Peace 2 Yo MTV raps

Peace to Fab 5 Freddy ( who rocked the shades hard before Diddy ), Ed Lover, Doctor Dre, T Money, Todd 1 and everybody involved in that joint. MTV is celebrating Yo's 20th anniversary and the videos they been showing damn near brought tears to my eyes. ( tell me catching the Geto Boys "mind playing tricks" after not seeing it in a while wouldnt make you spazz out ) Fuck the memories associated with the era, the creativity, artistry and individuality was what truly took it to the next level.

Breaks and samples were being layered, twisted, mutated and spit back out as representations of genius enhanched by being limited. (who would have thought a song as butter smooth as Mike's "Human Nature" could be turned into a head nodder such as "it aint hard to tell" which Extra P gave to Nas) Every body has their opinions on what the best era was ( 70's babies v.s. 80's babies ) but the point that always hits me about it was YOU COULD HAVE AN ARGUEMENT ABOUT IT CAUSE THERE WAS SO MUCH GOOD SHIT.
My opinion ? Shit i'm 29 ( 80's baby yeah yeah ) the ninties were my shit. I danced to "Fight the power" but "Enter the Wu tang 36 chambers" was my first mind fuck. Ahh i can just remember it now (cue in the Ahmad "back in the days" track ) it was early 94 when i heard it. I was used to Erick Sermons funk ( "whut thee album" was the first tape i ever fell in love with ), the west coast's elegant or hyper agressive joints and the enhanced obscure jazz joints of east coast diggers, not what RZA would do to my brain. Hip Hop was damn near NOT SUPPOSED TO SOUND LIKE THIS but thank God it did. Rza used the sp 1200 and eps 16 ( el p is the only other producer that comes close with that keyboard ) to maxiumum capacity took his influences and defied convention in the best way possible. ( then hid did again consitently for years but i cant get into that now ) Hip hop continued to show so many different styles that it kept you on your toes because you damn near did'nt know what would come next.

Yo MTV Raps chronicled that era flawlessly and enhanced my knowledge of hip hop incredibly. I watched it in London, Lagos, Dublin, Viriginia wherever. The reason i wrote this is because every beat i made, rhyme i wrote, cypher or stage i hit ( with my crew or by my damn self ) and shows i went to see was directy birthed by those episodes i watched. I aint from New York so i cant say i was there in the streets to witness the birth, but when it hit me.....It was pure, it was love and it was TRUE.

So for anyone who missed it ( and for those who wanna flashback ) Check out the INCREDIBLE cypher from Yo's Last Show. I was in England when i saw this and best believe the boy had that funny feeling that hits your guts when you know something great was about to come to an end.

Peace




Part 2