A girl, her life & her music

Mixtape is officially coming out in!!!

The hardest thing to do in life is to expose yourself, open to criticism and rejection. I took a moment back to decide what I wanted to do as far as my music is concerned. I have been DJ'ing for 6 years and recently decided to hit up the mixtape game. More info will be released as soon as I am ABLE to release it.

I will be releasing my personal blends and sessions on here from now on instead of ruckus.com
DJ K.Valentine

My ode to Buddens- Dear Diary *my fave buddens joint EVER

After the mistrel show that was the BET Hip Hop awards, I was linked to the cipher featuring Joe & Eminem. Yes there were more "rappers" but a hip hop fan only listened to the real lyricist and not the ringtone rappers delight show. After listening to Buddens I remembered why I feel in love with him as a lyricist, such emotion and its so damn raw that you can't deny his talent nor passion. Joe is hip hop. Above is my favorite Budden's joint to date, I would include the lyrics but it keeps messing up my page alignment so let google be your friend. Dear diary...

"Baby girl, respect is just a minimum"

With the sudden burst of rapper Nicki Minaj, I find myself not only disheartened with whom hip hop has chosen to embrace as a female lyricist but I also feel slightly disrespected. Nothing against the new found Lewinsky but why does hip hop embrace everything the founding female emcee's protested? We have some dope talent in our gender who have been hustling and working the underground scene for years to no avail but up jumps a set of DD breast, skin tight leggings and a plump ass and VIOLA! - a deal is signed, videos are made and interviews are in every hip hop magazine,blog and website. It's as if we made so much progress to only sell ourselves out and go back to what's easy. Pussy sales.

After Lauryn's sudden disinterest in hip hop I knew for certain the next to emerge would be underground known yet still unknown Jean Grae. She is almost just as lyrical and has the excellent delivery. Her stories are composed of whore tales and how deep her throat can go. She can tell a story just as well as Nas and the rest of them. Nicki Minaj is no more than the female slutty clone of Lil Wayne. When I first heard of her I was unbiased, I went and found her mixtape and gave the girl a few listens. I felt nothing but annoyed and the song "Heard it all before", sang by the beautiful Sunshine Anderson, began to play in my head. My impression of her was confirmed once I saw her infamous Lil Kim picture and every picture of her to follow. Men in hip hop and male fans of hip hop are always downplaying females in the game but what do you expect with you put a talking vagina in front of a mic? Jean Grae style is much like Lauryn, not much skin, she isn't in this for a modeling gig but to earn respect in a male-dominated sport. Women actually have thoughts and brains (outside of the "brains" you men instinctively thought of), with "emcee's" like Minaj we are nothing more than walking sex symbols who can only muster thoughts of money,a man's money, and a man's penis. I mean damn Nicki, I know Wayne signed you but must you try to be JUST like him? Go visit the wizard and ask for a personality of your own!

Seriously Nicki? Did we not learn anything from Lauryn and Latifah? Both who have exceeded what we thought a female lyricist was capable of, and they reached that destination with all their clothes on and with their dignity intact. When Hill left the game I felt that we were finally being taken serious on a lyrical level without having to be fast talking strippers and porn stars. Yes, we can be sexy and attractive but whore is a size that should never fit us ladies. We can't ask hip hop to respect us if we don't respect ourselves first.

"It's silly when girls sell their soul because it's in" Lauryn Hill- Doo Wop (that thing)

Jay-Z vs. Nas: Who's Hotter- A rebuttal to a rebuttal

While on twitter earlier and conversing with some new hip hop heads/followers, my new blog about Jay vs Nas is RT'd about 25 times. Amid my re tweets I came across one of my new favorites to follow (@mr_genius23) who let myself ,along with another twitter friend, know that he not only adamantly disagreed with my blog but was also composing a rebuttal. This is my rebuttal to his counterargument.

In my previous post I mentioned how Jay has transformed himself from hustling in the project hallways to a business all together. Below is his response to this:

"I agree with the statement that Jay-Z is not selling drugs anymore and transformed himself into a business, but wasn’t Jay, not 2 years ago, rhyming about drug dealing/hustling on American Gangster? After the release of the critically panned Kingdom Come (an album of Jay’s that I enjoy), Jay-Z went right back to rhyming about drugs on the critically acclaimed American Gangster. Jay recently rhymed on BP3:"

American Gangster was an album influenced by the movie, American Gangster. Saying that this album is proof of Jay being a backslider or regressing as an artist doesn't really cut it . The essence of this album was Frank Lucas. If we are going to approach this debate from a perspective of flip-flopping as an artist, Nas went from the struggling lyricist to "oochie wally wally" to the deep messiah of rap back to "you owe me". I agree that Jay has flipped his share of times and that Nas has been somewhat consistent but maybe that is why Nas has buried hip hop while Jay just outran Elvis with his number of #1 albums. Consistency is key to everything but growth.

"Jay’s career has seen great heights on a commercial scale, but his catalogue artistically has seen its share of duds. For an emcee to call themselves the greatest, should they not present their best effort on every album? When you look at both emcee’s catalogue, the odds are definitely in Nas’ favor as he has 5 arguable classic LPs (Illmatic,It Was Written, Stillmatic, The Lost Tapes & Untitled) while Jay has around 2-3 in Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint and American Gangster."

Regardless of the hype surrounding MJ's death, were all his albums number ones? no. Did he still sell out arenas and make musical history? yes. Comparing Nas' classics to Jay are once again, two hot pans on different stoves. Jay has had his duds, I can name one album in particular I was highly disappointed in as a fan. A good test for an artist is how strong their rebound is, so far Jay rebounds quick and strong. Nas puts out an album and then he disappears if it didn't do as well as he had wished for. Jay keeps showing his face and if the album flops, he goes in the kitchen and makes a new recipe. The beginning of the statement above says "Jay's career has seen great heights on a commercial scale"- that bothers my spirit. Commercial scale or not, Jay has managed to not only keep his existing fans from the era of Reasonable Doubt but has gained a whole new demographic that technically he is not supposed to reach. He made a collab ALBUM, not just a song, with Linkin Park. Linkin Park fans are now familiar with Jay. Nas fans are still Nas fans but where are the new ones? Isn't hip hop supposed to tell a story to those who haven't lived it and don't know about it? inform those not knowing? Aside from the new "fans" (I'm kind of cautious of calling them fans rather than instigators) that Ether brought along, Nas has been teaching the same class to the same students.

"At the end of the day, Jay-Z will have better numbers than Nas and will have enjoyed a better career than Nas due to the amount of records sold and money made, but when it comes to the essence that hip hop is and consistency in their respective catalogues, there is no comparison: Nas stands tall."

Money made and records sold translates to fans consistently enjoying the product that the artist has put out. Nas last two albums have consistently stayed at Gold since being released (N- July 15,2008, Hip hop is dead- December 19, 2006 and the previous four albums have stayed at platinum). Jay has consistently transformed his style while keeping the same message, instead of hustling on the corners he hustles corporate america. The album that was mentioned as being such a flop, Kingdom Come, has gone 2x platinum since being released in 2006 and his four previous projects before that one are 2x platinum and ABOVE. This only proves that not only has his consistent fan base not strayed but he has a new generation learning about his earlier work and how he became who he is today.

"but to say Jay is a better artist or lyricist than Nas is flat out wrong imo"

As an artist Jay has done one thing that Nas can't seem to achieve. He has grown. This is an industry that if you stay the same you lose and if you change you lose, Jay has mastered the art of changing while staying the same. I never said that lyrically Nas was inferior to Jay but in the bigger picture of artistry, Nas has fallen short..

Jay-Z vs. Nas- Who's hotter? I say both but on different stoves

When it comes to the genius of these two lyrical giants I am more often than not torn. Both are very intelligent, both have wordplay and timing for days. Nas has always been known for talking about the struggle, what Queensbridge was about and educating yourself. I have always put him in the same circle as Public Enemy, very much a political rapper- the face of the struggle. Jay-Z went through his struggle phase (Reasonable Doubt), which without a doubt was his best gift to the world of hip hop. The he began to see life from a different perspective and had to transform. This is where hip hop heads usually begin to attack one another.

Everyone wants Jay to go back to Reasonable Doubt, but as a man he can't. Jay-Z is not selling drugs anymore (whether that is fact or fiction is none of my concern) and has went from a Brooklyn boy who rapped to a BUSINESS. The genius of being a true artist is being able to transform yourself without losing yourself. You as an artist should be able to tell the story no matter the book you're reading from. Jay-z closed the old book and started a new one while Nas has been stuck on the same book, same chapter since Illmatic damn near. He has become stagnant as an artist. This is where Nas lost. Nas has physically and financially left those projects in Queensbridge but mentally he wants to stay there. Although he is a force in hip hop, his testimony's are no longer believable. Jay began to think globally while Nas only saw things locally, as his circumstances changed so did Jay's lyrical content.

I don't think it's a matter of who's better because these two are not the same. Nas may very well be the best NY lyricist, while Jay is the better lyricist in general. Both are deserving of the title but only one stepped up to the challenge and put the crown on his head. This is not just my opinion look at the numbers, Jay has beaten Elvis! Jay has retired and came back while Nas has almost given up on hip hop. Don't give up! come back and save it..Jay did.

Drake- hiphop savior or oversaturation

At one point I was a true fan of the kid known as Drake, he was something new and fresh so naturally I was more for him than against him. Since the release of So Far Gone, I have stopped sipping from the kool-aid that I have began calling "Dranke" (get it? lol mad corny, I know) and really started digesting his product and evaluating his lyrical game. I'm not convinced that he is hip hop's savior, as a new friend on twitter said to me, he is actually adding to the problem more so than offering a solution.

Drake's sudden overnight success is rushing his growth as an artist, I mean how much thought does he put into what he says since he is on this tidal wave now? You can usually tell how much thought was used on the artist behalf by how much the audience can recite off the top of their head without needing the song to play. The only line I remember from Drake is the play on the word Lesbian + Honest. That's it. I am not saying that Drake is horrible but the rush on his lyrical development and professional career is shredding his talent because the market wants quantity and not quality.

On the flip side of this "savior of hip hop" argument, this new lyricist J-Cole is BEYOND nice. Notice I said LYRICIST and not rapper? it's not too many lyricist on the cusp of hip hop right now so I feel compelled to label J-Cole as a lyricist. His lyrical game and word play is silly, Jay-Z knew what he was doing when he signed this cat to RocNation. I downloaded "The Warm-Up" yesterday and have played it 25 times so far on iTunes and I already have faves off his mixtape. The difference in Drake and J-Cole is that Jay is not rushing J. Time is growth and growth is necessary to stay relevant in hip hop. Being stagnant as an artist keeps you local and in time you will burn out.

Maybe it's just this new generation. I'm from the era of warming my dinner up in the oven , IF we even had a microwave, using it was considered lazy.

Where were you when you first fell in love with hiphop?

I was in my uncles basement with my brother and cousins. My cousin was learning how to scratch and was using our ears as the testers. I was around 7 years old and remember hearing my cousin Jamal blend 36 chambers "shame on a n*gga" with mr.postman...SHIT WAS CRAZY, as odd of a mix that was it worked and I was hooked ever since. I wanted to learn everything hiphop, everything that made the culture I learned. I began learning how to break, I became infatuated with graffiti and art. Eventually as I grew older I learned how to work the tables and learned the difference between hiphop, rap and commercial rap.

Im not nice on the mic but I can spin/scratch my ass off and I teach a hiphop dance class and I'm still a B-girl. This is my spot to ramble about music and my life and how they have become one in the same. My name is Kenya.