Throw stones at me if you must, treat me like that kid in the De La Soul is Dead skits ("I kinda...like..it..man (SMACK!)), but Vivrant Thing is growing on me (and not because I was swayed by ?uest "I'M NOT A GENIUS" Love). To me, that song is strictly a party song. If I was tied up and dragged to a club and I heard this, I would shake my booty. As ?uest say, when you hear this in a club and the system is tight, it's bumping. When I was in DC, they played some ol' Master P shit and I was dancing (not as hard as when JazzyFatNasty did that reggae song last night, but I was dancing regardless). Hell I even danced to Been Around the World Remix. WHAT!?!? And I think those two as ARTISTS are garbage.<P>IMO, I think that the gap between party and "real hip-hop" songs has widen. If it's too jiggy, you don't respect it, but if it's Co-Flo level, you can't REALLY dance to it, cuz underground folks focus more on making that head-bob while you're in your cypher, freestyling. Don't take that as a diss (well...maybe it is...). That's how I see it. The only cat I see that can bridge that gap is Redman. Don't front like you didn't feel "I Be That". The Roots are getting there (I'll get to yall later). I mean is it that hard to bridge that gap? Who do I blame? CAN I blame anyone?<P>The Roots. In the pocket. Growing with each album. Woke up those sleeping with "Clones". "You Got Me" a beautiful song. Kinda fucked up that folks who don't know you will only consider that an Erykah song. Selling out? Because the "mainstream" is suddenly feeling yall? What kind of madness is that? People who say that they're in the rap game because they love it is 75% full of shit. You can rhyme on the corner in cyphers. Cats want to get paid so that they don't have to do a 9 to 5. Doesn't everyone want to be known at least once in their lives? However it is WHAT you do to get that money that matters. Are you going to keep growing like Prince or are you going the route of Nas? By making yourself more accessible to public, is that going to help you grow? ?uest, I know if need be, if you REALLY wanted to get loot, you can make some songs that all these HOT 97 cats will dig. That would be too simple. That's the same problem Prince had after he did Purple Rain. I remember him saying, "I know how to make hits. I can make a top selling album easy." but he wanted to grow as an artist. All that to say sometimes you gotta push that envelope in name of artistry. I'm cool with the rock thing as long as you do it because you want to. <P>We as Hip-Hop inhabitants owe it to ourselves to expand. We also owe it to the folks that we like support. To the artists, do your thing if it makes you happy and not because of what the record company is telling you we want to hear. 9 times out of 10, they're concerned with the books (I can't really fault them because it's a business, but...).<P>Why do I feel that I made sense, but yet I didn't...<P>"Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent."---Unknown (but it's dope, right?)