There is no secret that mainstream rap artists are searching for ideas, and who could blame them with the decline in record sales and global piracy further hindering and making this issue all that much more worse. There has always been a little bit of peeping going around to see what underground rap artists are doing to enhance their market capability. I ran across a subject that was very comical and attention grabbing to me in a way. It was an article that I came across while surfing the “World Wide Web”, in which, there was an article relating to three hip-hop artists. The article was discussing and creating a contest on which artists out of Kanye West, Lloyd Banks, and Crooked I had the best weekly rap series.
The rationale to why I am saying that the article is amusing to me is because the article was titled “Which Rappers Had the Best Weekly Series”, which was forming a competition between the artists for the readers to judge. The article was by Calvin Stovall of XXL magazine, which either accidently or knowingly forgot to mention that Crooked I started this trend in the first place and Crooked I is no slouch when it comes to rhyming. In fact, some say he is the best period. Mr. Stovall glorifies Kanye West for his G.O.O.D. Friday series and explains that Kanye is a trendsetter, which he most certainly is and there is no argument in that department on my end, but not on this particular topic. Kanye is unquestionably a remarkable artist and his new album “My Dark Twisted Fantasy” is a must buy for hip-hop music lovers. Kanye started his G.O.O.D Friday series as a catalyst to create more momentum and energy for his new album, “My Dark Twisted Fantasy.” The album is brilliant and I don’t think Kanye even had to do a weekly series to build any momentum towards people wanting to go out or download his new album.
Lloyd Banks now that’s another story, he probably did need to be a little bit more in the ears of fans in prospective hopes of generating more build up for his latest album “The Hunger For More 2”. Lloyd Banks followed Kanye’s lead and started a weekly series of his own called “Blue Fridays”, in which he dropped a new freestyle or song every Friday before his album came out. There is now more talk that more artists are going to begin their own exclusive days of releasing weekly music. That is a good way of exhausting and wearing out a good thing.
Now back to Crooked I, a member of the rap group called “Slaughterhouse” (Joe Budden, Royce Da 5’9, Joell Ortiz, and Crooked I), which were recently signed to the artist of the decade Eminem’s label earlier this year. Before Crooked I was a member of Slaughterhouse, he dropped his own set of weekly series called “Hip-Hop Weekly.” Crooked I did a weekly freestyle for every week of the year over other artist beats, which got him rave reviews and his fan base grew immensely. This is the kicker, Crooked I started his weekly rap series in April 2007 and finished it for a brief moment on April 2008, until he started up another new weekly series called “Hip-Hop Weekly Reloaded, which was building off of the accomplishment of his first weekly series.” The fans wanted more and Crooked I was willing to deliver more crisp lyrics to them, and believe me I know because I am a fan myself.
Crooked started his Hip-Hop Weekly series once more on August of 2011. He had promised the fans that he was going to drop another weekly series when he was done with the first set of weekly series. Of course, Crooked I doesn’t have no copyright protection for his weekly series, but now Crooked I claims he is going to end his weekly series for good, because as he said in one of his songs there are too many other rappers jumping on board. The funny fact of the matter is that other rappers are getting praise for doing their weekly series and are being called innovative in their weekly series efforts, but Crooked I started the trend in the first place. Since, when is playing the role of the imitator being innovative? I don’t know the answer to that one, but possibly someone can fill me in on that one. Crooked I says he is going to come up with something new, because as he said in one of his verses I set trends and I do not follow them. He stopped his weekly series after 15 weeks. That is why the whole article in XXL and other magazines publications I am certain are doing the same thing are being comical to me on this subject. I know Crooked I isn’t as big as Kanye or Lloyd Banks for that matter, but his recognition is definitely rising and he can thank a lot of that to his weekly rap series that really showcased off his talents. They are trying to compare the weekly series between three artists, in which, they are asking fans who had the best one and not stating the fact that Crooked I started the whole weekly series in the first place is not right in my eyes.
This is just my opinion, of course on the whole matter. There is no better weekly series, because these guys didn’t all come together and start the marketing tactics in a formed agreement. The inventor was Crooked I, but it seems like he is the one suffering for his innovative and creative hard work. There should not even be a competition in my opinion and Crooked I feels very disrespected by both the magazines and the artists alike. I know that there is no secret that mainstream rap artists like to see what’s going on with underground artists, just look at the mixtape. The whole thing I think is a matter of respect when it comes to the Crooked I getting snubbed in this situation. Crooked I just sought a little bit of notoriety, and he didn’t even mention Kanye’s or Lloyd Banks’ names at all, but he did bring up a a small number of publications. Crooked I mentioned that he was concluding his weekly series and he had something new in store, which excites me because I am a big fan.
If you haven’t heard any of his weekly series yet, I would recommend that you Google Crooked I. If you are a fan of hip-hop music you would most likely enjoy them. All Crooked I sought was for Kanye West, Lloyd Banks and others that were following suit to pay homage, by the means of a simple thank you would of been sufficient perhaps. Crooked I set the trend, so there shouldn’t be a discussion on whose weekly series was the best. Kanye had a lot of features on his weekly series as well, and Crooked I only had a few every now and then. He displayed his talents by himself to increase his following and to prove that he has been slept on for so long. However, this is just my opinion on the matter, please share yours.
No comments:
Post a Comment