Kanye won…

Nothing is really happening beside this whole Kanye vs. 50 cent thing. It’s like everything else stopped moving.

Well… It’s official. Kanye won the battle. The first week sales of “Graduation” beat “Curtis” by a big margin.  930k to 660k. Curtis didn’t just lose in the states. He lost in the UK too. No wonder he canceled the tour over there.

Now, 50 cent is running around saying that Def Jam cheated, either by buying a large amount of albums or counting 4 with 1 scan. And he’s also saying that Interscope didn’t support the album enough. Hm… I don’t blame him. It must be very uneasy for him. He’s been winning all these years.

50 cent is predicting that “Graduation”’s sales will drop dramatically in the second week. Let see what happens then.

Where is Camron?

Where is Camron? Nobody really knows. Not even his “former” homie, Jim Jones himself. He said he haven’t talked to him in months. I guess Cam is still chilling in his “beach chair” somewhere.

Well, summer is almost over. It’s time for Cam to climb back out. A couple of blogs mentioned today, Cam is about to make a surprise appearance somewhere, Hot97 or RapCity. I’m actually looking forward to it. I wonder what he has left to say. He always seems to have something “smart” to say. But this time around, things are different. After all those stupid homemade youtube videos, got sucker punched and Jim Jones leaving him behind, people are laughing at him. I really wonder how is he gonna make a comeback.

BET Rap City

Nahright.com has brought up an interesting topic today. “Is Rap city dead?” , and I would answer that question, “Yes”. Long time ago indeed.

Rap city died when BET decided to not bring Big Tigger back to the show, “Rap City The Basement”, a couple of years ago. Remember the grandmama’s basement with some dirty couches and the bathroom booth? I missed the most when rappers walk down the stairs and chill at couches chatting, and of course, the freestyle sections. It looked really fun. You could tell by the rappers’ facial expression that they were also actually enjoying it.

Ever since, BET’s team has tried hard to find someone to fill Big Tigger’s spot and flipped around the set for a couple of times. And nothing worked. The show is boring and become just another regular “rappers self-promotion” show. The set is plain ugly. Could BET spend just a little bit more on the setting for their shows?

Anyways, I just miss the good ol’ days, when I was actually looking forward to watch the show everyday after school at my grandmama’s. Now that I moved out of my grandmama’s house, so did the show.   

Kanye vs. Curtis

I know. I know. Enough is enough. We hear/see this two names everywhere everyday. Why am I blogging this? It’s simple, just like how 50 cent would word it, it generates “public interests”.

Both 50 cent & Kanye West said that Sept.11th was the most important day in Hip-Hop history (I disagree). It’s because two most popular rappers (right now) were both dropping their 3rd installment in the same day. Head to head. Toe to toe. Who would really “laughing straight to the bank” at the end? Would it be the Hip-Hop bully? Or extra tight jeans man would? A businessman or fashion model? I’m sure they would both be laughing pretty hard straight to the bank, but whom will get the bragging right? Or in 50 cent case, early retirement.

As of today, Kanye West is leading in sales by quite a bit. I’m personally very happy about it and hopes it last til the end of this race. I bought the “Graduation” in release date and I made the right choice. “Graduation” is definitely what the Hip-Hop needs right now. Not that I don’t like “party like a rock star” or “this is why I’m hot” or “crank dat”, but this album provides something different, not following the formula & inspiration. Despite the fact , he talks ish to the fullest in his lyrics, sick of it sometimes. But, this Kanye West guy is genius. I mean, he produced everything himself. Listen to the beats man. How the hell did he manage to produce such quality music while he is one of the most busiest person on earth. He earns his right to talk ish.

50 cent in other hand, didn’t create his music. Dr. Dre, Timbaland, Eminem and other producers created his music. He put catchy hooks and rhythms on them.  He is too busy making “okay” movies and making busniess deals. He is right. He is a businessman. Look at him, he takes off his bra-top more frequent than Ja-Rule did at his prime. He sings more hooks than Ja-Rule & Nelly combined. And Justin Timberlake & Robin Thicke on your albums? If you stick with what you were representing from the begining, I would have like you more.

Enough said, music-wise, “Curtis” don’t have a chance. Not even close. Go cop the “Graduation” if you haven’t yet. Or at least Amazon or Youtube it, don’t you torrent it. Alright? Sales-wise, at the end of the day, 50 cent does generate more “public interests”. One thing I notice from personal experience is, non-Hip-Hop lovers would buy 50 cent’s albums, just because he is the most talked person. Some of my friends who don’t listen to Hip-Hop at all went and bought his album. Why? Because it’s like a trend. It’s cool to have a 50 cent album or something. “You bought the “Get rich or die trying”? “Yes, I did, this guy got shot 9 times man.”

Let Me Re-Introduce Myself

Just decided to delete all my previous posts and start this blog fresh. The reasons why are, instead of posting multiple random posts everyday, I would rather do a daily sum-up post of what I’ve read/heard on that day. And most importantly, I want to get serious with this blog, sharing my perspective and opinion, criticizing rappers/singles/albums/movies.

Hope this blog would give you something a little bit different from the others, because first, I’m Chinese, who grew up in Asia and was introduced to Hip-Hop culture just some 10 years ago. And I could honestly admit that I never completely understood or related to what rappers are saying (language barrier & I’m not from the “hood”.) But I believe we all share one thing in common,

“the love for Hip-Hop”. I don’t necessary “live” Hip-Hop. But I definitely “Love” Hip-Hop.

Enough said. Here a little bit about myself:

• a 20+ year old Chinese guy currently resides in Canada
• my first Hip-hop related album was Fresh Price & DJ Jazzy Jeff “Code Red” (go ahead laugh at me, I had no choice my cousin bought me that)
• Fugees, Cypress Hill, Tupac & Wu-Tang got me seriously hooked (should I put Beastie Boys on the list?)
• was blown away by Juice, Friday, New Jersey Drive, Menace II soceity… etc.
• would go to a club which no other Asian person could be found and got stared down (hey, I love the music you love too!)

By the way, just bought the Kanye’s album the day it released. Go cop yours if you haven’t yet. Right Now. Don’t you torrent it. You get your money worth with this one. Trust me.