For Those That Do: The Ronald Jenkees story

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Phonte’s Hottest Verses

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Jay-Z Live @ Palladium In Los Angeles, Brings Out DJ AM, Memphis Bleek and T.I. (video)

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Kanye’s 808’s & Hearbreak Listening Party and Tracklist (video) and Nude Models

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Jay-Z Live @ Palladium with DJ AM and 12-Piece Band in Los Angeles

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iPhone and Hip-Hop: Production Software for Apple’s iPhone

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KRS-One: “You Cannot Be Rich, and Continue to Produce Raw Hip-Hop” (video, interview)

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Eminem, 50 Cent, Dr. Dre & Jay-Z To Release Albums In December

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What is “Real Hip-Hop?” (part 1)

via lostmoniker

“You’re probably viewing the aforementioned with the notion that you do in fact already know what “real hip hop” is. Yet when asked to truly define that statement, and juggle this with the abundance of hip hop tracks being pushed out in terms of mainstream and underground, your opinion becomes stagnant. Before I delve into the subject at hand, I’d like to say that I’ve listened to countless albums and have been studying the Hip Hop art for quite some time (I’m sure some of the people reading this article have as well), and only to a degree can I describe what “real” hip hop is…”
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R.A. The Rugged Man’s Father Honored for Services In Vietnam

via 2dopeboyz

The headline says it all.  R.A.’s father was honored by Senator John J. Flanagan for his services in the Vietnam War.  R.A. spits ridiculous (verse 2) to portray the events that his father witnessed on a Jedi Mind Tricks track off of the album Servants in Heaven, Kings in Hell titled “Uncommon Valor - The Vietnam Story.”  The track is raw, lyrics and download below…

download/stream…

Uncommon Valor - The Vietnam Story

I don’t know why I’m over here this job is evil
They send me here to Vietnam to kill innocent people
My mother wrote me said the President he doesn’t care
We trying to leave the footprints of America here
They say we’re trying to stop Charlie’s expansion
But I ain’t seen no Charlie since we landed
Sent my whole entire unit thinking we can win
Against the Viet-Cong guerillas there in Gia Dinh
I didn’t sign up to kill women or any children
For every enemy soldier, we killing six civilians
Yeah, and that ain’t right to me
I ain’t got enough of mother fuckin’ fight in me
It frightens me and I just want to see my son and moms
But over here they dropping seven million tons of bombs
I spend my days dodging all these booby traps and mines
And at night, praying to God that I get back alive
And I’m forced to sit back and wonder
Why I was a part of ‘Operation Rolling Thunder’
In a fox hole with nine months left here
Jungle like the fuckin’ harbinger of death here

[Interlude]
(soldier speaking)
I don’t want to be here. I’m scared, I just want to go home.
(officer speaking)
You fucking kidding me? Don’t be a pussy. Don’t you love your country?
(soldier speaking)
I like being here. I’m ready.

[Verse 2 - R.A. The Rugged Man]
True story…
Call me Thorburn, John H. Staff Sergeant, Marksman
Skilling, killing, illing
I’m able and willing
Kill a village elephant, rapin’ and pillage your village
Illegitimate killers, US Military guerillas
This ain’t no real war, Vietnam shit
World War II, that’s a war, this is just a military conflict
Soothing, drug-abusing, Vietnamese women screwing
Sex, gambling and boozin’, all the shit is amusing
Bitches and guns, this is every man’s dream
I don’t want to go home, where I’m just a ordinary human being
Special OP, Huey chopper gun shit, run shit
Gook run when the mini-gun spit, won’t miss, kill shit
Spit four-thousand bullets a minute
Victor Charlie, hit trigger, hit it
I’m in it to win it, get it
The lieutenant hinted the villain, I’ve ended up killing
I did it, cripple, did it, pictures I painted is vivid, live it
A wizard with weapons, a secret mission we about to begin it
Government funded, behind enemy lines bullets is spraying
It’s heating up, a hundred degrees
The enemies the North-Vietnamese, bitch please
Ain’t no sweat, I’m told “be at ease”
Until I see the pilot got hit, and we about to hit some trees
till the rotor broke, crash land, American man
Cambodia, right in the enemy hand
Take a swig of the whiskey to calm us
Them yellow men wearing black pajamas
They want to harm us
They all up on us
Bang, bang, bullet hit my chest, feel no pain
To my left, the captain caught a bullet right in his brain
Body parts flying, loss of limbs, explosions
Bad intentions, I see my best friend’s intestins
Pray to the one above, It’s raining and I’m covered in mud
I think I’m dying, I feel dizzy, I’m losing blood
I see my childhood, I’m back in the arms of my mother
I see my whole life, I see Christ, I see bright lights
I see Israelites, Muslims and Christians at peace, no fights
Blacks, Whites, Asians, people of all types
I must have died, then I woke up, suprised I’m alive
I’m in a hospital bed, they rescued me, I survived
I escaped the war, came back
But ain’t escape Agent Orange, two of my kids born handicapped
Spastic, quadriplegia, micro cephalic
Cerebral palsy, cortical blindness, name it they had it
My son died he ain’t live, but I still try to think positive
Cause in life, God take, God give…

Add-Ons to Top 10 Hip-Hop Music Videos of All Time

OGHH compiled a list of the top hip-hop music videos of all time which can be seen here: Top 10 Hip-Hop Music Videos of All Time

Here’s what BDub over at YFWB posted today:

“I co-sign with pretty much every video - I even saw a few that I had never seen before, but I thought they were pretty damn good and worthy of inclusion on the list.

That being said, there are a few that I would have added just because they are either original or just captured the essence of the artist so well…”

Check out the videos YFWB added here

Top 10 Hip-Hop Music Videos of All Time

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What Is A ‘Hip-Hop Republican?’

I don’t think that the Hip-Hop Republicans know what a Hip-Hop Republican is either. From their website:

What is a “Hip Hop Republican”?

Though the moniker may seem oxymoronic at first, the label fits the viewpoints of many within our generation. However, we are collectively unaware of what defines a “Hip Hop Republican.” Before we come into the light together about what a Hip Hop Republican is, we probably need to come out of the darkness cast by the shadows of stereotypes and misunderstanding. Therefore, let’s take a second to highlight some of what “Hip Hop Republican” is not.”

I would think the ideals of the Republican party are fundamentally contradictory to some of the most important tenants of hip-hop but to each is own.

Find out more of what a Hip-Hop Republican is or, IS NOT…

Edit: Thinking about this idea of a “Hip-Hop Republican” frustrates me more and more. A “hip-hop republican” as they define it, is nothing more than a Republican candidate that can garner African-American votes and win a primary.

The founder of the organization, Richard Ivory defines it as “…any Republican candidate who can get a large pool of African-American voters while being able to win the Republican primary in an election…one that believes that it is best to utilize free market solutions to resolve current everyday urban problems…”

So does that make Bill Clinton a Hip-Hop Democrat? It’d be interesting to understand the demographics of those that claim to be “Hip-Hop Republicans.” My guess is that statistically, they would be more closely tied to the non-Hip-Hop Republican constituents and less so the Democrats and the rest of those that identify as Hip-Hop. Apologies for the unorganized rant, a rare occurrence for both me and this publication, but this type of lazy labeling of a group of individuals frustrates me; especially when they do not specifically embody anything that is hip-hop. This organization does not define itself by any type of artistic or cultural boundaries other than the fact that they are Republican and they are black.

Summary, Hip-Hop Republicans are not Hip-Hop, just Republican.