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VIDEO: Tyler, the Creator Criticizes the Grammys – Our Thoughts

February 26, 2020 by Javis Ogden 1 Comment

Photo: Amanda Edwards, Getty Images

Tyler, the Creator speaks on the Grammys’ dismissiveness of hip-hop while accepting his award for Best Rap Album. Does he have a point?

When reflecting on his win for Best Rap Album, Tyler, the Creator commented on what he feels is a dismissive attitude towards black music and black artists at the Grammys, criticizing the ‘urban’ category distinction. Diddy also shared similar sentiments when he remarked that hip-hop has never been respected by the Grammys. We discuss the validity and possible counterpoints to those claims.

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Filed Under: Music Tagged With: Achievement, Acknowledge, Album, Art, Artist, Awards, Best Rap Album, Category, Culture, Diddy, Golf Wang, Grammy Awards, Grammys, Hip-Hop, Hip-Hop Culture, Hip-Hop Head, Hip-Hop Music, Igor, Improvement, Music, Musician, Odd Future, Rap, Rap Music, Respect, Soundcloud, Spotify, Tyler the Creator, Urban

VIDEO: Cam’ron & Mase, and Believing Hip-Hop Hype

January 31, 2018 by Javis Ogden Leave a Comment

Photo: XXL

Cam’ron and Mase’s Beef Reminds Us that Hip-Hop is Entertainment. Love the Music. Don’t Believe Everything You Hear.

Two past-their-prime rappers in Mase and Cam’ron engaged in an entertaining beef stemming from old wounds and an overdue bid for New York hip-hop superiority. While nice while it lasted, it served as a reminder that hip-hop is an entertainment art-form that should be regarded as such.

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Filed Under: Music Tagged With: Ambition, Beef, Breakfast Club, Cam'ron, Dank, DipSet, Entertainment, Fire, Harlem World, Hip-Hop, Hip-Hop Culture, Hip-Hop Music, Instagram, Listen Rap, LIT, Love and Hip-Hop, Mase, Motivation, Music, New York, New York Hip-Hop, New York Rap, Perspective, Rap, Rap Game, Rap Music, Rappers, Reality, Savage, XXL

VIDEO: Friday on Elm Street Review

December 8, 2017 by Javis Ogden Leave a Comment

Photo: Instagram/@karlfergusonjr

Our thoughts on Fabolous and Jadakiss’s long-awaited joint album, Friday on Elm Street.

After years of anticipation, heavyweights Fabolous and Jadakiss finally released their long-awaited joint album, Friday on Elm Street. What did we think of the project? Press play to find out!

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Filed Under: Music Tagged With: 444, Age, Age Appropriate, Bars, Bars 4 Life, Bars for Life, Beyonce, Fabolous, Freddie vs. Jason, Friday on Elm Street, Hip-Hop, Hip-Hop Culture, Hip-Hop Music, Jadakiss, Jay-Z, JayZ, Logic, New York Hip-Hop, New York Rap, Oldhead, Progress, Rap, Rap Culture, Rap Music, Roc Nation, Swizz Beatz

Group-Think: The Overrated Eminem Cypher

October 20, 2017 by Javis Ogden Leave a Comment

Photo: BET Networks

By Javis Ogden

When it comes to live music shows, I don’t watch the initial airing and instead tune in during subsequent re-airs. I do this to eliminate my view on the program from being influenced by the heavy social media presence that is cultivated around the program in real-time. Having said that, I didn’t watch the Eminem freestyle during the 2017 BET Hip-Hop Awards as it happened (generally speaking, I don’t watch award shows period).

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Filed Under: Music Tagged With: BET, BET Cypher, BET Hip-Hop Awards, Donald Trump, Eminem, Eminem Cypher, Eminem Freestyle, Hip-Hop, Hip-Hop Culture, Hip-Hop Music, Rap, Rap Music

Drake’s “100” Verse: Hip-Hop Values & False-Truths

August 28, 2015 by Javis Ogden 2 Comments

Photo: Mark Metcalfe, Getty Images

Photo: Mark Metcalfe, Getty Images

Ever since his initial brush with fame, Drake has been a lightning rod. His impact on hip-hop culture overall cannot be understated, but within the guise of the art-form that is rap, he stands as the fissure between old-school “hip-hop head” values and new-age pop-culture modernism. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Music

No More Mr. Tough Guy – Drake, Meek Mill & Rap’s Evolution

August 4, 2015 by Javis Ogden Leave a Comment

Photo: Dan Halman, Ap and Mirrorpix/Splash, News/Corbis

Photo: Dan Halman, Ap and Mirrorpix/Splash, News/Corbis

Like many other human interests in popular culture, the way hip-hop is viewed and analyzed is far different today than it was when I was coming of age during the 90s. The immediacy of information and the somewhat close access to famous people and public figures via social media has cultivated a landscape in which an artist’s talent has been tied to the hitch of their perceived character qualities. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Music

Top 10 Rappers Most Aided By Stellar Production

July 9, 2015 by Javis Ogden Leave a Comment

Photo: Alex Welsh, Wired

Photo: Alex Welsh, Wired

For some time now, I have believed that a paradigm shift in rap has occurred in which the pendulum of talent has swung from the artist in front of the mic to the maestro behind the board. If you’ve read my piece on the relationship between hip-hop and the mainstream music industry, I intimated that in hip-hop the emphasis for music making has transitioned from conceptualizing complete bodies of work to cashing in on cultural trends that do not amount to timeless pieces of art. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Music

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