Return Of The Gangster, Gangster!

The Hip-Hop Historians are crying and so are the Hip-Hop Purists (and all us other "Hip-Hop" crybabies whining about Hip-Hop being dead). We've lost almost ever battle we've had to try to revive Hip-Hop, but the war isn't over yet. First, lets clear up a misconception that a lot of the fans of current Hip-Hop have. The revival movement in Hip-Hop is not about bringing New York Hip-Hop back, it's about bringing back the skills aspect of Hip-Hop. Back when rappers were all doing "da- bum, da- bum, da-bum, ha, ha", Kool Moe Dee, Run DMC and a few others forced rappers to actually think about what they were saying. Even though I disagree with the idea, some Hip-Hop heads put Melle Mel as one of the greatest of all time because "The Message" changed the landscape of Hip-Hop. They say without "The Message", we'd be left with meaningless songs about partying, which was the main theme in the late seventies and early eighties (and the main theme currently). Most Hip-Hop heads that I converse with don't have a New York returning" agenda, just a "Hip-Hop returning" agenda. I think most would agree with me that artist outside of New York have had a tremendous input on Hip-Hop history. N.W.A. gave the disenfranchised youth of L.A. a voice, Ice-T is a pioneer, King Tee, E-40, Too Short, even M.C. Hammer have all opened up the gates of California to the rest of the world, etching the West Coast into the Hip-Hop history books (which don't exist). Arguably one of the greatest rappers in history is Scarface, a rapper from Houston, TX. You can go on and on with a list of southern artist that have defined Hip-Hop. Three of my favorite groups of all time (all behind Wu-Tang Clan and Mobb Deep, I am from New York) are from the south, Outkast, 8Ball & MJG, and The Underground Kings. I don't even have to go into what T.I., Goodie Mob, Three 6 Mafia (in their own way), Lil Jon, and others have done to put the Dirty South in the Hip-Hop history books. Us Hip-Hop crybabies, like Nas, want more from our Hip-Hop music. Not really a return to the former state of Hip-Hop, but greater substance than there has been in the past years. When any rapper can get away with saying "On some G shit, Us & Cadbury are a perfect fit, we both specialize in smashin the streets with that sweetness" (thanks Jimmy for enlightening us on the reason you all say "no homo"), we should all stop and ask ourselves what is wrong with us as Hip-Hop consumers. So when you hear one of us (Hip-Hop purists, backpackers, Hip-Hop heads, Hip-Hop crybabies, whatever you want to call us) talking about Hip-Hop being dead, I want you to look at Hip-Hop and tell me it isn't dead creatively. And a note to my fellow Hip-Hop purists, don't cry, we still have Ghostface Killah.

Peace, I mean WAR!