Rey Flemings

Another week in commercial hip hop’s slow decline into irrelevance has passed. Was there anything worth talking about?

We learned that Kanye and 50 Cent’s feud over who would sell the most records was nothing more than a publicity stunt (yawn!). XXL, a leading hip-hop rag, shared the news that the two would be posing on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine together.

The Billboard Top 10 singles chart this week was high on samples.

There were a few bright spots:

UGK had the #1 Album in the country (yes, UGK). You say you saw that coming? Yeah right.

Next, I’m not sure if I should include a song with the title, “I Feel Like Dying” in the ‘bright spots’ section, but Jim Jonsin’s sampling / production of Karma’s “Once” combined with Lil Wayne’s dark, psychedelic, drug fueled rhyme turned the little known underground banger into Myspace’s top song of the week.

“I Feel Like Dying”

With nearly 1 million digital ’spins’ — Dying topped even the ubiquitous Soulja Boy anthem, Crank Dat. So don’t be surprised if you hear the Dying single on the radio. Though with the radio edit it’ll be I Feel Like Crying or Lying or Flying or worse.

Speaking of Soulja Boy . . .

a major music executive commented that his song, ‘Crank Dat Soulja Boy (Superman Dat Hoe’ is, “single handedly setting the Black race back 50 years” likening the song’s video to a minstrel show.

While I get the point he’s trying to make, my opinion differs substantially. Reflect on rap music during the height of the crunk genre, specifically the violence that accompanied it. Many southern cities saw entire nightlife scenes and once dominate nightclubs close their doors because of unchecked violence. Moreover, it became difficult in many places to just go to a club and enjoy a night out.

In my mind, Crank Dat is the crunk-y extension of Snap — returning fun to clubs. Soulja Boy seems a type of post-crunk embodiment of where young people are taking the genre — keeping it grimy, but having fun. I see more dancing in Souja Boy’s video than I’ve seen since MC Hammer. At the end of the day, the hottest song on the streets these days isn’t really vulgar, isn’t about bling or dope . . . honestly, I’m not really sure what its about besides dancing and Bapes.

With the sad state of the rap game, ‘Supermaning That Hoe’ actually takes on a political meaning. Whoa.

Share This