New York, NY (July 1, 2008) – There’s a wild discussion going on over at DX around one of it’s blogger’s columns, “Get Your Mind Right.”  Brian Sims penned a great article about Jay-Z’s verse on the remix to Talib Kweli’s “Get By.”  While it’s probably NOT the best verse ever (nor is it #3), it speaks perfectly to the author’s initially stated thoughts on hip-hop culture and the Soulja Boy/Ice-T fuckery going on.  Thus, at the very least, Sims’ article is a great example of journalism.  Below an excerpt, the song and Jay’s verse:

…Hip Hop (music), like other art forms has entertainment value. No question about it. However, what often gets overlooked (particularly by young folks with no sense of history) is that Hip Hop is also THE way that more than two generations of marginalized Americans have expressed their pain, glory, anger, lust, bitterness, beauty, love and humanity. Whether it’s Kool Herc’s innovative approach to infusing verbal messages with beats, Lil X’s mind-blowing music video cinematography, or Lil Wayne’s hilarious linguistic improvisation; creativity translates into entertainment, and thank god for it.

I’d argue that Hip Hop as entertainment is merely a by-product of the continuing imaginative genius that artists employ in order to gain the attention of listening/viewing public. Hip Hop is predicated on intellectualism, and to deny such is to rob a culture of its dignity by essentially reducing it to the mindless, iterative garble that largely rules the airwaves today. I believe that what we’re seeing with the conflict between Ice-T and Soulja Boy is the inevitable reckoning of a culture resisting the ignorant (if innocent) attempts by new-comers to disgrace that which many people hold sacred.

Talib Kweli featuring Mos Def, Jay-Z, Kanye West and Busta Rhymes:

“Just to get by –
Nigga I sold coke, nigga I pushed la –
Carried a fo’five –
Claimed I was ready to die –
Promised never to cry –
Held it all inside –
Reality was too much to take so I –
Kept my mind fried –
Slept for most of mine –
Soon as I closed my eyes –
Then I woke up behind –
Thinking either I load up these nines –
Or blow up with rhymes –
cause this flow of mine is like blow up but lines of coca –
And your folks think Hov’ just wrote stuff to rhyme –
Nah, I’m a poster for what happened seein your moms –
Doin five dollars worth to work just to get a dime –
So pardon my disposition –
Why should I listen to a system that never listened to me? –
Picture me working McDonald’s –
I’d rather pull a mac on you –
Sorry Ms. Jackson but I’m packin.”

Here is a link to Hov’s performances at Glastonbury, too.  Peep the “American Boy” remix.  THAT is a sick verse…

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