The African American Down South Lifestyle & Music

The south is a new experience for me, being from Detroit and all... however there is a lot of evidence of why 1) the music is not creative 2) their on Youtube arguing over TI not being from Bankhead and 3) most north and west coast people don't respect them... if you feel disrespected, by all means don't read my blog:-)

Well, yesterday my mom and I were grilling some meat at the apartment communities grill; there were some little boys over there too, ages ranging from 5 - 11, they were talking and there were two boys that had a dark skin tone and about three that were light toned and the rest medium brown toned. OK, again I'm from the north... you will find those that stereotype African American skin tones but its very rare. Getting back on subject, these little boys were teasing the darkest little boy calling him "black" and saying " your blacker than this or that" and the lighter toned little boy said "Yea, and I'm the lightest one", in which they treated him like he was above average. My mom and I just looked at each other, very disappointed.

We have been in Atlanta for two years now, and the African American natives of the south have a very different mind frame from those of the north or west coast. That's when I thought that this is the reason why majority Rap Artist from the south are not lyrical, speaking on TRUE facts, no CREATIVITY, and they think that HIP HOP is about street credit when its not.

I am in love with my music, specifically Hip Hop & RnB from 2004 and back. I go on Youtube every other day to check out whats new in music, and I always stumble over a new video from Shawty Lo... walking through Bankhead searching for T.I., offering money for T.I.'s high school yearbook photo, and so on lol. Why is hip hop dying, first of all his lyrics are lame, let alone he has no kind of flow, and raps about the same shit, and its very irritating that the new generation of children will think that this is what Hip Hop is when its far from that! Personally, T.I. is just one of those artist thats saving Hip Hop right now.

My whole point on this south thing is that their lifestyle shows in the music that they make. They think that Hip Hop means you've been to prison, been shot, sold drugs, etc... and their not looking at TALENT... writing skills, story telling, can you picture what this rapper is talking about in your head? Are they painting a picture? Its just not sticking with me, and like I said its very, very irritating. Sometimes I feel like packing my shit, moving back to Detroit or moving to New York, just so that I can relate to somebody. Because I can't relate to saying someone is better because their half white and black or has a light skin tone, I can't relate to keeping my mouth shut and not speaking about WHAT"S REALLY HAPPENING IN THE WORLD, I can't relate to becoming a Shawty Lo fan because he's from Bankhead and saying fuck T.I.P. being a REAL HIP HOP ARTIST, I can't relate to accepting Soulja Boy, Plies, Mims, Lil' Wayne & those other lames as The New Hip Hop and hearing their songs on the radio every hour, when I used to hear Nas, Jay Z, Lost Boys, Lil' Kim, Foxy Brown, Total, Biggies, Pac, Outkast, & other greats on the radio all day... thats just crazy to me, and I know times change, but damn... living in the south is getting irritating to me. I just can't relate, being the DEEP individual that I am... its not possible to have a conversation with people that can't and will probably never understand the TRUTH!

Shawty Lo "Units In The City" Album Review

OK, so everyone here in Atlanta has been talking about Shawty Lo of D4L album coming out, and it is finally released... and as far as the critics, its not good at all. I mean, I really didn't expect for it to be so amazing, but with him being from ATL they are going to show him a lot of love. Anyhow, I have an album review... courtesy of www.nappyafro.com
and here it is...

Shawty LO|Units In The City

by King Jerm

Released: February 28, 2008
Label: D4L/Asylum

"L-O"

You would think being on the Mt. Rushmore of Snap music was enough. NOPE, not for Shawty LO! He has branched out on his own and released a solo LP. The Bankhead, Atlanta native received a big buzz off of his first single, "Dey Know" but only because of the appearance of Young Jeezy. But enough about this let’s get to the music.

100,000
He starts it off with a simple beat and some simple rhymes about selling drugs. Why does he sound like a bootleg Jeezy? NEXT!

Dey Know
This is the first single, fitting that he would have it at the beginning. But this is the best song on the album. Just wished that he would have included the remix on the album, but I don’t think he wanted another "So Icy" situation on his hands!

Dunn Dunn
First saw the title and wondered how he would pull it off. But he has dunn dunn it all! This is the infamous song where he allegedly calls out T.I. "Say they from the Westside must be two sides!" It’s kind of funny that he has the nerve to call out Tip on a record. The song is decent.

Foolish
The beat on this one is pretty straight but the lyrics on this one are GARBAGE! Whenever you use "nah nah" and "ha ha" in a song, I think you have earned the right to say that. SKIP!

Let’s Get It
Featuring DG Yola
He uses a phrase from "Dey Know" on this one. The production is simple and LO keeps it up with the simple rhymes. Yola resurfaces and lays down a cliché filled 16.

Feels Good to Be Here
On this one LO is looking back on his life, can’t knock his story, but I can knock the song. This beat sounds too simple and he is still keeping the ABC rhymes. SKIP!

Ain’t Tellin’ You
Featuring Phace Baity
This album is getting redundant. This song sucks! He talks about the same thing over and over again. Same thing on a different beat.

Cut the Check
Featuring Lil' Mark & Braski
The dopeboy/rapper/exec is back on this one with some help from Lil' Mark and Braski. If you rap with LO you have to use the same style as him. You know dizzo, lizzo, and hello. This one isn’t that bad until LO starts rapping. That's terrible because this is his album!

GA Lotto
This sounds like "Rubberband Man" a little bit, matter of fact a lot! But don’t worry, he doesn’t deliver like Tip. He says he has dope money like he won the Georgia Lotto! WOW!

That’s Shawty LO
He’s exploiting the children on this one! He should have gotten them to write his lyrics while they were at it! Don’t bother listening to this song! SKIP!

Easily I Approach
The beat starts out okay, but then it goes back to being simple. Nothing new from LO on this song, he uses the same story on the eleventh song. He even borrowed a line from Eazy-E on the song.

Live My Life
Featuring Kool Ace
The beat sounds like one from a Tampax commercial. The hook is horrendous and I know I’m sounding redundant but LO is still kicking those Pre-K rhymes. NEXT!

Got 'Em 4 The Lo
Featuring Gucci Mane & Stuntman
This is my dream collabo; Shawty LO and Gucci Mane…what! While most of you were waiting for Jay and Nas, I was waiting for LO and Gucci. The song lived up to the hype…its TERRIBLE! Stuntman's verse was the worse. Unless you’re a fan of both rappers, don’t listen to this.

Count On Me
Featuring Miss T
Guess this is what he calls a love song. I call it what it is…TRASH! I'll let you be the judge! The chick singing the hook is okay, but she isn't hitting any high notes except for a "Damn Thang!"

We Gon Ride
Featuring Mook B, G-Child, Stuntman, Lil' Mark, & 40
The last song on the album is a posse song featuring the crew. The hook has some guy singing "we gon ride, we gon ride!" I hate it. The song is not that hot either. Glad this is the last song!

Bottom Line:
This is the guy from D4L you know, so hope you didn’t expect any Hip-Hop quotables from the guy. He uses the same lines throughout the album, Bankhead, dopeboy, and the Lizzo. He even raps in that same whispery voice the whole album! This is one of the worst albums I have reviewed. This has to be the only solo album that he ever releases! When you put simple lyrics with simple beats you get Units in the City!

You can find this review at:

http://nappyafro.com/UnitsInTheCity-review.html

Is Diamond Formerly Of Crime Mob Pregnant????

So, I have been browsing around the web tonight, and there are rumors that Diamond B.K.A. Ms. 32 Flavors is pregnant. Ms. Diamond was recently seen at Keri Hilson's Flashback Birthday Bash in Atlanta, GA... she posed for photos and everything, but if you look at the photo it really does look as if she's pregnant. Well, I guess we'll have to wait and see if it's true or not.....