Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Coming up on this week's episode of hip Hop Now podcast,
Max b is finally free, Jim Jones pays for that.
Grammy nominations are in and it's kind of what it
should be to be honest, and Billboard says hip hop
(00:24):
is dead. Well that's kind of what the Internet says
as a result of Billboard. But we'll talk about it.
Let's do it. Welcome to Jim Hoop Now Podcast to
do from the future. You know what you do your
as so disrespect the leg hip hop can say to day.
(00:52):
Let's get right into the business. What up, y'all? I
am yours Vegas and this it's hip Hop Now Podcasts
say podcast specifically design to keep you caught up on
all things hip hop, music and culture that happened throughout
the week. Big shout out to the supporters, the listeners,
those who have been listening via audio for however long
(01:15):
over on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your
podcast listening. Also extra big shout out to those who
have subscribed, watched videos, commented, hit the like button, hit
that new hype thing or whatever that YouTube has, and
those of you who have become members of this channel.
(01:37):
Big shout out to you. We are in November, and
the goal was twenty five k by the end of
the year. I think when we started that goal early
in twenty twenty five, the YouTube channel was I think
I was around fifteen. I'm not even gonna lie, And
(02:01):
now it's twenty five because the goal, the end goal
was never twenty five. It was originally one thousand. So
right now we're at twenty two. I say, we're very close,
and we're very close to twenty three, so let's make
it happen. And one of those things that I always say,
and I'll say that at the end of this episode
(02:22):
also is if you've already already subscribed, you like the content,
maybe you want to move on from hearing that. Well,
that's not how things work, because you know, people who
enjoy hip hop, enjoy hip hop content, may be hesitant
to even dive into YouTube channels talking about hip hop
(02:45):
because they want to stay away from the controversy. That's
not what we do here. When it comes to news.
It's about the game, the music, the culture. Sometimes some
things happen and maybe he's some controversy behind it, but
we talk about it in a sensible way, and it's
not just a one way conversation. It is two way talk.
(03:10):
I give my opinion on these stories here. You give
your opinions in the comments. I check them out. I
respond it's all good. So big shout out to hip
HOPDX dot com, all hip hop dot Com and a
couple of places where I'm getting some of these stories from.
Let's get right into the business stuff. Max b has
(03:32):
been freed finally from prison after sixteen plus years behind bars.
Right now, some people are saying, who is this guy
and why is everybody talking about him? You know, is
he an activist? No, he is a guy who was
a rapper ghostwriter. From what I understand, he wrote Jim
(03:58):
Jones probably biggest hit, We Fly High, but a lot
of influence you know, around that time, and he was
known as the wave right sing songy flow, gangster lyrics
for the most part, kind of lived some of it.
(04:18):
That's why he got jammed up in the way he did.
And he's just one of those rappers that had the
potential to be even bigger but never got a shot
because he wound up in prison for a very long time.
But now in the space we're in now, especially with
(04:39):
social media and the Internet, because he was popping in
like the blog era right, like right on the cusp,
sort of in between when we had MySpace pages and
blogs and Facebook started to come out, you know, very young,
I think very young Twitter, maybe not, but the early
(04:59):
stage of the Internet and social media that we know, well,
now you can monetize half the things you do which
weren't happening at one point. There's so many things that
someone like him, with the popularity he had at the time,
could take advantage of. But probably more so than anything
(05:24):
if Max b went into prison almost sixteen years ago.
So again, I'm probably should be thinking more early twentousands
than twenty tens, which block erro was more twenty tens.
That means if I'm in high school and Max b
music is in my headphones at all times, just the era.
(05:44):
You know, this is sixteen years later. That fan base
is not as young as aggressive, aggressive engaged as they
once were. Now some of them just seeing Max b
out is like nostalgia, but it's nostalgia for mixtapes, said, well,
(06:05):
listen to listening to almost twenty years ago, right, And
then there are those people who know his story because
of the internet right and phone interviews from jail and
whatever else. So I look at Max B's potential success
as being similar to what BG experience coming out of prison.
(06:32):
BG finally coming out of prison felt like we've been
looking at Baby and Lil Wayne and Auntie Fresh. That's
many fresh if you've seen a photo for decades now
and sometimes juvenile, you know, he popped out and it's like,
oh juvenile, but you know it's not. We don't get
(06:53):
to see the cash money we know as much. So
when BG came home, it was like, Wow, BG is
back out here and he can make music today, and
a couple of his freestyles, I was like, man, we've
been missing stuff like this right because it just felt
like there were people who who had the game at
one point in time, and once they were gone, you know,
(07:16):
that vibe, whatever they gave off was gone. And now
you get like BG coming out of prison and now
Max B. You feel like, well, there's an opportunity for
them to like blow up again. And I think with
BG it's probably been mostly successful but not as big
(07:37):
as you know you would think. But when BG got
out of prison, you know, I think we saw him
get his hair done, you know, stuff like that. Well,
Max b got out of prison. It was like, I
don't know, like the Messiah came home the way that
people covered that, like he was finally on the street.
(07:58):
You know, you get the shaky camp like they go,
he's coming out of the and I was like, Wow,
maybe I need to go back and listen some more
because it's not I'm not going to say I wasn't
a fan, but I was. I was of a different
generation where the kids was on AD heavy, whereas I
was more so like because you're talking like, what is
(08:19):
that seven? For the most part, you know, maybe maybe
not oh seven, but around that time, and even though
I was still into hip hop, obviously I'm looking at
it like, oh yeah, dude is cool. You know, I
could see why, you know, a younger generation like him,
but I'm not going crazy, you know, And I feel like,
(08:41):
what I wonder what the plan is for him musically,
you know, the label, the music. Is he going to
try to do something different because you know he feels
like that's what's happening now? Is he going to try
to repeat what he does and it's going to sound
older people? You know, you just don't know. So we'll see.
(09:05):
Are you happy that Max B's home for the music.
Are you happy in general or are you like, I
really don't know this, dude, who are you talking about?
Leave your comments in a comments section below. Next. So,
the Grammy nominations are out, and it's honestly exactly what
I expected going off of their more recent track record.
(09:29):
As it relates to hip hop again, they tend to
at least now get the album other year hip hop
album other year mostly correct. Previously it was barely hip hop,
and then at one point it was more so hip
hop that sold, you know, hip hop that was popular,
(09:52):
and those some may argue that's what this is as
far as a pop, you know, popular album. I feel
like for most hip hop lists from media respectable in
some not respectable media organizations, some of these albums were
(10:14):
in are or continue to be the best of the year.
So when I see albums that I know wind up
in my best of the year, they're not off. So
best Rap album nominees are the clips. Let God sort
them out. Gloilla, Glorious, Jid, God does like Ugly, Kendrick Lamar,
(10:37):
gn X, and Tyler the Creator Chromacopia. Now, I didn't
necessarily have Glorilla in my list of best albums of
the year. But when I tell you every woman from
older generations to younger generations was on that album, it
(11:00):
was almost it'll almost be a slap in the face
if that album is not here, because I'm telling you
you had not boombab guy, you might have not even
known that album came out. When I tell you, women
that grew up on Little Kim and Foxy and mc
light and they just like this glow Reller stuff. They
(11:22):
like what she's saying, they like her ad lives, they
like the beats. It should be nominated. Now should it win? No,
but my pick. If we're picking out of those five,
I'm just gonna go with the Clips, like God sow
them out. I played gen next to death. I think
Cornucopia is a Chromacopia is a dope album. Jed was
(11:45):
surprisingly dope. I know he could spit, but this was
the first time I heard the album from him. I
was like, this is this is great, this is a masterpiece.
But it's Clips for me. Best rap song Doughshe Anxiety
Clips with John Legend, The Birds Don't Sing, Sticky with
Tyler the Creator, Gloriala, Sexy Red and Lil Wayne Gloriala
(12:07):
tgif Wow she got two nominations and tv Off by
Kendrick Lamar and left the Gun play. I'm gonna say
it would be dope if the Clips could get this song,
but it's probably going to do. If there is one
(12:29):
record that was like constantly being played, it was that
one Anxiety with Dosh. It was almost like crazy. And again,
all these other ones did their numbers as far as
spins and on a radio and all of that, but
I think that's the one with the Clips. I don't
(12:50):
know if Birds Don't Sing is the song off the
album that should be considered for Best Rap Song. But
it's a great record, so best Rap performs outside by
Cardi B, Changing Whips, Clips and Kendrick and Pharrell Doshe Anxiety,
Kendrick tv Off, Darling I Tyler the Creator featuring Tezo
(13:14):
Touchdown though she could possibly win this one. Also, I'm
not even gonna lie, but if I'm going to go
out on a limb, I have to say Changing Whips,
specifically the Tiny Desk performance where pushing ts in the camera.
(13:35):
I buy y'all buy watches, I buy collections like he
talking to He's talking to Jim Jones, but he talking
through that camera and it's so compelling to watch because
I'm sitting there like and this is not even a video,
so I don't know, but I think it could be
dough She It could be clips in this regard. But
(13:56):
who knows best melodic rat performance? What category? Is this
invented so that somebody can get a Grammy? Now? Proud
of Me Friday featuring Meek Mill, Wholeheartedly, Jid featuring Taler,
Dallas Sign and Slack. I think that's his name, right
(14:17):
because it's like six black Slack. I guess so Luther,
Kendrick Lamar featured, and Scissor. Okay, we're gonna start right there.
That's the one that's gonna win. But for those who
want to keep the battle alive, Somebody Loves Me by
Drake and Party next Door. It's also nominated. I don't
think that's the record for them, but Kendrick Lamar says
(14:38):
of getting this one, they just are. Another one that's
interesting is because gn X, Let God Sort Them Out
and Chromocope are all also in the Album of the
Year nominations, and let's see Song of the Year. She's there.
(15:02):
Kendrick and Scissor there that could possibly take that category
as well. Possibly, And let's see what's in Record of
the Year. Yeah, Record of the Year. Luther's there also,
and Anxiety is there by Doshi so and I think
that's it. Yeah, that's it for hip hop. So when
(15:23):
you look at that alone, Kendrick could walk away with
a couple of Grammys, right, maybe two or three, maybe
not as many as he had before, but definitely for Luthor,
this could be the Luther clean up session. Like wherever
Luther's featured, that's where it wins. But again, when it
(15:44):
comes to Album of the Year, that's a solid list
for the category. And I know some people look at
Glorilla again being in there and saying they had to
put that one in there. The only reason why I
say it should be there is because again I watched
these women, man that this is all They were all
(16:04):
playing Gorilla. It was all over my social media. They
all were loving it. Me on the other hand, I'm like,
speak old, what can you put? Can you put something
else on? You know, something else? Okay? So I don't know,
we'll see when the Grammys happened and they're recorded and
(16:26):
goes down next year early next year, but don't forget
to stay locked into this channel because next month will
be my best of the year. And just as a preview,
right I put out one video that sort of like
a recommend recommendations video of the best albums of each year,
(16:46):
and then I also put out one for October. Specifically,
I'll do one for November at the very end of November.
But then when we come to December, I'm not going
to do a best of the December. I'm just going
to do a best of the year because we have
some albums on the way, specifically in November Daylight Soul
(17:09):
and I Believe also Stove God Cooks and you know,
I'm charged up and waiting for that. And then December
we got Nasen Primo So and whatever else is going
to drop. I think another Ransom, maybe Conway, so we'll see,
but stay tuned for that on the channel. And lastly,
sing So about a week or so ago, maybe even
(17:33):
close to two weeks, it was reported that no hip
hop records appeared on Billboard's top or Hot one hundred lists,
and this was the first time since something like nineteen ninety,
which is crazy, and that brought up the question is
(17:54):
hip hop dead? Now people are arguing each other down
out that and also not paying attention because the very
next week, hip hop returned to the hot one hundred
I believe with Megan thee Stallion. But also if you
go check right now, it's a couple of people they
are gunna like it. Cardi B's there. I think it
(18:15):
was a bad week for hip hop, but people started
to challenge is hip hop dead? So the narratives were,
you know, like the Kendrick Lamar and Drake Beef ruined
hip hop to the point where, yeah, sure Kendrick did
some numbers when gen X was hot, but now nobody
wants to hear anything else because they have fatigue with
(18:39):
hip hop, right or the battle having lyricism and technique
and all this other stuff and strategy in a real battle.
Rap way kind of made it so those guys who
made radio songs can't eat because now the appetite of
(19:01):
the listener is to hear depth within your lyrics. So
to all of these and let me just say this
last one, then you got the old heads who look
at it as that happened. Good. Now it's a reset
and for the better, and that's why we got clips
and mass appeals, seven Icons albums and all these old
(19:24):
school artists dropping and the music's great. It feels like
the attention span is back on lyricism and back on
true hip hop, like it feels like the hype of again,
like day La Soul released their new single produced by
p Rock, The Joint is crazy, and it felt like
(19:46):
when that joint dropped, that's all you seeing over social media.
And I don't think some people understand that. Well, unless
you follow a bunch of young people, your timeline will
reflect your generation, which means, of course everybody you know
timeline is for Daylight, so they all right, But it's
bigger than that, because even media publications are reporting more
(20:10):
on some of these older artists and lyricism is a
part of the conversation again. And look even Cardi B
doing the imagine every players joint like that being a single.
Once upon time that wouldn't have been no single, that
would have been like some little slick mixtape maybe side hustle.
(20:31):
That joint had everybody's attention and it was about bars
and dissing and battling and all of that. So yeah,
because don't tell me that glory whole line wasn't crazy.
You would think it was crazy if your favorite rapper
said it. But I pose the question to myself after
watching everybody, are you hip hop is not dead? I
(20:55):
just read you the Grammys, the Clips, and then like
it's Jed is he's rappers, rapper, he rapping Kendrick. Even
though this album was like a homage to West Coast,
hip hop is still hip hop, and you know there's
still records. I mean, if you heard the album, sure,
(21:18):
if you don't like that West Coast vibe, you don't
like that music, but that's that's what they're doing out there.
And JNX was highly successful, including the tour. So I
look at it like that where you got Kendrick doing
what he did with Drake, and now Kendrick's on this
clip clips album. This Clips album is kind of crazy.
(21:39):
And Pharrell, who's typically commercial, he did all them beats,
don't Sleep. He's he's involved. It's like everybody who you
would see on the mainstream level is involved, but they're
paying it forward. So also on this album, it's Stove
God Cooks and now we finally get a follow up
(22:02):
to Reasonable Drought as a result, because now Stove got
is popular as a And when I say popular, I
don't care about you dusty dudes like we've been all that.
Nobody cares, nobody asking about you. We're talking about when
the people who are outside like that start to recognize
the dude you you were already up on, That's when
(22:24):
it becomes something special. So now Stove got finally got
an album coming out, West Side Gun dropping a couple
of albums in a row, and people are talking about them.
You know what I'm saying? Uh what Raycon and Ghosts
become popular again because they are slick rick like mob Deep,
like all of this energy is taking it back to
(22:50):
lyricism and real, real hip hop, what hip hop is
really about. And it didn't even just start this year,
right we had Common and Pete Rock. Last year we
had LL. So it's like a domino effect of Steel
Sharpen and Steel and older acts releasing really good projects
late in their career after Nas just did it with
(23:13):
hit Boys. So it's sort of like it's been building.
But people feel like, because it's returning to that type
of hip hop, that type of rap, it's not gonna
impact the Hot one hundred. It doesn't sell. That's always
been true. And like I said, that was one week
(23:34):
recently where there was no hip hop and the Hot
one hundred, and the very next week or a couple
of days if that, it was right back there. But
it wasn't these guys. So hip hop can be both.
You can have Meghan Stallion and Cardi B and Gunna
and Offset and all these people released and hit the
(23:56):
Hot one hundred, but also have daylight soul get ready
to drop and feel like the world is talking about it,
and they do better than they've done as a result.
Some of that is even though these are older artists,
they're dropping albums, you know, sometimes years after their last album.
(24:18):
But it's not silent, you know what I'm saying. It's
not just a group of people who are checking for it.
It's like everybody is playing this music or critiquing it.
So hip hop is more alive today than it's ever
been and it's turning the corner, I hope, because the
(24:38):
more younger people and other generations see these releases from
some of these older artists from the nineties and go
back and do the knowledge, they become fans and what
happens they show up at their shows and now these
artists who once probably did stadiums and big venues, who
had to downsize that just to continue to make bread.
(25:00):
Maybe they step up for a while and now they
can pack a place because now they got new fans.
You see what I'm saying. So to me, when you
look at all the reactions, and especially when you look
at the best of the Year list by the end
of this year, you're gonna see You're gonna see a
(25:21):
variety of generations in these lists, and that means hip
hop is healthy. So do you think hip hop is dead?
Leave your comments in a comment section below. You can
follow me on social media at Vegas World I, Inc.
And subscribe wherever you get your audio podcast listening, but
also subscribe right here on YouTube become a part of
(25:45):
the movement to twenty five subscribers. And also if you're
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episode below. Even if you're listening on audio, that's gonna
(26:06):
do it for me, y'all. I am not a critic,
I'm a fan. Pashm