Educated Blacks Vs. Uneducated Blacks

I ran into my older Step-brother today whom just got out of prison two years ago for doing fifteen years for being an acessory to an armed robbery and kidnapping his friends committed. you can say he was just another brother in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Whats worse is that he stole jewlery from my father and now he has a nerve to come back to my father at the age of 30 pleding for money and yet he has five childern out of wed-lock, a wife with no high school diploma and three kids of her own, unemployeed, and he owes child support to multiple women.

Now Im a child that has gone to school almost his whole life. you could possibly say I grew up in school entrenched in my books. I never ran the streets, I was never brought home by the police, I never did drugs, and I was always on the honor roll almost every semester in school. I am a shining example of what a black boy should be.

but as that is the case, my own father thinks differently of me. when he goes out to do his job in the neighborhood, he will brag about my achivements to other people to prove that he did his job in raising me. but the fact is, he really didn't raise me; he was a "provider". Providers are the type of men that believe money is a subsitute for love. sorta like paying child support without bonding with your son. although I can say my father was there for me, I cant really say he raised me. My mother and five aunts raised me because they nurtured me, taught me how to tie my shoes at age six, brought me my first libaray card, and all the other essential things a boy should have in order to be developed. my father did do somethings with me as a child, but now that I am older all he does is drink beer, cut grass, and yell at me about how he is the man of the house.

no matter what I do he always gives me the third degree about everything and scolds me to the point that his words cut at the depths of my soul. "BE A MAN! BE A MAN! BE A MAN! he yells aloud at me as if I am the problem. now I have never disrespected my parents, but they always told me to stand up for myself whenever someone disrespects me.

I will not allow nobody, not even my father to talk to me any old kind of way, I've always respected my parents but at a certain point we have to draw a line of respect to keep OUR self-respect from being damaged.

I know what being a man is! Being a man is about having standards and values for yourself, being a man means getting an education and applying it to your own life, being a man is about not associating with people who engage in criminal behavior, being a man is about taking responsibility for your actions, being a man is about resilience and perserverence, and being a man is about having respect for women and not running around impregnating multiple women.

If my father is so quick to tell me about what a man is supposed to be, why can he tell that to my step-brother?

If im in college trying to get an education, why cant a father be happy for a son thats trying to achive something greater than himself?

And here I sit, 11am on a saturday morning eating IHOP with my step-brother while my father sits at the table Pacifying my step-brother as if he were a baby talking to him in a soft and suttle voice to appease his conscience for a self-inflicted situation he created. need I say that this man is a convict, 30 years old with a wife and five iligitamate childern from different women. and yet he is the person on my fathers side who gets this type of preferential treatment.

If I were my father, I would treat my step-brother the way he treats me. I would get a bottle of colt 45 and drink it with a full bottle of gin, and back him into a corner and yell "BE A MAN"! "BE A MAN"! "BE A MAN"! "WIPE THOSE FUCKIN TEARS OUT YOUR EYES AND BE A MAN"!

And then he'll know how it feels to feel like a piece of shit when you aint done nothing wrong, but make your parents happy! he'll know how it feels, when you gotta look over your back to wonder if somebody is watching you from behind!

My own father spends eighty dollars on him just to get food for his childern, knowing that money has to be saved for me to continue my matriculation through college.

These are the type of blackmen I can not stand, if you are supposed to be a husband you are not supposed to be asking for handouts. My step-brother took the punk way out of his responsibilities as a man and that is why Iam more determind than ever to finish my college degree.

Why is it that brothers like him, who go around spreading his seed in different women always get the handouts in the black community?

why are black people so dependent on welfare and government assistance checks?

and yet, it is brothers like me who are blamed for looking down on my whole race when I offer them advice to get out of their situation. Who the fuck is this uppity ass nigga?

"Oh! he think he better than us just because he got a college education"!

everytime a brotha gets ahead, the hood niggas always find ways to beat up on brothers with intellect.

My good friend Ryan once told me, "if I want to blast Frank Sinatra out of my car radio while Im rollin through the hood, then fuck them Im a do what I want to do because thats who Iam"!

smart black kids have been labled Steve erkel or Carlton Banks simply because they are smart kids.

On occassion I have even been called Malcolm X all way throughout high school because of my views on black history.

why is it the uneducated blacks bring down the educated kids? is it such a crime to be a smart blackman?

people like Edmund Perry, a black kid who was raised in harlem. went to a boarding school in New Hampshire and graduated with honors. he recieved a scholarship to Stanford University only to have it wiped away from him by an officer who shot him in self-defense. and eventhough the shooting was justified, its just another sad case of how a brother with an opportunity could lose everything by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

it seems when brothers try to make it out of the ghetto, people in the ghetto try to find ways to set that person two steps back. If you went to the NBA and came back to the hood only to find your-self caught in a stop snitching dvd case, your reputation as a basketball player is over.

And if you try to help everybody out in the hood when you got to the top, niggas would be stealing from you, robbing you, and suing you. (Ask MC Hammer)!

This is why it is fundamentaly important to have an education, an education will help you to expand your mind beyond what you are use to seeing. if black people are ever going to go anywhere in life you have to have a college degree. now it is not a gurantee to a instant job or instant success. But a college degree will help you to take broad knowledge and apply it to the real world so that it can benifit your life. if a door doesn't open for you, you can create one an walk through it.

I believe every black person has the potential to get an education and create more doors for our people to walk through. Booker T. washington once said "we can be seperate as the five fingers, but one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress". black people must stick together if we are going to help each other to reach the goal of economic development within our communities. We are losing our neighborhoods to whites day by day because we don't own anything and we depend on government welfare instead of building it for ourselves. and yet the jews, the hispanics, and the italians are able to stick together and build their neighborhoods up and keep certain types of people out of them. (LIKE US)! blacks will never be able to get along because we hate each other and we rob and kill one another over senseless shit like shoes, cars, and girls.

when guys like me try to offer people advice on how to get off of welfare and WIC, they look at me like im the uppity black that came to town and told them that these niggas were worthless. but what I tell people is if you want something in life you must have that piece of paper to open the doors to opportunity, if you don't then good luck because they don't offer entry-level jobs to Dropouts.

What Hoodrats need to stop doing is blaming guys like me for telling them the straight up truth, that you having babies out of wed-lock is foul and you need to get your tubes cut by planned parenthood in order to stop the mass epidemic of Bastard Childern walking the streets with no father in sight because he is somewhere kickin it with one of his side chicks on the low.

and what people from the ghetto need to do is get up everyday and go to the libaray and read a book for a few hours. we have a free Libaray USE IT! I get sick and tired of seeing black kids go into a libaray and go straight for the computer just to get on facebook, and twitter. go open a book for five minutes and expand your mind.

and another thing we need to do is stop putting down the smart black people, they worked hard to get where they are and if they wanted to help YOU! it would be up to them. either way don't expect a handout form anyone simply because your from the hood!

My father told me when I was in the car today, "You don't need an education to survive in this world, look at how I turned out"!

Ok! you've only made it up to junior year of high school, you've been a janitor almost your entire life. and on top of that it is menial work and you haven't move up the ladder, you know why? because it is domesticated work which means it doesn't have any benifits nor is it a secure job with fringe benifits.

A Job and A Career are two different things in this new Century.

My mother has a high school Diploma and she is a trained Nurse, and eventhough it is domesticated. that is a Career because nursing requires training as you progress through your position. THAT IS A CAREER!

Janitors mop floors, clean bathrooms, take out trash, clean tables, and buff floors and requires no training, or no certifications THAT IS A JOB!

Bachelor's Degree- Requires you to pass a level of classes, take comprehensive examinations, and work on a project that requires you to use the classroom theories you were taught and apply them to a senario within the professional environment. That is A CAREER!

A Career is a Pathway that helps to determine how much potential you have to make it to the top

in order to lead, you must serve first!

And when you have made it to the top of your career level, you can break away and start your own and be your own boss. and retire of the fruits of your labor. THAT IS A CAREER!

When you have Secure Stock, 401k pensions, and a bank account with an invstment firm like citibank and Merril Lynch then you are SECURE for life because you have an education that lead to a career that lead to a pathway of you being your own boss!

When you can afford to buy a bigger house with a mortage that cost 2500 a month then you can say I don't need an education.

If I quit college now and said I dont need an education, I wouldn't have any of these things because you know why!

Im Not Warren Buffet!

Im not Bill Gates!

Im Not Mark Zuckerburg!

Those guys didn't need college because their WHITE!

But since Im Black I need a Phd in order to say Im Secure!

A Bachelors Degree will put me at $25-35,000 A year!

A Masters Degree will Put me at $55-75,000 A Year!

A PhD will put me at 75,000-100,000 A Year!

So I still Don't need an education now right?

so together my parents are worth $45,000 a year thats barely MIDDLE CLASS!

A single person makes $45,000 a year with a masters degree thats about 3750 a Month! is what a single person would make.

that wouldn't barely be enough to support a family in this day and age! maybe back in 1975 befor hyperinflation but not in this ducade!

if a couple were married today, both with masters under there name making 55,000 a year each; there combined in come would be $110,000 which would be upper class and there net worth would be $9,166.66 a month! that is enough to put kids through college and mortage two homes and two cars.

so lets look at it from a PHd point, both spouses are professors and Tenured, and make $100,000 a year would make a combined income of $200,000 and a net worth of 16,666.66 a month!

so lets put it this way! 45,000 a year? or 200,000 a year?

You still think an education isn't worth it?

Like many people I still believe that you can achieve the american dream if you work hard and pay your dues you will reap the benifits!

I bust my ass every day in school, so that my childern wont have to when they grow up!

I get three hours of sleep everynight just make sure my paper is typed for the next day!

I get up 5am during a cold winter morning, bust my ass on some ice, and sleep in the holmes hall lounge so I can get some extra sleep before my 8am class

I study at home when my father blasts his music while im trying to type a paper for my next class

I get charlie horses in my leg at night due to the long icy walks down Cold spring lane

But I don't do it just because I have to, I do it because my acestors did it as well because they were determind to get an education.

Booker T. Washington walked from northern Vriginia to Hampton University with no shoes on in order to obtain a vocational education in order to become self sufficient as a man

and if it were not for this, there would not be a Tuskeegee University

WEB Dubois was the first black man to obtain his Phd from Harvard University to become a tenured professor at Fisk, Wilberforce, And Atlanta University.

these two men did not say education is worthless, they took their education and established two schools of thought.

So when I hear black people making excuses for not rising to the bars of exclence then I must say that THERE ARE NO EXCUSES! YOU EITHER GO HARD! OR GO HOME!

Because Life has no time for slackers.

so Educated or Uneducated, we owe are Ancestors. so we must begin to build for ourselves so that we can become a self-sufficient race!

SO don't tell me to Be a MAN! because when I came into the world I was Already A MAN!

God made me A MAN! through knowledge and wisdom!

when I opened those books I became AMAN!

When Malcolm X was in Jail he became AMAN!

and when I pray to god I say AMAN!

What Boomerang Taught Me About Dating in the Professional World

So many people in this world are looking for "The One", but really dont take the time to have fun before they look to settle down. And sometimes,we put our focus into one person making us happy that we don't become content with our own happiness.

I watched a movie called Boomerang with Eddie Murphy, it was a pretty old movie; but the plot is still relevant today just as it was back in 1992. marcus Gram an Advertising Account Executive for a Marketing firm in lower manhattan. constantly finds himself wondering from bed to bed until he meets a woman named Angela an art designer and jaquline the CEO of the marketing firm. he is torn between the two because he is afraid of falling in love. when he meets jaquline, she ends up having sex with marcus only to find out that he was being used as a fling and nothing more.

Marcus learns the hard way that the same tactics he used to manipulate women into bed could be used against him to destroy his reputation, and ultimately it affects his work and his self-worth as a man. In the mist of the incident, angela helps to cheer marcus up and help bring his sprits back up. And during the time they spend together, they develop a friendship and eventually without notice fall in love.

Sometimes as men, we don't realize a good thing until its gone. I learned from eddie murphy's charecter, that today's dating game is either what my homeboys would call it a Smash N' Pass routine that men play because we don't feel the need to settle down. And most modern day women "The Sex in the city" type have found it benificial not to settle down either. In the 21st century is Marriage the standard anymore? or is it just a free for all without any obligations to make the other person happy? in a world where we become accustom to one night stands and flings, we have taken the word "Single" and turned it in to a word to be celebrated as opposed to marriage. I can understand why men and women enjoy "Singleness", people aged 18 to 25 have grown up in homes where they seen their mothers and fathers argue about financial matters and others things including extra marital affairs which ultimately end in a bitter divorce. and generation Y wants to make sure that they don't make the same mistakes their parents made. and so we've become a generation of sexual variety as opposed to the old customs of monogamy and matrimony. can marriage work in the 21st century? do we feel we need someone to validate us?

I believe that no one is obligated to make you happy nor are you obligated to make them happy. I feel if the pressure of marriage was taken off us as a generation we won't have to feel the need to be with a person simply out of validation but out of love and a wholeness that comes with sharing that love with someone else. people should be free to determine what type of relationship they want to have for themselves. people should not be forced to live a lifestyle that only formats a certain group of people. one thing I hate the most about married couples is they say, "Well, why arn't you married yet"? just because one is not married or in a relationship does not mean they are losers or undesirable it just means they enjoy being single and having fun without the pressurs of having to make someone else happy for the rest fo their lives.

I realize people lose alot of freedoms when your in a relationship or married because now you have become "One" and everything you do you have to do with your spouse. My bestfriend is in a relationship and all he does is work the whole week and by friday he just watches movies with his girl or go out to diner. Its funny, because everytime I say can we hangout he says I can't because he's doing things with his girl. when my friends get into relationships they ultimatly cut off all their friends until something bad happens in the relationship and then they come running back saying "what was I thinking"? and "Im glad that part of my life is over"! and then its back to the one night stands and sex on a late night creep to get over the pain of a bad break-up.

Why can't people just have fun? dont get me wrong, Im open to the idea of marriage but marriage is something someone should not just jump into simply because there parents are married. but because they feel ready to take that plunge into building a family. in the mist of the economic crises, I feel that the 80's and the 90's babies are going to wait until their mid to late 30's to get married. and some will eventually think long and hard before making that final step. My parents have hinted on asking me when am I going to get married? and mentally I have to tell them please Shut the fuck up! I will get married when im good and ready, im not rushing it for nobody. Im already in my early twenties and already my dad wants gradchildern, hold the fuck up! I aint even out of college yet! and already you want grandchildern. I say hell no! we got enough fucked up kids in this world. people shound't feel pressured into relationships or marriage by default. if it's not meant for you, its not meant for you! no hook ups, no blind dates! just do what you feel is comfortable to your lifestyle. sometimes I find out that people who are married got married because they were trying to please the people around them, not because they were in love. people dont have to be in a relationship to be in love. and people dont have to be married to have sex. a relationship is about expectations and if people don't clerify that from the beginning, people will get hurt.

if you want to have a sex friend just be honest, if you want to have a friend who can exchange intellectual and emotional communication just ask for it. you don't have to be in a relationship to be in love. monogamus relationships cut us off from other relationships that could be benificial to our lives. and if we can stop thinking about the one who's going to make our lives complete then we can live a stress free life of trying to put on an act to make someone else happy. no matter how much you want to make a person happy, you can only make "YOU" happy. sometimes, when we commit to a relationship or get married we miss out on seeing the world and getting to know different people.

the media wants us to think marriage is something that everyone should strive for but ultimately we see marriage as a pathway to divorce, high payments in alimony, and nasty parental custody battles. and when everything is said and done thats when the bullshit begins, arguments, running the streets late at night in order to dodge your wife, endless drinking, name-calling, and the multiple men and women they have been seeing behind your back. and the endless financial slavery that comes with keeping up a mortage and a car note and not to mention being able to put your childern through college on a shoe string budget. everything you work for goes to three places, the government, your wife, and kids. you will never see that money in your hand.

So I ask why can't we have fun? Boomerang taught me so much about dating in the professional world. some people are married to their careers, and most women do not want to be mothers. men want the freedom to see as many women as they want without owing them the status of commitment. people want to relax and have fun while making a living for themselves. and in this ducade, we may soon see more career minded men and women.

When I went to New York City, I had made a promise to myself. try to get to know as many people before settling down because ultimatly I may regret it when I do get into a relationship. i seen so many women in the big apple my head just turned. I want to try out different flavors before I settle with just one, I seen a caucasian, asian, and an african-american woman whom i would ask out for a cup of coffee in a minute. there was this one female named maria from Brooklyn whom I had a brief conversation with in Juniors resturant. she served me a milk shake with whip cream and a cherry on top and she told me what Brooklyn had to offer. One part of my mind was looking at her butt while my eyes were looking at her breasts. but, since i was in NYC for a day i decided not to give her my number. there is a whole world to be experienced as a single person we shouldn't prematurley commit to a relationship for the sake of having one. I know Im proud to be single because that just means im not responsible to make anyone happy. i determine my own happiness. and just because others want me to follow in their footsteps does not mean they can dictate my lifestyle. i am free to live however I want to. and even if i tried marriage and it didn't workout I can say atleast I tried.

in the end, I learned twelve things from the movie Boomerang.

1. See as many people as possible before you become exclusive

2. if you want to sleep around that is ok, just be responsible

3. Women want sex just as much as a man does

4. don't ever cut off your bestfriends for a woman you know your not going to eventually marry

5. don't live with each other

6. design a relationship that best fits your lifestyle

7. don't date people in the work place!

8. don't fall in love with a person until you've seen all their flaws

9. if your not ready for a relationship, don't lead a person on

10. Marriage is not for everyone!

11. Don't rush into a relationship!

12. Relax and have fun!

if we follow these rules we can have a fulfilling life with out the pressures of being in a love relationship that will have us on an emotional rollercoster ride. just have fun and stop pressing for being in a relationship because love is not all that it is cracked up to be.

Why Im Giving Up On Hip-Hop!

When you look at this picture, can you actually say that this young man will have a future in the next 25 years? I often ask myself this question. because there are so many blackmen in the rap game to the point any man who cant rhyme can pick up a mic and get a record deal.

Now I know this sounds cliche'ish, but Im not going to say Hip-hop is dead! Im not going to say Hip-Hop has become synonomist with wealth and glamore. Im not going to say that Hip-hop promotes Sex and violence; But, Iam going to say HIP-Hop has gone out of style.

It is a burned out culture because those that were in the rap game for the last ten to twenty years are no longer "HOT" and those who are presentely in the game bring the same style to the table, skinny jeans, mohawk fade, and a body full of tattoos. That is Not Hip-Hop! that is Punk Rock!

the same stuff that we see in today's Hip-Hop music is what was already done in the 1970's with clubs like CBGB'S and rock groups the Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious, and Iggy Pop. do your research, and you'll see the similarities. Punk Rock was established to go against the normal establishment of Rock N' Roll. it was an anti-establishment kind of music that was created by white teens who rejected disco music. if you listen to Travis Porter's "All The Way Turned Up" and compare it to a punk rock song, you will see the similarities in the music and style more clearly.

This is not HIP-HOP! people say you can't define hip-hop, but most of us know what Hip-Hop is. Hip-Hop was about the inner city Ghetto; it was about DJ's, Breakers, MC's, and graffiti artist coming together through knowledge, peace, Wisdom, and understanding. Hip-hop was about Afrika BamBaataa and the Zulu Nation, Hip-Hop was about the burned out buildings in the South Bronx, Hip-Hop was about Compton, and Niggas Wit Attitude. Hip-Hop was about the five percenters coming together and forming the Native Tounges Posse, it was about Public Enemy. it was about storytellers like Slick Rick, Dana Dane, and Doug E. Fresh, it was about fat gold chains; it was About "Brooklyn's in the House", it was about Dj Marly Marl and the Juice Crew, it was about Boggie Down Productions (RIP Scott La Rock), it was about Tupac, Hammer and The Bay Area, it was about the Crack Epidemic, it was about Biggie Smalls, it was about Eric B. and Rakim, it was about Big Daddy Kane, it was about GangStarr (RIP GURU) and fusing Jazz with Hip-Hop Music, it was About Teddy Railey and the New Jack Swing. and at times it was about THE SOUTH!

Is the South to blame for killing Hip-Hop Music? NO! are the Artist that are out today to blame for Oversaturating the culture of Hip-Hop Music? Yes! are record companies to blame for desecrating the artistic culture of Hip-Hop Music? YES! The reason why I say these two are to blame is because when you move a culture from one trend to another it causes destruction to the value of the culture and becomes non-existant to a certain point. Artists are to blame because their skill level continues to stay at a shallow and superficial state. when they make a record, they make it simply from a club and party stand point. a record is supposed to be multifaced and provide its listeners with a different point of view on every track to show creativity, intellectual and artistic depth. most of the artist talk about the same subjects in their songs Sex, Violence, dance, or Swag. And the male artists talk about having sex with girls, using girls, and categorizing black females as Redbones and dummies. for example if you listened to Gucci Mane's "I don't Love Her" the song explicitly explains how they run a train on a female in the club " Quick to take ya little Diva and treat that Ho like a Slut, she was suckin on Gucci, i had My Dick in her Butt"! these are the type of lyrics we hear on rap cd's all the time, we know this is nothing new women have been sexually explioted since 2 live crew released "As nasty as they wanna be back in 1989. but the subject of sex has already been explored in other albums from the past. also Hip-Hop Music is promoting sexual Promiscuity and mysoginy of females. Besides Nikki Minaj Why aren't their a decent number of female MCees today like there was back in the 1980's. where are the MC Lytes, Monie Loves, Queen Latifas, and Roxanne shante's? is Hip-Hop promoting the disrespect of females by making them voiceless and turning them into Video Vexins? sometimes I wonder why I dont see more female MC's in the game and maybe it is because record companies want to position the black female as a sexual object rather than an artist. and sometimes the ones who are Mcees have to make their come up through a Male rapper and so they mirror that male rapper. for example Nikki Minaj mirrors lil wayne because her flow is sarcastic and braggadocious if you compare her to wayne you will see the similarities. and rappers like lil kim as we all know mirrors biggie because she has a hardcore flow but she perpetuates herself as a prostitute and biggie as her pimp. and the only female to have her own voice without objectifying herself was missy Elliot and she has disappeared for sometime.

As for the so called gangsta rappers or so called "Trap music" we see these artists have not learned their lesson from the shooting of Tupac and biggie I still hear about Gucci mane, lil boosie, Rick Ross and Dj Kali, brag about being SO HOOD, GOIN HARD IN DA PAINT, and making the Trap say AAAY! these are what I call (besides the exception of 50 Cent),TOY RAPPERS. they are not real gangsters,and the people they claim to have known are all fiction and facetious and even if they knew these people they would say to these rappers to keep their name out of their mouth! Rick Ross or William Leonard Roberts II took the stage name from a Man named Freeway Ricky Ross who was responsible for Starting the Crack Epidemic in Los Angles. and yet we want to be like these guys who say Larry Hoover and Big Meech were there Heros. yet Larry Hoover was a domestic terrorist and the man who started the gangsta Deciples in chicago, and Big Meech was a man who started Black Mafia Family which was responsible for large cocaine distributions in Atlanta and Detriot. if you listen to Rick Ross's B.M.F (Blowin Money Fast) you will hear these two names embedded in his hook "They Think Im BIG MEECH, LARRY HOOVER,"! why would we want to glamorize criminals who destroy other people's lives and break up other peoples families? the songs's title does not mean what it says, it means Black Mafia Family! which could only mean that he is promoting gang life and drug distribution to young black listeners.

The dance rappers or Swag rappers are not nessarly negative or positive but they are only biting what has already been done in the past. when i first heard Solja Boy I had to punch myself in the face because this was not music this was POP considered to be RAP! people back then did not consider MC Hammer to be Hip-Hop! because to most people in the rap game he was considered too mainstream to be called a hip-hop artist and gangsta rappers thought he was too soft! what if Hammer and solja Boy switched places? if it wasn't for guys like Kid N Play or Hammer Solja Boy would not have a rap career. and what added insult to injury was Solja boy's mix tape mocked a clult classic called Juice which was way before his time. the point I make here for these group of rappers is that they are not being original! they are recycling old hip-hop dances that have been around since they were born. the dougie is noting more than the tootsie roll, the batman is nothing more than the cabbage patch and the robo cop, and the jerk is nothing more than a condenced form of breaking and poplocking. and so NO! I can't mess with Cali swag because its just fake! todays rap is just biting other peoples styles and it is not original in any way. and in the Hip-Hop Game biting another persons style was considered a cardinal sin and it could get you called out in a mic battle and they could strip you of your crediability if you lose. if you wanted to be an MC you had to follow THE RULES! and one of the most important rules was to be original! what makes you different form the next man thats holding the MIC.

Record Companies are largely responsible for destroying The Hip-Hop culture because they seek to exploit the artist and profit from their royalties and A & R people seek to present a certain image of a rapper to market as a package to the listeners in order to attract the consumers to buy the record. furthermore, if the artist wants to expand his or her creativity on a record the A&R reps will force the artist to go in one perticular direction to keep your audience. and then they find a hit off the record and get the radios to play it in their top twenty rotation and then by that time the song blows up and people have it in their cars and in heavy rotation in the clubs. and then when they make a new music video the artist goes on 106 and park and sucker free sundays to promote the new album and then teens go home and download to their ipods and blast it through their ears until they can remember it. and what the artist is feeding us is not their original words but something that is superficial and unrealistic to promote an image for their listners to follow. if nikki Minaj claims to be a barbie bitch, then women and girls alike would follow this image and start painting their hair green and pink. if wiz kalifa shows his tatoos then every guy would want a body full of tatoos because that is the image people are glamorizing.

Im only 20 years old, I can take master p and no limit records, i can take guys from Cash money records driving around in cars that arn't even theirs. I can even take dipset and Camron sporting diamond jewlery and pink hummers. but I can not take this! I can't stand it! ITS FAKE TO THE EXTREME!

So where are the old school Rappers? Nate Dogg died of a heart attack, GURU died of a stroke, DJ Mr. Magic Died of Heart attack, ODB died of a Heart attack, Apache died of a Heart Attack, Dj Marly Marl had a heart attack but survived and many other rappers that are over the age of forty are either still out on the streets, dead, sick, became preachers, went back to school, or put the mic down because they decided to settle down and have a family. many others are ceo's of record companies while the others are flipping burgers because they forgot to save their money and invest in a home or a secure pension. these guys were the orginal pioneers, but they have no one to speak for them or protect their legacy when their gone from this earth. yea a few got a degree to fall back on but most of them dont have anything to live off of except what they built for themselves through their own music. if they want to protect their legacy scholars in the academic world have to take notice right now at this culture because its fading away year by year and if we continue to allow record companies to destroy hip-hop we may never exist ever agian. and the samething goes for the artist, if they dont start to take notice at how record companies work; the money they make on their records right now they may never see when they retire because they dont have MBA's, Phds or own the publishing titles to their records. the people who own their publishing rights are the people who went to college to study business and contracts and they own the rights to the music they make. do any of these artists know what an ASCAP is? because if most of the old school rappers knew, they would still be making money. notice mainstream radio stations do not play some of the old school rap because if they did, all the old school artists would be making money. the older rappers dont have a social security, or a 401k plan, they dont own stocks, and they dont have AARP membership.

So look Very Closely at that picture again, is this guy going to have a future in 25 years because once his time on the mic is up somebody else is next.

Rap can be considered a hobby but it is definately not a stable career choice. Those who like to rap and respect the art form are underground they are not mainstream! so if you want to hear real rap go to a subway station in NYC, go to the South BRONX, go to Brooklyn, or Queens. and jsut listen to regular guy just spittin a hot bar and jump into a cypher and then after that TAKE your butt to work so you can pay your bills. because rap is a fun sport but its definately not a career.

Today while I was watching 106 and park I said Fuck Roci and Terrence and get REAL! we are in RECESSION! NO MORE PIPEDREAMS! pipedreams are for crackheads, because once you get that high you never come off it. ROCI and Terrence are nothing but drug dealers feeding kids PIPEDREAMS and there distributer BET is paying them to sell it to ditzy black teenagers with no abitions in life and no career goals. I HATE RAP MUSIC! I LOVE HIP-HOP! but today Im giving up on you! no more pipedreams I got bills to pay, because you cant Make it rain with food stamps!

boys in the hood want to be either a Basket ball player, a rapper, or a drug dealer

but I say they can be professors, doctors, lawyers, or politicians like Obama

so today I ask children to give up on hip-hop!