We here @ buhbOmp (which means me and only me) have a severe distaste for hip hop revisionists.

Let’s talk about a few:

1) Myth – It was Written was a classic.

Truth – Nas’ It Was Written was widely panned by heads when it dropped. Perhaps if it didn’t follow a fluke/perfect storm of an album it would have been better received.

2) Myth – Reasonable Doubt was a critical favorite.

Truth – Jay’s Reasonable Doubt was a ho-hum album in 1996. ’96 had plenty of dope lps. No one was jocking that record outside of Dame and Biggs. Oh it sounds good now, but nobody that was jansported down and hoodied up had much love for Mary J singing a hook when the rapper wasn’t Method Man.

3) Myth – Beats, Rhymes and Life is as good as Midnight Marauders and Low End Theory. Everybody loved it.

TruthBeats, Rhymes, and Life by Tribe was underwhelming (i.e. wack) when it dropped. Although I think we could see the elements of fall-off-ittudeness in Midnight, everyone knew Tribe was done when BRL dropped. I won’t even speak on that god-awful contract fulfilling 5th album.

Who does this?

Normally it’s nostalgic, mad @ the South, former backpack wearers (now having moved onto messenger bags and briefcases) complaining about Flo Rida and Plies.

You can understand where they’re coming from. The hip hop rug got pulled out from under them prolly around the time the Lox and DMX were considered top NYC rappers. They’re in a new musical world and probably dealing with some new personal stuff. Their escape from reality, hip hop, no longer allows them to escape.

But what happens when when you get a bonafide hip hop legend lying to you?

D-Nice is definitely doing a public service with his “True Hip-Hop Stories”, but this latest piece featuring Special Ed … I dunno.

I’ll let you watch it first. And my comments follow.


True Hip-Hop Stories: Special Ed from D-Nice on Vimeo.

… cues up sad music ~2:30 …

Mr. “I got 70 some odd Honda Scooters” says, “it’s just like commercials now, not even records.”

Then has the audacity to say “… instead of actually making a meaningful record.”

Meaningful?

What has Ed ever done that was meaningful? (By Ed, I don’t mean Ed O.G. and the Bulldogs. No one can front on “Be a Father to Your Child”).

“I’m the Magnificent”?
“Think About It”?

We love you Ed, but you’re not Chuck D, Brother J, Grand Puba, or Rakim.

Let’s not forget that Spike Lee had to convince him to use his talents to say something more than he had been saying. (I’m not discounting “The Bush”, but bragging about how dangerous your neighborhood is isn’t meaningful the way he wants it to mean).

The real danger here is pretending that we weren’t trying to rock Ballys, Puma Clydes, Jordans then, and it’s only kids of today who spend god knows how much on Jordans, Air Yeezys and Gucci slippers.

We liked gold, cars, chicks, drugs, violence, bass, stupid dances of the week, and pretty much everything old heads hate about young heads.

Never forget where you came from.