DAMON DASH. KNOW YOUR HIP HOP HISTORY.

   

A lot of writers and bloggers in the hip hop community like to keep up with the current trends and info about the culture but  i  take cats back to when this thing our ours was truly hip hop before it became hip pop. When we talk about hip hop there are some names we cant or should not forget to mention, men who sacrificed their time, money and brains to advance this beautiful thing of ours, a true culture that is solely credited to the black race, hip hop, yeah! Its a black mans thing no matter how Eminem or whoever goes in on it, it belongs to niggas and niggas like Damon Dash  help lay the foundation for hip hop to smoothly sail into the millennium. So my question is, Do you really know who Dame Dash is?

Am not here to talk about Dame's life history or his personal life, that's not my business, you can Google him if that's what you care about, my intention is for you to recognize the input this brilliant black entrepreneur contributed to hip hop and how he was able to turn ''the stone the builders rejected to become the chief cornerstone'' Am going bible quote on your ass now LOL! But that is the true description of what Dame did with Jay Z' and Kanye West music career. there are others on the roll call like Beanie Segal, Memphis Bleek, Freeway, Camron, Amil, but i mention Jay and Ye because they have enjoyed immense success in the hip hop world  currently two of the biggest names and most awarded artist in the game including forty Grammy awards between the two of them, Jay Z is considered the biggest Hip hop superstar. Could this be a co-incidence that they were both product of Dame's impeccable ability to see the diamond in the rough? Jay Z almost gave up being a rapper as no one would sign him, yeah!  For those of you who did not know, there was a time when no one understood where Jay Z was coming from lyrically, a few dudes like DJ Clark Kent believed in him and tried to help him get a record deal but it dint happen, until Kent introduced Jay Z to Dame Dash and the rest is history.

                  THE MARRIAGE OF HARLEM AND BROOKLYN

 Dame began  managing Jay Z, filled with so many bright ideas, he connected with Jay like no one else did, perhaps being a product of private school contributed to his intellectual prowess, Dame kept pushing Jay in anyway he could, shows, features, selling demos independently, trying to get a record deal. When no record company was able to grasp the vision of these super intelligent niggas, Dame being the determined dude that he is felt it was time to grab the bull by the horn and start their own record label along with Kareem Biggs, and that was the birth of Roc-A-Fella, One of the biggest record label in hip hop history. When you mention Deathrow records and BadBoy records, Roc-A-Fella comes next, but this label started with no parent company support, it was just Damon Dash, his passion and believe in Jay z. With the song 'i cant get with that'  and their first video shot with five thousand dollars followed by 'In My Life Time' 'Dead Presidents'  and  'Ent No Nigga' The latter became the song that shot Jay Z to fame while 'Hard knock Life' made him a superstar and the song became a worldwide anthem, this led to the first all rap artist tour, a precedent set by Dame Dash and the Roc-A-Fella crew.


Dame did it again with Kanye West, Kareem 'Biggs' Burke the third partner of  Roc-A-Fella  was the one who made Dame pay attention to Kanye West, Kanye was known as a badazz producer from Chicago but no one took him serious when he said he could rap, everyone felt his persona was not marketable for hip hop, being a college boy with a college boy swag but Dame did not give up on him, he signed him on to Roc-A-Fella first as a producer then as an artist, today Kanye is more of a badazz lyricist than he is a producer with twenty one Grammy awards under his belt. Once again Dame proved he was the Nostradamus of hip hop

 Dame's belief in his abilities makes him leave the path everybody else is following to create his own. Dame helped create  one of the biggest Music empire, a clothing line that still rocks and sells millions daily, put artists on the map that hip hop will not forget in a long time,  and left a blueprint of business ideas that almost everyone in the hip hop business is practicing till date. Dame is the man, a lot of people criticize him for his tough and aggressive business methods, but they forget he used that energy to propel a change that contributed to the growth and and success of independent label/artist structure, today almost everyone one is independent in the game and starting their own label, Dame was the man who blew breath in their lungs, with no prior A&R  experience he took Jay and made him a household name and a brand with just ghetto determination. For everyone that has taken shot at him saying he is broke or no longer relevant, am yet to read or watch anyone not admit how intelligent and creative the dude is, even Jay Z  sometime ago remarked Dames' abilities and reaffirmed his confidence in him. I don't understand how people judge a man, some people learn their lessons, change their priorities in life and start acting their age but to the lame man, this is being broke and irrelevant. Dame is no longer in his twenties so i do not expect him to be the man he was fifteen years ago, take it or leave it, the man that's got two million and the man that's got twenty million are both millionaires, so if they say Dame is broke its a joke because his intellectual property is priceless and financially speaking he is still a millionaire in assets.

That's Dame for you, the man who sets precedents, who gave us a hip hop dynasty, who gave us the truth about the industry vultures who turn friends to enemies, who is not afraid to challenge anyone who messes with him, his business or friends, a man who stood by his friends and fought for their success like a gallant soldier, I say if hip hop was the army, Dame Dash is no doubt a 5 star general.

KNOW YOUR HIP HOP HISTORY.KEITH MURRAY.

A lot of new generation teenagers are involved in the Hip Hop movement of today, like Nas once said,''Hip Hop Is Dead'' and what the youth of today associate with and call Hip Hop is more of the shadow of something beautiful and original that once gathered faithful disciples around the world, just like the Mafia, though it still exist till date, but it had its glorious days when men like Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Bugsy, Meyer Lansky, The Gambino Family and The Commission ruled the streets of America, Yeah! Hip Hop had its glorious days too, when men Like Keith Murray, Redman and Erick Sermon  rolled as the DEF SQUAD! Those were the days, Niggas were ruling the streets with complex vocabulary deliveries,spitting out flames from their vocal cord that light up the Hip Hop world, Yeah! I ask you know, If you know Hip Hop, do You Know KEITH MURRAY? If not, Its time to study your Hip Hop history.

The year was 1994, ''The Most Beautifullest Thing In This World'' is the name of the track and the title of the Album, the world was amazed at this young man spitting rhymes with high velocity that shocked every Hip Hop disciple. Birth name and stage name Keith Murray, this dude was one of the rappers who made the 90s 'The Golden Era of Hip Hop', with his highly intelligent lyrical compositions, Keith Murray was living ahead of his time at just 20 yrs of age, Murray was spitting so hard that you had to be intellectually balanced to grasp the essence of his flows, listening to his raps back then, i can boldly affirm that if Murray had pursued an academic degree he would definitely have ended up being a Professor, his lyrics were not the regular street talk you hear in rap music, this dude was in a zone quite metaphorical, no rapper in the game can beat his metaphoric placement of rhymes on beats till date , check out his opening on the song ''The Most Beautifullest Thing In This World''

'' Y'all mythological niggaz is comical
The astronomical is comin through like the flu bombin you
And embalmin in your crew too
With the musical mystical magical, you know how I do
With word attack skills and vocabulary too
You're through, I'm inter-planetarian like Doctor Who (who who?)
So Who! (who?)''

If you go on YouTube and watch the Video of this song, it starts with a short session of him freestyling some grammatical flows. As far back as 94 Mr Murray was already dropping what we Hip Hop heads call ''science'' little wonder legend has it that he already battled BIG DADDY KANE  before he become famous. Keith Murray had a unique voice that made his rap delivery 'delicious' and on every track he was featured, he killed it.  A member of the legendary trio Def Squad Keith Murray holds his ground in the Hip Hop hall of fame as one of the most outstanding rapper and lyricist of the game, am not here help Google or Wikipedia do their work, am all about the survival of Hip Hop history, so if you really want to know more about Keith Murray, Google him, go on YouTube or VEVO and you will meet the man, for those of you that already know him, you can refresh your memory by watching some of his videos, dont forget the hit track with R Kelly '' Home Alone'' as you search. You can also find Murray on Twitter  on @KEITHMURRAYRAP . Get familair  with the Hip Hop Legend, the rapper that  '' Walk emcess like Jesus walk the waters''

SHYNE PO!.THE RAPPER THAT LOST HIS 'BARS' BEHIND BARS.

As the 90s came to an end, Hip Hop saw the birth of the rapper tagged by XXL magazine back the as the last real rapper alive, Jamal Barrow AKA SHYNE PO. You could not be a Hip Hop fan and not know this dude back then, he came out with a BANG! everyone loved him, he impacted hardcore rap fans with his song ''BAD BOY'' and gave the commercial and party style Hip Hop lovers the song ''GET OUT''. For a short time the world felt that the Notorious B.I.G was reincarnated, and Shyne was generally accepted as Biggie's replacement as he was signed to BAD BOY records as well, unlike the other rapper dude Guerilla Black who sounded like Biggie but got no love from Piddy.

Unfortunately, Shyne's reign was cut short by a shooting incidence that happened in a club in Manhattan NY while he was hanging out with Diddy and his then girlfriend Jennifer Lopez, Shyne had a firearm and he discharged some shots during an altercation with some other clubbers who had issues with Diddy and his entourage, this led to the conviction of Shyne for attempted murder and reckless endangerment, he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment, this was a fatal blow for an artist who was about to release his debut album.

 A lot of fans were devastated by the news and Shyne got a lot of sympathy from the Hip Hop community,  all attempts to suspend his sentence proved abortive as Shyne himself kept his street credibility by not ''ratting out'' to the cops, he maintained his ''code of silence'' like a true mafia from the streets but the outcome led to the harsh sentence he received to the extent that he was handed the 'Son of Sam' law of New York, a law which resulted in his assets being frozen and limiting his ability to line up record deals and remain profitable. He managed to release his second album ''Godfather Buried Alive'' 2004 while in prison though the album sold over 400,000 copies, It was not the same quality as the previous album, perhaps it can be blamed on the fact that he voiced on the songs over the phone.

In October 2009 Shyne was released and then deported to his home country Belize. ( For the records,Shyne's father Dean Barrow has been the Prime Minister of Belize since 2008). This was another blow for Shyne who left Belize since he was 13. But the biggest blow Shyne received was the LOSS of his distinctive voice, that voice that made him SHYNE!  He has been putting out tracks since after his release but nothing compared to his former style and voice. Shyne lost his lyrical bars behind bars, after 10 years no one would blame him for that, i mean alot has happened in such a long time, Hip Hop has evolved, even BAD BOY records is fighting hard to stay relevant as Piddy is living under his past glory. The rapper Shyne went to hell and is back but hell took his most prized possession, his vocal chord lost its sensational sound to the hard years of silence behind prison bars.

I believe that Shyne will regain some of his lost reputation, maybe not the exact voice but something we can vibe to, he may not be that shining star he once was as the competition these days is massive but i still believe with time he would hit the core of the music scene again with the right lines and the right producer. No doubt, Shyne Po is the still one of Hip Hop's 'BADDEST BOY' in terms of street credibility and when the time is right, the Godfather that was buried alive but refused to die while buried, will rise again and ascend back to the skies and continue to SHYNE !.

GO CHECK OUT THE ''GANGLAND'' MIXTAPE. THE LATEST FROM SHYNE PO

HEAVY D. THE UNFORGETABLE

I love Heavy! am a huge fan, when i was a little boy, i used to impress my female playmates with the lyrics of ''Somebody For Me'' it was a big deal to me back then that i could rap a few lines of the song. Heavy D was in a zone, other rappers were doing the gangsta thang, but Heavy kept it sentimental, he appealed to the softer side of life, representing the decency of men as regards to how they view and treat women. Aside being ''The Over Weight Lover MC'' Heavy is credited for taking Hip Hop and RnB to another level along with his then label head Andre Harrell, he brought Sean ''P.Diddy'' Combs to limelight when he convinced Andre Harrell to give Piddy his first music business gig when he was an intern with Uptown records, the same label that brought Biggie to fame with the release of his debut single ''Party And Bullshit'' on the ''Who's The Man'' movie soundtrack in 1993. Heavy successfully launched the career of then RnB sensation Soul 4 Real and the rap group the Lost Boyz when he later became the president of Uptown Records, making him the first rapper to head a major record label.

Dwight Meyers AKA Heavy D is a major influence to most rappers that came up in the 90's, as much as he was not a gangsta rapper, his exceptional rapping skills earned him high respect in the Hip Hop community, he was a bad ass lyricist and one of the best rappers the world will ever know. His ''Big Daddy'' style brought a classy swag into Hip Hop, always looking Dapper and 'FLY' in-spite of his immense size. Heavy was charismatic and always had an air of flamboyance around him, P.Diddy's exposure to Heavy helped him in molding the Notorious B.I.G persona, a thug with a touch of extravagance. But Heavy had no rough side and that is bewildering, we all know Hip Hop comes with the roughness of the streets, thug life, drugs, booze and guns, amazingly, he dint even smoke weed, but he was loved by gangstas, he appealed to the ''Mac Daddy'' side of every dude growing up back then, from pimps to straight O.G's. Heavy got mad love from the streets and every other rapper wanted to be associated with him, he collaborated and produced songs for a lot of artists including features with Tupac and Biggie, Back then it was a big deal to have Heavy D on a song or make appearance in a video, what do you expect? he was ''The Man'' back then.

These days, many industry dudes don't know much about WaterBed Hev, but the funny thing is that the rappers they now idolize idolized Heavy. Probably because he took a long hiatus from music to concentrate on his acting career not much was heard from him till he passed away in 2011, but the history of Hip Hop cannot be analysed without mentioning the great love icon of Hip Hop. If you don't already know the man, get familiar, go on YouTube and watch Heavy do his thing or Google the name and find out about the life and times of the man we shall always remember as BIG DADDY!

ITS TIME TO BRING BACK THE 90's

We should all agree that hip hop had its most creative and most successful periods in the 90s, this era saw the beauty behind genuine creativity of talented rappers like Dre Dre, 2pac, B.I.G Nas,Naughty By Nature, Wu Tang Clan, Cyress hill, House Of Pain, Kriss Kross, Da Brat, MC Lyte, Rage, Queen Latifah, Yoyo,Missy,Timberland, Snoop Dogg, Warren G, Dogg Pound, Main Source, Tribe Called Quest, Coolio, Das Efx, Onyx, Fu-Schnickens, Jay Z ! The list goes on and on. These were the years rap music finally gained worldwide attention and rap went from "Ban rap music" public protest to BBC playing "If i ruled the world" by Nas, rap entered the Guinness Book Of Records and sadly rap got so big that it influenced a territorial dispute between the east coast and the west coast in the United States.

In all this, One main question needs to be asked, what made rap gain such notable influence in this era often referred to as the golden age? rap music exist officially since 1979 with acts like the Sugar Hill Gang with the song "Rappers delight" Kurtis Blow's "Christmas Rapping " Spoonie G's "Spoonin' Rap" etc, and the early and late 80s saw the entry of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Ice T, Run DMC, Melli Mel, LL Cool J, Erik B & Rakim, NWA, Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince, Big Daddy Kane, Too Short, Cool Moe Dee and host of others but with  all this powerful names and talent making this era hot like fire, hot enough to heat up a young school boy like me far away in Nigeria,the 80s was still nothing compared to the blossom of  the 90s with the G funk era,the Death-row dynasty, So So Def  domination, the Bad Boy take over, and the closing of the 90s curtain by Roc-A-Fella Empire, Wow! 10 years of remarkable music and events that shaped the history of hip hop into what it is today. This leads me to further questioning, is rap still RAP MUSIC? is hip-hop still what it was in the 90s?

Today hip-hop has given birth to Sub genres like Alternative hip hop – Conscious hip hop – Experimental hip hop  – Homo hop – Hardcore hip hop – Horrorcore – Instrumental hip hop  e.t.c  and another form called Fusion Genre which consist of Country rap – Hip hop soul – Hip house – Crunk – Hyphy – Jazz rap – Merenrap – Neo soul – Nu metal – Rap opera – Rap rock – Rapcore – Rap metal – Cumbia rap, bla! bla! bla!, Whew! What happened to just hip-hop pure and undiluted ? No doubt the industry is massive now, a thousand more rappers, a hundred more labels, bigger contracts and wider audience BUT! for the true hip hop believer, there are few songs released in today's hip hop world that can be considered a classic and a handful that can be compared to any of the legendary works of the 90s, now its just about the hype of the moment, fad music i would say, in the 90s  we kept rap albums like trophy's, today we only have the latest release because previous albums fade with the trend of the time of its release.

This is the hip hop we know now, hip-hop artist are more concerned about their public image than the quality of their music, with the advent of new sound programmers,advanced music production methods and all the new technologies and awareness in the world, still the greatest rappers in history  Tupac and Biggie are from the 90s, the era when creativity was the soul of composition, when gifted minds with genius IQ who could have been successful lawyers, doctors, engineers, professors if they had focused on academic education opted to follow their talent and became rap icons. that was the 90s.

Its time to bring back the 90s or we might as well see the end of a beautiful music called hip hop, its gradually eroding into different sub genre and fusion genre, soon it will evolve into something completely different, then we shall have no choice but to give it a new name to suit its new meaning. This is me Ese A.K.A Belushi! a mind educated and fashioned by hip hop culture from teenage sharing my opinion of this beautiful spoken poetry known as rap music, like we say back in the days, "word is bond".

WALE! LYRICIST EXTRAORDINAIRE

Aside from the Hip Hop veterans that are still kicking it and keeping it real, most of the  new generation rappers do not have the street credibility of a Lyricist. Entertainers yes! Artist yes! But to confer a rapper with the title of a Lyricist is way more than just rapping and rhyming on beats, a lyricist is a rapper that spits,bust,flows and drops bars that we Hip Hop heads call 'GAME'.Those are the dudes that mainly do conscious rap. Hip Hop has lost a lot of its consciousness, if not for rappers like Nas, Talib Kweli, Common and a few others who still spit ideological lyrics in today's Hip Hop reminding us of when rap was truly Rhythm And Poetry. In this new generation of rappers, only one rapper stands out with the perfect definition of a Lyricist, and his name is WALE.

Wale got game, literally speaking he is a lyrical genius and is on his way to being one of the greatest rappers
in Hip Hop hall of fame. listening to his flows reminds you of how glorious Hip Hop used to be, his voice and his vocal delivery combined with the knowledge that comes with the interpretation of his lyrics puts him in a zone, a class way above other rappers in the game right now and i mean lyrically, its not about album sales or media hype, any big record company can get that for their Artist, but when we talk about music content, it takes a gifted rapper to get genuine recognition for the work he put in on his music, and Wale has come this far mainly because of the quality of his art not hype or publicity boost. Everybody loves Wale, well except the haters, and as the days go by, the haters are switching camp from being critics to fans and  stans.

Wale is definitely an authority in today's rap music, he is at the top of his game, i see more awards coming his way including the Grammy because he stands out as one of the last real lyricist in the game right now, his music puts you in a mood or puts you in the groove, only a few rappers now have that ability to put you in a natural or reflective zone with their music. THE GIFTED one has the lyrical tactics, the vocal magic to send us into a philosophical tantra. The world is yet to see the best of the charismatic dread-lock rasta rapper and LYRICIST EXTRAORDINAIRE. Watch Out!

TRIBUTE TO RUN DMC. HIP HOP PERSONIFIED

I personally think every rapper in the game now should be paying homage and giving some form of royalty to the legendary RUN DMC! Am talking about the now REV RUN, Darryl McDaniels the DMC and the late JAM MASTER JAY! Yes! If not for these guys i don't think Hip Hop would be were it is today, i don't think any individual or group put as much work as much as these guys did to the success of rap music. When you hear people call them the kings, believe me they have earned the title from hard work and dedication to Hip Hop. Back in the 80's when you mention Rap music, you definitely mean Run DMC, they dominated the 80's and conquered the 90's when they dropped ''Down With The Kings'' One of the classics of that era and till date the song remains evergreen with a unique sound and vocal delivery that makes you think the song was released just yesterday.

Run DMC rocked the world, they did it all, if you know Hip Hop and you know these men then you already know that rappers are just trying to re-invent everything they have done already, there is really nothing new in Hip Hop, thanks to the Kings, they moved Hip Hop and rap music away from the funk and disco-oriented sound it started with to the sound we now identify as Hip Hop beats today, they changed the style the way rappers present themselves from wearing flashy attires to the what is now the traditional Hip Hop appearance of Jeans,sneakers, jackets and big chains. They changed the stage appearance of Hip Hop from Rappers having live bands to having a DJ set up on stage with Jam Master Jay behind the turntables doing what he knows best, Spinning!. To cap it all, Run DMC originated ROCK RAP. and set the ball rolling for acts like  Rage Against the Machine, KoRn, Sublime, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park.

Run DMC is the most influential rap group in the history of Hip Hop, What Hip Hop is today is the trend that Run DMC set since 1981, they are credited for transforming Hip Hop from an underground  street sensation to a pop-culture phenomenon, In honor of the awareness they gave Adidas sneakers, Adidas has a special line with the RUN DMC logo on it. They are Hip Hop Personified, everything Hip Hop stands for now is what they defined with their personalities, no other rap act come close to their historic achievements being the first to achieve various awards including being the first rappers to be nominated for a Grammy.They influenced every other rapper that came after them, RUN DMC is the greatest name that Hip Hop ever produced, they are Hip Hop in its every definition. 

Its quite unfortunate that legends don't get the adequate homage they deserve, humans live for the moment and hype only what is trending, but those of us who know the journey Hip Hop has traveled know that Run DMC was the major vessel that transported Hip Hop to its present glory and they are responsible for branding what we now call Hip Hop Culture. I don't know about you, but am still down with the Kings, am honored to write about such great men that defined a lifestyle, a culture, a religion, a movement and a music we know as Hip Hop.