Know your history...

I usually don't rant or "diss" anyone here but I had to speak on this instance. The other night wifey and I were at a work function for V-Day and I met this dude. I won't name names or anything but, he was 24, and from California. Well this dude tells me he is a rapper, so I'm like word. I always am willing to check out a new rapper or whatever. So me and this dude cut to the car to jam some beats and shit that I had previously burned before I came. I immediately ask him does he like Dilla beats? And he says, "Who?" So I give him the benefit of the doubt and play him some classic Dilla shit. Common, De La Soul, Busta Rhymes and even some Janet Jackson. So I assume he is vibin' on this shit because his head is nodding and all talking had ceased. So, I'm flipping through some tracks and De La Soul's "Stakes is High" comes on, and I quickly say, "Oh Shit!" Classsssic shit, and he looks at me very confused, and says,"who is this?" And I look at him half jokingly and half seriously and say are you serious? He replies yes. So, here we are in this car listening to CLASSIC hip hop, shit that all "hip hop heads" know and love and he is losing his mind because he had never heard this before. So I'm like, alright, well if you haven't heard this, then maybe you have heard this. Cut to Pharcyde's " Runnin'" Now remember, this dude is from Cali. He looks at the radio again and turns it up a tad bit and says, who is this? I reply exactly the same way I did earlier. So at this point, I'm sitting here with this cat that is a "rapper" that compares himself to Atmosphere. Not in skills but in delivery and skin pigment I guess. I am frustrated to no end and I'm asking him how long he has been listening to hip hop, he replies 7th grade. Which by his calculations was 1998-1999 ( a direct quote) About the time Jay-Z came out. I stopped him right there and said, " What about Reasonable Doubt?" and he had this blank look on his face for like, I dunno, 20 seconds, and says, "Is that the shit Jigga did with Dilla?" I gave him a stack of cd's and told him do your homework and then we'll talk.


I'm not claiming to be a hip-hop genius, or even a musical genius by ANY means, but I do think that it is only fair that you should do a little research and know what it is you are talking about and trying to portray on a daily basis. You can tell me it's your true passion but if you don't know anything about it and have nothing to base yourself on or off of then please, shut the fuck up. That would be like if my true passion was to become a mechanic and didn't know what the fuck spark plugs were.

Enough ranting. Peace.