Words by Tony Grands

According to the media (both in real-life & on the aggregated interwebs), Lil Wayne has been battling a bout of seizures over the past several months.Some “news” sites, like TMZ, even went so far as insinuating that he’d all but died during the last one. While none of us outsiders truly knows what’s causing these attacks, it’s a fair assessment to make in saying that it probably has something to do with drug use. If he didn’t rap about drugs so much, my opinion would likely be different, but he continually spews bars about his insatiable lust for mind-altering substances – with specificity – so who am I to not believe him? Although, I don’t necessarily believe him when he brags about shooting people or having gratuitous amounts of anal sex, either, but that’s neither here nor there.

If his seizures are the result of codeine addiction some sort of drug abuse, I don’t expect Wayne to get any help. Most people wait until it’s too late anyway, and I imagine that living the rap life leaves little to no room for lifestyle maintenance & health management. Nonetheless, Lil Wayne could possibly be marching head-first into a fate similar to the one that took Texas Hip Hop legends DJ Screw & Pimp C, respectively. Both of those men died with some variation of “syrup” in their system, and even though the Hip Hop community was stunned by their premature deaths, the culture continues to take drugs like there is no tomorrow. The irony in that is if enough drugs are taken, the probability of tomorrow never arriving becomes more and more achievable. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy; our very own, misguided Manifest Destiny, so to speak.

It’s no secret that rap music promotes sex, violence, & drug use, but when sh*t gets real, then what? What I mean by “real” is rappers killing one another over beef. Rappers becoming addicted to their vices. And for the record, this isn’t a piece about Lil Wayne, Pimp C, or DJ Screw. It’s about the tragic trajectory of America’s drug culture which has surreptitiously infiltrated middle-ground urban America. See, Hip Hop culture is only a little bit older than I am. It’s young, in terms of long-standing societies, so it makes complete scientific sense that only now would we see any social affects on it’s participants. I don’t know much about Lean or Mollies (which both appear to be Hip Hop’s current drugs of choice), but I know I’ve seen weed become as common with young people as a Newport after Xmas dinner. If that’s any indication of Hip Hop’s influential headlock on the urban United States of America, the future is going to be substantially rougher than any of us could have forecasted.

Again, let’s assume Wayne’s seizures were due to his drug habits. And let’s pretend he knows it. Do you think he’d take the necessary steps to get healthy & take his message to his fans? Probably not, especially because he’s a mega-rap/pop star who makes tons of monies based on his image. He might even think it would be kinda cool to overdose at this leveled-off apex of his career. That’s the short-term mentality that got us here in the first place.

At the rate we’re going, It’s only a matter of time before rapper rehabilitation becomes as “popular” as it is in the Hollywood sector of entertainment. And we don’t even have to look that far, seeing as though Chris Kelly, of Kris Kross, recently died of a drug overdose. His family and friends acknowledged that he’d been fighting a drug problem for a long time, but sadly, that recognition came too late. Maybe if Chris had somewhere to go, he’d wouldn’t have died so unnecessarily, like many before him. How many die after him, though, is something we can still control.

photo courtesy of raprehab.com

Words by Tony Grands
@TheTonyGrands
rawifdp@yahoo.com

Words by Tony Grands

Here’s my latest contrubution to TheUrbanDaily.com. God bless KimYe, because they are already catching hell from all angles.Expect a patented Yeezy breakdown very soon. & not for nothing, but it may be aimed at the doctors & nurses that deliver his kid.

Anyhoo, click the link & enjoy. Thanks for all your support, people… Jump to TheUrbanDaily

photo courtesy of theurbandaily.com

Words by Tony Grands

Some people are really terrible at buying gifts for people. Especially for odd events like anniversaries, weddings, & days of recognition.

Mother’s Day is one of those recognition days, which is why every year, on the second Sunday in May, restaurants & movie theaters pack in patrons. Let’s be honest; going on a date with your mom to show her you love her is easier than trying to buy a gift that she may not even want or know how to use. Plus, she has just as many bottles of sweet smelling perfume as your “dad” (or grandfather or uncle or guardian) has ties & old man caps.

This Mother’s day, to hell with Olive Garden or the latest Tyler Perry movie (or the incredulously horrid HomeTown Buffet). Why not really surprise her with a token of appreciation that she’ll always remember?

In case you’re one of those people who has a hard time buying gifts *raises hand*, here are five Mother’s Day gifts that she’ll never forget…

Tickets to a Tech N9ne Concert
Regardless of age, your mom is well aware that you listen to rap music. Why not expose her to some of the most frenetic, hyperactive hip hop music you can find? She may not be able to understand anything he says some of the lyrics, but she’ll never forget the night she “accidently” popped a Molly & saw a voodoo witch doctor yelling & screaming in between explosions & flashing lights.

A Loud Pack
Whether you want to admit it or not, your mom used to be a cool, hip, young chick. It probably began to dwindle down when your pops knocked her up &/or made an honest woman out of her. But before that moment, she did all the things that your chicks do. So, as a gentle reminder of her care-free youth, why not buy a $20 bag of superb herb (you may have to twist up the joint or blunt for her, though)? Immediately after that, leave, so she can dance to old Al Green records & watch hilarious shit on TV in peace.

Your Laundry
Hey, she used to do it when you couldn’t, remember? What better way to remind her of the beauty of motherhood than by allowing her to briefly trot back down memory lane. She may even make your favorite lunch, also, depending on how much wine she’s consumed that day. As a courtesy, though, try not to send her any skid-marked drawers or any of your girlfriend’s clothes. Because – really though – that’s just nasty. Buy the soap & dryer sheets yourself (after all, it is Mother’s Day), but whether or not you present them as an additional gift is totally up to you.

A Dildo
Even a post-menopausal woman needs her oil checked now & then. However, this is one of those gifts you give with a disclaimer. Tell her something like, “Wait until I leave to open this, & after this conversation, we are to never talk about this present ever again.” The last (traumatic) memory you want embedded in you psyche is your mother telling you how much she enjoyed the vibrator that you bought her. I also recommend that you block the memory as soon as possible & not tell anyone about the gift. There may come a point that you’ll need to apologize to God for this, but that’s neither here nor there.

A Grand Kid
I’m not suggesting you knock up that rat(chet) that you’ve been creeping in the shadows with, but hey, nothing says “Happy Mother’s Day” like bringing someone you made to the person that made you. I don’t advise this gift to anyone irresponsible, because even though she’s your mother, her mommying days should be behind her. & besides, if she’s busy babysitting all the time, when will she find the time to enjoy her dildo…?

Words by Tony Grands
@TheTonyGrands
rawifdp@yahoo.com

Words by Tony Grands

Kendrick’s name has been ricocheting off of the hallway walls of Hip Hop for a while now. Any time someone speaks on hot, new artists – regardless of geography – his name is always mentioned. (& rightfully so, I might add.Since the resonant release of Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, K-Dot’s been called everything from “the future” to “the King of the New West Coast.” Critics & fans alike clamor on & on about how he may have single-handedly rearranged the variables of today’s rap music. With a style similar to Andre 3000, lightly coated with obvious Tupac influence, Kendrick Lamar might very well be here to save us all (like Chino XL tried to do in 1996).

To further illustrate the overwhelming magnitude of hiphopolis acceptance, one can even hear children singing his songs in cars as they zoom through metropolitan streets. 3 of those kids belong to me. In fact, my kids are the reason I really began to listen past the crispy tracks & rapid-fire wordspit. The more I enjoyed the overall audio aura of the album, the more I dove deeper into what it was all about. See, rap music is powerful. It overpowers the senses & generates feelings, positive or negative. That’s why I drive fast when I put Mobb Deep’s library on shuffle, because it makes me want to mow down pedestrians & shoot at people. Not only does good music provoke emotion, but it also almost always has a message embedded betwixt it’s rhythm.

& for what it’s worth, I notice Kendrick sings a song of self destruction. He seems to be slightly obsessed with his mortality & mentions his looming demise often throughout his catalog of various mixtapes & free music.

For quite some time, I tried to break down the references Lamar makes to holding your 3′s up, to no avail. I knew there was some underlying overtone to it but couldn’t figure it out. Then, all of a sudden, it made sense.

Not an NBA player.

K. Dot subliminally glorifies the gang lifestyle with an “innocent bystander” approach, & it works. He follows the same formula that your favorite rapper(s) does, it’s just more coded & scrambled. The only actual difference is that he doesn’t rap about money. (Yet.)

The next time you spin Good Kid, OD, or Section.80, listen to the amount of times “choppers,” gang banging, ratpacking, drive-bys, & burglary are mentioned. Also, notice how much dry snitching he does about breaking into people’s homes. (Dry snitching is inadvertently telling on people, & gangsta rappers are usually masters at dry snitching.) Any of his friends from that time period of his life were surely committing burglaries, too, & someone, somewhere knows who these friends are. Then again, that would add a degree of authenticity to Kendrick’s plight, though, so I imagine those friends have already outed themselves for a savory taste of the ever elusive 15 minutes of fame.

Perhaps Kendrick really is the future of rap. That said, we can see that ultra-violent reality rhymes will be replaced with semi-aggressive, mildly subversive rap songs that don’t strike you with the same heavy-handed slap that most reality-based music does, while still delivering the same dosage of jagged surrealism. Whether that’s a good or bad thing is up to the consumer, but it sure does make a song about getting drunk easier to swallow in rap music’s mainstream arena.

Kendrick’s camouflaged thug mentality is much like his hometown of Compton, California, where my maternal grandmother lives. (It’s also the unofficial starting line for the gangsta rap rat race.) At first glance, the city seems as nonchalant as any other urbanized locale, but between the alleys & side streets lies danger & confusion. My grandmother’s street is as quiet as a sleeping wino, but someone was killed on the corner the last time I visited her. & that was less than a month ago.

Kendrick Lamar may be the new face of Gangsta Rap, whether you realize it or not, word to Schoolly D.

Words by Tony Grands
@TheTonyGrands
tonygrands@yahoo.com

Beyond anything else in the spectrum of a possible conversation, can we all agree that

Mannie Fresh bears a slight resemblance to Winnie the Pooh? (See what I did there?) The same thing can be said for J. Coke & Eeyore. Since their cartoon doppelgängers are so close in real life, it’s only right they team up one day.

If they do, they should use this cover.

Posted by RAWIFDP Staff
rawifdp@yahoo.com