Quote (Pensmoke)
if you don't know the difference between rap and hip hop then maybe you need to go to another forum.
Hip Hop is comprised of four elements: The Emcee, the DJ, the Graffiti Writer, and the Break Dancer. Hip hop, contrary to the general consensus on this board, is not some type of "real" rap music. Rap music is rap music. Hip Hop is what you get when all elements form like Voltron. You should know this already.
Quote (Pensmoke)
Just because you don't like the label gangsta rap doesnt mean that its not a legitimate label.
In my opinion it's not a legitimate label. Sure, record companies and album reviewers and "real" hip hop heads love to put rappers in pre-determined boxes, but most of the time the artists being judged don't even acknowledge the term! Pac has said once over that he is not a Gangsta Rap artist. Sorry, Pensmoke, but I'll take 2Pac's word over yours any day of the week. No offense.
Quote (Pensmoke)
Its somebody who was there vs somebody who 'heard' that it was 'this way or that way'
Is this the foundation of your argument? The fact that you were around during that time gives you the ultimate credentials in discussing the man? You are ignorant. I will admit that someone who lived during the time these artists were coming up deserve to speak their mind and their opinion should be respected, but it does not make your opinion the absolute answer. If a white supremacist who was living during the life of Martin Luther King Jr. told you that MLK was a racist womanizer, would you believe him, simply because he was 'around' during his lifetime? That's a weak argument.
Quote (Pensmoke)
You got no experience with these things you just speak how you 'feel' when you wasn't even there in the scene when it was going down.
You slice and dice rappers and put them into categories and boxes. You are the one who needs a lesson in hip hop knowledge. Step your game up, gramps.
Quote (eboyd)
you would have just as much evidence to support your claim as I do mine
Great. I'm glad you said that. I'd like to make the claim that Rakim was seen as a homosexual during his rap career. Most real hip hop heads that I knew thought Rakim was a flaming homosexual who wore booty shorts and bought the bar out at disco-techs in NYC with his Paid In Full advance money. Everyone I know that was an older head thought Rakim was gay. Of course I don't have any supporting evidence of that, but my friends will tell you that it's true. Do you see what I'm getting at, eboyd? It's foolish to make these type of arguments, "Most of my friends think 2Pac was fake so yeah that must be what everyone on God's green earth thinks." Sorry, that's the opinion of a select few. Your people and Pensmoke's people. I'm not saying you are lying about your claims, but you and Pensmoke don't speak for an entire generation. So stop.
Quote (eboyd)
Maybe someone should inform you that emceeing and rapping are not one in the same
In my eyes, rap is rap, is rap is rap is rap. You can be Vanilla Ice, you can be Project Pat, you can be Big Pun, you can be Q-Tip. If you got skills, you got skills. End of story. If you are for the progression of human equality, then fine, egalitarianism it is. If you rap about women shaking their ass and dicks in their ear and shit, then guess what, you are a rapper too! I got no time to listen to people who want to define every single aspect of an artist, "Wait he said something about vegetarianism, now he is an east coast, conscious, lacto-ovo vegetarian rapper!" That's silly, and that's what you guys are basing this entire debate on. You want to throw labels on everything out there when really you should just be enjoying the rap music. "Real Hip Hop" heads are destroying the culture more than any other group I know. And that's as real as it gets.
Quote (EmSeeD)
so i think Pensmoke would know more about how 2pac was recieved among the hip hop purist circles in those days than both of us.
That very well may be true, but Pensmoke doesn't speak for everyone. That's ALL I'm saying.
