Been meaning to post about this since I saw it last week. I'm months late as usual. As I've said I'm old. Please don't throw stones. I just couldn't let the year end without commenting on 50-year old rapper/actor/millionaire (right?) Ice T telling a 17 year old kid to "eat a dick." Please watch the two videos below. I love Power, but it really is amazing to hear a guy whose contribution to the canon include the allusive "Girls Lets Get Butt Naked and Fuck" or the meditative "Cop-Killer," tell a 17-year old kid that he's ruining hip-hop. I actually thought Souljah Boy's rant was quite sensible.
Seriously why all that beef shit is played. When you're like 18 yelling "The Bridge Is Over" it's cool. When you're 50, telling someone who could be your grandson, "Eat a dick," this thing has gone too far. I mean fools ain't even making songs anymore. It's just pettiness via YouTube. That said, there's something deep about the fact that Souljah Boy is just using his webcam, cutting Ice T with Wikipedia, while the OG is working the tripod and the played-out Iverson jersey.
« Dredging up primary dirt between Clinton and Obama | Main | Talking fatherhood...again » Where I get off the "old-school hip-hop" train02 Dec 2008 02:19 pm Comments (77)
Souljah Boy lost any inkling of respect from me (and to be honest, there wasn't much there to begin with), when he gave props to slave masters, cause without them we wouldn't be here rockin ice and tatoos. And age isn't an excuse. I would have never, ever, ever said anything that ignorant when I was his age. 
What is this obsession with saying "n***a" every other word? Unbelievable.
The only way you're ever forced to listen to music is when there's an especially loud car driving near you. Or you live in a dorm or something. Hating on music is only permissible if it's forced upon you. Moreover, say what you will about Mr. Tellem, that Superman song is a classic and Ice T is behind the times if he can't at least understand that that track is a monster. Old people always sound the oldest when they're talking about today's music being garbage.
it wasn't relevant then, it isn't relevant now...lets move on...
A few thoughts 1. Ice T never was a lyricist but he for damn sure helped put rap on the map. Colors might be wack by todays standards but it just so happened to be the signature song for the urban movie of the 80s. Before there was a Boyz in the Hood there was a Colors. 2. I am one of those who thinks there is enough room in hip hop for "fun rap" songs like the stuff soulja boy or say the cats that did "laffy taffy" which drove soem hip hop heads nuts. I always point back to the sugar hill game and how hip hop used to be about just having a good time and having a good beat. It wasn't always about who could have the dopest lyrics. So really the "Superman" shit goes back to the real roots of hip hop 3. Having said that, I hate soulja boy the person not soulja boy the artist. He is truly a phucking idiot and I don't think age has anything to do with it. This is the same cat that gave a shout out to slavery because in his words "with out slavery he could have never had all that he has" And as far as the diss to Ice T it was again just plain stupid. He might want to put out 3 or more records that actually sell before he calls out a dude who 20 years ago was having his music banned but now adays is on prime time cop shows. If you notice the "fun rap" rappers don't tend to last all that long. 4. Ice T's response was spot on but I don't think he should be making youtube replies to Soulja Boy because for one he is the adult in the situation and for two it legitimizes Soulja Boy. Its like the Jay Z-Cameron beef. "Dig a Hole" was the blue print for situations like this one. By the way, anybody heard from Cameron lately? Calling this a "war" is ridiculous on both of their parts. Two years from now nobody will be talking about Soulja Boy and Ice T will probably have crossed over to being the Chief of Police on "Law and Order"
dwhite: I felt the same way, but then I heard that that the slavemaster props came from an interview in which Toure gave him the Proust Questionnaire, and the kid claims he thought the interview was a "joke" because the questions didn't make any sense. So his response was an attempt at humor. Basically, he IS ignorant, but not in the way that you think.
Where's Curtis Blow when you need him?
Did anybody else notice how Soulja Boy said, "how do you write a song called Fuck Tha Police and then you're on tv and you are the police?" Is he trying to subtly diss Ice-T by getting him mixed up with NWA, or does he actually not know the difference between "Cop Killa" and "Fuck Tha Police"? (One difference being that Fuck Tha Police is an awesome, awesome song, and Cop Killer is not.)
I actually like that Iverson jersey. Anyway, I get that Ice-T is not really the best messenger. I don't think he ever contributed much to the hip-hop canon. He was far more well known as a foil for anti-rap groups who made a big deal out of his more violent lyrics than for anything having to do with his own skills or lyricism. That said, I did think his second video where he tried to contextualize and clarify his original remarks was at least more reasonable. I don't know anything about Soulja boy but I would essentially agree that there are a lot of cats out there who have ridden to success a kind of lazy, uninspired and formulaic approach to creating hip hop. The problem is that that has always been true and for every genre of music or indeed of any kind of expression ever invented. Its a point that has been made about pop art by hipsters since before any of our great grandparents were born. Ice T is not saying anything new or especially incisive. In that his speech very closely resembles his, and presumably Soulja Boy's music endeavors. Ice T really should have had the wisdom, at 50, to just leave well enough alone.
Ice-T came to Ohio University in... I wanna say... 1992 or early 1993. He was talking about social awareness or something similar. Of course, a handful of people who were familiar with Women's Studies decided to show up for the Q&A and asked about misogyny in rap lyrics. Ice-T began his response with something to the effect of "Look, baby, it's like this..." and, unsurprisingly, got the first bit of a rant in response involving being called "baby". After 15-20 seconds of being berated, Ice-T defused the situation by suggesting "shut up, bitch". He got quite a round of applause for that. This kinda reminds me of that entire dynamic, for some reason.
When can we stop designating a separate category for hip hop and start calling it "pop music"
Soulja Boy's a clown but the response is awesome. Ice-T gets the You Mad award for 2008.
Ice-T lost major credibility points when he's photographed out there cavorting like a fool with his wife in public.
Kinda shocked so many folks think it's fine to tell a 17-year old kid to "eat a dick." I remember when the old school R&B cats were dissing us because rap wasn't music. Fortunately, none of them went this far. Good to see we could up the ante for age-based snobbish stupidity. We are now declaring war on high-schoolers. Nice.
T...it's not that i agree with the "eat a dick" sentiment. but i really think this bullshit is bad for hiphop...i reserve my outrage for something that isn't a clear publicity stunt. Souljah's star will eventually die down...sadly, i thought the song and the dance was fun. and ice-t? shouldn't he be taking care of his own kids? aren't they 17 yet?? why the frick is he responding to this? All in all...this is about as "meh" u can get over an issue...
Kinda shocked so many folks think it's fine to tell a 17-year old kid to "eat a dick." I don't really read anybody here as saying that they think that's fine. For the record, I don't think it's fine. I also don't think its anything earth shattering. In the common parlance of today's whippersnappers, its a pretty mild rebuke.
It's not ok, but Ice-T isn't your average old head playing the dozens. He's the "original gangster". Rappers never let their old self-images go quickly enough. If I had a dime for every should-be retired rapper foaming at the mouth, hopping mad, talking about "the kids these days"... I'd at least have a prefab mini-mansion like Soulja Boy (not sure if I'd spring for the people-mover shown off in his "Rich Nigga Shit" youtube series).
TNC, I respect your call for civility and age-based maturity, but count me in with the snobs. If Soulja Boy is old enough to declare, as he did in the national media a few weeks ago, that blacks should thank Trans-Atlantic slave traders for bringing blacks here from Africa to get ice and tats, then he's old enough to be told to verbally abused by a person of any age. I have no respect for Ice T tho. That guys been a parody of himself.
Jeez, if you can't tell a 17-year-old boy to eat a dick, you can you say it to? I'm nowhere near as foul-mouthed as I was at 17.
Yeah, I'm with Brent. I don't think it's okay for Ice-T to say it--it's homophobic, for starters--and he comes off looking really weak as well.
Coates I couldn't watch that whole diatribe by Ice T that you posted but I watched more than half and in the beginning part he did apologize for saying that. I can't say its right or wrong to tell a 17 year old kid to eat a dick because that same 17 year old kid is talking about skeeting on a chicks back. Its not like Ice T is talking to some innocent kid walking down the street on the way to bible study. If he said it to the singer Chris Brown who doesn't cuss much and doesn't play tough maybe I would be concerned but considering its aimed at a kid who calls himself "soulja boy" some how I would guess he could take it. But hey maybe I am just an azzhole that way.
I don't have a take on the beef because I'm at work and I can't watch the videos. But I do disagree with some of the comments on here. I can't stand Ice-T the person. I think he is a POS, particularly for making a song about killing cops and hyping his "pimp" status throughout his career and then playing a detective(poorly) on T.V. But aside from that, alot of people here seem to be saying that Ice was never a good rapper. I don't agree. I think Original Gangster is a classic album. The title track is great, and there are several other notable tracks on there (one that comes to mind is the timeless classic "some of you n_gg_s are b_tch_s too"; Home of the Body Bag). He should get credit for that. The one track with Slayer on the Judgment Night Soundtrack was pretty good too ("WWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!" And I do think that Soulja Boy the song is garbage. I may just be old and I hate to repeat my parent's lament, but I can't tell what that boy is even saying.
Just shot and will be uploading to YouTube shortly a video wherein I call out TNC as the punkass bitch poser gamer nerd he is. Already scripted, and to be shot in the same studio, is TNC's response wherein he calls me a wannabe auteur, but in fact nothing but a pornographer in denial. We will then appear in a face to face livestream, moderated by Marc Ambinder, declare our comments are made in the heat of the moment, taken out of context, etc, and mention our books, DVDs, whatever are available on Amazon, B&N, blha blah blha.
Come on. Getting on Ice-T's case for telling a 17 year old to eat a dick is like getting on a kamikaze pilot's case for using too many bullets. All of this crap is crap which is why truly talented musicians only play with it for fun, or truly talented poets do doggerel for fun. There is a level of inspiration and permanence that hiphop is simply not going to achieve. Take it for what it is more often than not, the soundtrack for rage and other sorts of brutal emotions. For what it's worth, I don't think there can be any way to dignify the debate because this sort of rap is debased in the first place. It's exactly the kind of dreck to expect. I mean really, it approaches the absurd - like a fistfight in the rear of a lynchmob over the proper length of the rope.
I was with Ice-T when he said, "I love Lupe and Lil' Wayne, but 'Superman' was terrible." But then he just went off the deep end. "Watch the YouTubes." Classic.
There is a level of inspiration and permanence that hiphop is simply not going to achieve. Take it for what it is more often than not, the soundtrack for rage and other sorts of brutal emotions. That's perhaps the dumbest thing I've ever read in the comments section of this blog. Sorry dude, but there are hiphop tracks that will still be played fifty years from now, just like we still recognize great moments from pre-WWII jazz. Genius isn't limited by genre.
Cobb, Yes, we are talking about guys who made their millions on songs like "Cop Killer" and "Crank Dat Soujah Boy," aka "Superman (that hoe)," i.e., 'Skeet All Over a Chick's Back'). But there is NOT "a level of inspiration and permanence that hip-hop is simply not going to achieve." It's already done it. The best snippets will live forever as perpetual samples in new songs. The best songs will be museum pieces.
"When can we stop designating a separate category for hip hop and start calling it "pop music"" This is the point. Ice-T going after Souljah Boy is like Robert Plant going after Chad "Scott Stapp" Kroeger. Souljah Boy is pop music. Period.
the soundtrack for rage and other sorts of brutal emotions. Brutal emotions like lust, greed, nihilism, despair too. Rage is not the exclusive property of hip-hop though. I can think of whole bookshelves' worth of jazz records channeling the same. Rock 'n' Roll was built on brutal emotions. The point is... ?
attemt at jackin' the thread....
KRS once said.... it's not how long you can rhyme, but how long you been rhymin'/changing with the times and finding yourself still climbin for wealth Now...where does Ice-T fall in the above sentence and where does Souljah Boy? I do think Ice could have left well enough alone, but at the same time, I suspect Ice will still be around long after Souljah Boy is relegated to one hit wonder status....but that's just me.
I see Cobb's point but I don't necessarily agree with it. Some hip hop tracks are permanent(really very few, but how many songs are really timeless anyway?). I do think that most of the greatest hip hop tracks may be behind us. And I think this because most of the "brutal" emotions that I remember from hip hop past are just no longer there. They've been replaced entirely with false posturing and swagger. Now these things have always been a part of hip hop, but I don't think that they were ever the dominant theme that they are these days. Think Lil Wayne, pure posturing, no content... garbage. His swagger ain't Mick Jagger. I realize that my entire view may be skewed by the fact that I don't have the time to seek out music anymore and am therefore a slave to my local hip hop stations as far as what's being made out there.
Deleted. Sorry man. We don't insult people here by calling them gay.
I agree with sgwhiteinfla. Soulja Boy picked the fight, Ice-T responded. If you're old enough to be in the public eye and pick a fight, you're old enough for people to fight back. And you can't just dismiss Ice-T altogether, as some here want to do. "6 in the Mornin'" and the O.G. album are landmarks, regardless of what you think of "Cop Killer." That said, it probably would've been best for him just to ignore it.
You have it backwards. Soulja Boy is responding to Ice-T, not th other way around.
hiphopthugsta said: "Kanye West is gay" You mean he's gay like: "he's a lame ass or a mark ass busta"; or gay like "he's a homosexual"? I say things are gay all the time but I don't mean that these things are attracted to other dudes. Personally, I think he's ahead of the pack since his last album. Flashing Lights was my favorite hip hop song to come out in a long time. Who cares if he's gay? I always thought Dr. Dre was gay, and I still suspect Beyonce is JZ's beard, but I still like their music.
@laborlibert
I was pretty confident that hiphopthugsta was doing some type of parody. Actually, I should say I was hoping he was doing some type of parody that I just didn't get.
Jaybird, I was at that OU "speech." I don't remember that incident, but I believe it happened. There were a TON of people there to see a lecture, IIRC. Ice is a clown now, but at least there was a time when he wasn't one. Can't say that for the boy.
Well, it didn't take long at all for this to devolve into a game of "who's the gay rapper?!" There can only be one.
DB Cooper, I was not at that speech as it was at the same time as one of my classes (Women's Studies). The "shut up, bitch" moment pretty much dominated the discussion of the next few classes we had. Oh, youth is wasted on the young.
Bruce: I don't base it on stability or privacy, I just get that vibe from those two. It's pure speculation. To be clear, I really don't give a damn if they're gay or not. Especially Dre, who is one of my all-time favorites. I haven't thought about this in a long time but I knew this girl in college years ago that claimed to have, ahem, "been with" Jay Z. She said that he was nasty and terrible. I don't know why I am sharing this but I can't help myself. It's so gay of me.
To be fair, Soulja does a fairly subtle job of smacking down Ice-T. "You should be ashamed of yourself, even at your age."
@laborlibert if there ever was a candidate "gay" rapper...beside the obvious... baby and lil' wayne... probably camrón...
I don't know how to say this any other way. I don't really know whether people are interested in hearing the two of you debate the sexual preferences of assorted rappers. I do know that I am not. This isn't any bullshit PCism. It's just far off-topic and not that interesting. I respect you both, and like your contributions to the site. But if this is what you want to talk about, do some googling. I'm sure there are plenty of places that would love to host this discussion. This won't be one of them.
TNC...thanks for that.....file this under how to ruin a good debate.
Don't want to host our gay rapper discussion huh... sounds like more black homophobia. I'm telling Dan Savage. In my defense, in my original comment I was trying to say that KW's alleged homosexuality was irrelevant to his talent, and the perennial hip hop discussion of which rapper is gay started from there despite my innocent intentions. Back on topic, well sort of since I still can't watch the video, but I still disagree with the sentiment expressed by several commenters and I think also by the host, that Ice T was a no-talent. Earlier I mentioned "OG" and "B_tch_s too" as classics. Another great song by Ice was about prison, and I think it was called "the Tower." It may also have been on the OG album. Every verse ended with "I ask myself just who has the power, the whites, the blacks or just the gun tower". Good jam. Much better than "Superman!"
I really don't know many rappers that have had the same longevity or evolution as Ice-T....just go back to Rhyme Pays...or before that on 'Breakin'. He's evolved, broken boundaries, moved beyond rap to rock to movies to pimpin' to tv and back again....Soujah Boy has a ways to go.... that being said...who says 'eat a dick' anymore? That's sooooo 90's.
Deleted. Sorry man. I warned. T.
Anyone else offended by Souljah Boy's repeated use of the word "nigger"? I thought there was a funeral for that word.
Three points: 1) Line of the video: Soulja: "How you gon make a song called 'Fuck tha Police' and then 30 years later you play the police on TV?" Time will make hypocrites of us all. 2) The repeated use of the word "nigga" is holding some black people back. I have no problem with black people using that word, but the way SB does it (which reminds me of my south-of-Jefferson bball games down here in LA) is intentionally aggressive and makes me as a white person feel uncomfortable and awkward. It also disqualifies SB (or anyone else) from getting a whole variety of jobs. Plus, it makes all this outrage over SB being told to "Eat a dick" seem kind of silly. 3) When SB was listing everything that wasn't invented when IT was born, it got me thinking: There is something else that wasn't invented in 1954 - Equal Rights. IT went through a lot of stuff that SB simply will never have to, and none of us (nor SB himself) should forget that.
Did anyone else feel as though Ice T's video could be subtitled as "You damn kids get off my lawn!" The lawn in this case being hip hop?
well i guess i cant make fun of kanye west, but lets all face it
hiphopthugsta That generational stuff is played. I mean I am in my thirtys and I love old school but you are only pointing out SOME of the cats who were out back then. Hell you got your Jay Z, Nas, TI, Bun B, Andre 3000, Snoop, Lil Wayne (thought I am not a big fan) Common, Cee Lo Green, Mos Def, Jim Jones, and the list goes on and on of quality rappers. Don't act like cats like Kwame, and Kid and Play weren't hot back in the day. Yeah the Wu Tang clan was banging but so were the Fat Boys. And don't forget that Digital Underground helped to bring us the brilliance of Tupac. So just like in the past there were some cats that were hot that we wouldn't consider hot today, there are some cats that are hot right now that won't be hot 20 years from now. But some cats like the ones I listed will still be getting bumped 20 years from now just like cats will still bump the old Tupac.
I don't know, man...Souljah Boy may be sensible, but who are the cats behind him? They don't do anything but laugh at his jokes and play with their bling.
Just watched the Soulja Boy video again...Did he seriously say that he worked hard for what he got? Uhh...you're 17, bro. You made a catchy song on your computer and it caught fire. Go talk to some 60-year-old jazz musician squeaking out a living playing six gigs a week at some shit club, then come back and explain to me again how hard you struggled.
What OGWiseman said. Also I repeat, sgwhiteinfla, why don't you have a blog I can read yet?
sgwhiteinfla, was that some sort of implied diss of Digital Underground in your last post? Cause if it was, we're gonna have a problem, sir.
dwhite LOL Trust me I bump "Freaks of the Industry" about once a month so no I wasn't summarily dissing Digital Underground. My point was they were a lot hotter back then than they are right now. Just like Soulja Boy is likely way hotter now than he will be in the future. I was making the point that hiphopthugsta was pulling out just a few of the rappers from the old school who have stood the test of time but many of them did not fare so well. Kool Moe Dee anyone? And we have rappers currently who will stand the test of time also and some who won't. Doesn't take away from what the Fat Boys did back in the day nor what the Ying Yang Twins are doing now for instance. It just is what it is. I am sure there were people hating on the Isley Brothers when they came out saying they weren't hot like the the groups that came before them. Every generation thinks their music is the "real" music and anything after that is weaker sauce. But history has told us thats not really the case.
Eddy I am much better as a guest than as a host. I like to debate and discuss issues but I don't think I would be all that good at starting and moderating the conversations. Besides I like it here at Coates' spot lol.
I think it was ridiculous of Ice T to tell Soulja Boy to eat a dick in the first place. It's just unnecessary, adding insult to injury (the injury being his quick decline into obscurity which has already begun despite this stupid attempt at controversy to rile up 15 more minutes). I think he's right--Soulja Boy's music is garbage. As a college student I hear all the current hip-hop, and I'm not really a hip-hop head but even I can tell immediately the qualitative difference between some repetitive bullshit with actual nonsense lyrics (his song actually sounds like it says, "Soulja Boy up in it oh, why me crank it why me roll? why me crank that soulja boy then superman that ho?") and attempts at the creation of real music. And it doesn't have to be some poetic shit either--to set him up in opposition to true lyrical masters like Kanye and Lupe is even giving him too much credit. Even T.I. writes better stuff than Soulja Boy, by a longshot. But the thing is, SB has no lasting power whatsoever. His shit is already played-out and everyone knows it. Ice T didn't have to throw his 2 cents in, because SB's market is mainly high school and even middle school kids who will quickly grow out of their love for catchy music with no substance. It was just wrong of Ice T to even address his music in the first place, and even more wrong for him to make the attack personal. Soulja Boy's response is hilarious and I think on-point for the most part, but it doesn't change the fact that he's nothing. He has no place to be talking to Ice T like he knows what he's talking about. T was right to call him out for being "out-of-pocket." Again, though, Ice T is somewhat of a joke to me. Maybe it's because I wasn't around when he was out there at the forefront of hip-hop making his music, when it was really current and exciting and making a difference. It seems tired now, and I can only see it through the lens of his current ridiculous image (that terrible wife, that sell-out acting job, that TRIPOD). Ultimately they're both practically irrelevant now, but for different reasons.
I'm at work right now and, in a room full of sixth graders taking a test, I can't quite watch the videos. But I'm intrigued by this discussion. Over the past few years, the only two mainstream, popular hip-hop songs I've really loved have been "Sensual Seduction" by Snoop Dogg (I actually like the radio version better because of the alliteration!) and "Kick Push" by Lupe Fiasco. Kanye West's work with Jon Brion is great, too. But all of this T.I. and Li'l Wayne stuff? It's all too self important for me. I'd rather listen to the new Q-Tip or some old Spearhead or Jurassic 5 any day. (And how about that Fleetwood Mac?) Actually, I'd rather listen to "some old" just about anything these days. Prefab Sprout's Jordan: The Comeback instead of anything by Coldplay. Ralph Tresvant's "Sensitivity" instead of anything that passes for a ballad. Sugar's Copper Blue instead of that nonsense new Guns 'n' Roses album. I could argue that I enjoy the old stuff more because the new stuff is all hot mastered and I can't bear listening to it for more than two seconds. But that's only part of the reason. The emphasis on individual downloading of songs and singles at all costs has ruined the album format. My own middle school students listen to the first :30 or :45 seconds of a song before they change it. And the only stuff that we hear on the radio every day is some form of the same song. Have you looked at the iTunes Music Store's Top 10 recently? Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Lady GaGa, Kanye West, The Fray, Beyoncé (again), Taylor Swift, Kanye West (again), T.I., Britney Spears (again)? I don't get off the train just because of comments like Ice T.'s. I get off the train because mainstream music is no longer meeting my needs. Hell, I can go to Amazon.com and buy a used CD copy of Walk Under Ladders by Joan Armatrading for 94¢. That's worth all the Soulja Boy songs in the world.
There seems to be a lot of TI hate on here. I don't know about yall but I have been a TI fan since his earliest albums. I am thinking maybe some folks only know him from the songs that get radio play. This one to me was classic when he put it out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9DAvPMbSmQ&feature=related
Another album only classic from TI. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn0oRWKTqzY For the uninitiated ill bet this track will surprise them
SGW, thanks for the T.I. tracks. I look forward to checking them out.
@Sgw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty69g0fqJvE above track, along with a whole lot of others are on my tracklist everytime i get in the gym or feel like punching the bag....
Bruce Oh I LOVE TI's Energy tracks and "Hurt" goes hard! There are a few of his joints that get me hyped for the gym including "Whatchu know about dat". But I just want folks to know and realize that when he wants to, he can drop knowledge just like other top lyricists of our time. Really a dude who doesn't get near the props he should for his flow is Ludacris. Even though a lot of his music is beat heavy he still does some magical word play. Totally inappropriate and misogynestic TI song (featuring Nelly) that used to get the club jumping. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu_9sdbc_BY
SWG...i really feel you on that one. Alot of "energy-rappers" don't get nearly as much props for their lyrical skills. Luda is another great example of that... I feel sometimes it's a false choice between the two, and alot of times, one implicates another. Beatheaviness is always good in my book, nutin beats a good banger-track and not just for the gym/ring. anyway, i digress...partly because i cant decide what to like anymore, i find myself liking alot of tracks today that i felt i didn't like before...Luda's new album is a must btw...
Hey, it's Montell Jordan's birthday today! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhwjAaDKFRU Look, I gotta get mine in a big black truck, but you can get yours in a '64.
Ice-T (to steal one of his own lines) played himself here. I'm not mad about the "eat a dick" stuff, that's meh to me. In my opinion Souljah Boy sucks, as far as I'm concerned he can take that Superman/She Got A Donk bullshit and walk it out, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have the right to make garbage music. Nobody really cares about Ice-T. Ice was that dude when I was in high school and Original Gangster was for a long time my favorite record, but he fell off after that and never really brought it hard again. Nobody's checkin' for him anymore, he hardly even puts anything out. Any time a formerly successful artist speaks out against a newer cat on subjective matters like this, it's always lose/lose. Most of Souljah Boys fans don't even know who Ice-T is, and everybody else thinks he looks so petty and stupid that he comes across as a has-been playa hater who needs to grow the fuck up and act his damn age. This is like when KRS-One called out Nelly a few years ago. It's just pointless. For real, who cares? It's not like they ever shared the same audience. When's the last time an Ice-T or KRS-One got any kinda regular rotation on commercial radio? Shit I don't recall EVER hearing any KRS-One or BDP get run in that format. In the court of public opinion you can't beat the young anyway, you're always outnumbered.
Mikel said: "When's the last time an Ice-T or KRS-One got any kinda regular rotation on commercial radio? Shit I don't recall EVER hearing any KRS-One or BDP get run in that format." True enough. I only knew about KRS from watching Video Music Box (they had "Love is gonna get you" and "Duck" on steady rotation). Then again, KRS's "friends" was sort of a mainstream hit I think. Good song too. Off-topic again, but Sublime's "KRS-1" has to be the best tribute song ever.
Don't forget Scritti Politti's terrific tribute to KRS-1 specifically and hip-hop in general, "The Boom Boom Bap": http://loquaciousmusic.wordpress.com/2008/11/03/the-boom-boom-bap/
laborlibert I don't recall ever hearing "A Friend" on the radio. I think might have heard "Step Into A World" once or twice, but nothing before or since.
Coates said: "I remember when the old school R&B cats were dissing us because rap wasn't music. Fortunately, none of them went this far. Good to see we could up the ante for age-based snobbish stupidity. We are now declaring war on high-schoolers. Nice." I'm surprised more of us don't recognize the pattern here: the older generation tossing jabs at the younger generation. It may not even be cultural as much as it is human nature, for I have seen evidence of it all throughout history, in all races. We easily forget how much W.E.B Du Bois and Booker T. Washington attacked Jazz music. Now we praise Jazz music. Many Black leaders protested against the young Ray Charles. Now we consider him a genius. The list goes on and on. Personally, I don't listen to Soulja Boy. I'm into hard core gangsta music. But if Soulja Boy can convince millions to buy his music—however whack--I solute him and hope he makes good investments with the money he collects. Hate the game, not the player. I just wished Ice-T and other Hip Hop vets spent more time schooling these new jacks instead of dissing them. Owning publishing is important. Recouping takes amazing foresight nowadays. What if Ice-T had sat Soulja Boy down and explained all the pitfalls in the music business, showing the young lad how to make positive moves outside of the industry, instead of just advising him to "eat a dick?" Do I have to like a brother's music, or even appreciate his I.Q., to wish him well? As for the comments about Soulja Boy being ignorant, I'm not certain I look for superior intelligence from rappers and entertainers--it's merely an added bonus, if anything. I don’t really care what Soulja Boy or any artist thinks about slave masters. When I'm seeking an intelligent perspective on cultural or political issues, I don't pop in some rap CD for direction. I would hope others didn't either. We’d have to be pretty desperate and naïve to expect some kind of Malcolm X or MLK to emerge out of the rap industry. I do wonder the age of these Soulja Boy critics though. I've noticed something interesting in my exploration of this issue. The older people are, the more vocal--and vicious--their opposition against him appears to be. That seems telling to me.
I thought Soulja Boy came off as far more emotionally mature in this exchange.
Ice T apologizing for threatening to a mouth rape a 17 year old and then going on to threaten a 17 year old with the prosepect of LA Gangbangers is just sad. "There will be consequences"...pathetic. The final Soulja Boy ethering of Ice T is amazing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ4ycHTOkyk
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In the words of Kanye West from his awesome blog:
"[Soulja Boy] had all of America rapping this summer. If that ain't Hip Hop then what is? A bunch of wannabe keep it real rappers that ain't even relevant, recycling samples trying to act like it's 96 again and all they do is hate on new shit?"
With that said, I'm more anti-Ice than I am pro-Soulja.
Posted by shani-o | December 2, 2008 2:43 PM