Catch 22...Caliber!

In this new age hip-hop world that we currently live in, artist especially rappers always have to protect their image and what they stand for. This is the reason you visit WorldStar Hip-Hop everyday to see if a rapper has gotten exposed for portraying someone he/she really isn't. In the hip-hop community "keeping it real"or "being a real nigga" is highly glorified by listeners around the world. If you're a back pack rapper we expect back pack music from you, if you're a fun pop record rapper we expect pop records from you, and if you're a street rapper we expect street records from you. But at the end of the day a rapper nowadays cannot win.

I remember I had this conversation with one of my friends and followers @_Motaw and he brought it to my attention that rappers cannot win. It took a second for me to understand what he meant by that and then the lightbulb went off in my head. In this day and age of the rap game rappers can't win, the game is rigged and set up for them to lose every time. I know some of yall are confused but give me a second to explain and by the end of this blog the lightbulb will go off in your head as well.

When we say rappers can't win let's take someone like Lupe Fiasco for example. Aside from his last album "L.A.S.E.R.S" I think Lupe is fucking dope! His first two albums "Food and Liquor" and "The Cool" are fucking classics and if you never heard them shame on you my nigga. I personally like Lupe because he doesn't teaspoon feed me with bars. When I say teaspoon feed me I mean he doesn't put the punchline right in front of me and says "here you go." Lupe makes me Google things and actually use my brain so when I do get the punchline, I appreciate it. Unlike niggas such as Little Wayne who says a punchline (a wack one at that) and in the following bar explains the punchline. The line wasn't that complex in the first place for you to explain it my nigga, I got it the first go round! But to the general public Wayne to top 5 dead or alive and Lupe is trash. It's not that Lupe is trash, he just says things that goes over your head and forces you to think and use your resources and since niggas dont want to do that the nigga is wack. So when a rapper tries to be too lyrical he's wack and doesn't sell units which therefore gets him placed on the shelf at his record label. He can't win!

Let's talk about someone like Rick Ross for example. Now William Roberts better known as Rick Ross is a rapper from Miami, FL. Rick Ross based his image on being a well known drug kingpin in the mean streets on Miami. He has one of the most successful record labels today which is MMG (Maybach Music Group). But in 2009 Rick Ross got exposed for being a prison guard before he was known as a rapper, and to be a prison guard in the hip-hop community where we say "Fuck the police" and "Stop Snitching" just isn't acceptable. So what happened? Ross dropped some good music and the general public totally forgot about his past. He continued to talk and broadcast his "drug dealing" past after the world knows he was a prison guard. Not only was William a prison guard but he denied it in an interview with DJ Vlad and then later confessed to being a C.O in a radio interview with Big Boi. Now with Rick Ross lying about his past we can call him a fraud all day everyday, but if he was to go out and sell some drugs we'll call his stupid because he's making millions of dollars. Therefore, Ross cannot win!  

Rick Ross denying about being a prison guard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLagEtK8fOM

Rick Ross confessing about being a prison guard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsMq3Lw8Zu8&feature=related

Lastly let's take a look at a rapper from Baton Rouge, LA rapper Lil Boosie. Lil Boosie talks about the rough streets of his city and how he had to grind and struggle to make it to the top. Boosie mentions drugs, violence, money, and murder in his lyrics and some may say "Boosie is keeping it real, he's talking about things that happen in the streets." I'm not denying Boosie doesn't talk about the harsh reality of what goes on in the black communities and around the world. It's just when you talk about that life and give off that image, us the listeners expect for you to actually live that life. In which Boosie did, he is currently on trial for his life for putting a hit out on a local rapper from his neighborhood. Now if Boosie was talking that street shit and was confronted on it and didn't do anything we (the listeners) would call him a punk. But if he were to get confronted about something and took it to the streets like he did we call him dumb. Catch 22, he can't win.

There are a lot of rappers who we can talk about, on how they can't win:

T.I

Stack Bundles (R.I.P)

C-Murder

Plies

Max-B

Joe Budden

and the list continues....

As much as I love hip-hop as a culture and love hearing great timeless music, it's set up for the artists to lose at the end of the day.

Tell me what you think and follow me on Twitter @Rell_Mac

Written by Rell Mac