Gossip and rumor have always been a big part of the hip-hop game, but what was once confined to dumb rumors such as ‘Does Big Daddy Kane have AIDS’ has now become a cottage industry to itself. Every morning I have to trawl through a seemingly endless stream of emails announcing ‘Lil’ Wayne Is Pregnant To An Alien’ and ‘Diddy Sez He Didn’t Spill Egg Salad In Rick Ross‘ Beard’. I guess that kind of bullshit it to be expected from rap teenybopper gossip sites (the internets answer to Word Up! magazine?) but that mentality seems to have infected the majority of rap blogs as well. The 24-hour news cycle demands a high turn-over of content, but we really need to draw the line somewhere. Say word Drake copped a new pair of jeans?
A large portion of the blame has to go to rappers and their douchebag publicists though, because if they weren’t producing these email blasts and shitty clips then we wouldn’t be having this discussion. It seems that many artists are subscribing to the ‘more is more’ theory, fearing that if they don’t release a freestyle or clip of them talking about some dumb shit every few days that the world will forget they exist. Respect due to Raekwon for making himself relevant again, but why is there a video of him talking about Nas not being on his last album? Also if rap dudes could please refrain from making web videos involving them shopping for gear, the heterosexual community would be eternally grateful.
That’s not to say that all rap rumors are a waste of time. The never-ending search for the Ghey Rapper is a constant source of amusement (because there’s only one undercover fudge out there, obviously), as are any reports of Remy Ma hiding a hacksaw in her snatch to cut the bars at Rikers. But if the rest of you could please restrict your reporting to possible rap snitches, failed chain snatching incidents and rappers getting snuffed by wed carriers, the world would be a whole less bitch-made. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to Google image search my Top 5 Rapper Hair Styles…
thank you for this post. this has been on my mind for some time now. seems like these days i know and hear about everything about an artist except his…art
Say word Drake copped a new pair of jeans?
^This literally made me laugh out loud, but I’m sure if rappers could have been on the cover of the source every month back in the early 90’s they would have.
“many artists are subscribing to the ‘more is more’ theory, fearing that if they don’t release a freestyle or clip of them talking about some dumb shit every few days that the world will forget they exist.”
Way too true.
Is there another industry that enjoys shitting on its biggest supporters more than this one? It’s unreal.
I saw a WALES TO 50 FAVORITE KICKS link on nahright just yesterday. Get the fuck outta here. It’s not bitchmade, the shit is just plain GAY, GAY AS FUCK. Wale is fucking wack if you ask me anyways.
@Soft Money: Did you just call rap blogs an ‘industry’?
@Robbie Sorry…cottage industry.
@Soft Money: Does ‘supporters’ = readers? If not, you’ve lost me.
@Robbie: My point was that it’s a complete lack of respect for your audience(readers)to churn bullshit content for the sake of posting something new and driving traffic. So, yeah, I think this “cottage industry” shits on it’s supporters more than other genre-specific blogs.
^ Industry? That would involve cashing checks of some kind, right? I can’t work out if you’re mad at this post or rap blog in general.
Rap isn’t bitchmade, just rap fans
I’m not mad at this post at all. I couldn’t agree with you more. I’m not mad at rap blogs ‘in general’ either. Just those blogs that feel the need to post inane bullshit that pertains neither to actual rap *music* nor the constructive discussion of rap music.
Also, I think the blogs that are most guilty of this (not you all) ARE cashing checks of some kind.
word to Dallas.
what is a drake?
it’s gotten waaaaay overblown, and I agree the email blasts are annoying as fuck when they have little to do with the real inner-wrkings of the culture…
Real bloggers and journos have to sift through a lot of garbage to keep they site correct…it’s a chore in itself…
What type of jeans?
…ahmen
word.
That’s why I only read Unkut!
@vollsticks; cosign
but how are we to discern which type of toothpaste to buy to clean killa teef if we don’t have video footage of methodman at walgreen’s?
yeah most news about rappers is bs, it needs to be more interviews and more one-on-one’s and much less he said-she said about inane shit
is it ghey of me to always be looking for info on the Solar/Guru business? Or is this one cool?
Shoutout to SOHH’s “Headlines”.
Whoever’s runnin’ that part of the site puts up some of the most useless shit ever… how you gonna make a “headline” out of a random tweet from a rapper, like it’s a big news story?
That shit’ll literally be something like “NORE comments on Prodigy”… then you look at the story and its says “NORE tweeted ‘shoutout to my nigga Prodigy’ earlier today on Twitter.” OH WOOORRRRD?
Say word Drake copped a new pair of jeans?
hahahahahahahahahahaah!