Well just like that its over. With about two days left in the year (given all goes good) its safe to say we've made it thru another one, and lets hope that life is larger and grander in 2k15! But before we rush off into the new year, lets recap 2k14, and get a feel for what to expect in these coming days. I give you the first #NoCondomRapUp:HipHop in 2K14.!
Now 2014 wasn't necessarily a bad year for hip hop, but it certainly wasn't the best. Not to take away anything from it because the culture as a whole made some big feats as well as did many individuals...but it had its downsides as well. Kick back, po'up, light something as I run down biggest oohhs and aahhs of the year
First Quarter
The year started out with a bang for hip hop as many artist landed huge placements, made some big accomplishments, & the culture itself took some large steps. For example J. Cole graced the SuperBowl with a performance, and they now ask hip hop questions on game shows like Jeopardy! Yeezy's, "Yeezus" went platinum giving him his 10th(give or take) platinum album...#Beast. Now on the down side he got sentenced to two years probation for yet another scuffle with the paparazzi
Now Yeezy wasn't the only one doing numbers this year as Pharell's HappY went platinum as well, but somehow Macklemore manged to snatch the grammy for best hip hop album beating some of hip hops best like Kendrick,Drake, and Jay Z. This caused quite a stir within the hip hop community resulting in Macklemore going public to say K Dot actually had the best album of the year, but folk still fstw.
Speaking of TDE Schoolboy Q released his highly anticipated "Oxymoron" which topped Billboard, and that was a real good look for the game and Q. They finally freed Lil Boosie and he came home and went right to work. Boosie Bad Azz gave the streets a mixtape entitled "Life After Death Row", which got a really good response. This project is suppose to hold the public over until he releases his double disc album, "Touchdown to Cause Hell", which is said to be finished. SXSW was successful once again with a line up full of stars, with headliners like Yeezy, & Jay-Z & did I mention it was my 1st year performing?!?!?!
Second Quarter
The next quarter of the year got a lot more interesting as Big Sean was invited to the White House to perform for the president's daughter along side Ariana Grande. He was the first rapper ever to do so. Also Outkast came together for a string of live shows, such as Coachella and their own tour. This would be the first time they performed alongside each other in a decade, and now that we're on reunions, Wu-Tang also got back together to do an album entitled "A Better Tomorrow". G-Unit reformed also, and made an appearance at Summer Jam as a whole.
While we're in that Shady/Aftermath area(I know 50's left already) lets go ahead and point out the fact that Dr. Dre sold his Beat headphones to Apple for 3.2 billion, making him hip hops first billionaire! If that wasn't surprising enough Spike Lee directed an Eminem video...well it was mindblowing to me! Now on the downside of this quarter, two of the most well-established black celebrities (T.I. & Mayweather) of our time, scuffled outside of a Fatburger in Vegas over Tiny. I heard Tip swung first...he really loves her is all I can say. Meanwhile in the middle of the nation, Trick Trick established the No Fly Zone in Michigan locking out any rappers that don't break bread with local artists, and made Rick Ross the first example by not letting him perform at a concert. & who could forget the infamous Jay-Z, Solange, elevator incident?
Third Quarter
2k14 might've been battle raps biggest year. In addition to The URL having its own segment on BET entitled Ultimate Freestyle Fridays, the genre also had its first ever PPV event presented on national TV, with a reality series that aired in the upcoming weeks of the event! Even hip hop artists got into the ring to throw punches with battle rap vets. The two biggest being Joe Budden(vs Hollow the Don) & Cassidy(vs Dizaster) who got paid 250k for his battle!
Drake and Tunechi gave the fans what they wanted and co-headlined a tour together entitled "Drake vs Wayne" and it was a success. Drake also hosted the ESPY's this year, and appeared on Saturday Night Live, which a few rappers did this year. Jay-Z's "Made In America" documentary aired as him & B, completed their successful "On the Run" co-lab tour. Jigga also kicked off football season, performing for the start of the first official game, with Rhi Rhi.
Fourth Quarter
All good things must come to an end, or so they say...well in this case its true, as we're seeing all the good news from hip hop this year, is being offset by a series of unfortunate events. Young Money/Cash Money artists have been insulting their label, and label mates publicly in these last couple of months, starting with Lil Twist back in October who said his management was worst ever in history. Tyga then came forward claiming that the label was refusing to let him release his album or move forward with his career. Tyga then went on to say he didn't like the labels marquee acts (Drake & Nicki) personally he just worked with them cause he had to. As if this wasn't enough, Wayne recently went public about his album being held w/ no release date, & even wanting off the label. Tunechi has hinted at taking legal action against Cash Money if the situation isn' fixed....whoa.
Just when you thought it was all love in hip hop,damn. But YMCMB isn't the only group of folk who are divided right now. Apparently DJ Mustard, (break out producer who made YG's "My Hitta" ) is beefing with none other than YG. This was literally brought to my attention a few minutes ago as the "IG" beef escalated earlier today. Dj Mustard is upset over not being paid for the music he provided for the project. YG in turn and I quote stated "Fuqq you, and fuqq everybody that didn't get paid for my album...". The two were scheduled to fight but I haven't heard anymore about it.
Well I hope you found our little time together informative, but hell who am I kidding? With the way 2k14 ending the way it has I honestly don't know what to expect from hip hop in 2k15, but I know one thing for sure...you can expect to see me on TV!!! Its been great see you guys in 2k15!!!
( I despise talking about the laws so we won't get into how the hip hop police have been cracking down on artists like Bobby Shmurda and Tiny Doo as of late, but my last post was about it, so if you wanna read up on it just go back a day or two.)
No comments:
Post a Comment