i'm so glad i found a place where people still LIVE it as opposed to listen to it. Hip Hop i'm talking about of course, i think people have actually forgotten that it is a culture and not just some genre of music kids listen to to annoy their parents. and i'm tiered of the shit that tries to pass itself of as hip hop these days, yes i know that the mainstream b.s. out there is simply just corperate america cashing in on exploiting our culture cause people buy into it, but remember this stuff is being crammed down our kids throats and told that this is whats cool now, not to sound like a hater but i don't agree with this senario. do you really have to have lil wayne or nicky minaj speak a few words on every ones album to sell it? and the content of these songs contain no message, there are thousands of cats with far more talent and much more to say then these multi platinum selling artists ever will. but this is what has become of things. my 12 year old son asked me once "why does this stuff you listen to sound so much better then the stuff that's so popular?" i explained it to him, broke out the old vinyls and gave him the whole explanation of what Hip Hop is. i almost don't want anything to do with hip hop anymore if we're going to be grouped in with them, dont get me wrong i still plan on being buried in a fila track suit with a kangol and shell toe adidas but i dont wan't to be in the classification as any of these new psuedo hip hop artists and i use the word artist loosely. i have plenty more to say about this but i'm going to stop for now and say thankyou to all the producers and just plain hip hop heads that keep it real and ask what everyone elses take on this subject is, am i just being a bitter old man or do i make sense?

ah yes. the old dead horse. I feel you man but I see your lil wayne and nicky minaj and raise you a kanye west and a lil john...YEAH!

Fila made some real real real fly ish back in the day.

word! it's the same issue that's been in every genre and every bit of popular culture since the dawn of time. problem is you want what you're into to get into the public eye, to spread the message, music, whatever, then once it gets there along come the imitators. Most people hear these before hearing what came before and subsequently imitate the imitators, and before you know it it's become so diluted that it's barely recognizable as the artform it actually came from. I've always said to know where you're going you gotta know where you've come from, that's why i've been filling my head with all the different types of music i can find since the year dot. the real shit is still always out there, you just gotta scratch the surface. it aint just hip hop bro, it's everything, but it just makes me even more happy that there's people out there who know whats up and keep it real whatever they're doing.

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your absolutely right. I see the same thing has been happening in the drum & bass scene for a few years now. urban cultures and music scenes across the board are going through this same thing.

yeah that's a good point too. commercialization is a killer and I agree I don't want everyone else in here.

it's awfully refreshing to see others share these views and it's cats like you guys on here that give me hope and knowledge that it's not dead and as long as we're here to carry the torch we can help shed the light for others to learn and spread the word.


yes they did I still got some of it too. the beauty of it also is that while every one and their brother is rocking the adidas gear when i break out one of those fila suits heads know whats up