bigted

Well Jazzy Jeff's 40 right now, there ain't nothin' wrong with admitting that, we're all getting older too, one day people'll say that I'm ol' school too, but that doesn't mean that their skills are declining, it's just a prejudice that the music industry still has(even in sports too, there's some players that could still play and want to play over 40 like Charles Oakley but never get signed so they're forced to retire, their skills are declined by then from injuries but when you play that long you should be allowed to retire on your own 'cause high school kids are allowed to skip college so veterans should have rights too), it's the same way as it was 30 years ago when the record labels dumped James Brown 'cause they thought he was too old, but he's still performing till this day, fighting against odds and making millions independantly! :ali: Hey this article in this new book I'm reading "Where You're At" is right on point to this concept of the messed up industry: "Drop in on Bronx Science on a weekday afternoon and you might get lucky. Around 4PM, once or twice a week, you'll find an impromptu gathering of 30-something ol' school cats who come to hang out with their man Big Scoob and shoot the breeze. Some of these guys are legends-Daryl MacDaniel from Run-Dmc, Das-EFX, Fu-Schnickens, King Sun and MC Shan-and they tell their stories like Vietnam Vets, of their gold records and how they used to sell out this or that venue. Sometimes they talk bitterly of how f----d up the scene is right now. These guys were the founders but they were never paid like the superstars of today, often tied into exploitative contracts, they didn't "get" the buisiness like a Jay-Z or Puffy. They talk about making comebacks and they don't understand that their names are long played out. DMC isn't DMC anymore, he's just plain Daryl. He's not marketable either." Talent gets overshadowed by flashiness on the mainstream level but it's worse than ever, 'cause now we're in the video era, if you don't have a bling-bling type video like 90% of videos do according to FP, you ain't gettin' airplay, people don't want to see another a Public Enemy or Rakim video, come on now is Ciara really the most talented young singer out there? There was probably a young girl there around her age that song way better than her at the audition but she probably got ignored 'cause she probably didn't look as attractive as Ciara, and that's a damn shame.

All mainstream labels suck, I would be happier if FP decided to go independent 'cause realistically a 40-year old ain't gonna be able to get heavy airplay on MTV(maybe except him and LL 'cause they look half their age), the teenagers wanna see peeps close to their age like B2K and Bow Wow get airplay and that's a fact whether you like it or not, the audience is limited to the youth, I don't think many 40 year olds watch MTV. and btw, that 50/Game feud was shown all over the news, so the albums ended up gettin' more pub than intended, America loves drama, we even see the news talk about the negativity of Eminem before they talk about the positivity of Will Smith. :poke:

Hey I told u Kanye West is overrated, Common should ask DJ Premiere for beats again. Common being Top 5 All-Time MC is a complete joke! :kekeke: btw, I read over at the okayplayer board that he dissed Nas, he better watch out, his career might be over now, that shocks the hell outta me 'cause I thought he respected Nas. :poke:

Well I've been listening to "Lost and Found" a lot lately and I'm amazed how my favorite mc has been so open about his life, so it sorta gives me the push to keep talkin' about things that I used to want to keep on the dl and I think it's helping me grow as a person too, not just as an mc.

BDP "My Philosophy", this song stands the test of time "Let's get back to what we call hip-hop And what it meant to DJ Scott Larock" :ali:

I wrote this rhyme today which based on everything I been feeling lately and thinkin' about how I want to get ahead in my life and motivate others at the same time, this might be the deepest rhyme I wrote, enjoy! :peace: "Whatever We Choose"(Lost & Found) Written By Big Ted On April 8, 2005 Hook: Whatever we choose In our life could make us lost Sleepin' with someone that only looks good And ignorin' the one who'll be it's future boss Will continually make your lose my friend It does "Pay Da Cost To Be Da Boss" Like I heard from the homie Snoop Even when people say I'm soft I'm gonna find myself found When this knowledge is built around The foundation of benefitting the plans I wrote down Like Will Smith once said "I Can't Build The Great Wall Of China Overnight" So I'm gonna be like KRS and tell you to "Take Your Time" I have plans to rip up corporate America in my study of buisiness or do well rippin' mics Young shorty, if you come to me for advice I'll tell you to do at your own risk whatever you choose Verse One: See my life could be limited So my need to release rhymes out my spirit Will continually keep me living My papa tells me to write down the knowledge I'll constantly be needin' 'Cause sometimes we might forget the ways we used to see it One day when somebody discovers my noteboooks they'll understand how I was feeling These are my journals The words that occur to move Me when I look back and reminisce through them like my one song "Reminiscing All The Past" You might ask me since I'm only 20 how could I have that much of a past? But everyday for me is a journey in itself I thank God for continually blessin' my health When I constantly hear about the death of others And of course each day passin' takes us closer To a place where our spirit'll eventually go So I'm building up my intellect While my enemies are getting high and having sex Living like fiends but of course I forgive them 'Cause that's the way they choose their living See I could never sound better than everybody Even though I'm already more clever than anybody Who doesn't apply themselves for what they need They just make rhymes for some great checks They're actually never able to use concept All they care about is winning the drama Having a bunch of women or men beggin' them to be their baby's mama or papa No plot is jotted to spot the work of a prophet It's more just slop work When people listen to me they'll learn about God When people listen to the average celebrity they'll only know how to burn pot I feel bad when people ask me to rhyme for them If I'm standing like Common on "The Corner" Deep down 'cause half of them I don't even know their names when I rarely talk to them I try to get down and party with them to chill out but they wanna hear me flow instead See I wanna discuss more things than my notebook They only talk about the rhyme structures and hooks You might criticize and say I made a long ass hook And if I don't have a Dr. Dre beat to some of you, it won't work Right now I could be bitin' someone's flowin' Without even knowing But this is my spirit I'm showin' If you could relate to these rhymes I guess you're open To knowin' about who I am as Gracia rather than just the delivery of Big Ted's flowin' I'm not tryin' to be ranked ahead of Chuck D, Run-Dmc, Pac, Rakim KRS, LL, or Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince Plus I give props to the original pioneers of the hip-hop culture who never recorded In other words I'm not tryin' to overwhelm legends Or my other favorites you'll find in my CD collection If I ever won a Grammy I'd give it to some of them who never did win I'm just tryin' to keep their words of positivity alive through my vision "Living Is Beautiful" like Pep Love once said I'm representing "The Beautiful Struggle" Talib Kweli concept And I'm also gonna keep continue expressin' love for God and my parents One day I'll find that "Intellectual Girl" I rhymed about gradually finding in late 2000 That's gonna love what's on the inside before my appearance Love is really bigger than your fantasy of an X-Rated image You gotta be down with me now in 2005 when I'm youthful and strong And in 2055 when I'm matured and wrinkled Even if in between now and then I might end up bein' buried in a casket People gotta remember me for my passion Of others who pushed the drive of my craft to rip for whatever my eyes or will been set Instead of trying to bein' called the "Top Cat" like Slick Rick 'Cause this ain't Run-Dmc's "Perfection" So this is beyond the times of rappin' when I started back in April 2000 If you're looking at this you'll know my perspective And I sign off sayin' "God Bless y'all" like uncle L for takin' this moment in reading or hearing I also hope you find "The Power Of God" to be achieving success [Repeat Hook Till End]

why can't it go back to the ol' days of hip-hop like KRS once said: "Relying on talent, not marketin' and promotion", I'm personally just happy to see a true hip-hop artist in the top 5 on the charts for a change 'cause most of my favorites don't get on the charts, I don't have high feelings for Interscope 'cause they've exploited the hip-hop game to crap on a mainstream level but Columbia ain't much better either but the only mainstream rapper they carry now is Nas at least I could remember right now that's on there, they dumped all the hip-hop artists it seems, including the big names FP, JD, and Wyclef, I'm a fan of the artists not the label. :poke:

:werd: Well I think that's why all of us are pushing for "Lost and Found" to do well 'cause this album speaks for us since JJFP represent for the peeps that actually care about things in society. :grouphug:

You droppin' some knowledge Jim! :afro: That reminds of a lil' verse I wrote a couple years ago when peeps in school were trippin' on me: "Check out the predicament Don't doubt the avengence I come out and defend it To not lose the bout to a midget Who shouts all the dumb nonsense You ain't found to the toughness On what I've now go defending Every route is for the win Just when you thought I ran out of ink in my pen And I was lost, I jam back now to think like a man Write jams surrounded to link the stand I'm a man who fights everthing like a man And you gotta understand, how I won't ever give a damn 'Bout this senior bull**** I knock out this queer fooishness In my mind I already graduated You'll find during ya life, Teddy's motivated When I'm surving the burden of the fight, heavily concentrated Even if I don't look to rap I still will be hookin' true facts In ya face, this s***'s just great This midget's just gay, if he gets in my face I'll just put him in the right place How can you pussies fight my game? You'll get punched out by the ace I'll hit #1 devouring rhyme flames"

Right on! :ali:

That's hot man I couldn't agree with u any more! :peace:

Damn that's really hot, I started spittin' that when I saw that, wow every line is deep! :peace: :bowdown:

If Pac and Biggie were still living they wouldn't be ranked so high(possibly Pac might be considered one of the top 'cause he had a style his own but the Death Row image could've hurt his cred in the longrun and still does 'cause most peeps don't remember what he was before the "thug life" image came along) and that's a fact 'cause it seems that their sales soared in their death more than when they were living, they could've became inconsistant too, it's not a fact that either one of them could've dropped 10+ solid LPs like LL and KRS have, that'll always remain unknown.

I emailed Hot 97(which is the empire of hip-hop radio stations in the tri-state area) just now asking them to play "Switch", I doubt them fools will even reply back, I'm just gonna check their website once in a while and see if they put it on their playlist, it ain't on there yet, but it seems half of 50's album is on their top 30 list. :toetap:

Yeah there's some nice stories on the album, it's good that FP told a lil' more serious stories this time to show a different side of him, if you want to hear the funny stories, you listen to the earlier albums he did, but if FP did a storytellin' track with Slick Rick and Flava Flav that'd be the funniest song in history.

I'll give it 7/10, it's better than most of the wackness out now, but there's still room for improvement, don't give up! :thumb:

Well I was thinkin' about quitting 'cause I felt discouraged by seein' so many wack videos whenever I turned on BET and emptv and I figured that there was no place for me to fit in there, but then I realised that I could just keep doing my thing and block out the bull**** and not give a damn if I get signed and just do it for my peeps in the worst case scenerio, they enjoy it but it was never losin' confidance in my rhyme skills, I feel like I'm building knowledge and improving by applying that to my rhymes, just do you!

Well like I said earlier in another post: It doesn't make sense for some pop rappers to complain about airplay when they're only getting played all day as it is already but it's justified for hip-hop legends like FP to talk about it 'cause damn it they've expanded this platform like he put it on the album. F the radio, that's why I don't listen to it 'cause if I did, I'd be encouraged to quit rhymin' again.

Nas Feat. Alicia Keys "Warrior's Song", such a powerful track

Hey when are Heavy D and Redman gonna release new albums? Hip-hop needs them right now to knock 50 Cent and Eminem off the charts, I think they should've collaborated on "Lost and Found" instead of Beanie's album, FP and Heavy D could've remade "Now That We Found Love" on the "Hitch" soundtrack instead of just throwin' the original on there, that'd made me buy the soundtrack, and what happened to the "Switch" remix with Redman, I think that would've been hotter than the remix with Elephant Man although that one's starting to grow on me now.

Tribe Called Quest "Vibes and Stuff"

Outkast "So Fresh, So Clean" had a nice instrumental to it, you could sample that one

That's disgusting! :poke:

Top 5 Underground mcs that deserve shine: 1-Aceyalone 2-Pep Love 3-Supastition 4-Kool Keith 5-OC/Jean Graye I think they could all completely rip these pop rappers apart, these cats got real talent, don't sleep on the underground, that's the essence. :ali:

This song reminds me of KRS-ONE's "Take Your Time" that came out a few years ago on his gospel rap album a lot 'cause in that song in that song KRS told women that love of God is stronger than having sex with a bunch of men but FP's "Ms. Holy Roller" is more of a storytellin' track, both have a nice message to them though, that's why they're my favorite mcs 'cause they address serious issues. :thumb: FP has been open about his love for God though for a good while now going back to "Ain't No Place Like Home" on "Code Red" so this ain't nothin' new, that person needs to listen to his previous albums, he's always been putting out strong messages. :poke: