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Will Somebody Please Think Of The Children???

today's 20-something often comes across a sea of "rappers", "singers", "a&r's" (aka people that can't rap) & "managers" trying to "grind" "get it poppin" & "do their thing"...

but this should make you stop...even for a second

my girl's in the car with her little brother (he's a pre-teen). some old school comes on the radio. she tells him "this was hot when mom was your age". later they change the station & an Akon record comes on (pick one, they all sound the same) & he says "i can tell my kids that this was hot back in my day"

[dj kool]FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZE[/clear my throat]

you know we ALL have our nostalgic records. whether it be stevie & marvin, nas & jay, donny & roberta or rakim & krs...there's a few albums you have in your stash that sound as fresh as the day you bought them. you remember what store you got it from, how much you paid for it, what time of the day it was, who you were with, you remember how the plastic smelled (remember that new tape smell?? aight, maybe it's just me...forget y'all). you'll start tripping back down memory lane; the friends you hung out with, the boy/girl you were crushing on, what name brands, tv shows, toys, etc etc were poppin' back then. it's a great feeling.

fast forward to the present. today's ringtone driven, hot hit single but terrible album, fake beef to sell records, youtube gangsta-infested music industry. does anybody think of the chil'ren anymore???

the God in me has led me to stop cussing in my rhymes for one. it's not a good feeling when your music has caused people to change their lives for the better, yet your family hasn't heard a bar you've spit because you're ashamed of the language you're using.

remember when the radio stations would mix on the weekends?? regardless of what was in heavy rotation during the week, you "had your tape decks ready" because more than likely the DJ was gonna:

1. play your favorite song
2. play some old song that was still hot
3. world premiere some heat

don't forget pump it or dump it, where the LISTENERS actually got to decide what new songs went into regular rotation (no your 106 & Park votes aren't tallied, labels pay the channel for their position...stop trying).

why does these label heads have little to no faith in their "fan base"?? why do we allow them to force feed ignorance down our throat (no that's not a shot @ the south...EVERYBODY'S guilty) & we allow ourselves to buy into it??

why do these "real hip hop heads" strap on their Jansports & proudly scream "hip hop is dead!!" all while downloading the latest Pharoahe Monch CD, posting on a message board, critisizing everybody else that openly DOES NOT buy records about what they should be doing.

genius, the music industry is money driven. record sales=money...if you're not buying the records, nobody's gonna care about MC Discombobulate regardless of how dope he is. imagine if something like Lupe Fiasco- Food & Liquor went platinum last year??? it might not have shook up the industry, but i bet you more talented MCs would get picked up, as opposed to some lame with white sunglasses, a repetitive hook & a catchy dance to go along with it.

why do amazing artists have to make some fun catchy song in order to get any type of support from their label (coughJoeBuddencough)... i don't always wanna hear fun & catchy. sometimes i wanna hear something depressing, or deep & captivating. maybe i just wanna hear you rhyme 900 bars over a hot beat. stop trying to make me dance. i can hear the uneasy-ness (shut up, i know that's probably not a word) in your voice, this is not what you do...BE YOURSELF

i haven't listened to the radio in years...yes good music is still out there. however i will admit it's not as plentiful as it once was. and you have to actually go look for it. there's not much of an outlet for it.

i do know that when my daughter is 18, she will not know who Pretty Ricky is, or where they went...frankly, nobody else will either.