Steroids in hip-hop? U-God committing career suicide? Funaki?! What do all these and EPMD have to do with this week’s column? Only one way to find out!It’s funny, my birthday is coming up in a week and people keep asking me what I’d like. And I have absolutely no idea. I’ve been thinking as well, in recent times, a lot of the fun of Christmas Day has gone for me. When you were a kid, chances are in the weeks leading up to Christmas or your birthday, you had a list of about 20 odd items and nobody told you what they were going to get you, to prevent you getting it yourself, cause you had no money. It’s made me realize that these days, people are telling me what CDs or DVDs they bought me in advance of the actual date to prevent me buying them myself. This has actually happened on a few occasions.
I’m not sure if anyone reading this feels the same way or not but these events kind of suck from an ‘excitement over gifts’ point of view (and I know they’re not all about material possessions, but you’d be lying if you didn’t get excited on Christmas Eve as a kid) now that we have money to buy a lot of things for ourselves. Another thing is that I’ve got a lot of things I would be potentially saving for. I’ve got a car, PC, Nintendo Wii (eventually…), been overseas numerous times and…I’ve got a job…yeah.
Anyway, I can’t really justify this as hip-hop or even music related so let’s move on.Hip-Hop?
So, if you haven’t heard by now, a number of artists have been named in a steroids trafficking investigation as having used the drug. On the list were Mary J. Blige, Timbaland, Wyclef Jean, Tyler Perry and 50 Cent.
Now before we start waving fingers at 50 Cent and Timbaland because they’re beefed up, if anybody read Larry Csonka’s articles during the recent wrestling steroids bust that saw a number of wrestlers suspended for 30 days, you’ll know that steroids don’t usually make you enormous, beefed up ‘roid monkeys.
For example:Funaki here was named as one of the wrestlers having purchased steroids and was suspended. He doesn’t exactly fit the mental picture people get when they think ‘steroids’ yet they’re not designed to make you spontaneously combust with muscle mass, rather they allow muscle to heal more rapidly after workouts meaning more strenuous and intense workouts can be done, thereby increasing muscle mass.
Anyway, this isn’t a lesson in steroids but rather a “WTF?” moment.
Really, why would an artist bother taking steroids? Is it that important in this day and age to look the best for videos and photo-shoots that an artist feels the need to take performance enhancing drugs to supplement their workouts? As one reader has commented on our news coverage of it here
“here is more proof that steroids aren’t a big deal. they are classified as a PERFORMANCE enhancing drug. anyone who has seen 50 cent perform can tell that it isn’t working.” – reh629
Which is humorous because 50 Cent is indeed, a terrible performer but also highlights the point that an artist’s craft generally doesn’t call for the use of something like steroids.
This brings me back to my original point, are looks REALLY that important for artists that they have to shoot up to get by?
To be honest, 50 Cent’s muscle mass is becoming more of a gimmick ever since he appeared on his album cover with a cartoon drawn body so maybe he feels the need to maintain his ridiculous appearance. Timbaland was intent on losing weight and maybe took things a little too far. Wyclef Jean can jump off a cliff for all I care (my personal beef with him is a rant for another time) but Mary J. Blige, there’s an interesting name.
I’d like to think that Mary is at the stage of her career where she wouldn’t need to necessarily rely on appearance to present herself to the public eye. Well, not to the point of becoming a slob or unhealthily over/underweight, but if she was to let herself go a little, I doubt the music community would be up in arms, so long as it doesn’t affect her performance in the studio.
Representatives for Mary have since denied these claims and given the news has only been out for a few days, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some more names come up, and more denials to follow.
Just to wrap up this weeks rant, given the fairly non-physical requirements of singing in the hip-hop world, why would these artists bother? Furthermore, if this blows out of proportion, it really will be a sign that the world is turning itself on it’s ear because Lord knows, steroids didn’t help 50 Cent’s last album sell. So let’s forget about it and move on.Well not if you’re the Wu-Tang Clan. Bloody hell, it seems every week there’s some new problem arising within the Clan. First, it was Ghostface complaining that both the groups and his album were being released on the same day. Then it was Raekwon claiming RZA owed him money. Then Raekwon and Ghostface trashing the album.
Now we have U-God suing the label, Wu Music, for $170,000. No that’s not a typo, that’s really all he wants. When you break the number down, ($40,000 for work on the album, $50,000 for the Rock The Bells concert and $60,000 advance from the BMG music label) it actually seems realistic and leads me to believe that there could be a degree of truth to his claims. I also know that those numbers don’t add up to $170,000, but you can find them here so direct troll comments on their message boards.
With all this drama, it’s looking increasingly likely that the Wu will eventually disband of sorts. They may just kick Ghost and Raekwon out, or they may kick RZA out.
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Either way, it’s a true shame that this group is heading the route of other groups such as EPMD, NWA, The Pharcyde, Gang Starr and to a lesser extent, I suppose Terror Squad (but who really knew anybody out of them except Pun, Joe and Remy Ma?). On the flip side though, this has gotten me thinking about groups that are actually still together after a lengthy career. Cypress Hill, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest and you can probably include The LOX as well.
Breakups always seem to stem from monetary issues, which is a good reason as to why you shouldn’t mix business with personal life. If you are an aspiring hip-hop group and you’re reading this, get someone else to do your accounting. Someone none of you has any personal relations with. That way, if there’s a problem with the money, you can only point the finger at the manager/accountant, and NOT your friends who you’ve made music with in the past.
In the end though, these things tend to happen for a reason. Look at NWA after they split. Ice Cube and Dr. Dre went on to become two of the most recognized hip-hop artists of all time. DJ Premier has a lot more free time on his hands to make beats for other rappers. Erick Sermon released a number of solid albums that are often forgotten in today’s age. Fat Joe…well he gave us “Lean Back” which was a hot song for most of 2004. And he’s kind of responsible for Ashanti given he featured her on “What’s Luv” before she really blew up. Depending on your opinion of Ashanti, that may be a good thing or a bad thing. He also brought us Big Pun but sadly, Pun isn’t with us any more making that a bit of a moot point.
So, with the Clan on the downwards spiral, they need someone to take charge and get the guys organized (and not RZA as he seems to aggravate everybody) or let them break up and embrace their solo careers. Ghostface, GZA, Method Man and Inspectah Deck for those in the know would have no problem, having released multiple critically acclaimed albums in their past. RZA has been doing work on musical scores for movies for some time now. Raekwon is getting by on the basis of his debut album, and the sequel which is meant to be coming out sometime before Detox which leaves U-God and Masta Killa. I like Masta Killa as he has a style similar to GZA’s without coming off as a copy and has released a couple of awesome albums since 2004 but poor U-God. He’s routinely been named the weakest link of the group and previously ‘left’ for a while after a dispute with RZA (about what else, money) so in the end, a Wu breakup would hurt him the most. This in turn, makes the aforementioned lawsuit even more bizarre given he’s got the most to lose.
Oh well, here’s hoping we get one more good album out of the group before shit hits the fan.Each week, I’ll try to feature a video from ‘back in the day’. For older fans, it will serve as a nice trip down memory lane, for younger fans, a look at hip-hop’s early days.
This week:You may recognize the sample as it was used in a single some years back, which I have COMPLETELY forgotten and it’s driving me insane right now. So if someone can remember which song I’m talking about, please tell.
Anyway, it’s definitely a great song and the beat is that incredible funk sound that Erick Sermon would continue to use in the future. It’s a nice throwback to days when a lead single didn’t need a corny dance or terrible hook to sell.Here’s where I will try and feature a recent release each week that I think has been overlooked or possibly been lost in the shuffle of other new releases around the same time
This week: The RZA Presents: Afro Samurai OST
Mitch has a review of the soundtrack for the movie,where he describes it as “trying to recreate the spirit of the movie” which this soundtrack also certainly does. If you’ve watched the series, you know it’s quite a dark-humor driven story filled with internal conflict within the protagonist and physical conflict with what would seem to be the rest of the world. That being said, the soundtrack is all new material (with the exception of one song that has appeared on another soundtrack RZA did) and contains the first collaboration between Big Daddy Kane and GZA since their days on the Cold Chillin’ record label (pre-1994 basically).
The songs and production are beautifully arranged and executed with instrumentals from the show used in between songs to help drive the mood. Definitely, check this one out as soon as possible.The party juggling went alright last weekend. Again, this Saturday there is MORE juggling to be done but given one is my own party, it’s certainly going to be a lot easier to choose which to attend. After which, I have my actual birthday, another party for myself with friends, and then a blissful few week of nothingness before the February birthdays begin.
Then I’m going to join the circus. See I made a funny about my juggling abilities! Oh, it’s been a long day….
