The Sandmann's Journal: Vol. 4

1

TOP HEADS

IN THE RAP GAME

Published on February 21, 2015

In my book, Hiphop KruZade Path of a Legend, I devoted an entire chapter to racism which is one of the numerous challenges of a Hiphoppa. Rapping does not make someone an emcee. It is the Kulture that makes them who they are. Due to my own experience as a master of ceremony especially when I migrated to Canada, I realized that some racist people despise Hip Hop, intentionally. When we talk about Hip Hop, race and credibility are essential. With that said, here is my list of who I believe are the top rappers/emcees in the game right now [2015].

I’ve learned that there is no avoiding those people who interpret a rapper’s street cred as materialistic criminal, blasphemous, loud, misogynistic or homophobic. Since other demographics of people outnumber the Hiphoppas in Canada, I came to understand the part where real Niggaz conceal their street cred, so the haters will not discriminate against them. What this did was, it added to my experience because it taught me to separate Canadian hustle from the hustle outside of the country. I make sure never to seek validation and never mix my international hustle with the local one.

I was in Los Angeles a few months ago when the topic came up about the Kulture. What’s it like to be from the States while doing Hip Hop in Canada and who do I consider as the top rappers right now? Of course, I told them about my new book and what I experienced in Canada that’s different. Like the crazy folks who called the border officials to try and remove me from the country. Or the fun stuff like writing there as opposed to all of the distractions I had when I wrote in the States.

I automatically assumed we were talking about the top rappers of today so I named Eminem, 2 Chains, Nicki Minaj, Drake, and Rick Ross. For me, it’s not about who I’m influenced by, or who my role model is. It’s about the emcees that are spitting dope rhymes. I know Eminem is white and every time black people invent something like Jazz, Rock, and Roll or R&B; eventually, white artists pilfer it. Sometimes they don’t even give any credit to black folks, and they get the most recognition. I’m aware of all that, but Eminem is different.

I know a few Hip Hop heads are not over the situation with Rick Ross being a former corrections officer. Cops have murdered, mortified or profiled so many black people it’s more than a bitter pill if one of them got in the game and started gaining credibility within it. Then again, in the mainstream right now, these are some of the rappers who are spitting the best rhymes. So, with that, I decided to list 10 of my favorite rappers during this period.*

2

TOP HEADS

IN THE RAP GAME II

Published on February 21, 2015

J. COLE

Speaking of rappers in this new generation, this emcee is far from unlikely. Moreover, he’s not alone. Drake, Future, French Montana and Big Krit are in the discussion. Curren$y, Nicki Minaj, Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, and 2 Chains are also in there. Every time I see Rae Sremmurd I instantly think of Kriss Kross. Like I’ve said, we’re in a different time, and Hip Hop is in a genuinely new place. We need a few more female emcees beside Young MA and Nicki Minaj. Ol Skool or proven emcees are also going to keep making great albums.

Who’s to say Jay Z won’t drop another classic? Or Nas is not about to bang with yet another knowledge ridden masterpiece? Lil Wayne’s Carter V is already highly anticipated. I’ve been killing those last two Ghostface albums, you know, Twelve Reasons to Die and 36 Seasons. I’m fiending for some new T. I. P., Luda or DMX. What wouldn’t I give for a Redman and Method Man album or a Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre banger? In the meanwhile, the one thing we can’t do is miss out on what’s happening right now because we don’t get it.

J. Cole is number one on my list because he puts the game back where it belongs. I’m a conscious emcee with a street edge. Most of what I listen to is conscious. Like, Mos Def aka Yasiin Bey, Talib Kweli, Common, Dead Prez, Nas, The Roots, the old Kanye, Ice Cube, Immortal Technique, Big Krit or J. Cole. I’m a civil rights kind of thinker. So naturally, the moment I heard Cold World, Born Sinner and 2014 Forest Hills Drive I was sold.

After checking out all the multitude of artists out there, I found myself playing J. Cole just a little more. He is raw with a bit of pain. His music is unexpectedly dark, which I like. After hearing all the hard stuff, vibing to the party and gangsta joints, I throw in a laid-back selection that speaks to my soul in an uplifting way. Letting the listener have hope and inspiration like what you’d get if you popped in a Bob Marley album or a Burning Spear album. J. Cole takes the cake on this one. He’s the most delightful new cat on the strip right now.

JEEZY

We live in a different time. The top 5 emcees use to be Biggie, Snoop, Jay Z, Tupac, and Nas. Now, Nicki Minaj stands as the first female on this list. What’s even more; is we have guys like Lil Wayne and Bun B who deserve a spot on there. We have dope emcees like Jadakiss and Styles P who have represented the game with heart and grit. What about Wu-Tang? You can’t forget them. However, the Snap rap came, and before you knew it, Trap became the sound that shifted our entire focus.

Now we have East Coast emcees making Trap music. It has become difficult to name your top 5 emcees. Does this generation have a top 5 hardest, most lyrical, and wealthiest, Ol Skool or conscious emcees? If we split it up, emcees like J. Cole filter to the top. Then again, we could pass several credible emcees over when we skip to this era. Hip Hop is at that point right now. It’s comforting to see that if Nas, Snoop, Luda, T. I. Lil Wayne, Jay Z, 50 Cent or Styles P were to retire, we would still have a hand full of guys who can carry the torch. That’s pretty good for the Kulture.

Jeezy has come a long way. Right now he’s among the best of the best out there. I would compare him with The Game or Joe Budden. To be more authentic, I cannot stress enough, that the greatest emcees are Rakim and those who laid the foundation. Big Daddy Kane, Special Ed, Naughty by Nature, Brand Nubian, etc. are in Hip Hop’s virtual Hall Of Fame. Every true emcee knows to get on all of Biggie, Nas, Jay Z, Redman, MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Da Brat, Lauren Hill, Eric Sermon and all that.

One of the fundamentals of becoming a good emcee is to respect the pioneers who paved the way for the emcee’s generation. Whether you like Chicago or Boston Hip Hop or you rep New Jersey, Philadelphia or New York. You could be from Georgia, Florida or New Orleans. Or you could represent California or Mid-West Hip Hop. At the end of the day, you have to pay respect to other great emcees. Right now, Jeezy is among the blameless pioneers of Hip Hop. The Kulture is heavily influenced by the South, and it only fits that Jeezy is at the top of this list.

EMINEM

When it comes to spitting flows, I don’t think too many emcees can rap better than Marshall Matters. I understand that he’s a white guy. As racist as it sounds, the Kulture has an element that blames white guys for genre jacking. That’s the story, and it’s racist and unfair to both Whites and Blacks but Eminem reps for Detroit. He is trustworthy. Also, for all my Ol Skool Hip Hop heads who know their history, I want to clarify that this is about who is it right now.

That does not take anything from the legends who paved the way. Too Short, EPMD, E40, Scarface, Lauren Hill, A Tribe Called Quest, Ice T, Outkast, Tupac Shakur, Busta Rhymes, Mobb Deep, Sr. Mix A Lot, or Will Smith if you’d like. We have so many legends from the East to West, North to South and even outside of America in places like Canada, the UK, Africa, France, Germany, etc. Eminem being white has nothing to take away from the fact that he is one of the dopest emcees to walk the planet.

To be accurate, Eminem does not even rap about the same things we hold dear in black culture. He does not rap about rags to riches, surviving the system, police brutality, civil rights, racial profiling, big booty bitches or any of the themes that most black emcees accept. Lord Jamar once said Em gets a pass because of his skin color. To be entirely fair, he does rap about his relationships, his situations, personal demons, celebrities, and dual personalities. These are topics to which anyone can relate.

Eminem’s music resonates instantly. Like the many great emcees before him and those in his time up until the Snap and Trap era, he has remained consistent. Plus, if we’re going to talk about album sales, he has sold the most records than any emcee in history. That’s crazy because Will Smith sold a boatload, Tupac sold a ton; Snoop Dogg sold a heap, and so did B. I. G. Since this list is about the emcees that are killing it on the mic right now, I’ll have to say Eminem is among the most extraordinary rappers or emcees of all time.

NICKI MINAJ

Every female Hiphoppa wants to see a female at the top. Sadly, the streets can’t hand out the position. Though we don’t have enough female emcees at the top and we want women to try, ladies will have to step up and claim their spot. There used to be a time when we had more women in the game. Queen Latifah made her bones while Monie Love put Great Britain on the map. We had Roxanne Shante, Left Eye, Da Brat and Queen Pen at the same period as MC Lyte, Lady of Rage and Salt-N-Pepa.

Those were the times when sisters put pen to paper and wrote intricate prose. That was when the girls came out on the stoop to spit with the fellas. I’m talking about the Amil type or that Rah Digga kind of female. Like Big Krit asked, what happened to the soul food? What happened to the females in our Kulture? Our women are distracted by tell-all instead of holding it down on the mic. As the years go by, many have embraced an appearance on Reality TV. Lauryn Hill pushed back in 1998 while Lil Kim and Foxy Brown came, saw and conquered. E. V. E. held the Ruff Ryders down.

Remember the times when multiple female emcees rocked the stage during the same era? Back when we still considered Hip Hop to be male-dominated, when every crew required a first lady? That was the recipe. Timberland and Missy, Trina and Trick Daddy; Lil Mama, Mia X, Remy Ma, Vita …and then, Khia dropped My Neck, My Back… and then, silence. It seemed the female emcee was no more. We went from Yo-Yo to Charlie Baltimore and then nothing.

In 2015, Nicki Minaj sits on the thrown. She delivers her perspectives on the female experience. It’s clear that she’s holding Young Money down. Yes, Iggy is a close competitor, though when the hood listens; it does not hear that hood content from Iggy. Nicki is still the sickest woman on stage. In this era in Hip Hop, the game needs more female emcees. The Kulture needs our selfie-taking, social media modeling, self-idolizing entrepreneur-ess to spit a ton of bars. Thankfully, women have not given up their gift of poetry in the world of Spoken Word. Nicki Minaj works the hardest right now.

BIG K. R. I. T

Here is where the list gets interesting! We have a New Skool emcee that has the respect of Ol Skool heads. Some might say well what about Schoolboy Q, Tyga or Rich Homie Quan? They spit fire also! Others might say well, what about Rick Ross and Meek Mill, what about A$AP Rocky or 2 Chains? All these artists are great for the game right now. The mainstream is bubbling with dope emcees that are not on this list!

That’s assuming we agree that Jay Z, Nas, Too Short or any of the legendary 90s emcees are on Hall of Fame status. We’re talking about the newest of the new as well as those who were not top emcees in the former era, but they have transitioned pretty well into this one. If this list were longer, you would see more of your favorite rappers somewhere in my top 20 or top 50. In this lineup, I only chose so many except we pull in guys who have excellent flows, lyricism and good rep.

If Krit keeps this up, he could run the game. Kendrick Lamar and Schoolboy Q have that untarnished essence that you can’t find so quickly. Let’s be reasonable here; if we’re going pound for pound lyrically, Rick Ross will register as a heavyweight. No matter what anyone has to say, he can spit. The reason why Big K. R. I. T is this high on my top ten when Ross lands in my top 20 would be all the other qualifications that combine to make an emcee truly embraced on all levels without any question.

A lot of these emcees came in the game via an already accepted slew of mixtapes. Like Drake or Meek Mill, these guys had already drawn a substantial crowd before signing a record deal. When it comes to Ol Skool acceptance, it’s all about where an emcee came from, what they did before rap and how the music sounds. The emcee may not be a huge commercial success, though the hood may love him or her because the hood knows what’s real. Besides, Hip Hop is not only about the music so being a commercial success is not identical to authenticity. Now they wanna hear a country nigga rap.*

3

TOP HEADS

IN THE RAP GAME III

Published on February 21, 2015

PUSHA T

One of the trickiest parts of New Skool Hip Hop in these 2010s is, to match your 00s flow and concepts with these Trap beats. Some of the older emcees who are hot right now have transitioned from the 00s. That is because while Jay Z, Snoop Dogg, DMX, Ludacris, and Nelly were running the scene back then, Lil Wayne, Baby, UGK, Outkast, and a few other Southern rappers like Yung Joc, and Shawty Lo were also inspiring this era. Some Hip Hop heads argue that Joc rapped about nothing.

Think about it; his Snap style is a refined version that Lil Jon put his Okay! and Yeah! to. E40 and Outkast had always held the spirit together which was the effort that the Kulture needed to make a turning point. I know I forget someone influential, but we all know that the Clipse came in hot with Lord Willin. Today, Hip Hop is not about that kind of cred. Mainstream rappers do not even need to have a sic flow to debut at number one on the charts anymore.

Now it’s about the artist’s following on social media. Except, surprisingly enough, we have a few lyrical emcees in the mix. The good thing here is that Pusha T has street cred and his bars are an excellent fit for these new guys. Times have changed. For example slang like hating now have a new meaning. It used to suggest someone who is jealous of someone who does everything correctly and wins. Today, people use the slag against anyone who opposes them. It does not matter if they are doing the right thing or not as long as there is an opposition that opposer is a hater.

Like Drake rightly suggested in one of his songs, we don’t dress alike, talk alike or have much in common. All the Ol Skool guy has on the New Skool cat is his time difference. Nevertheless, as I’ve stated earlier with Curren$y, you have a few old school emcees who have adjusted pretty well to this era. Many didn’t have to change much. It was merely a matter of using the right hook, punch-line and a slight adjustment to the 5X t-shirt or baggy jeans.

Pusha hunkered down and released, Fear of God, Cruel Summer and My Name Is My Name. With his new album, King Push on the horizon, the Pharrell Williams and Kanye West affiliate from Virginia remains relevant at a time when scores of Hiphoppas can’t adjust. One of the challenges of a dope emcee is the ability to either match their flow with a new sound or reinvent a unique one that everyone is happy to accept. Pusha T has risen to my top ten because he did just that.

IGGY AZALEA

In 2015 we can assume that the newer emcees have heard their critics? Lollipop rappers are slowly transitioning to the conscious sound that the Old Skool can tolerate. Well, unless you were a female, in which case, a lollipop rap about how sexy you are, is precisely what will garner you some instant attention. Is Iggy the female Eminem? Hell no! Eminem is far too sic. We know she loves black people, which is a good thing, but it does not qualify her authenticity as an emcee!

We can describe Iggy’s music as Pop music with a touch of Ol Skool rap. When it comes to female rappers in this era, social media modeling, autotune singing, or sexual promiscuity is some of their highest attributes. Lyricism is not a byproduct when you factor in the Pop influence in today’s Pop Rap. You may also be surprised to see blonde damsels who spit hard flows as if the hood is their bedrock. This eye-popping Australian has arguably become the Marilyn Monroe of rap! The New Classic star is making heads turn. Every white girl in high or middle school is so Fancy!

Instagram, Twitter or Facebook aside, you may not need to ask how a damsel lands a record deal. Let’s be real; Hip Hop has its race issue. Africans have endured centuries of oppression from other races. Also, most people from different races who exploit Hip Hop commercially may be there for financial gain. An emcee has to be credible from experiencing the life that people relate to in their music. White women generally do not face the same difficulties with race and financial disenfranchisements as women of color. It can be