editor’s note
Publisher Julia Beverly Editor-In-Chief N. Ali Early Art Director Tene Gooden Music Editor Randy Roper ADVERTISING SALES Che Johnson Isaiah Campbell Contributors D-Ray DJ BackSide Joey Colombo Regi Mentle Wendy Day Street Reps Anthony Deavers Bigg P-Wee Dee1 Demolition Men DJ E-Z Cutt DJ Jam-X DJ K-Tone DJ Quote DJ Strong & DJ Warrior John Costen Kewan Lewis Lisa Coleman Maroy Rob J Official Rob Reyes Sherita Saulsberry William Major
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THE WEST IS BACKSIDE CALIFORNIA LOVE HOW THE WEST WAS WON SXSW Review RELEASE THERAPY: MISTAH FAB WHO’S READING OZONE BANGIN’ 101: BIG FASE PATIENTLY WAITING: JUICE PATIENTLY WAITING: MITCHY SLICK PATIENTLY WAITING: ROCCETT DJ PROFILE: DJ STRONG MR. CARTOON THE FIXXERS TOO $HORT CD REVIEWS END ZONE
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Me
and my ninja finally caught Tyler Perry’s latest flick Daddy’s Little Girls and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. I remember him talking on the radio about how America didn’t want to accept the idea of a single Black father raising children… and wanting to do it. So I got to thinking – because I do that – and it struck a chord. A week prior to taking in that movie I watched a disturbing video on the news. The next day there were endless Internet streams of the same video, which I’m sure most of conscious America has been made aware of: two babies smoking weed in the presence of their uncle and his friend. They knew how to hold it, pass it and yes, smoke it. Subsequent reports revealed that the uncle and friend are both from “dysfunctional households,” ones where mothers sleep in the very next room while her toddlers are toking marijuana. Maybe she was high herself. Who knows? This same household is responsible for producing multiple family members who are either currently in jail, on their way or were recently released.
men whose destiny is to go to jail? Meanwhile, their female counterparts find their way through college, graduate school and then the corporate world, if they so choose.
A couple weeks later I come to find out that these same babies, who have since been turned over to the state of Texas, had cocaine in their innocent systems as well. Judging from the way the uncle and his friend were acting it was just weed. But to think that they could have had the indecency to lace it with ‘caine or worse, give the babies that shit straight up, was disheartening to say the least.
Take AMG and DJ Quik for instance, now known as The Fixxers (pg. 20). Their whole mission in coming back into the Hip Hop fold (congrats on the Interscope deal) they say, is to abandon the identity that people already have of them and come anew. Knowing that they’ve been in the thick of it and are able to identify a need for change, it makes all the more sense for their offspring extended to follow. Much the same is the case with Mr. Cartoon (pg. 18), who’s seen his fair share of struggles and poverty stricken circumstances, only to become the most sought after tattoo artist in the country. And then there’s our cover subject, Too $hort (22). Perhaps the most consistent artist in Hip Hop’s illustrious existence, he’s still at it. Survived five years with Jive when all they wanted to promote was popcorn, bubblegum bullshit like it was nothin’. Count how many albums he’s dropped and then add another one to it. Act like you know beeeyatch!!
So I mulled over growing up and how hard it has to be in this day and age. I’m sure we had problems back in the ‘70’s, but we didn’t have disruptive forces like crack rock ravishing our communities across the country. We didn’t have the threat of AIDS at every sexual turn and we didn’t have Hip Hop. As it’s become the most celebrated musical genre ever, our culture has taken its hits and deservedly so. As reporters from the hoods of the United States our prophets/artists are obligated to discuss what pops off in the streets. Be it drugs, the police force, sex or any other matter of importance, it’s their duty to report the news. It is what it is. If the news is 85% negative, we are committed to telling it without reservation and/or prejudice. However, there has to come a time when we begin to glorify something other than the same rhetoric bullshit that’s clouded our vision for more than two decades. Cold thing about it is we love weed on the West Coast. It’s to the point where you can damn near do it legally in California. The case with the boys in Texas was rare in that they were dumb enough to tape the shit, but I’m sure it happens in other parts of the country. So at what point do we stop? When do we start teaching our seeds instead of rearing
We talk about Hip Hop being grown with the button down shirts and all the materialistic bullshit that comes with it, but it doesn’t mean anything if we don’t look out for each other. Perry addressed it in the movie when Gabrielle Union’s character bellowed that if she saw “another 30 year old brotha wearing a throwback” she was going to scream… and then she did (both). By no means is this an attempt to point the finger at the dude who carries his own bottle of hot sauce to Red Lobster (to keep it all the way one hunned, I had a throwback on when I was watching the movie – Jerry Rice, #88, Mississippi Valley State – you know I stay Bay’d out!). I think Hip Hop means to keep us young and vibrant, but not ignorant. We have to grow with our circumstances and realize that as the world changes, so does our culture.
See, we may not think we have leaders because their names don’t end in King, Shabazz or Ali, but we do. They’re in our CD collections, in studios and in the thick of the hood holding down anonymous storefronts. And we have a duty to identify who they are and what message it is we are supposed to get from their speak. Peace 2 fingers. *Our deepest sympathies go out to the family and friends of Johnny “Ca$h” Castaneda – a promising rapper from the city of Richmond whose life was taken away by a gunshot wound to the head. Thizz In Peace.
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