Black Eyed Peas >>> OutKast…

When I was a young dude I made my dad buy me this record by The World Famous Supreme team featuring Malcolm MaClaren because it had the song 'Buffalo Gals' on it. My dad didn't understand rap back then but he tolerated it. When the lyrics became a little more flagrant as far as co-signing drug use and other thuggery fuckery he totally tuned that shit out. By that time though I was already old enough to buy my own shit. If rap music had never advanced past breakdancer tracks do you think people like Rakim, NaS, or Mos Def would have ever become superheroes? PrA'li not.

Does that even matter anymore? The Black Eyed Peas are about to sell more records in their first week than Meth & Red, Jadakiss, and Mos Def combined. Is this what Hip-Hop has become? In truth, this is what Hip-Hop always was. We've returned to the days when my dad used to buy my records even though he had no fucking idea what the hell the relationship the guy on the microphone was saying over the music.

When I heard Funkmaster Flex playing the 'Boom' track on his syndicated show I was upset at first. I must listen to that show just to get annoyed now. I knew the Black Eyed Peas song was some shit that Clear Channel was promoting across their national network of radio stations. This was the deat hof Hip-Hop I moaned but I wasn't being honest. Hip-Hop died over thirty years ago when that shit moved from the hood to the disco downtown. Hip-Hop wanted to party and get coked up at Studio 54 just like everybody else.

There was a few years in the late 1980's and early 1990's when Hip-Hop tried to get itself into rehab but as soon as it saw folks wearing shiny suits and expensive sunglasses it was time to get back into that downtown Studio 54 mentality. I hate to admit it sometimes, but maybe my dad was right all along about Hip-Hop being idiot music. The most popular artists in the genre from Gucci Mane, Soulja Boy to Drake and Black Eyed Peas are all from this ilk. I miss my Malcolm MaClaren and the World Famous Supreme Team album. Shit was so much simpler back then.