Could you please explain the peeing thing in more depth...I am also confused.

also, the best diss track ever: 'bitch in yoo' by common. who would've known?

@3--i describe south florida that way knowing its often called "the sixth borough" bc there are so many damn new yorkers living there. plus its a lot closer to the bronx than compton. and technically, it is on the east coast. but i also realize that its still florida, which is its own special/sad place in the world.

i havent been waiting to say soft is the new hard that long, actually, bc i first said it when it first dawned on me a week ago in a blog post that i linked to in this one.

as for the pee thing, its a fetish. people are into some freaky shit.

@4--when you say "hiphop has always rapped on 'what they know about'," youre making a HUGE generalization that holds very little water.

@5--"bitch in yoo" is pretty good, but nothing beats "fuck compton" for sheer hardness. especially not common.

@ jz:
dude, 'i heard a girl say you was her favorite rapper / so i had to slap her' is insane coming from common. part of the reason it's a huge diss track because it was totally inconceivable. i don't think ice cube saw that line in common when he started shit. bonus minus points to common for going on oprah this past year to denounce degrading women in rap lyrics. of course ice cube gets all of the minus points available for being in any movie after his cameo verse on 'burn, hollywood, burn' by public enemy.

also, have you heard ultra? it's a one-off album from tim dog and kool keith after the breakup of ultramagnetic mc's. there are some classic moments on that album.

i havent heard ultra but i bet youre right about some classic moments. the kool keith connection only adds to tim dogs clout.

first off, i think thats sam machkovech, not sam mickens up there in the comments. you KNOW mickens loves him some tim dog.

yeah, soft has been done before, but never this big. tribe, etc was never really pop. lupe is doing interviews on KUBE, playing the mainstage at bumbershoot. as i said, hes taking soft to places its never been, esp in terms of popularity.

seems that the criticism of lupe stems from all of his non-musical related activities: chilly getting arrested for all sorts of bad things, lu ignoring tribe. from there his "authenticity" gets called into question. i say that authenticity should be gleaned not from what happens around him, but what comes from him. he mightve fumbled a bit w the handling of fiascogate, but i think hes allowed that. when tribe was making music, they were the first of their kind to do what they do. now lupes supposed to know about that shit and 8ball AND run w kanye? i dunno, its a lot to ask of a young guy, especially a young guy whos already proven himself w mixtapes and a killer major label record.

put it this way: i know a lot about music, enough to know that theres a lot about music i dont know. for as knowledgable as i am, im constantly being schooled about shit--foundational shit--that i never heard. take this band crass--early-'80s anarcho-punk from the UK. never heard em until a couple weeks ago. i admit it. there would be no against me if there was no crass, but i like against me and ive written about them before. so i guess im no longer "authentic" bc i didnt know about crass but i wrote about against me? i just dont see it working that way.

Suck it, bootstrappist.