Once upon a time in a universe far, far away, HipHopDX used to host blogs. Through Meka, Brillyance, Aliya Ewing and others, readers got unfiltered opinions on the most current topics in and beyond Hip Hop. After a few years, a couple redesigns and the collective vision of three different Editors-In-Chief, blogs are back. Sort of. Since our blog section went the way of two-way pagers and physical mixtapes, Twitter, Instagram and Ustream have further accelerated the pace of current events in Hip Hop. Rappers beef with each other 140 characters at a time, entire mixtapes (and their associated artwork) can be released via Instagram, and sometimes these events require a rapid reaction.
As such, we’re reserving this space for a weekly reaction to Hip Hop’s current events. Or whatever else we deem worthy. And the “we” in question is myself, Omar Burgess and Andre Grant. Collectively we serve as HipHopDX’s Features Staff. Aside from tackling stray topics, we may invite artists and other personalities in Hip Hop to join the conversation. Without further delay, here’s this week’s “Stray Shots.”
Obie Trice
Andre:Obie Trice released an album called Cheers in ‘03, but like the rest of Shady Records at the time, there was nothing nice about it. The Detroit emcee had the soul of a conflicted marksman. I imagined him under a bush somewhere with facepaint on, decked out in camo and with you in his sights, but he hesitates and all is lost. As such, his debut came out during 50 Cent season, which overshadowed everything that year, and the year after that. But the guy had all the fixin’s: a Pharoahe Monch flow, a deft eye for detail, and a vivid storytelling technique. But he just couldn’t find a way to plug himself into the zeitgeist. And, say what you will, but there is something to this art form about finding a lane and then bum-rushing the hell out of that, no matter what or whose broken down chevy you have to ram through in the process. With Cheers going gold, and with Obie surrounded by the absolute best in production (Dre, Eminem and Timbo), guest features that usually come with a signed contract in blood (50 Cent, Busta, Em’, Lloyd Banks, Nate Dogg), and a lead single called “Got Some Teeth” that toed the line between being unorthodox and straight up loopy, it’s safe to say that Obie fit right in at the haunted house that was Shady HQ.
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But as things tend to do, his relationships slowly fell apart, and he left or was let go from the label some six years later. But there will always be that enormous potential. For my money, “Don’t Come Down” off his inaugural album that spoke in 1080p about his conflicted mother that eventually kicked him out, or the “Pistol Pistol (Remix),” which is such a serious ode to revenge that features lines like, “It’s not a verse, it’s a curse…” that some terrible DA could have used it in court will remain testaments to a sound that never quite developed into the dark, gritty behemoth it should have.
50 Cent
Omar: I’d stop short of calling anyone on Shady Records diabolical, lest the Rap Gods send a lightning bolt through my computer for cyber blasphemy. But obviously any discussion about Shady/Aftermath begins and ends with 50 Cent. This seems like the time when Dr. Dre and Eminem were in full label-building mode. Em would later admit to being in a slump and a certain boredom with music before Paul Rosenberg coerced him into listening to 50’s Guess Who’s Back, and the rest is history. So in a surprise to absolutely nobody, I’d say 50 is the most important artist on Shady. Technically, he was already established, he lent them a certain credibility, he had incredible crossover success for the course of his first two albums, and inking him as well as G-Unit to deals under the Shady/Aftermath umbrella temporarily changed the way most of us viewed Eminem as an assembler of talent.
The cult of 50 worshippers that regularly visit this site are going to accuse me of slandering Fif, but he’s always only been a serviceable rapper at best with a few high-water moments here and there. But, in terms of moving in a room full of vultures, when we think about what it means to be a Hip Hop artist on a major label in the 21st Century, I think about 50 Cent. Strangely, it’s not even about the rapping. You organically build that fan base from scratch, and when the demand reaches its peak, you can put out product on a major for about three to four albums and take advantage of the increased visibility, properly negotiated royalty rates and touring.
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Yelawolf
Andre: Yelawolf’s a relative newbie at the Eminem HQ, but at this point we know what the Shady one likes, and Yela’s got it in spades. Really, really comfortable with the seedy underbelly of American life, the emcee shot southern gothic, spitfire flows over beats that sounded like souped up pickup trucks rummaging through the backwoods somewhere. Think The Walking Dead but turnt’ with unlimited ammo. Plus, after 2010s Trunk Muzik caught the eye of the camp it seemed like a match made in horror movie heaven. He released Trunk Muzik 0-60 so the label could capitalize on the enormous momentum the original created, but it lacked the moonshine it took to really create something that country bamma. Whatever the case, we’re still waiting for Yela to hit that cultural sweet spot the way he did in 2010. If so, and with the right marketing plan, we may just get the country Hip Hop-punk rock crossover we didn’t even know we were looking for.
Stat Quo
Omar: In a bit of a surprise pick, I’m rocking with Stat Quo. Stat embodies that talented handful of artists who just couldn’t make coexisting under the Shady/Aftermath/Interscope conglomerate work. In a lot of ways, his story parallels Bobby Creekwater, Obie Trice, Ca$his and if his next album doesn’t commercially cross over, Yelawolf too. That’s not a diss. Being on Interscope is about making Top 40 hits, and if you’re not a mainstream, radio friendly, hit-making artist the house that Jimmy Iovine built isn’t for you. But Stat gave me some moments. He held his own on “Syllables” next to 50 Cent, Eminem and Jay Z, which is a feat in and of itself for an emcee on the come up. With all due respect to the current roster, go back and listen to “On Top Now” and tell me who on Shady has the balls or skill set to call themselves a field slave shit on Oprah Winfrey then throw in some informed commentary about the state of Hip Hop over that top notch DJ Khalil production?
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So yeah, to me Stat represents the untapped potential of an entire talented roster that was just in the right place at the wrong time when the major label recording industry cratered. In a different era, who knows what Shady Records could have been? The industry is filled with what Stat referred to as “iPhone 5C niggas with turquoise backs” (that would be Game’s “Compton” from the OKE mixtape), and circumstances didn’t allow for him or the rest of the roster to counteract that the way Eminem intended when he signed them. But there’s some kind of legacy there, and hopefully this upcoming Shady XV project will put the current roster in the position to avoid what happened to the Shady v1.0 crew while honoring that legacy.
Omar Burgess is a Long Beach, California native who has contributed to various magazines, newspapers and was an editor at HipHopDX from 2008 through 2014. Follow him on Twitter@omarburgess.
Andre Grant is an NYC native turned L.A. transplant who’s contributed to a few different properties on the web and is now the Senior Features Writer for HipHopDX. He’s also trying to live it to the limit and love it a lot. Follow him on Twitter@drejones.
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