Back at Cha

What up all?

Thanks so much for writing your comments to my editorial this month. I wanted to take a moment again this time around to write back to a few of the comments that stuck out the most to me. I noticed not one person mentioned The Commission. How disappointing! Where are you guys?

V

Pierzy says:

Nice work, Nessa, even if I wholeheartedly disagree with your choice of cover subject (I just don’t get down with Jeezy like that).

Nessa XXL says:

Pierzy - You aren’t? That’s too bad. I’ve always liked Jeezy. I have to admit, I wasn’t into The Inspiration so much but thought he came back strong with The Recession so I have good hopes for 103. I also liked the recent mixtape a lot and his whole style. Plus – I’m a Southern fan, which means he doesn’t get a pass but I like what I like. Who do you like in the Dirty?

OG Matt Herbz says:

For real. Jeezy’s wack.

And why don’t that muthafucka step shit up to “Thug Motivation 201″ or something? “103 implies that he’s still spitting freshman-level bullshit…

…okay, he is, but still–for marketing purposes or something.

The Shyne rumor is enticing. I’d be interested in hearing a few bars from homey.

–OG Matt Herbz–

Nessa XXL says:

OG Matt Herbz –

I don’t agree that Jeezy’s wack at all but I do have to agree with you on that “Thug Motivation 201” thing. When we were doing the photo shoot and later designing the cover, I was thinking the exact same thing, that it’s time to take it to the 200 or 300 level classes because if I remember correctly from my college days (which there were only two weird, loose years of) the 200 and 300 level classes stepped it up more than the 102 or the 103. But I let it go because how literal is it really supposed to be at the end of the day? I don’t know. As far as Shyne goes, I’d be interested in hearing a few bars also J

P.S. What are the herbz? ?

geico lizard says:

“It might be just a couple more weeks before the Shyne era begins.”

^
good point, shyne walked the walk while these other rappers lie about everything.

Nessa XXL says:

geico lizard – Isn’t it crazy that we have hip-hop artists that were corrections officers, that exaggerate their jail bids, that are college educated and pretend they are hardcore thugs, that are fake drug dealers who talk about holding streets down when all they did was drive through them yet somehow they all manage to make general rap fans believe the tales they give? We haven’t had a real interesting, true story in so long, I am curious to see what happens when we do. (As long as the music is there.)

John Cauner says:

I can’t believe they deaded the Classic Material section. That was a good reminder of albums you might of missed the first time around.

Nessa XXL says:

John Cauner – When we went over what wasn’t getting any love or attention in the magazine, Classic Material was one of the first things to come up. No one ever writes any letters in about the column, no one online talks about it… If you guys all love Classic Material so much, how come you’ve never said anything? It always seemed to me like the albums we covered were crazy, crazy old and that we didn’t do enough of a variety to begin with. But then it seemed like we could pay a tribute to anniversaries and of albums and history pieces of history albums in other ways…

Silly Willy says:

Keep up the good work, Ness!

But, shouldn’t it be a Slaughterhouse moment ? I mean, if you want to see some real shit take place, you can lend a hand, right ?

Just throwin’ it out there,….how about a female blogger too ? It’s been a while since Tara and Fresh left the building. Their scope was refreshing sometimes. You know like when we don’t want to keep saying and hearing the same shit over and over again in this sausage-fest that hiphopnation has become, from time to time ?
No fishsticks.

Nessa XXL says:

Silly Willy – Thanks! I don’t think a Slaughterhouse cover is the move for us, right now. Argue if you want but that’s the case. As far as female bloggers go, I agree with you, I’m just not sure who that right person is and I think when it comes to the females, it’s difficult because you need to make sure it’s the right female for the job with the right hip-hop voice who all you guys would respect. They are out there, these ladies, there are just not as many of them. I’d blog more but honestly, I am trying to get stuff together with the new position so I find it hard to do. And I don’t think it comes naturally enough for me to do easily. Blogging’ tough! But besides all that shit, who would you all recommend? I am curious. Doesn’t mean we will go out and get her but just wondering…

nicholasdelorejo says:

First off, I am not in any way, shape, or form a fan of Jeezy, but WHY IN THE FUCK IS DAHM NEAR EVERYBODY ANGRY THAT SLAUGHTERHOUSE IS ON THE COVER. I mean seriously, why in the fuck should xxl or any rap mag for that matter give the cover (you know the main feature of the issue) to Slaughterhouse. Young Jeezy is certainly not one of the most lyrical, innovative, or creative rappers present, but he dahm sure knows how to make an entertaining albulm. I don’t even like coke rap like that but Jeezy has made 3 (count ‘em out, 1, 2, 3) albulms that have sold reasonably well, as well as having billboard charted albulms, and kept his name relevant in the RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW.

I’m not saying slaughter house is bad, or that they don’t deserve the any exposure xxl can offer, but lets be real. Slaughterhouse is made up of a bunch of rappers that could not generate any interest in their solo albulms and are forced to form a group with one another. People seemed to believe that they are about to bring real hip hop back (whatever the fuck that is) but honestly I don’t see it. they’re a pretty good group of lyricist but I don’t see nothing about them that makes me believe they are serious about being with one another. Ask yourselves this, would any of them had thought about forming any group if they were able to succeed by themselves. I don;t think so. Jeezy at least brought out USDA once he released two successful albulms. That’s more than you can say about any of these other rappers.

In lyrics, jeezy sucks balls, i’ll admit. But he does not intend to be. The only thing you can expect from a young jeezy albulm is to be entertained. Isn’t that what we should want? Some may not be entertained by jeezy but other people are as proven by his sales. I can’t say the same for slaughterhouse, YET. Let’s just wait for their release before complain about how xxl fucked them over. Ain’t it wasn’t like XXL gave solo covers to previous new rappers like lupe fiasco, Wale, or even drake and they had bigger buzzes that SH. shit wayne had to wait until his carter II to grace the cover.

Nessa XXL says:

Nicholasdelorejo, where you working? Besides what I think was a lil’ typo in the beginning of your comment (“EVERYBODY ANGRY THAT SLAUGHTERHOUSE IS ON THE COVER.” I think it was supposed to be “…ISN’T ON THE COVER.”) you basically get the whole idea. You should consider maybe being a magazine editor. They aren’t all out of business, ya know, you’re still reading them. And you know your XXL cover history… Maybe you already were an editor somewhere…?