During the past month there’s been a bit of commotion within the rap industry both locally and abroad with Lebo Lukewarm of the Camera Shy Guys having some strong words to say towards Smashis & Ifani together with the highly anticipated duel between Kendrick Lamar and Drake. Great as it is for the culture of hip hop as a whole, the question of stats needs to be raised within these two issues.
Stats you ask? Yes. Stats determine whether it is premature or not for certain parties to take swings at other parties, they determine whether a certain artist should pay attention to challenges from certain artists. Stats basically rule the slope of whether it is necessary for a rapper to entertain beef from another artist.
For example during the Nas beef with Jay-Z both artists had multiple platinum albums behind them, Nas was the king of Queens, NY and Jay was the King of Brooklyn, NY. This meant that these two dudes where on par with each other so a slug to determine who the king of New York was was warranted. Same with 50 Cent and Ja Rule. It’s a stats thing. Are you as relevant and successful as your opponent? These are key factors that determine whether he should reply to your challenge or not. In the Lebo Lukewarm vs. Smashis & Ifani situation Lebo LW didn’t have the right to have an opinion about the talents of these 2 other individuals as he’s a participator within the sport & as a participator you need to have some sort of stats to earn the right to have an opinion within the arena. He has none what so ever so he shouldn’t have found the need to open his mouth about anything negative on national TV. The K Dot vs. Drake situation is a bit different. K dot who recently got given the torch by the OG’s of LA has officially become the face of the West Coast with the success of his GKMC album. Even though it does seem a bit premature seeing as that he’s only been here for a brief moment his talent suggests that he will be here for a long time. All eyes are on him so taking shots at Drake will warrant a reply, allowing his dig at Drizzy to be a ground shaking event in hip hop.
It’s about leverage – who has it and who’s trying to attain it. What are the numbers on your side and what are the stats on his. If not there would be beef everyday within the culture because it’s no secret that rap artists are the most opinionated within the music industry. So if you have no stats don’t bother making a statement because you are wasting your time. You might with luck get some publicity but your little publicity stunt will be judged as just that, not as a worthy opinion within the game.
SHVT!
Mara Why
Mara Why did Drake catch feelings over statements made by Future concerning his album which prompted him to take Future of his up and coming tour with Miguel? Future who was doing a press run for his up and coming album Honest made comments which weren’t damaging but they were taken into negative context by the magazine. This wasn’t reason enough for Drake to take him off his tour as it was just the opinion of one artist within the game. It just seems as if Drake overacted and has since had some sort of leverage in the situation he chose to use it to sand bag Future. He should’ve just brushed it off and concentrated on getting together the tour which will sell more of his current successful album.
Hip Hop Wishes
1. Our brands are what we sell though our music and other categories within the culture. I wish to see more entities understanding that and behaving accordingly.
2. The hip hop culture is spreading at an immense pace, I wish to see more corporate understand that and behaving accordingly.
