Str8HipHip

Fake never bothered me much. Fake literally powers our world. Professionally fake people (actors, musicians, etc.) entertain us; fake body parts arouse us; fake food (30% juice, veggie substitutes, etc.) nourishes us; fake designs on buildings (faux classical architecture and wallpaper patterns); fake clothing (an oxymoron - if you're wearing it, it's real, no?); fake love (lust, infatuation, idol worship); faked interest in what attractive people say a lot of the time; just a whole lot of fakeness. But if you think about it, take away all of the fake things around us, and we'd be left with very little. So like I said, fake never bothered me much. Until now.

Hip-hop has always had just the right measure of fakeness; the balance between real and fake has always been a good one in my opinion. Yeah, I know, "hip-hop is dead, "laffy taffy" and Soulja Boy Tell 'Em killed it, niggas don't care about lyrics know more," - yada-fucking-yada dude! Niggas been sayin' this sh-t since at least '96 when Bad Boy became ubiquitous - 12 years! Nigga, why the fuck you still rappin' then? Always fucking complaining, nigga! Shut the fuck up! Either stop rappin' or stop complaining - and this goes for EVERYBODY. Niggas I know and rap with, artists, fans, critics, all that. And now everyone's an expert because they can google and youtube shit, so guess what? The people who really killed hip-hop are the ones who, allegedly, wanted to save it. They complained it to death! They judged it to death - and that's the real problem. Y'all don't feel me - I said, 'that's the real problem.' So if I never do it again, let me get my li'l complaints out, and then I'll shut the fuck up.

Hip-hop feels so fake, I might as well keep doing my crazy sh-t, and if the world buys in, they do. If not, you won't catch me ever stressin' it again. And a great majority of niggas doing it and supporting it are so fake. See, the thing is, phoniness never bothered me much, because all of the people who I've always heard say, "I hate phony people," were quite phony themselves. There are times we all have to be phony; I can honestly say I've only met 4 or 5 people who kept it real the majority of the time. And if you gotta wonder if I mean you, it aint. I'm not even included in that list, but I'm working on it. But back to hip-hop. It's not the commercialism that feels fake to me - it's the actual niggas who make up the culture. Niggas I see at places where hip-hop is being consumed in it's purest form - open mics, discussion forums, film fests, live shows, listening parties, etc. These are the fakest niggas a lot of the time. They wanna talk about how the new Ghost is hot, Lupe is corny, most southern rappers (except Luda, T.I. and past prime '90s niggas like 'Face, 8ball/MJG, and of couse OUTKAST) should die, and then you listen to their album, and it sounds like NEWYORKRAPPER.COM. Guess what nigga, you're generic-ass attempts at making the music you grew up on is uninteresting, uninspired, and WACK. 'Cause you know what? If it aint hot, it's wack. In rap, it's either hot or wack. That's why rap is a man's game.

So. These fake niggas are everywhere. The revolutionaries my man Gif talks about, who all recycle the same concepts and talk mad revolutionary shit, but spend most of their time trying to figure out how to rap about revolution and get people to listen to it, as opposed to actually revolting. Fucking losers. Then you got trendsters (who most of the time, don't recognize themselves as such, and guess what borough they almost always live in?) who mistake being funny for being good. Look, my music is based on humor, but it's a dark humor that y'all fucking "new BK," (really just the rejects of LES and the Village, cuz when shit got too expensive even for the crackers, they went to your hood and took over - and y'all supossed to be gangsta?!) Park Slope, gentrified Williamsburg, Crown Heights, Bedstuy, and Bushwick niggas could never overstand, because my struggle makes yours look light. Plus, when I rap seriously, the only rappers that can fuck with me are dead or albums deep in the fame (I meant to say "in the game," but while editing I realized that it wasn't a mistake, my mind took over and wrote "fame" instead, on some "hidden literacy powers shit"). Real. Talk. Word. Then you got niggas who make these awful attempts at party music; oh my goodness. Shut the fuck up, my nigga, really. And then the niggas who try to make party music, but still wanna keep it lyrical and real and all that - those songs always suck. I'd rather hear the awful attempts, cuz at least them niggas aint hide behind some lofty, bullsh-t ideals. I really gotta get on my "Hip-Hop's Ghost" shit man! If hip-hop is dead, lemme be the ghost, goin' 'round hauntin y'all bitch-ass niggas. I aint met a nigga yet that could put me in my place, to keep it real, 'cuz when I go in, a nigga gotta think real hard about if I'm something he gonna wanna move on or not. And if he's smellin' himself that day and decides to move, I bet it be the last time. Word. But then you know what? You got niggas like me, who put up with all this bullshit because it's the only thing he feels a part of. He lives hip-hop and he's willing to live with it instead of helping to destroy it and re-build it b/c he might not get to reap the rewards. That's fake too, I admit. And then you got these bitches, my bad, females. You know what, on some real, real, sh-t? Shout out to my homegirl Queen Godis. She's a considerably larger artist than I am, but she always keeps it real with me. I know for a fact that she doesn't agree with much I've said in the last 6 years or so, and of course I don't know what she says when I'm not around, but at my shows she's never judged me and I've even had the honor of being asked to spit at her album realease. And she knows how I get down! Mutual respect because it's real. She's totally about her Power U shit, and how could I not respect her when she goes in like she does? Aint no posturing for posturing's sake (and don't get me started on y'all rock niggas and y'all posing asses), she's unapologetic in her style, which makes it as gangsta as old-school NWA, Pac, or that I-don't-give-a-fuckness you get from a classic Eminem or a StarPower. But these other chicks? Some are fresh, like my homegirl Tavi. She just gets it. But many of these poet bitches and god-awful rapstresses? Stop it, please. I know it's bad, but it just feeds my misogynistic tendencies. Sorry, but it's the truth.

And how dare N.Y. niggas call themselves real when they have nothing but complaints, stereotypes, and to keep it real, fear, every time they come to the Bronx (I can hear them now, "nigga I'm from BK, I aint scared of none of them Puerto Ricans"). Y'all down for hip-hop, but y'all got no love for where it started. To quote Canibus, "that's a bitch move, something that a homo rapper would do..." I got good persperctive on this b/c I'm from Washington Heights, Harlem, and the Bronx, and my whole circle is from Brooklyn, and so is the dominant underground artist circle in New York (at least for minorities, maybe for crackers too, I'm not sure). And for years I've peeped dudes, chicks, and gays of all walks of life say all types of dumb shit about Uptown. For years I've been observing this corny shit, but now I'm prompted to write something about it (although I do have unrecorded songs that deal with the topic). They're starting to accept Harlem though, because it's becoming a clone of those uppity-negro BK areas (Merc got me to call them people "Madiba niggas," inspired by the South African restaurant in BK). Soon, no neighborhood will have any character, just a buncha establishments catering to the gentrifiers, so what are you repping? No one owns any land, I don't know any borough presidents, plus, niggas won't be able to live ANYPLACE in N.Y. soon, so I don't know where all the judgement really comes from. Nah, I do, and I've given this a lot of thought, like I do everything. You wanna be white. Seriously. White people make a Soho, a Williamsburgh, trendy, not you. You have absolutely no say at all, if you're not white. And white is a blanket term for "gentrifiers" that I'm using, so fuck-off with your analysis in my comment space. So, like I was saying, I know NIGGAS (NIGGAS!) who say "The Bronx is so dirty, oh the bums, the trash, yada-yada." Nigga, that should make you love it more because those are your fucking people struggling, and surviving, as second class citizens (now, go ahead and rationalize your prejudices). But to tell you the truth, The BX is like any other place. The worse crime is not even in The BX, even though statistics are very subjective. And trust me, places in various parts of BK, Staten Island, and Queens (not so much Manhattan anymore) are at least as depressing as the BX. But only real niggas would know...nah, lemme not act like a nigga I'd wanna slap and say some corny shit. And then, like I said, much of what people think about The Bronx are stereotypes. I've lived in multiple places in The Bronx, that, in my opinion, were a lot nicer than most of the places I visit friends at in other boroughs (just b/c there are crackers and trendsters in your nabe, that doesn't mean it's desirable; my li'l South Bronx block is much more desirable, to me, and many others, than some of these bullshit-ass blocks in BK - and shout-out to real BK niggas by the way; y'all niggas wouldn't even take time to think rationally about this blog and would just not fuck with me again for writing what I'm writing - but y'all would tell me, and I'd have to respect it). Now check it, I literally live next door to one of the building that hip-hop started in (whoop-de-damn-doo, right? I know niggas who would rep that hard if they lived here, but since they don't they're on some "who the hell cares"). It's in the notorious South Bronx. But guess what? Gentrification has hit everywhere. I live in a building that looks like a hotel - quiet, carpet everywhere, beautiful parking lot, laundries on every floor, dishwasher, terraces, and 2 full bathrooms in every crib, patio w/grills and shit, all that. And the block is secluded, quiet, safe (doesn't mean it's the safest - this is N.Y., everywhere is right next to a bad area). And I'm not braggin' b/c my hard work in school and life has, for the time being, made me a gentrifier twice over (before this I was one of those Riverside Drive in Harlem gentrifiers). I say this to say that there are slums and nice areas in the BX just like anywhere else. Ever been to the cracker-ass Country Club neighborhood, Throggs Neck, the new artist community in Mott Haven that's sprouting up, Morris Park, even Parkchester? These are decent to nice to damn-near ritzy areas (cracker-filled, mostly, of course). So, in conclusion, stop being a pussy (all I mean by 'pussy' is 'bitch' so don't get offended) and show love wherever and whenever if you're really 'bout it like you claim. Now, back to fake hip-hop niggas...

Y'all fake hip-hop niggas could all congregate together, and when y'all see StarPo (I love that alias, either heard Drew or Cav say that to me first), do whatever you think is right, and I won't begrudge you anything for being a FAKE ASS NIGGA (and by 'fake ass nigga' I mean 'fake ass cracka or asian or latin or whatever'). 'Cause you know what? If you stay true to your fakeness 100%, you actually end up being real in a strange way. Real fake.

I'm StarPower, and I approve this message.