Randomness

• To be clear, this blog is meant to actually support some purchases of albums, especially the ones who deserve it. The links in each post actually sends you to Amazon.com, where you can look at the album and then buy it somewhere else.
• I won't be only talking about Jay-Z. I thought of starting this blog when Kingdom Come came out last November, and the internet was divided amongst "Jigga is the best rapper alive" to "Jigga is 40-something and out of touch". I thought to myself, yeah, Jay is one of my favorite rappers, but why? It's not like all his albums are great, or even any good.
• And, I actually recommended that people burn In My Lifetime, Vol. 1. Sure, it sold over one million copies, but that doesn't mean it's any good. Go ahead and burn it. Shawn Carter doesn't need your money.
• You should read J-Zone's blog post that asks, "Is hip hop really dead?". I don't think that it's dead, like Nas might, but I agree that a lot of the shit sucks. Look, people, there's a reason I started this blog with an album from fucking 1996.
• Contrary to popular belief, I actually am doing this blog for my health. Please react and comment accordingly.
• Even though I have a lot of favorite rappers, I'm not fucking deaf. A lot of artists put out horrible songs. My favorite group ever is the Wu-Tang Clan, and they have their fair share of shit sandwiches that have been unleashed onto store shelves (and yes, I probably bought all of those, too.)
• "I Know What Girls Like"? Jay, WTF were you thinking?
• I may not think that hip hop is dead (yet), but there's also a reason why I've found myself listening to Depeche Mode for the past few weeks instead of Wu or Jay or Nas or whatever. Anyone who only listens to hip hop needs to have their eyes forced open (Clockwork Orange style) so that they can see the world beyond their flashy commercial pop radio Jazze Pha / Polow Da Don / Lil' Jon / Cristal dreams (oh wait, rappers don't drink Cristal anymore). There's a big wide world out there, full of other genres of music, all of which hip hop has stolen from (sorry, I meant sampled) at one point or another.
• I'll be back to post another review later.