Rappin' and Actin': They Go Hand In Hand

In the movie "Notorious" one of the main points of interest is the fact that the Notorious B.I.G. (Biggie Smalls) was an ex-drug dealer turned successful rapper. This fact was not lost on many Hip-Hop fans when he debuted in 1994 as it added to his "street credibility" thus making him legit in the eyes of the youth who believed that in order to be taken seriously as a rapper you had to be an ex-criminal; someone who has lived the "hard knock life" to quote Jay-Z and Little Orphan Annie. Now as I have been an avid reader of anything Hip-Hop related since I was twelve years old I have noticed a common theme among any rapper's bio from the last ten years. That is, that every single rapper who has come out since..oh..lets say..1996 is an ex-drug dealer or ex-criminal or some type of ex-degenerate who came from the most impoverished environment possible, never knew his father, had to do some kind of illegal activity (usually drug-selling) in order to keep from starving, done a prison bid, and is generally the most dangerous individual you would ever want to meet...that is, when they're not in the studio writing rhymes or appearing on Mtv to promote an album.

What I find even more amazing is that even if I can believe the fact that they came from "the gutter" before Hip-Hop saved them from a life of crime, poverty, and despair why is it that after a couple of platinum albums we still get the same tales of drug dealing, burglury, homicide and other nefarious activities from these same rappers? When do they have time to do all these crimes? And more importantly why would you be telling everybody about it? What kind of dumbass criminal are you? Now mind you I understand the art of storytelling and the need to get a point across using visual imagery through lyrics. In other words if you tell a story about a drug deal in order to make a point that there is a serious drug epidemic in the black and brown community which needs to be addressed, I get it totally, but this is not what I hear. What I hear is "I'm still pushin that weight son, I'm bustin' my gat on any niggas that disrespect me or my crew, I'm runnin up in ya crib and slappin up ya wife and stealin all ya stuff cuz I'm the hardest cat on two legs!"
Don't believe me? Go cop just about any rap album from the last ten years and I guarantee there will be about four or five songs with this subject matter contained on it.

The point I'm trying to make is this: In the early days of Hip-Hop, what you heard is what you got. Run-DMC appeared in their videos and onstage wearing shell-toe adidas, sweatsuits, and godfather hats. Why? Because thats what they wore in real life. There was no need for them to put on costumes or act like they were someone else because the music they were doing was from the heart. There was no huge record company dictating to them what they were supposed to look like or sound like, and this was true of most Hip-Hop acts that followed them over the next decade. Nowadays it seems that you need to be some type of character in order to connect with the audience. I never knew if LL Cool J, or Slick Rick, or Chuck D. was an ex-drug dealer or criminial or whatever because that wasn't important. The only important thing was that they made good music. Anything else was secondary. If any of them did have a sordid past it wasn't glamorized or romanticized to the point where I thought of them as being anything other than a dope emcee whose music I enjoyed listening to. If you want to know why rappers are able to easily transition to acting, its because they have a lot of practice

Notorious: Was B.I.G really that influential to deserve a biopic?

"The most important film of our time" goes the tagline for the new biopic "Notorious". Wow!! Really?? A more important film than Malcolm X? More important than the films about Martin Luther King or films such as "Cry Freedom" or "The Great Debaters"? Hell, I don't even think its the most important Hip Hop movie. What about Krush Groove or Beat Street? Please, give me a break!

So as the hip-hop world prepares for the release of the movie "Notorious" which is the story of the life and death of slain rapper Notorious B.I.G aka "Biggie Smalls" I have a few thoughts that have been swirling around in my head. One of the main thoughts that I have is: is this movie really necessary? Now of course to most of the hip-hop nation this is a blasphemous statement, to even question the significance of the career of Biggie makes me a "hater" or stupid or some kind of asshole that doesnt know what true Hip-Hop music is. Well let me clarify my position. I am in my mid-thirties and I still love Hip-Hop. I've loved it since I first heard "Rock Box" by Run-DMC in the early 80's. From the era of Run-DMC,Kurtis Blow, the Sugarhill Gang, etc..through the Whodini, Fat Boys, LL Cool j, Beastie Boys era, of the mid-80's, the EPMD, Boogie Down Productions, Eric B. & Rakim, Public Enemy, NWA, era of the late 80's, the Tribe Called Quest, De la Soul, Queen Latifah, Compton's Most Wanted, Dr. Dre, era of the early 90's all the way to today. Now granted, at my age I can't stomach much of what passes as Hip-Hop nowadays as it seems like its geared more towards a segment of the population that wears "skinny jeans" and mohawks. In other words most of the stuff nowadays is more for little kids and young adults. My tastes in current rap music generally lean towards emcees who are within my age group (Nas, Jay-Z, WC, Eminem,Ice Cube,etc..) or anyone who I can listen to without feeling like I'm killin part of my brain simply by listening to them.

Now that I have explained myself and my background let me clarify my above statement regarding this movie. I don't see why it was necessary to make a movie on the life and times of Biggie Smalls. His entire career can be confined to two albums. TWO ALBUMS!! Hell, Coolio made more albums than that yet I don't see anyone rushing to chronicle his life story. Now I know what your saying "Hey dumbass Biggie only had two albums because his life was tragically cut short before his career really got into full swing!" Okay you're right so then lets examine his body of work that he was able to complete before he passed. The first album was "Ready to Die" to most, this album is labeled as a classic but I would have to disagree. Now while I admit it was a pretty okay album, it wasn't wack, but by no means was it a classic. Can you really compare it to Public Enemy's "It takes A Nation Of Millions.." or to Ice Cubes "Death Certificate" or A Tribe Called Quests "Low End Theory"? These albums defined a generation and helped to revolutionize the way Hip-Hop was viewed. In short, these albums made you think as well as made you move. While all three of these albums are as different as Obama is to Ronald Reagan they were lyrically and musically on point. "Ready To Die" was mostly filled with the usual tales of hustling, sex, standard rap bragadocio, and party songs, in other words it was no different than anything that had come before it. The only thing that set this album apart was the beats, which deviated from the mid 90's grimy east coast sound which permeated throughout the albums of such New York artists as Wu-Tang Clan, Black Moon, and Onyx. But this was more attributed to Puffy (Diddy) and his Hitmen production team and not Biggie himself.

Now I will admit Biggie's first album did showcase a sort of hard-luck case that was able to pull himself up out of a bad situation and become a winner which could have been inspirational to a lot of people but the whole rags to riches story was nothing new or innovative, neither was the whole "I had to sell drugs to feed my daughter" song and dance which was supposed to make his actions seem honorable without any remorse on his part.(On the song "Juicy" Biggie even condemns neighborhood residents for calling the police on him when he was selling drugs in front of their buildings.Huh? Now how many of you wouldn't mind someone slangin dope in front of your house. At least when NWA or Ice T. told a tale of drug hustling there was some kind of repercussions within the song.) On Biggies second album "Life After Death" the content remained the same as the first album except now the tone was less bleek now that he had "made it" so there were less hard luck songs and more "lets party, drink champagne, and bone random chicks" songs. Oh and he even had the good sense to include a how-to song on the rules of selling drugs (the Ten Crack Commandments. Just what black youth needed. However there were a few notable songs contained on "Life After Death" such as "Notorious Thugs" which paired Biggie with the rapid fire delivery of Cleveland rap quartet Bone Thugs & Harmony and even showcased Biggie impressivley going toe to toe with the nimble tongued Bone group.

While I don't think that Biggie was without talent, on the contrary I think he was a very talented wordsmith, but to label him as "the greatest rapper of all-time" as a lot of people do, to me is a slap in the face to all the great emcees who came before and after him who had more of an impact in the development and evolution of Hip-Hop. What about Krs-One, Big Daddy Kane, Ice Cube? or the man who I think should be in everybody's top-five, a person who revolutionized Hip-Hop music, and in my opionion truly took rap to a new level the great Rakim. When are their movies coming out?