- Panama Jackson goes off on Nelly.
- Andre Harrell is planning on producing HBO Drama On Hip-Hop
- The Game is on his way and MTV.com has a preview of one of the most anticipated albums of the year.
Today's rant: "Who is Old School?"
Well that depends on who you ask. If you ask a 30 year old chances are they will say, Kurtis Blow, Run-DMC, Slick Rick, Doug E. Fresh and Rakim. If you ask a 15 year old chances are they'll say Bigge Smalls (Notorious B.I.G.), Tupac, NWA and maybe they'll say A Tribe Called Quest or Public Enemy.
Notice something strange there? There's a generation gap in Hip-Hop. You have kids coming up who don't know who Kool G Rap, DJ Quik, Too Short, Scarface, Nice and Smooth or Boogie Down Productions are. You got kids out there thinking that Busta Rhymes started out as a solo artist, when in truth he did two albums with a group by the name of Leaders of the New School.
Perspective is key in this discussion. Before Nelly, Ludacris and Masta P were talking about how the South was so "dirty", there was Luke and 2 Live Crew, and Geto Boyz. Before Mobb Deep was grimey there was Das EFX, Redman, EPMD, and Onyx.
In order to appreciate how far this genre has come the young fans need to do some research. To gain some kind of perspective. How can you appreciate Snoop without listening to NWA? Trust me you will look at Dr. Dre a little differently if you listen to his early work with NWA.
This reminds me of the 80's when people thought G N'R was the greatest rock group of all time without listening to one Led Zep CD.
Next week: The Future - Giving Props and Name Dropping
