A CALL TO ALL OF HIP-HOP'S FOUNDING FATHERS!! (Read and pass along)

I have made this point previously, and I would like to ask you ALL to help me facilitate this.  As we all mourn Phife's passing, there is something else that passed with him. HIS story of HIS experience with ATCQ and hip-hop as a whole.  We can listen to everyone else tell us their perception of his experience, but the opportunity to hear it from his OWN lips is now forever gone.

I want to reach out to as many of our classic hip-hop artists as possible and have them either write an essay, a short story, a book, a page, a paragraph, or for that matter a voice message and i'll transcribe it, telling THEIR story of THEIR experience in THEIR words from THEIR perspective.  I want to take the collective and create a "history book", before all we have left, is hearsay and stories passed down, watered down, altered.....before the history of our founding fathers is reduced to nothing more than "legend" "folklore".....the "telephone game"

If nothing else, as I know how limited everyone's time is, if you would either send me an email list that I can send this letter to, or better than that, if you would forward it to those you feel would be willing, with a small endorsement of the idea, that would help. 

We MUST get this ball rolling before we lose anymore.
Phife was MY age. Just a kid...

PEace

Lion

 

( email me: lion@trueschoolent.com )

Now, wait just a damned minute.......

Wow...y'all kinda just CRAVE some drama, don't you?  You wicked hypocrites.  You shuffle our classic artists off into the old-folks circuit, doing old school shows that you MIGHT come to. You straight download all the music, bootleg the merchandise, and refuse to give any real airtime to their new music.....but let something be said, and all of a sudden, you wanna take sides and talk about how much you respect someone.  Here, let me speak for ALL of these MCs.....FUCK your so-called "respect".  You know what what you're like? You're like all these cats on 9/10. Didn't give a fuck about anything but yourselves and your little lives. The 9/11 happened, towers fell...and all of a sudden, there was an American flag flying from every fuckin' porch.  Bullshit. Your "patriotism" is fake and so are you. The same stands for you that was all about today's hottest artist, until Daddy-O spoke some truth you didn't like...then you want to blow up social media. Where was your love for Rakim before? No no no.....where was your EXPRESSION of love? Did you buy your last copy of Paid In Full or Follow The Leader? I doubt it. More likely, you downloaded it. Did you buy a t-shirt at the last show? Did you even GO? Stop talking about who you "love" and "respect". Because I guarantee that your love and respect doesn't reflect in their bank accounts.

But lets break this down just a little bit.  What did Daddy-O say that was disrespectful? Rakim told the biggest lie in hip-hop....that sounds like a statement of fact (or i'll even say opinion, if it makes you feel better).  Was he disrespectful by saying "I'm not a fan of Jay Z"?. He didn't say "Yo, Rakim is a fucking liar!". To say someone told a lie and to call them a liar are absolutely different statements. The fact is "it's not where you're from, it's where you're at" is a lie.  I mean what else do you call a statement that is untrue? Daddy-O backed it all up with fact.  Even as he lives in ATL now, he still claims East New York, Brownsville, Brooklyn.  Kangol Kid lives on Staten Island and still reps East Flatbush, BK.  I live in NW Indiana, but i'll tell people in a HEARTBEAT that I was raised in San Diego, Ca. 

Why is it about where you're from?  Because your life experiences where you're FROM, formulate your world view, and explain both your mindset and your actions.  Example: If you go to dinner with me and you pick up your mashed potatoes with your hand and eat it off your fingers, i'm going to find you disgusting....unless of course, I learn that you lived in the deepest Congo, and this is what is normal to you. It's about where you're from.  I was talking with a friend who is terrified of the ocean. They saw a video of  someone on a beach get overwhelmed by the ocean and dragged away from shore. "FUCK  that, that's why I don't fuck with the ocean! It will KILL YOU"......and as a San Diego native, I looked and said "You're directly out of your mind.  If that dude would have just relaxed, an undertow pulls in an upward motion. If you don't fight, it will actually pull you back up to the surface!" .....but that person grew up in like Idaho or something, so they didn't have the life-experience to understand my perspective.  It's about where you're FROM.

I do find it humorous that, as the label co-owner, I have reached out to XXL Magazine since 06/15 with information, updates, press releases, media alerts, tracks, requests for music reviews, and offers to interview Daddy-O, and not a word in response. But the MOMENT shit starts looking like something negative is happening, they just STRAIGHT on Daddy-O's dick to "report" it. But I can guarantee as Daddy-O's manager AND label co-owner, that neither XXL, nor ANY ONE ELSE, has reached out to ask Daddy-O about this interview, or to clarify any of his statements. Interesting, no? Actually....no, it's not interesting. It's their M.O. and  I have no business being surprised.

Lets address a couple of other things here real quick.  Daddy-O didn't disrespect Jalil. He QUOTED Jalil in reference to the rhyme style and lyrical skill/vernacular of today's rappers compared to yesteryear's.  The fact is, those flows are worlds apart. Sadly, for all the "advances" in rap, it mostly churns out talent-less hacks anymore. Nonsensical garbage.  GET OFF MY LAWN......

Also, let's address Daddy-O's "Five Fingers of Death" freestyle. FIRST OFF, Daddy-O was clear at the end of that rhyme, that he was in no way dissing Fruqwan. He said "What? Because he was in the Gravediggaz.... plus Poetic died and that's a hard thing".  But y'all bored ass people want to make it out to be something it isn't.

Thank you AmbrosiaForHeads, and of COURSE Sway in the Morning. And thank the rest of you for jumping onboard, no matter which side, because my message is a simple one....be consistent. If you say you love and respect an artist, why don't you start supporting their art, instead of stealing it. Believe me, they would appreciate THAT much more than your here today gone tomorrow lip service.

Last thought, if you're offended and think you're owed an apology, then here you go. I'm sorry that your psyche is so fragile, that mere words can upset your world so easily.  I'm sorry you're so delicate.

Peace

The Burden Endured....

   There are many frustrations involved in what I do and who I work with.  I have always been a person that says what is on my mind. If you step on my toes, I tended to let you know about it. If something pissed me off, if NOTHING ELSE, I could at least go on twitter or FB and blow off steam, even if it was just passive aggressive. I had an avenue to get things off of my chest. I didn't realize just how freeing that really is.

   Those days are behind me now, and that's by choice. Choice, because I've CHOSEN to live a public life. That's the essence of what this work really is.  Public. The face of a label. The face of an entertainment company, the voice of reason and diplomacy for my clients, who are incredibly well known.  It's my job to temper their words and when needed, to clean up messes they make.  I speak with their authority, and therefore, my actions reflect on them.  Regardless of how little my actual involvement with a particular artist may be, if I am known to be their associate, my actions and words reflect on them. To the degree that I am hyper-aware of my appearance when I leave the house even to just go to the grocery.  All this may be a choice....but it's also a burden.

   I have nowhere to really vent, no, not even here. Even THIS isn't private. For a while, years ago, I was on experienceprojectDOTcom, which was a blogging site based on anonymity.  You didn't post your name, instead, people would connect with you based on your experiences.  So, if you posted something with the title "I think my spouse is cheating on me", others would see that title and join the conversation, if they were feeling the same thing.  Kinda cool....but I came to a couple of conclusions Firstly, my experiences are fairly unique to what I do. Not really likely to find other entertainment company owners/label executives who deal with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees on a daily basis, so there's that. Second, the ones who COULD relate, were commiserating, and that's not what I want to be surrounded by.

  Oh well....price I pay for the life I choose, no?