Lord Finesse’s Hip 2 Da Game will always be one the most memorable video’s from my past, I fucking loved this shit when it dropped. It came out in 1995 and is the first and biggest single from his album The Awakening.

Lord Finesse was the punchline king of the D.I.T.C. Conglomerate. This crew consisted of rappers and producers who were considered some of Hip Hop’s elite such as Big L, Fat Joe and O.C., the latter of which make cameos in this video. I used to think I was the shit listening to this song or when the video came on for some reason, it just gave me that cool feeling. Some people know what I’m talking about, I believe this was Finesse in his prime. He always killed it like this and never stopped, but after a little while I think I was over all the punchline’s and stopped caring as much as I got older. That whole style became very dated to me. 

It may have been for this same reason that he, and the D.I.T.C movement (which never lived up to the hype once the album came out), faded not too long after this video.Times change but this song will live on forever in my mind as it used to be in my room like around 8th grade and freshmen year of high school; on heavy rotation. I swear so many rappers always put “right” and “true” in their songs the same way the girl says it in this song.

So I made the observation recently that I have been rapping for over 10 years as of 2009.  Fortunately, I started at a young age but it’s been a long journey and definitely a long way to go still. I believe, at this point, I’ve gone through enough bullshit to confidently say that I’m hip to the game. I’ve seen people come and go; Many arrived when I did, many came before, and others after. But one thing that rings true about them all is that most of them are gone now. “Gone” in the sense they’ve decided to do other things besides pursue a career in rap because this game is fickle and full of empty promises. 

Maybe the game just moved too quickly for them to keep up with. Some didn’t play by the rules and the game chewed them up and spit them out. While in many cases, they still continue to act as if anyone cares what they do. Others played it too safe and found themselves lost when the future became present. I think in order to fully understand it you may have to be on the inside looking out but it’s not rocket science to say the least. Most people are like “Damn son, where’d that dude go??” Or, “That motherfucker fell off yo!” But what they might not realize is that rapper disappeared and fell off because he/she never adapted to the game after being hip to it at a certain point. 

It’s like life after college where if you don’t figure it out, reality will definitely make things perfectly clear in no time and smack the shit out of you. In hip-hop, by the time this realization is made, it’s already too late in the game. Class, pussy/dick if you’re a chick, and alcohol are pretty simple and pleasurable things to dive into compared to the real world. When that chapter comes to a close, in order to survive, everyone scrambles for a J.O.B. or some alternative method to get that gwop... Far as rappers go, very little scrambling.  

Sadly, Hip Hop will never be the same so I’m sorry about your favorite major label MC from the 90’s because if he ain’t Jay Z, Nas, Camron, Eminem, Doom, Ghost, Prodigy, and a few others that I can’t remember….it’s over, and you can forget about anyone from the 80’s. Even some of the aforementioned dudes are fading, fast. I know it’s not very encouraging at all but truth is, staying relevant is something rappers have a hard time with.

Why? Because it’s hard as hell for ANYONE to think outside of what they have been for the last 20 years. Not to mention rappers will usually hit a ceiling and never aspire to get better, or just can’t.  Good thing for you, Yak Ballz is far more advanced and cut from a different cloth so you will never have to worry about any minor setbacks or malfunctions in the ambition department (Gas Galaxy free mixtape/album coming soon as well as yakballz.net). No lie, WM. 

Here’s the thing, there is a stigma that comes along with rapping and it infects us like the common cold, not one that goes away, but one of those nasty fuckers that lingers and is mad hard to shake.  Eventually the game changes and rappers are still stuck, I mean sick, the bad sick though. They’ll try to use figurative Robitussin which I’ll equate to rehashing once successful concepts, albums, tours, re-union records, etc. but lets face it, Robitussin is only temporary relief. In Hip Hop it almost always fails because those ideas are based on decisions that were conceived and actualized 10 years too late! Brilliant!

In 2009, however, there’s a lot more to worry about than the music. Of course it all STARTS with the music but now, more than ever, it’s about the kind that fits neatly into the realms of what people think is “cool” at this very frozen second in time. By today’s standards, DENYING the fact that taking matters into your own hands is what you have to do in order to garner and maintain any type of appeal, will leave you in the dust faster than you can say “truuuue.”  The internet is one of many things that I guarantee you a lot of washed up MC’s are not savvy on. So, unless you are willing to be open-minded, forward thinking, and somewhat accepting of what is new and different, you will never truly enjoy, find beauty in, or take anything away from what isn’t necessarily your bag. 

It’s easier to get mad at something you've coveted when it morphs into something you aren’t used to, instead of giving it a chance to see what it’s all about. Some people waste a lifetime being bitter, shit I wasted some years too, and I know being an open book is also easier said than applied.

I guess the point of this blog is that being hip to the game requires making it so that the game needs to be hip to YOU. In other words, you be the one to stay ahead of the curve, be original, open, and make sure whatever you send into to the world is top notch. You might find yourself on the cutting edge if you are lucky, because we all know a little luck will go a long way. Fuck if you catch flack for it, they’ll catch on sooner or later, or never.  But if it all works out and they actually do get it some day, by that time you’ll be light years beyond and I’ll be waiting, ready to greet you with a snarky “told-you-so.”