Ice-T Disses Rick Ross, Lil' Wayne, and Jay-Z!

[JumpinJack AJ]

FP didn't diss Jay-Z, but even he said Jay-Z needed to open up his subject matter. I thought Jay-Z was good in the mid-90's. By the late 90's I was less into him. I liked Blueprint and some of the stuff off his Unplugged album but I didn't like hardly anything he did from 1999ish and on. Around 2005 when he came out with Kingdom Come, I thought he started to mature a little and make a few nice songs. I don't dislike him but I'm not a big fan or anything.

I don't have anything nice to say about Rick Ross or Lil' Wayne. I think everything about them sucks...period.

[VIsqo]

I have a chopper in the car lol. I have to say that the last Rick Ross hooks are kinda catchy. I have 8 balls! LOL. I hear kids singing to these things without having an idea of what they mean.

[bigted]

the problem i got with jay-z is that he uses his influence in a negative way to promote trash artists just like when he signed rick ross and young jeezy and didn't promote ll cool j and method man when he was president of def jam and in recent times he puts out weaker music with little substance when he got skills to do something better but on a positive light he did sign j. cole and jay-electronica to roc nation which are talented mcs for the hip hop heads, only time will tell if they'll get promoted well though

[VIsqo]

I think J. Cole has been promoting himself pretty good as well. I don't know man.. I think you must reach a certain age where you start thinking about what are you doing.. But the kids are the ones deciding whats hot and whats whack nowadays and I guess thats why rappers are afraid of releasing something with much content. We have all seen it. Record companies don't want that. They want sales. Pop/rap SELLS. I respect Eminem because now he is strong enough in the game and on the label to release what he wants to release. Will Smith was not. Do yall remember the intro for the video "the way I am" where the record label is saying: " I cant sell this. You either change the record or its not coming out."

[Turntable]

We have to put something straight here: There is no such thing as a real Def Jam CEO, there hasnt been for a long time. Def Jam is a slave to Universal, they control and decide every little thing. Whne they put someone like Jay-Z up as CEO, that is just a promotional move. I doubt he had any reayl input at all. If anything, we should give him credit for getting them to signing The Roots, because I doubt Universal saw a lot of potential there. If you wanna judge Jay-Z's capabilitys on putting out Artists, look at Roc Nation. He also has a Management Company that does the management for a lot of artists, inlcuding Rihanna (who we know does allright) and Wale, who just his second major deal, as far as I can remember.

[bigted]

Eminem's basically the same as Jay-Z in my view, he put out a lot of weak music when he got skills to do better, the "Recovery"'s a step in the right direction and the album with Royce 5'9 is decent too but for almost the last 10 years there was weak stuff, I like consistant mcs who make great songs all the time likeKRS-ONE, Nas, Rakim, and Speech even if they don't release stuff all the time when they do it's something special not some rushed junk like the one million wack Lil' Wayne songs...

[mfuqua23]

Damn, he went HAM on them peoples.

I tried to research and I'm still not sure. What in the world, does HAM mean??? is it an acronym or what?

And by the way, look at how the music & time has changed. You guys are taking record execs right? How did Public Enemy's "Fight The Power" come out? Ice T's "Cop Killer", NWA "F* The Police". KRS One, Ice Cube, 2pac.

How is it years ago, Easy-E gets invited tot he White House accidently, and gets hardly any slack from what I've heard. Yet Common went also , and you have the most ignorant statements as if he walked in with an AK47 in both hands and can shoot them one handed? People confuse the heck out of each other, and there is no concrete reasoning because of how things change. There's also another variable eventually thrown in. Some artist get on for bringing something new to the industry, or based on who they know. All being signed does, is make it easier promote music and be exposed. More to answer too, and some artist can handle that pressure and some can't. Being indie, you do it all your own, but not exposed so easy. End of the day, good music is good music. Some artists do sound good, but they can't survive what the industry wants.

But the kids are the ones deciding whats hot and whats whack nowadays and I guess thats why rappers are afraid of releasing something with much content. We have all seen it. Record companies don't want that. They want sales. Pop/rap SELLS.

And this may be mean to say, but "screw the kids". I remember when Eminem was all hot when he came out and kids on the bus that made fun of me, made the remark "He probably listens to Will Smit" (and that's not a typo, he really did say Will Smit). And I actually did, and only got exposed to Eminem when TRL came on. My niece & nephew who lived with me at the time owned what was hot. I owned what I liked. Didn't matter how HOT an artist was, if I liked how their personality talked and I took to it, I got their albums. Maybe one day, I'll finally get Eminem's first couple albums and appreciate them for what I do, not necessarily why everyone else did. I'm not ashamed on like some hits or the underground ish. Or somebody who doesn't even aspire to be a famous artist, but makes a really good song that I like for one reason or another.

The other day, I listened to Jay-Z's The Blueprint (wasn't that a 5 mics albums btw?), and was into it, and I was studying his lyrics and I got upset. Really? He's not saying anything. The titles of the tracks fooled me. Come "Renegade" with Em, Nas was right and Jay really did get murdered on his own ish. And Jay-Z is not a Renegade, based on that chorus. But instead of getting so mad as what Jay-Z doesn't say to appeal to me, why don't I find someone who does, or be my own MC?

Those same "kids" that listen to what's hot at the time, I took Rich Boy's "Throw Some Ds", made it my own (probably owning it better than he did), and they liked it. I've rapped in front of audiences where the age gap was bridge. Exposed them to a style of hip hop that they didn't know existed, but I did thanks to Kweli, Mos Def, The Roots, etc. The same ones who like the punchline or gangsta type rappers, and they themselves rap that way, didn't get on stage to rap like I did when given the chance. The ones I went to school with who also wrote rhymes like I do, would hear me rap or read it and say it was wack or give it half-assed feedback like "at least you know how to use multis" or "you need more punches". But if I rapped like they did, I would get called out for being fake, frontin', just like Ice-T is accusing of Rick Ross and such. I'm to the point right now, where I know exactly who I am as a fan and partaker in hip hop, and music for that matter.

I recall something Rakim said on 'The MC: Why We Do It' DVD. "It's gonna be what THEY want rap to be, not what you want rap to be." That is what it is now, even more ever. Even then, 2pac had to fight for his voice. Biggie had to fight for his voice. Kanye West was supposed to only be a producer. Even non hip hop artists have to get label execs to get out of their own way and take a chance that could prove to be the great success that they are always looking for. And it's not just in music either. Everyone else can lose their mind trying to figure out what sells. I'll just enjoy what I create or find.

[bigted]

Well it's like Common said "If I don't like it, I don't like it that don't mean that I'm hating", at the end I give props to those who stand up as an individual rather than following what everyone else says is "hot" and that's why I'm with 100% of what you said Michael... I give listen to a lot of the stuff that people rank highly and give it a chance but I ain't gonna force myself to feel it if I don't just to please somebody... Ice-T takes a stand to go against the grain to say something even if it ain't politically, he don't kiss ass and that needs to be respected, personally I think he's talented enough to rip all three of those rappers easily, he's the original OG of the game, I like his "Power" album better than any album any of them put out...

[bigted]

You know I wanted to say more in that last post but I was tired so after some sleep I'm gonna say this, I remember when I was in high school I'd get dissed too for being too "old school" rather than going with what was "hot" at the time, really it was 'cause I always have something to say in my raps which is why I relate to the legends more than the rappers that have major airplay that brag too much about how hard they are when that's all a front like Ice-T said, I think an Ice-T/Rick Ross battle would get a lot of the same reaction that the KRS/Nelly battle got, it helped introduce kids to KRS and it humbled Nelly, some kids will see the greatness of Ice-T here as well, that's the positive thing about battles like that... My goal is to keep the history of hip hop alive so when people hear me rhyme I want them to remember the pioneers of the game, it's like Nas' "Bridging The Gap", when people ask me who inspired me to rap I tell them about mcs like KRS, Chuck D, Rakim, and of course Fresh Prince who they usually just think of as an actor...

[mfuqua23]

Exactly. With the way we are talking, hip hop can have a HUGE implosion. Ice T, KRS One, and the like may not be with major labels anymore, but they still have a legion of fans who will follow and vibe to what they say. I hope Ice T does diss all the top talents. It could light a fire under the industry to change a bit. Times are always changing, and I think it's on that verge cuz there needs to be a new sound.

VH1 is supposedly bringing back Pop Up Video Oct 3rd. I think that will be cool. Vh1 still tends to be a respectable music channel moreso than MTV, even though they kinda do the same with the whole reality tv thing. They give an insight into music with documentaries and specials that MTV doesn't.

Ted, if there's any way for you to record your music, you NEED to do it. If you get extra money, get what resources you need to get, and help fulfill that goal.

I've never listened to Ice T's rap before, but I bet that's where Rick Ross got his inspiration from. He just didn't take in all the rules of the game. I wouldn't be surprised.