More on Rawse (and Jeezy)...

10:08 am - Thu, Jan 12, 2012: 19 notes

My apologies for bringing it up again, but the shit won’t go away, so I’ll keep indulging. I’m a grown man that refuses to watch wrestling anymore, so this will have to do.

Someone on Slate wrote an article attempting to explain why Rawse exists. I read it and didn’t come away with any new theories. Wasn’t particularly impressed by it either. However, one of my old buddies linked to said article this morning and it triggered a bit of a rant. I figured the rant would make for a decent post here:

Read that one yesterday. I’m not sure I understand what that clown was trying to write. Yet another article attempting to rationalize the reasons that fraud’s success. Simply put, authenticity matters less in today’s rap because the guys that write the checks don’t care and neither does this bitchmade generation of 90s babies. That’s all there is to it. The writer took a not so random shot at Young Jeezy, but despite Rawse’s current success, he still hasn’t managed to match Jeezy at his peak (or trough for that matter). Jeezy’s “moment” may have passed (for the record, I only really got on the Jeezy fan bandwagon after the hipster fetishism with him [and the Clipse if I recall] died down a bit), but he went platinum 3 times and Rawse has never matched any of his opening week sales (or gone platinum). At least he acknowledged the fact that Rawse came into the game as a Jeezy clone before eventually finding a slightly dissimilar lane of his own (but they’re still competing for the same ears). If this was the 90s, Rawse would be a nobody. He’d have been dismissed EARLY for being a fraud and a biter. Jeezy could possibly survive in that era, based off his bonafides alone.

That said, Rawse is clearly a student of the game and devoted to his art and that shows in his development as an artist. I respect that.

I still listen to Jeezy more and think he’s better. I also buy his shit and will never let a dime of mine see Rawse’s pockets if I can control it. But that’s just me.

I’m such a rap dork.

People have the right to listen to what they want. That much is clear. But don’t justify your Rawse stannery with that “oh, I only care about the music” bullshit. Fuck you.

One of the few things that differentiates this thing we all love from other genres of music is the authenticity or realness we USED to demand from our artists. People’s careers ended for less back in the day (Ironic that she shared her moniker with Rawse, eh?). We’ve already abandoned so many elements of the culture. At this rate, there’ll be nothing left in another 30 years. That would be tragic.

So bump whatever you want, but try to remember that this shit is supposed to mean a bit more than “just music.”

But the main point, as always, remains that I’m a dork…