi

Itzmi — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 02:14:21 +0000

i love how Stalin didn’t mention Jay Jonah n he is an original Jay Jonah, shady Nate, n stalin are the three that started livewire. Guess he don’t get mentioned cuz he gas harder then any of them. Also no mention of kiwi the beast. She one of the hardest females n the bay n jus happens to b part of livewire originals. Stalin not tryna let nobody harder then him shine but he won’t b around much longer. But as u can read it says “J Stalin’s Livewire” lmao he jus another rapper that rap about somebody else life n ain’t Neva lived it.

By: kd

kd — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 03:39:50 +0000

All yall that something to say about the BAY bring yo ass out there and see what happen…dont ever overlook the bay youll get yo ass ran straight through…that hyphy shit was a fad but not get it messed up them niggas be talkin bout some real shyt…pick up a Jacka, J-stalin, album tell me they aint talkin bout some real shyt

By: Crunkatlanta

Crunkatlanta — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:26:04 +0000

I have to see what they come up with ….

By: Nate

Nate — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 08:16:43 +0000

I’m from the Bay. I’m a real rap fan. (Collect 3000 rap albums covering the entire genre nationwide since the late 80′s to now.) I can say without bias that there are dozens of great artists from here. Some fell into the “hyphy” craze a bit, others were totally original alongside the Thizz camps, etc. But like all movements hundreds of wannabee no talent, all “style” rappers tried to bandwagon from that 2003-2006 era. The good rappers prior to and after went through the ignorant outside labeling even though it may have slowed down their careers. The same independent spirit continues, in fact before the digital craze, we invented the independent game so that hundreds of artists could copy the blueprint across the country. Hyphy was just one element of the many blends of bay music. the downfall had many reasons. Here are a few.
1. Hundreds of no talent copycats giving people who judge a area by a song or two a bad name for the bay.
2. Mac Dre’s death. Dozens of artists success followed his, and his charisma and leadership as a pied piper/mentor was something they still relied on. i saw a flier at a huge concert at San Jose the week he died. He was on a bill with the largest southern artists, hewas going to break nationwide. He had the entire west, and midwest out to k.c. on lock already.
3. Majors trying to “market” hyphy. Not backing top artists like FAB.
4. BIG VON’s payola of non cali artists, and standoff with FABdropping his airplay entirely- same with la stations- he has sucked for 10 years now-not everrepping the best artists on theradio.
5. hyphy briefly overshadowing the other aspects of our artists. From the conscius ones, backpack music, mobbmusic, or lyricists, people associated radio songs as the entire representation of the region although our artists probably per capita have more originality, selection, styles, choices, etc than most parts of the country.
6. Every year the digital edge cut physical copies of rap sales down. This was industrywide,not just bay. So that factor contributed to the overall idea that the music “died”.
7. Being that we are the most independent, NY record companies always had the hardest time signing our BEST artists to deals. easier to signsouthern artists for peanuts who are used to cheaper costs of living on BS deals. Bay artists (ones making $ and with talent) usually wouldn’t go for these garbage deals. So either cheap deals would be offered by companies who shelved the 2nd rate artists not repping the bay right, and/or with contrived fly by night “hyphy” music, or they would pass altogether and downplay our music.
There is a reason the dumbed down Southern music has been dominant mostly for 10 years. Cheaper for large labels, more money, and easy to make albums with simplistic lyrics.
Not at all to talk down on southern rap. There are also dozens of great artists, but less overall in% of total artists that are top notch.

By: $yk

$yk — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 07:37:13 +0000

don’t make yourself believe that everyone who comments is a young cat who don’t know anything and ain’t been nowhere…

read the comments in whole before you address all

By: ELITE

ELITE — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 23:35:34 +0000

Bruh None of yall commenting will make it out here in the BAY so hush ya mouth unless you willing to walk OAKLAND streets

By: CaponeMOB

CaponeMOB — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 06:07:54 +0000

SMH..along with the stupid soulja boy dance,this hypy shit gotta be one of the dumbest fads i’ve ever seen.so it doesnt even surprises me at all that that shit FLOPPED miserably. like they say YADAMEAN? what the fuck is yadamean? that shit is fuckin stupid. i understand alotta slang came out of the bay,but it seems that they were just trying too HARD to come out with new slang. in my eyes the BAY is the west coast version of atlanta. they just come out with pathetic gimmicks…SMH

By: $yk

$yk — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 03:11:39 +0000

but I will LMAO @ the irony of the title and pictures posted…

By: $yk

$yk — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 03:10:07 +0000

SMH…

this is where XXL fails…you can’t tell a Bay story w/o E-40…but y’all got Lil Brandon and Kreayon up there trying to show these kids they’re the epitome of Oakland…no this tidbit does not make me wanna cop the issue to see of you did either…