This letter is long overdue. With some of the recent events in HipHop I have decided enough is enough. I started listening to HipHop when i was in 5th Grade (1998). First CD i ever got was DMX – Its Dark and Hell Is Hot, Second CD Jay-Z – Volume 2 (Hard Knock Life). I loved both albums and became a die hard Rap fan very quickly. Over the years I broadened the amount of artists I listened to, from southern artists like UGK, Outkast, Scarface and such. To West Coast Snoop Dogg, Kurupt, The Frontline, Knocturnal. To Chicago Common, Twista, Kanye West etc. And of course the heart of it all pretty much any New York Rap. During the beginning there were only few artists i really hated some that come to mind would be Nelly, Birdman, thats really all that comes to mind, im sure there were a few more. Then the year 2003 came and i consider this the beginning of a major downhill trend in HipHop. Lil Jon took over the radio with his garbage music that brought no message at all. Many terrible artists began popping up at this point emulating the same garbage. Rappers like Chingy, Lil Scrappy, Mims, Bone Crusher, Paul Wall, Mike Jones etc. The south decided to take ownership of this new “crunk” movement. Well, before that moment the south had alot of Prize rappers to represent them, but i quickly began to just bunch up the garbage rappers no matter their actual hometowns to just be from the same southern garbage. Rap continued the following years producing the same crap, it was clearly no longer about lyrics and all just about what songs could get the most girls on the dance floor doing the most provocative things. Established artists even began to taint their own careers by jumping on the bandwagon. Rappers like Fat Joe, Jadakiss, Diplomats, Busta Rhymes, Nore, etc. I don’t hate these artists I just think they went through a rough patch some came out of it just fine (Jadakiss) some didn’t (Nore, Fat Joe, Diplomats, Busta Rhymes).

During this time period I also feel its important to note that 50-Cent and The Game both were arguably the biggest debuts between 2003-2010. Alot of people blamed the beef going on during those times for the terrible state of Hip Hop. I disagree. There have been Beefs and Feuds since the beginning of HipHop and the competition is what makes Rap so great. The reason for the terrible state was clearly the lack of quality music being put out or at least the music being pushed by radio stations and record companies.

Then as you approach the end of the Decade and 2011 you start to see a few signs of hope. I would consider the group Slaughterhouse being formed and later signed by Shady Records a huge win for real hip hop. There are alot of internet nerds that hate on Joe Budden and the rest of Slaughterhouse for various reasons but when its all said and done no one can honestly deny the lyrical talent that all 4 members have. Eminem also made his return, Relapse wasn’t the greatest but he quickly got into rhythm and dropped a great album (Recovery).  These are just some of the highlights and it seems the southern “crunk” music era is completely wiped out. I dont think anyone could honestly name a new Lil jon, Paul Wall, Mike Jones, or any of them assholes new records (if there even are new records)

But 2010 and 2011 didn’t bring all good news. I failed to mention the fact that since 2004ish people consider Lil Wayne a top lyricist in the game. I have yet to figure how that works out. I have tried to listen to his Albums and Mixtapes but all i hear is garbage. Lines like “I Get Green Like A String Bean” and “Real Gs Move In Silence Like Lasagna.” Hes clearly a terrible rapper that has alot of undeserved hype. Hopefully someday it will pass. The other problems with today’s Rap is what seems to be the need for a big change. People argue that the Crunk Muzik era was a needed change to keep moving rap forward but i disagree. Now the new era is wearing women’s Jeans and doing queer dances. I mean if someone went back and time and did “The Dougie” in front of DMX or KRS-One do you really think they’d survive to finish the dance? So Yes i will end this rant addressing the recent headlines about Mister Cee. Hes clearly a homo and got caught in the act by the NYPD. Anyone who actually thinks the NYPD is lieing need to go jump off a fucking cliff. People like to use this situation to start talking about HipHop needs to respect the Gay Community. You know if Rappers decide they want to start respecting the Gay Community itd be one thing to maybe use the word Fag less or something like that. But to start wearing womens clothes and drinking pink alcohol (nuvo) is just unacceptable. This is HipHop there’s no room for homos running around in skinny jeans. Theres no room for rappers like Lil B. Lil B is clearly a fag and if you are a man and admit to liking him then you clearly jumped out the closet. If you are a guy that went and purchased a Nicki Minaj CD especially if you waiting in line overnight you also jumped out your own closet. In order for HipHop to survive those people need to jump off a bridge. If you bought Drakes album then….. you get the picture.

Its time for real hip hop to come back. We need artists like Styles P and The Undergodz to get their albums out. As most of you saw Styles recently Flipped out on a couple of wack internet Djs. That 3 minute youtube clip almost brought a tear to my eye. That was 1998 hip hop on display. Canibus was utilizing the internet before most of yall even had a computer in your house. Now he doesn’t even have a Twitter account because of all the corny shit going on. Well this is the end to my rant and just really hope to see a shift back to the old ways. I am all for some changes to HipHop but theres a difference between innovation and decimation.

 


I have never been a huge Wyclef fan but i never really had much reason to dislike him either. During the disaster in Haiti he was all over the TV trying to raise money for HIS Haiti charity. Eventually reports came up that he was paying himself large amounts of money from his charity. Financial statements were released that showed evidence where this could be happening. He pointed out that to hold concerts and such he had to pay staff and facility money. However if you look at it, it doesn’t match up. Sure a lot of it is going to workers and such but Wyclef is definitely taking payment in the thousands for different concerts and such. Now this first incident is disputable and i don’t want to dwell on it just pointing out some possible issues brought up during that crisis. When i saw these reports I didn’t pay them any mind I gave Wyclef the benefit of the doubt and moved on.

Then some time passes and I hear Wyclef is running for President in Haiti. I had mixed feelings about this. Was he doing it for the people of Haiti? or was he trying to further his own career? As time went on he was denied the ability to run for President in Haiti. So would Wyclef continue to support his country?…. I think the answer to that is not before he supports himself. Weeks later word broke out that he was dropping an album about running for President in Haiti. This album is available on Itunes and other outlets.  He is also working on a “Benefit Haiti” album that is slated for release in March. It is very unclear where the proceeds for both these albums go to. The Benefit Haiti album press release states that all proceeds go to the people of Haiti. I could not find any information on the cd that is already out on Itunes. By the people of Haiti does he mean his foundation? will he be taking a salary of some sort? or will he be receiving money in other methods?

The last point and what really prompted me to write this article is what has happened in the past couple days. Wyclef has made a song about the Revolution in Egypt. He has spent his time on twitter promoting the song non stop. Now i understand he is from Haiti and why he was so involved with that. But now he is trying to capitalize off a revolution in Egypt? Come on Wyclef cut the crap. Haiti still has alot of problems in which they need help with why don’t you keep your attention there instead of focusing on Egypt. Next thing you know he will be doing a Middle East Tour called “Revolutions.”

I will end this with a somewhat positive message. Wyclef I am sure you have done some good in Haiti and the world thanks you for that. All I can do is sit here and hope you have been 100% truthful to helping the people of Haiti and not just trying to fatten your pockets off of the disaster. You have become very suspicious now that you are trying to capitalize on Egypt’s Revolution.

EDIT: I just did some further research and discovered Wyclef owes the U.S. government over 2 million dollars. Do you really think all this money being donated/his music etc is going to the people of haiti? Hes got kids in school in Jersey and so forth I definitely call his bluff now.

Is Wyclef A Discrace?

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SKI BEATZ FT. LOCKSMITH – LOCK from Creative Control on Vimeo.

If you watched the above video then I should have your full attention, because I think its impossible to deny the skill displayed by Locksmith in this song. This is going to be a longer than normal read and it will be told from me (the owner of the website) personally in my own words so please forgive any punctuation errors and my opinions expressed.

Back in 2002 a friend had sent me two CDs online called “The Frontline Bootleg Vol 1″ and “The Frontline Bootleg Vol 2″. He told me to check them out more specifically some freestyle battles that were on the CDs because he knew i loved a good freestyle battle. When i heard Locksmith just destroy the people he faced (one of them was Mistah F.A.B. long before his 5 minutes of fame) The lines he spit were just crazy. “Ill snatch your lungs out and throw them back at you so you can catch your breathe”

After i heard those i was a die hard fan. For those of you not familiar The Frontline is made up of members Locksmith and Left. I was a die hard fan and i couldn’t wait to hear some more music. In the following years we saw a few albums from the duo. The first was “Who R You” released in 2004. The next “Now U Know” in 2005. The last “Lock And Left” in 2007. All of these albums were decent albums unfortunately they didn’t really contain tracks that displayed the awesome lyricism of Locksmith. He still murdered verses but they didn’t really fit the song or maybe I should say the song didn’t fit him. I don’t know the thinking behind the crafting of the albums but my best guess says they were trying to create a product that MIGHT get picked up by main stream. At the end of the day you can’t hate an artist for trying that. Since 2007 Locksmith has been pretty quiet he made a few appearances on tracks from a common collaborator known as “Balance”. Some of those tracks were great tracks.

So that takes us to present time. Last year he released some solo tracks with his longtime producer EA Ski. They began heavy promotion of IMGMI their new label. He released a track “Rare Form” and this showcased his amazing lyricism and attracted some main stream attention because of slight Jabs at Kanye West and Lil Wayne. The song was what I had been waiting for, for many years. This track was going to appear on an upcoming album but ended up on a digital EP released on Itunes. Which also had a song that featured Slaughterhouse member Crooked I.  At first after i purchased the EP I was a little worried that now Locksmith was packing it up and I wouldn’t hear any new music from him for a long time.

Which bring us to this past week. It turns out Locksmith made one of the greatest career decisions that I can think of in Rap history. He recognized that being from the Bay area in California was an obstacle in itself. He packed it up and took a trip to New York. He linked up with Ski Beatz and from the above video the chemistry is obvious. Ill be honest I had no idea who Ski Beatz was and after doing my research I am very embarrassed that i did not know who he was. Regardless after releasing the above single i am a fan of Ski Beatz and an even bigger fan of Locksmith. To add even more good news Dj Kayslay invited both Locksmith and Ski Beatz to come on his Shade 45 radio show. After a quick few questions and playing the new single twice Dj Kayslay had Locksmith freestyle something Dj Kayslay does with most guests. After Locksmith killed 2 freestyles it can be said that Kayslay was blown away and had Locksmith continue and freestyle a third time which does not happen often. After Locksmith finished the 3rd freestyle Kayslay reached out and said he wanted Locksmith to appear on his upcoming album as well as his upcoming mixtape. With Dj Kayslay’s popularity this will help Locksmith drastically become more well known in the Rap Game. I am very excited to see what comes next for Locksmith all the fame and success is well deserved.

I will end this with my opinion on what steps I think Locksmith should consider taking to help his career, I can only hope he reads this article and at least gives this advice a read. The first thing i think is crucial to Locksmith’s success is to collaborate with some high profile rappers. Ski Beatz has worked with Jay-Z, Ras Kass, Joell Ortiz, and many more so he should have the contacts to make some of this happen. He should definately get on remixes from any artist possible. Even if the artist is mainstream that doesn’t fit his profile. An example would be like if Soulja Boy or some southern rapper had a remix I would highly recommend he jump on the remix and just rip it so that millions more people could hear the talent he has.

One group of people I think really need to hear Locksmith rap as well as collaborate with is rap group Slaughterhouse. If there was ever room in the Slaughterhouse group for a new member I dont think there is a rapper out there more qualified for such a lyrical group then Locksmith is. He fits their chemistry perfectly and I think Eminem needs to hear some of his rhymes. Based on Eminem’s love for rap i dont think he could deny the talent Locksmith has and would probably reach out to sign him if he was ever made aware.

Finally I end this with one last request. Locksmith please get the solo album out that you are collaborating with Ski Beatz. Please get some sort of body of work out there for the people of some full length. Its long overdue and I am very happy that you realized your lyrical skill is your selling point and not any sort of gimmick. Congratulations on your successes now and the future success you will have. I am going to do my best to get the word out and try to get some more fans for this amazing rapper.

The first big failure of 2010 goes to Young Jeezy! Young Jeezy has seen a lot of success over the years but it seems his career ended when Obama got elected. Young Jeezy had arguably the anthem of Obama being president with “My President Is Black” and at the inauguration Jay-Z dropped a freestyle over the track. Thats the last time the mainstream has heard from Young Jeezy. 2009 was a quiet year for Young Jeezy and now in 2010 he tried to regain some popularity but fell hard. Young Jeezy has dropped 3 solo official mixtapes in 2010 and just as he thought things were looking up Defjam decided he had no buzz and shelfed his next album indefinitely.  The mixtapes he has dropped this year only deserved one listen before most people trashed them. He even tried to get something going by releasing a Vol. 2 to the mixtape that started his career “Trap Or Die” But the tape was garbage and just destroyed his legacy. Ill end this with Jay-Z has been in the spotlight and him and Jeezy use to be together all the time showing up on remixes but Jeezy has been absent from Jay-Z’s side so maybe he needed Jay to be relevant?

Feel free to comment with your thoughts

Today Lloyd Banks – The Hunger For More 2 and Nicki Minaj – Pink Friday both hit the Internet. Both artists have quite a loyal fanbase we have included a poll to allow everyone to vote for which album they enjoy better!

Lloyd Banks – The Hunger For More 2 (Tracklist)

01- take em to war feat tony yayo
02- unexplainable feat styles p
03- payback feat 50 cent
04- home sweet home feat pusha t
05- beam benz or bently feat feat juelz santana
06- so forgetful feat ryan leslie
07- father time
08- start it up feat kanye west, ryan leslie, fabolous
09- celebrity feat akon
10- on the double
11- any girl feat lloyd
12- i dont deserve you feat jeremih
13- sooner or later feat raekwon

Nicki Minaj – Pink Friday (Tracklist)

01- im the best
02- romans revenge feat eminem
03- did it on em
04- right thru me
05- fly feat rihanna
06- save me
07- moment 4 life feat drake
08- check it out feat will i am
09- blazin feat kayne west
10- here i am
11- dear old nicki
12- your love
13- last change feat natasha bedingfield

Which Album Is Better?

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Bun B is set to release his new album featuring a new track with new Pimp c and Tupac verses! But some die hard fans were disappointed to see two Drake features and no Slaugtherhouse features. Bun B has responded to our twitter posts and has given us some good news. Royce Da 59 and Redman will appear on exclusive bonus tracks! We are anxiously waiting to hear those!

Today I have tried to be as objective as i can about Drake’s album release. As the day went on it seemed like everything would go fine and that there would be no need to take any shots at Drake and so forth. I saw that his CD signing in NYC was going to be a success and draw him some more album sales. Then i was informed (Very Late) that Drake had actually planned a FREE concert in NYC to promote his new album. Thats when i decided i had to write this article. Drake preparing a FREE concert that has now been shut down was an awesome sales gimmick on his part. He got everyone in NYC to go out and buy the album and then go to this FREE show. Had Drake not done this Free concert in NYC do you really think thousands of young fans would really flood into NYC to purchase the album? I dont think so. He created a situation in which many young people felt obligated to pick it up and possibly have a chance to get it signed.

So I end this with two points. Eminem’s Recovery hits stores next week. What if Eminem did a free concert in NYC next week or even Detroit? I personally feel that if Eminem did a stunt like this he would break 1 million in his first week with flying colors. Picture Drake’s crowd times 10. The same goes for if Jay-Z did a free concert in NYC. I feel like Drake is artificially trying to inflate his first week numbers just to try to solidify his position in the game. But in reality he is just another artist that will fizzle off in time. No other debuting artist ever through a Free concert of this magnitude during their first week. If Drake breaks a million in his first week I will not give him full credit for it.

I conclude this with just reiterating the fact that this is Rapsuite.com and from time to time we will bring you our controversial stance on an issue. We are going to bring you just news that has to do with the music that MATTERS. Please feel free to sound off on your opinion we have now integrated facebook commenting into our system! So use your facebook account to sound off on this issue!

Today Drake’s debut album “Thank Me Later” went on sale everywhere. Drake held a massive CD signing in NYC today. People camped out overnight just to make sure that they got their chance to meet him.

How Many Albums Will Drake Sell In His First Week?

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Update (May 31): Royce Da 59′s Manager just informed us and posted on twitter that the NO DJ version will be available digitally in 7-10 days. This gives us hope that they may go back in and remaster/remix it!

UPDATE: In fairness to Royce Da 59 it seems as if in such a short time they have already responded to our complaints, They will be releasing a NO DJ version of Bar Exam 3 soon digitally! It is unconfirmed on whether this will be mastered/mixed better. We will keep everyone posted, Thanks to everyone who commented on here and other hip hop websites it seems that sometimes your voice does matter sometimes :)

Today the long anticipated release from Royce Da 59, Bar Exam 3 leaked onto the internet. There is no denying that Royce has extreme talent on the microphone. However, A problem that has been looming since Slaughterhouse was formed… Their mixing/mastering engineers have the skills of a 2 year old. Joe Budden released Halfway House, Padded Room, Escape Route, all plagued with terrible mixing and mastering. (Some More Than Others) Then Royce Da 59 releases his solo album this past October “Street Hop” and it sounded like it was recorded on an old cassette player. Fans across the world deserve better quality. Many fans recognize that this is a serious issue, others don’t have stereo systems of value so they cannot tell the difference. I end this with the obvious problem going forward for Royce and the rest of slaughterhouse; They are signing to Shady Records which is a branch under Aftermath Records which is Run by Interscope / Dr. Dre. Dr. Dre has been out promoting his new head phones and how the digital age has destroyed the quality of music. If Dr Dre truly wants to maintain a standard of perfection then he will have to address the Slaughterhouse team and someone will hopefully be losing their job. Otherwise this new deal just might not work out for Slaughterhouse.

Remember everybody including the Rapsuite team respects the Slaughterhouse crew for their extreme talent in lyricism, but issues of quality need to be addressed so everyone can enjoy the music.

Feel free to comment speak out and maybe something will actually be done about this!

With Beamer Benz And Bently Doing so well across the World in clubs and on the radio, and now Tony Yayo drops an official single which you can stream or download by clicking the link below, you have to wonder what is G-Unit’s Plans? Lloyd Banks has announced that Hunger For More 2 is coming soon, but no release date or even release window has been given. The same goes for Tony Yayo and his next album. Is it too late for them to capitalize on their singles? Beamer Benz And Bently has done well but now the buzz has died down, and the remix made some noise on day 1 but its already starting to fizzle away.

http://www.thisis50.com/profiles/blogs/tony-yayo-pass-the-patron

Do You Think Lloyd Bank's Has Missed An Opportunity To Capitalize On His Hit Single?

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