Art Or Entertainment (Real or Facade)

Here goes another rant for the ages. So this past year, two Rap, Florida natives were exposed for their previous professions. Of course I'm talking about Ricky Ricky Ross and "Yalilwhol" Plies.

Mr.Ross was accused of being a correctional officer, when Ross was reached for questioning regarding this picture:

He defended himself by stating, it's his face, but the overall image is photoshopped. Not too long after this rebuttal, the negatives of this picture were also released, thus proving Ricky Ross was not who he rapped himself up to be. I mean, honestly, how many of us believe these emcees are world renown drug dealers? There are very few rappers I believe who made a living off of dope and it's because their mother's could vouch, Young Jeezy, Jay-Z, Tupac and Biggie. Other than that, if you're kickin' that hustler bullshit still, wouldn't somebody come up and say,"Aye, Gucci Mane sold me an 8 ball of crack."

Our other talk of the day is "Yalilwhol" Plies. Ever since Plies came out with Pleasure P on "Make It Wet",I honestly didn't see a future in his career. If I know one thing, I know how labels make gimmicks to sell records and ringtones. Either, your artist is pretty/handsome and people buy records for the vanity of the singer, I'm guilty, I bought Jennifer Lopez's "This Is Me...Then" album because I liked the picture and the CD smelled good; or, your artist voice/flow is simply ridiculous and you can't help but sell records. A lot of "rappers" today haven't raised my eyebrow with flow, so a lot of women buy records because they like looking at the artist. Back in 2000 with all the prepubescent girls storming stores for the new Lil' Bow Wow or Lil'Romeo album.

So anyway, back to "Yalilwhol" Plies, he confessed to SOHH.com that he graduated from the University of South Florida with a nursing degree. As a rap fan, being a C.O. and nurse just ain't the coolest shit in the streets, but from the perspective of a young Black man in America, I say kudos to my brothers.

But, dig this, right?

How can you hop up on the mic and kick some big boy shit for three albums straight, these dudes probably ain't never held a gun.....ok, Ross, but he ain't never murdered somebody because he wanted to, you know? Plies would be totally straight with me if he didn't kick that thug shit on his album, he knows dudes don't buy his albums, so he kicks that thug swagger shit to the ladies so they'll wanna keep buying his shit.

This one time, by fate, me and Boogie walked to the gas station for Blacks, we saw this chick he knew filling up her tank and asked for a lift back to campus. So, we're in the car and she pops in a Plies CD,I hear this song that made me get ridiculously weak. If you've ever heard this song, you know what I'm talking about, "Shit Bag". Ha ha ha ha. He talks about burnin' niggaz wit dat fo' fi' and you'll be eatin' and shittin' out da same bag. From that point forward, I understood why the only singles you hear from this dude are the R&B collabos. I take in a lot of useless shit, so don't ask how I remember this, do you remember "I Am The Club" and "Who Hotter Than Me?". The 2nd one may ring a bell, I might've jogged your memory with the 1st. These tracks are absolutely doo.

Let me cut to the chase. Why do these artists insist on selling an image of themselves that isn't true? I can't thoroughly blame the artist, record execs are part of the blame too, they control what comes out, they're the ones telling their artists to make radio tracks, or ringtone tracks.

Is this rap music for the recognition of making good music, or the dollars? To each is own, if a lot of rappers' main concern was to sell records, they wouldv'e changed up long ago, NaS, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, and Immortal Technique for instance.

If you ask me, I'd be lying if I told you I didn't want M.T. Bag to sell records. It's all about the fashion you do it though, if M.T. Bag were to go commercial today, we wouldn't have any air time, our music is too above mainstream for it to be in rotation with these club bangers. So, would M.T. Bag ever dumb down for dollars....you never know how you'll react in a situation until it happens to you.

BUT, BUT, BUT........EVERY member of this band is too damn stubborn and would give record execs a hard time in the studio if we were ever signed to a major label. So, in the midst of all this witchcraft and wizardry, it's nice to know, your favorite superheroes gotcha back.

This is Empathy signing off....

=.=
The E-M-P'll say P.E.A.C.E