Credit Where Credit Is Due

Before we get into this topic, I'd like to ask if anyone has noticed the rise in tobacco product costs. Just two days ago, I could get a single Black&Mild for 95¢, now them shits cost $1.27. I brought a buck to BP like, 'where my cigars be at?' I saw the price and freaked out. But it's good to be me, because you can get employees to split the difference with you, thank goodness for generous people, I love y'all n!99@$.

Anyway, what I wanna discuss is the mindstate of mainstream Hip-Hop fans. You know when you hear the new Plies record or whoever, you hear the beat first. If you don't like the beat, odds are, you won't like the song....Anyway, I hate how people think rappers make their own beats, hell, a lot of singers don't even write the songs they sing nowadays!

Back in the 70s and 80s, it was custom for an artist to be part of their own music, now it's like, all an all star does is put their name on it. I heard rumors that half of Eminem's songs were recorded by a voice-alike, I don't believe it, but it makes you think.....Why are we in this music thing if we don't wanna do it? Like Brittany Spears, all she does is lips sync her performances, people came to see/hear you perform live, if you're not singing, what the fuck are you doing?

I respect the people who read the booklets and find out who's producing the sound, or just have an ear for who makes what, I love it! The #1 misconception in Hip-Hop ,from my stand point, is Jay-Z's "Hard Knock Life", yeah, he rapped on it, but he didn't make the beat. People take the shit at face value and move on. I feel producers get shat on, sure, they get royalties, and yeah, some don't care to be heard about, but give n!99@$ their credit. A classic that's been on repeat all this week now, Reasonable Doubt, nobody quite cares for the producers who made the album what it is, and it saddens me.

There are very few emcees on the radio who make their own beats, actually, there's only one, and that's K.West.

I'm not knocking these rappers, it's just, you wouldn't be where you are, if it weren't for the Just Blazes or Timbalands who slave over hot keyboards......If you think about it, it doesn't really matter, but it's the principality. Playing with my music, is like playing with my emotions!

"I'm slizzered, I'll take her home, though she look like a lizard."

P.E.A.C.E