Around two years ago, Conover and I were on the road, going to a friend's house for a little get-together. I didn't know exactly where I was going, and from the looks of our surroundings, neither did he. We ended up lost, in the middle of nowhere, in a place where it looked like lynching was still alive and well. As we rode around, bewildered, trying to find the house, Daniel looked to me and said, "Dude, check this song out, it's like my favorite song right now. It fits the situation." He fiddles with his iPod and puts on a song by a fairly unknown artist named Kid Cudi. The song: "Day 'N Nite." Immediately, my heart flutters, and I fall in love with this young man. His music soothes me, the open and honest lines spill his emotions, and his ability to humble himself on a track, they all take me for a ride instantly. Over the summer, I download his mixtape, "A Kid Named Cudi," learn all the lyrics, and stop doing anything but listen to him.
August rolls aroun
d, a month after the mixtape dropped, and I heard that he was visiting the Norva in Norfolk for a concert. I immediately buy my tickets, and later, with my friend Noel Martinez in the back seat, and Hutton Adcock waiting there, head to the concert. There, I anxiously enjoy the first opening act, named 88-Keys, while I wait for Cudi. But the second opening act, a man who introduces himself as Bobby Ray, comes to the stage, and for a good thirty minutes, I forgot the reason why I came to Norfolk. His skill with a guitar is what catches my attention at first. Then his ability to switch gracefully between rapper and singer. Overall, the man changed my idea of what a rapper was. I came to the concert to see Cudi, but B.o.B. simply blew my mind. With Kanye in a state of dormancy, and Lil Wayne on his steady decline in skill, I honestly thought that it would be this man who would bring hip-hop back to the forefront of American culture. A rapper with an actual musical background who played guitar, piano, produced his own songs, wrote his lyrics, switched from hood to graceful in a second. I put my hopes for the genre into him. Simply put, I considered him the Messiah of rap.
Fast forward several months, and suddenly Kid Cudi is playing on the radio. I'm talking number one single kinda stuff. Everyone I know, and a ton of people that I dislike, are suddenly singing his songs. I was a tad bitter at first. I mean I had been listening to this dude with Conover and Hutton Adcock for months. Songs are available in two seconds now on the internet that months ago it took me hours of google-ing to find. But it passed slowly, because I fully believe in Kid Cudi and appreciate who he is, and with time I came to come to terms with his new-found popularity. It was easy because I knew from all of the Cudi that I had on my iPod BEFORE his album came out, that he was just making his type of music, not being manipulated by the A&R machine for marketing purposes. The man was being open and honest and not changing his ways. When people sang Day and Night, to them it was catchy, but to him it was sorrowful. When people sang Pursuit of Happiness, to them it was "deep" (which can be an incredibly superficial way to describe something) but to him, it was just life. So I bought Man on the Moon, and listened religiously. Months later yet, I see on iTunes that Bobby Ray is coming out with a single. I immediately faint, and when I awaken, I listen to it. Clever lines, nice background singing from the
man himself, and a guest appearance from some Matthew Santos wannabe, sounds good to me. Maybe not the best B.o.B. song, but he needed something to create a buzz, so I'll live with it. But in the back of my mind, there was a shadow of doubt. What if he had lost what made him so great before, and God forbid, what if his whole album sounded like "Nothin' On You." History tells the tale of Ric being right once again. The anxious waiting for SEVEN MONTHS for this man to blow up and become famous now amounted to nothing, as his musical stylings had become a music label tool. Instead of appealing to music lovers because he is an open and honest musician, all that matter are the demographics that buy his music. The machine that is the industry got to him and tore him apart. Most B.o.B. "fans" now don't even understand the musical growth that it took for him to get where it is now.
Which brings me to my point. When people talk about the "Death of Hip-Hop" nowadays, and bite my thumb at them. Hip-Hop will never die; as long as there are backpack rappers, as long as guys are scratching records on turntables (like me and Daniel, please contact one of us for our services, Generation Nine Two), as long as people freestyle on the corner, the culture remains breathing. However, developments like this B.o.B. situation really do threaten the health of Hip-Hop. Here was a guy who honestly had something to say. A boy who grew up in a handmade two room house, who understood the meaning of struggle for black and white people, who understood being bullied, who understood being poor, who understood having dreams and making them come true yourself. And for all that experience, I get the girl from Paramore and a clever video for "Nothin' On You." I suppose it's my fault for having such high hopes. But the man had so much potential.
It makes me wary. Here is the archetype of what Hip-Hop's true Messiah should be. And he was twisted in seven months. Is this gonna happen every time a rapper with promise shows up on the stage. Singer-rappers are my favorite, because the variety of styles without having to rely on other people creates a good vibe in a song. But every time one of these hybrids occur, is the media and popularity gonna ignore their real message for the sake of novelty? God, I hope not. I still have my faith in Cudi. I still love B.o.B. But I'm also still waiting for someone to show up. I hope to God that I man can both rap and sing, and not be expected to turn into a pop sensation. Why can't he do both and still be a good hip-hop artist. Why do we have to appeal to the masses with this shit? Newsflash: T-Pain can rap. Trey Songz can rap. But they won't get exposure because of the way they are marketed. Marketing should not determine which of man's skills he gets to showcase. That is bullshit. B.o.B is becoming a martyr in the eyes of his former fans.
So please, download B.o.B's earlier mixtapes, so you can understand his musical journey. Enlighten yourself. The more enlightened people there are, the more likely it is for B.o..B to return to form.
Disclaimer: B.o.B made a good CD. I enjoy the song Airplanes, he was open and honest in it, that's all I wanted. I just would've like a rapper to put out a hip-hop album, not a pop album. I also find it very humorous that B.o.B always talks about people hating on him in blogs, and here I am hating on him in a blog. (If you never got the B.o.B vs. Bobby Ray mixtape, you wouldn't know this tidbit, you fucking pop-loving posers. JK. I'm not Madigan Mayberry.)
P.S. Free Kid Cudi
The first session we ever recorded was a 2 day recording session at TD's house, which I like to think of as batting practice. We recorded one complete song over the course of the weekend. A nice upbeat rhythm, a catchy hook, nice verses, we considered the weekend a success. But after the short and, relatively speaking, unproductive session, we knew we had work to do. Our DJ left us in Richmond as he returned home to Raleigh, and there was a lull in the action.
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