>i am still baffled on how
>Common blew up?

Dear JonM:

Late. That's how the brother blew up. You see the media hype surrounding Common Sense the artist was scheduled for the release of "RETROSPECT FOR LIFE", the brilliant single on the "One Day It Will All Make Sense" CD. It featured a piano riff only the musically challenged could front on. A hook that NOBODY could front on because Ms. Lauryn-Only-Can-Do-Right Hill sung. A flow any "hip-hop"*lol* fan who can't understand what Pharoah Monche, Big Jus, & El-P are saying, can easily follow.
Lastly yet most importantly, content which discusses a SERIOUS MALE INTERPRETATION on an issue which affects nearly 99% WOMEN who experience sexual contact in this promiscuous society. Abortion. It also gave the young rap world an REALISTIC EXAMPLE OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF DENYING/ACCEPTING MALE FATHERHOOD.


Of the few sistas who I have come into discussion with on this song, not one had a bad thing to say about it.

So if females was feelin it why didn't he blow then? Good question.

FACT: Hot 97 FM is a division of ENNIS COMMUNICATIONS.
FACT: Hot 97 is the ONLY radio station BROADcasting hip hop in the TRI-STATE AREA (NY, NJ, CONN) with the exception of the college shows & Stretch & Bobbito.
FACT: Hot 97 for the past decade has NEVER HAD A PERSON OF COLOR AS THEIR PROGRAM DIRECTOR; what does this mean? How is it significant?
It is significant because your program director chooses what x- amount of songs get spun on the station regularly. The only thing that may remotely affect his/her decision is PUBLIC OUTCRY FOR TRUE HIPHOP.
FACT: Because Hot 97 ("the place where hiphop lives...oops should I say the place where hiphop IS DYING) has such a GIGANTIC listening audience as Nielsens Ratings will tell you, other hiphop/r&b radio stations go to ENNIS COMMUNICATIONS, specifically hot 97 to find out what's "hot" and what's not. How is this significant? Well basically you can thank ENNIS for blowing up the whole "bi-coastal beef" thing from way back with Biggy & Pac. They told other radio stations, not only are such & such & such songs hot as hell, but yadda, yadda, yadda topics will get you ratings if discussed on air.
FACT: IF THERE ARE CERTAIN SOCIAL/POLITICAL UNDERTONES IN THE MESSAGES OF YOUR MUSIC, NO MATTER HOW "HOT" YOUR BEAT IS, OR HOW "WACK" YOUR BEAT IS, YOU MAY OR MAY NOT GET SPINS.
EXAMPLE?
"RETROSPECT FOR LIFE" WAS NEVER HEARD ON HOT 97 UNLESS COM VISITED THE STATION.
"THIEVES IN THE NIGHT" BY BLACKSTAR WAS NEVER HEARD ON THE STATION.
"I'M AMERICA" BY CO-FLOW WILL NEVER BE HEARD ON HOT 97
YOU WILL NEVER HEAR "WATCHING ME" BY JILL SCOTT ON THE RADIO.
NOBODY (WHO STRICTLY LISTENS TO THE RADIO) HEARD THE SINGLES RELEASED BY TALIB KWELI & CO DISCUSSING THE SOCIAL OUTRAGE OF THE SAVAGE MURDER OF ABNER LOUIMA.
YOU WILL, HOWEVER, HEAR COUNTLESS DEDICATIONS TO RAPPERS WHO LIVED & SPOKE THEIR DEATHS INTO EXISTENCE. THESE PETTY, INDUSTRY SCAMS, MOST OF WHICH ARE MADE BY ARTISTS WHO HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE FALLEN ARTISTS AS THE MOTHERS OF THESE ARTISTS WILL TELL YOU, ARE MADE IN THE INTEREST OF GAINING "$" AND GIVING BIRTH TO THEIR NONEXISTENT CAREERS.
I MEAN, COME ON, BE REAL, WOULD THE RAP WORLD WOULD HAVE HEARD OF THE LOX IF IT WASN'T FOR "WE'LL ALWAYS LOVE U BIG POPPA"? AND SINCE WHEN IS IT slaveMASTER P'S PLACE TO DO AN ENTIRE DEDICATION ALBUM TO 2PAC. ESPECIALLY WHEN HE BITES HIS STYLE SO HEINIOUSLY.-Further proof that Pac is dead because after the way he tried to blaze those Queens cats on "HIT EM UP",
I'd like to believe he'd gun ol' PERCY.

QUESTION: Why is it the true emcees can't get spins unless they address the ladies? See "Ms.Phatbooty", "You Got Me", "The Light", and the hook on "Get The F*ck Up" for further proof. Not taking anything away from these talented bros. but could they have received the same spins & public acclaim if they dropped, "Nu World Water", "I'm Still Out There", "The Big Payback", and "Queens"?

When the reasons these artists shine so brightly above the rest of the babblers, my bad, rappers, is their ability to produce a range of thought on social issue, flair for production, ability to rhyme without drug-selling references, spirituality, & constant references to spreading LOVE and UNITY,
why is that expression constantly overlooked by the radio friendly, single discussing the only thing that "matters" to the younger hiphop generation besides "street glory" which is love or sex?

Something to discuss at a later date perhaps.....


"The man that knows something knows that he knows nothing at all"-Erykah Badu

"I give a damn if any fan recalls my legacy/I'm trying to live life in the sight of God's memory"- Mighty Mos

"It's a shame that black women are SO BEAUTIFUL...CAUSE THE ACTIONS OF MOST OF EM SHOW THAT THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW IT."-Solitayre

"Well brother's & sisters, are we gonna choose our faith by what is in our souls, or the white reaction of what is on our skin."-Solitayre