I found this over on Gizmodo. I’m not sure what this has to do with gadgets, but I loved the intro.
Jay-Z is a pretty good rapper. Jay-Z is not the best rapper ever. Jay-Z is not a role model. Jay-Z is not a hip hop hero. Not even for you, cool kids. Get off Jay-Z’s dick.
You should read it now…
OK
I’m not a hip-hop head by any stretch of the imagination, but the general thrust of the article, that hip-hop sold its soul to the man for 30 pieces of silver, plus interest, is probably right on. I disagree that somehow Jay-Z is the center of this storm, however. No, I’ve always held that the Hip-Hop Antichrist is Puff Daddy. Not “Puffy,” or “P. Diddy” or “Diddy” or “You Jackass,” Puff. Daddy.
Remember at the time when Puff Daddy burst onto the scene hip-hop was at a crossroads, you had guys experimenting with live instrumentation, the Black militancy of PE wasn’t far gone and the production ethos of The Bomb Squad would offer up ways in which to sample other people’s music in new and unusual ways. And while there was way too much ridiculous gansta rap, it was possible to be intelligent and get airplay.
Then came Puff Daddy and to quote someone…
Ya stole somebody’s record then ya looped it, ya looped it
Ya boosted the record then ya looped it, ya looped it
Mediocre rhymes about how awesome he was and lame flow over the chorus of a song you already liked. And it wasn’t enough for him to foist his own crap onto us, but he kept throwing out variations on that theme over. and over. and over. and over again. And you bought it (that’s right, you. I wouldn’t touch that crap, hell, writing about it is making my man tackle suck up into my abdomen in a frenzy of douche chills).
And this was before Jay-Z was a blip on the pop music radar. So, yeah, get off Jay-Z’s peen, but remember when the evil landed.