Crabs-in-a-barrel

I dreamt that I was hanging out with Jay Z and Biggie. I started off
on a rant about black people - you know, the usual stuff about how we
sabotage each other, and don't help each other, and that whole
crabs-in-a-barrel thing. Then either Jay or Big (can't remember which)
pulled out a gun, pointed it at me, and shot me. I said "What the fuck
are you doing?" and he replied "Proving you right."

Weird, huh?

What has happened to D'Angelo? I bet the chicks would go crazy to see him nekked in his video now, huh? I guess he wasn't so "determined not to fail" after all.

Stupid Throwback Lyric of the Day

"Fly like an eagle, a seagull
Always into somethin'
Like Snoopy the Beagle"

Dida, from Pete Rock & CL Smooth's In the Basement

Come on, man... as far as I'm concerned, you lose ANY type of street
cred you ever had when you compare yourself to Snoopy the Beagle in
your rhyme. I'm trying to imagine the creative process that led to
this gem.

And who the hell is Dida anyway?

Hip-Hop Errata

I remember I was just like you
Smokin blunts with my crew, flippin over 62's
Cause G-E-D, wasn't B-I-G
I had to get P-A-D, that's why my moms hate me.

- Notorious B.I.G., from I Really Want to Show You (feat. Jodeci and Nas) AND Ghetto, by Akon (feat. 2Pac)

Well. Obviously, G-E-D wasn't B-I-G, cuz he spelled "paid" wrong on
both of these songs. And wasn't his mom an English teacher?

Now, to be fair to Biggie, these are the same lyrics from
Everyday Struggle on Ready to Die - where he actually spells out
"P-A-I-D" correctly. I don't know where the hack artists that slapped
together these remixes got their version of Big's vocals from, but
they picked the one where he has a glaring mis-spelling.

This brings up another point. While 2Pac has been churning out huge quantities of "new" material on a regular basis from beyond the grave, it seems as though Big wasn't quite as prolific, seeing as how this same verse from Everyday Struggle is now being recycled in not one but two different songs. And much of the other "new" Biggie material is just recycled rhymes that we've heard before, usually from back in his hungry, "black and ugly as ever" days.

I wish they'd just cut it out and stop making songs with dead artists in general. I thought it was a bad idea when Natalie Cole did that duet with her dad back in the early 90's and I think it's a bad idea now.

The Potion


Image from VH1.com

How 'bout Luda's new joint The Potion is hot as hell? I can't stop listening to it. Especially the "Oh Lordy, pick a bail o' cotton..." part.

I just wish Ludacris was this consistent throughout all his albums. I bought Back for the First Time and Word of Mouf on the strength of the singles, and was sorely disappointed.

Hip-Hop Errata


Said she's an inspiring actress, she do videos for practice/
Yeah, yeah, know how many times I done heard that shit?

- 50 Cent from Eminem's Spend Some Time, 2004

Just to give this quote a little set up, 50 is rapping about a young lady he was introduced to by his mentor Eminem. Eventually, their relationship ceases to be platonic. At this point, the girl begins to get a little "opportunistic", and mentions that she's an "inspiring" actress. Naturally, 50 has a few colorful suggestions (involving her mouth and a certain part of his anatomy) as to how the young lady can develop her career.

While not technically gramatically incorrect, I'm pretty sure Fiddy meant to say she was an aspiring actress, unless she really did think she was "inspiring" - but that doesn't make any sense.

You know what kills me, though? The fact that none of his boys even bothered to correct him. It's such a simple thing.