Black Music is Back On the Charts

A couple years ago, it seemed that hiphop and r&b had completely taken over the entertainment industry. You couldn't look anywhere without hearing the latest Lil Jon joint. After a while things started to settle down and bubblegum pop resurfaced and took its traditional spot in domination of the airwaves. You'd always see the obligatory hiphop or r&b track in the Billboard 200, but it'd be an apple in an orange basket filled with Hannah Montanahs, Hillary Duffs, and Britney Spears.

But in typical circle of life fashion, black music is back.

The biggest seller as of now is Rick Ross, with his latest album Deeper Than Rap which temporarily dethroned the mega star Hannah Montanah to take the number one spot last week. But Ross has a lot of company from the hiphop arena. Day26's Forever in a Day managed to reach #2 despite Diddy's constant bullshitting of the group on television.

Newcomer Asher Roth is moving units of his major debut Asleep in the Bread Aisle like crazy, as expected from all the recent media hype surrounding him. Jadakiss and Keri Hilson both drop top 20 bangers, and along with them you can find The Dream, Flo Rida, Beyonce, Jamie Foxx, UGK, T.I., and Jennifer Hudson all in the Top 50.

Also in the Billboard 200 are Charlie Wilson, Keyshia Cole, Slim Thug, India.Arie, Ne-Yo, Bow Wow, Jim Jones, Gorilla Zoe, Musiq Soulchild, and Anthony Hamilton.

Even Kanye West, Lil Wayne, and Soulja Boy can't seem to be killed as their albums are still holding their spots on the Billboard 200.

What I like most about this development is that there are actually a diverse group of acts that are topping the charts. It's not all hood rap, it's not all pop rap. You have everything from conscious acts like India.Arie and hood rap like Rick Ross to bouncy pop rap like Soulja Boy and stoner rap like Asher Roth.

Don't get me wrong, a lot of these albums could be better, but it's nice to see hip hop making moves, that opens the door for even more hot tracks to be made.

Cam'Ron, Make Good Music ThisTime Please

It's been about 3 years since we've heard anything from Cam'Ron, and I guess he needed to take a sabbatical. He managed to piss off a little bit of everyone. Jay-Z, the CEO of his record label; the other members of his Dipset crew; and even the American people, by claiming in an interview that he wouldn't alert authorities if he knew for a fact that a serial killer lived in his neighborhood. Top this off with his mother's multiple strokes, and you can understand why he took a break.

But, he's back, and planning to release a new album entitled Crime Pays in May. The rapper has personally leaked several of the album's tracks already, including "Cookies and Apple Juice", which is simplistic and raunchy, but less lazy than virtually everything the rapper dropped for Roc-A-Fella. "I Used to Get it in Ohio" (for which there is a music video) is less impressive, but I still have a small amount of hope that Cam'Ron could return to top form with this and future releases.

South Park, the unlikely humbler of Kanye West?

Comedy Central's flagship program South Park is infamous for relentlessly lampooning celebrities. In their latest episode, Kanye West is the next target of Trey and Matt's satire.

In the episode, entitled "Fishsticks", Jimmy comes up with supposedly the funniest joke ever, and everyone in the world seems to get the joke--except Kanye West. West, who believes he's a genius, eventually goes mad under the weight of his frustration at being the only one who doesn't get the joke. I'll save the details and let you watch the episode yourself.

Anyway, as with anytime anyone ever says anything remotely negative about Kanye West, the Grammy winner had something to say about it on his blog. But his comments might surprise you.

SOUTH PARK MURDERED ME LAST NIGHT AND IT'S PRETTY FUNNY. IT HURTS MY FEELINGS BUT WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM SOUTH PARK! I ACTUALLY HAVE BEEN WORKING ON MY EGO THOUGH. HAVING THE CRAZY EGO IS PLAYED OUT AT THIS POINT IN MY LIFE AND CAREER. I USE TO USE IT TO BUILD UP MY ESTEEM WHEN NOBODY BELIEVED IN ME. NOW THAT PEOPLE DO BELIEVE AND SUPPORT MY MUSIC AND PRODUCTS THE BEST RESPONSE IS THANK YOU INSTEAD OF "I TOLD YOU SO!!!" IT'S COOL TO TALK SHIT WHEN YOU'RE RAPPING BUT NOT IN REAL LIFE. WHEN YOU MEET LITTLE WAYNE IN PERSON HE'S THE NICEST GUY FOR EXAMPLE. I JUST WANNA BE A DOPER PERSON WHICH STARTS WITH ME NOT ALWAYS TELLING PEOPLE HOW DOPE I THINK I AM. I NEED TO JUST GET PAST MYSELF. DROP THE BRAVADO AND JUST MAKE DOPE PRODUCT. EVERYTHING IS NOT THAT SERIOUS. AS LONG AS PEOPLE THINK I ACT LIKE A BITCH THIS TYPE OF SHIT WILL HAPPEN TO ME. I GOT A LONG ROAD AHEAD OF ME TO MAKE PEOPLE BELIEVE I'M NOT ACTUALLY A HUGE DOUCHE BUT I'M UP FOR THE CHALLENGE. I'M SURE THE WRITERS AT SOUTH PARK ARE REALLY NICE PEOPLE IN REAL LIFE. THANKS FOR TAKING THE TIME TO DRAW MY CREW. THAT WAS PRETTY FUNNY ALSO!! I'M SURE THERE'S GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN THIS... THAT'S HOW YOU KNOW IT'S ME!

http://www.kanyeuniversecity.com/blog/

I guess sometimes it takes a little satire to make someone come to their senses.

Busta Rhymes "Ay-Rab Money" Response Track

So, you might know about this by now, especially those of you up north--the news is a few months old, but just in case you haven't:

By now you've probably heard Busta Rhymes' "Arab Money" and/or its remix. If not, I'll fill you in. It's the first official single for Busta's upcoming album "Back on My B.S." With Ron Browz on the hook and beat, it's a definite banger, in the vein of "Touch It" and it's many remixes. The main problem with the song is that it's, well, racist. And people have been quietly grumbling about this since the song's release a few months ago.

The original hook features an auto-tuned Ron Browz bellowing gibberish that's supposed to mimic the Arabic language, not to mention the title of the song is sung in the hook, as expected; except it's pronounced "Ay-Rab" money. Ay-Rab. Like how you'd say it if you didn't take them seriously.

Also, the remix features direct quotes from the Qu'ran, which might be okay, since Busta Rhymes is a Muslim. It just doesn't seem right, though, in a frivolous song about money, jewelry, and women.

Well, this justifiably pissed off (among like every other intelligent person of Arabic heritage) Montreal rapper and Iraqi-native The Narcicyst, who responded with a pretty slick response track, called "The Real Arab Money", in which he teaches Busta how to pronounce "Arab": "It ain't Ay-Rab Money/it's called Arab Money".
He also includes actual Arabic, and explains that in today's times, "Arab Money" isn't even what it used to be.

Listen to "The Real Arab Money" here.

In response to this response, Busta personally apologized to Narcicyst via telephone call and has changed the hook to include the proper pronunciation of "Arab" but the song still includes the pseudo-Arabic gibberish and the random generalizations and belittlings of Arabic culture. Take what you can get I guess. Narcicyst has also taken "The Real Arab Money" down from his website. But you can still listen to it at the link above, for now.

This guy The Narcycist is pretty dope though. Check him out.