Arsenio and Hip-Hop

From http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/ArseSnoop%200213.jpg

When I was younger, around my junior high and high school years, hip-hop was my life.  I spent my hard earned money on tapes and tried to watch every show that my favorite rappers were on.  I had stacks of VHS tapes that I had recorded countless videos and television appearances on.  Besides the music videos, I loved seeing my favorite rappers perform on shows like Yo! MTV Raps, Soul Train, In Living Color and any other show they popped up on.  This was before hip-hop went mainstream, so there weren’t a lot of shows for rappers to appear on like there is today.  This was especially true for the late night shows, but that all changed in 1989 when The Arsenio Hall Show hit the airwaves.

The Arsenio Hall Show only lasted for five years, but those five years were the bulk of my junior high and high school years, so it felt like a lifetime to me.  Before The Arsenio Hall Show came on the air, there wasn’t a late night talk show for rappers to appear on, but Arsenio had no problem embracing rappers and the hip-hop community.  During his first run Arsenio would give a host of rappers a chance to shine such as 2Pac, Queen Latifah, Snoop and Pete Rock and CL Smooth.  I was checking out TV.com (click here) for some of his past guests and he had a lot of entertainers on before they got big and the list isn’t limited to just rappers.  Jamie Foxx and Chris Rock both appeared when they were in the early stages of their careers and there’s a ridiculous amount of NBA stars that appeared on the show that probably wouldn’t have appeared on any other late night show.  He also had Christian Laettner on his show and I’m not sure why he would have a Duke player on his show.  I considered nixing this blog post after I found this out, but I’m going to take the stance that the positives outweigh the negatives.  Anyway, I have no idea why I woke up thinking about the original Arsenio Hall Show this morning, but as a tribute, I’m going to give you five of the most memorable performances from rappers.

2Pac – I Get Around

Pac was actually on Arsenio twice as a solo artist from what I remember.  He also performed Pain from the Above the Rim soundtrack which is probably my favorite Pac song of all-time, but most of the videos were really poor quality, so y'all get I Get Around which was still dope.

Snoop Doggy Dogg – Tha Shiznit

This is probably from late ’93 or early ’94.  I swear this was on like a Friday night and I remember waiting all night for Arsenio to come on.  I might be confused, but I believe Snoop performed What’s My Name? first and then Arsenio brought him back out to do Tha Shiznit.  I remember I had this on a VHS tape and I taped over it by mistake.  I still cry on the inside about it, but luckily we have YouTube now.

A Tribe Called Quest and Leaders of the New School – Scenario

I feel like this shouldn’t even need an introduction.  I mean this is Scenario, probably one of the dopest posse cuts of all-time and they performed it on Arsenio.

N.W.A. – 100 Miles and Runnin’

This video is longer because it includes an interview with N.W.A. before they performed.  This performance is significant because I can’t think of any other late night TV show host that would’ve had N.W.A. on their show in 1990.  There was controversy over the group name and lyrics and they even got the attention of the FBI.  However, that didn’t stop Arsenio from bringing the group on his show and giving them a platform to express themselves.

Hip-Hop for Arsenio

This was from Arsenio’s last show in 1994.  I remember watching this episode and I probably have it on VHS tape somewhere in my mom’s house.  He’s doing his opening monologue and the curtain lifts up and a bunch of rappers come out to pay tribute to Arsenio.  Yo-Yo and MC Lyte start it off followed by the likes of A Tribe Called Quest, Guru, CL Smooth and KRS-One.  It was a fitting tribute to a man who gave a voice to the hip-hop community for five years on the late night talk show circuit.

Who Killed Hip-Hop?

In 2009, Joe Budden released a song in three parts titled Who Killed Hip-Hop?  In the song he mentioned a number of culprits such as T-Pain with auto-tune, Master P with the ugly album covers or when we first heard Mims.  I’m not sure of what the reason is, but I’ve decided to start a series where every now and then, I’ll focus on someone or something that killed hip-hop.  Sometimes I’ll be serious and sometimes I’ll say it in jest, but you know the saying, “Many a true word is spoken in jest”.  So, without further ado, the first person to ruin hip-hop is:

Rohan Marley

Obtained from http://cdn.urbanislandz.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/rohan-marley-and-lauryn-hill-pic.jpg

In the summer of 1996, Rohan Marley met a young woman by the name of Lauryn Hill.  Lauryn was the member of a hip-hop group named the Fugees who had released their second album, The Score in February of 1996 (the same day as 2Pac’s All Eyez On Me coincidentally).  The album was a commercial success selling 6 million albums and winning a Grammy for Rap Album of the Year.  Lauryn Hill was the obvious star of the group.  She could rap and sing and she gained respect from hip-hop fans for her lyrical prowess.  Lauryn Hill was not only respected as a female lyricist, but as a lyricist period regardless of gender and it appeared she was destined for greatness.  Young Rohan and Lauryn would fall in love and exchange love faces and make a baby whose name would be Zion.

In 1998, Lauryn would release her critically acclaimed solo debut album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.  The album would go on to sell 18 millions worldwide and she won 5 Grammy Awards including Album of the Year.  Although she sung on a majority of the album, many still felt that she was a hip-hop artist.  This album was supposed to be the beginning of Lauryn’s reign.  She was poised to not only be the best female emcee of all-time, but one of the greatest emcees of all-time regardless of gender, but then…life would strike.

Now, I’m not going to act like an expert on what happened with Lauryn after the release of her first album.  There’ll be links at the end of this blog to her Wikipedia page and you’re welcome to read those for further insight.  All I know is that Lauryn was apparently madly in love with Rohan Marley and they started making more kids and by 2001 she was pregnant with her third child and performed a taping for MTV Unplugged that was later released in 2002.  I saw this Unplugged performance and I have no idea what I was watching.  It was like watching the beginnings of a breakdown.  She didn’t perform any of her previous songs.  It was a performance of only new material and she was playing the guitar and it was obvious that she still needed to take lessons.  I felt like I was watching a car accident and I couldn’t turn away from it.

Since her Unplugged appearance, Lauryn has been out of the public spotlight for most of the past decade.  She’s popped up a few times.  There was the short-lived Fugees reunion that resulted in an appearance in Dave Chappelle’s Block Party, the appearances in court for tax evasion and I believe she’s shown up for a few concerts such as some tour dates for the Rock the Bells series a few years ago.  Besides that, Lauryn has been absent from public view and for me, the only reason I can come up with is that she fell in love and decided to start a family. 

Obtained from http://marchingcentral.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/lauryn.jpg?w=585

I know it’s selfish of me to be mad at Lauryn Hill for wanting to start a family.  She doesn’t owe a thing to anybody including me, but she could’ve been one of the best.  Lauryn could have paved the way for female emcees to be respected as lyricists.  Instead, we got the likes of Lil Kim, Foxy Brown and Trina to be the mainstream representatives of female emcees in hip-hop.  I can’t help but feel that if Lauryn hadn’t feel in love with Rohan and had reached her full potential, she could’ve have changed the way that female emcees are viewed.  Female emcees such as Rah Digga, Bahamadia or Jean Grae might’ve gotten more respect from the masses because Lauryn Hill would’ve paved the way for fans to respect females as lyricists. 

So that’s why I blame Rohan Marley for killing hip-hop.  He could’ve got with any other woman and made her fall in love and go crazy.  Why did he have to choose Lauryn Hill?  What did hip-hop ever do to him that he had to make our shining star go crazy?  Why Rohan?  Why?

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!

A lot of people that know me would accuse me of not having a romantic bone in my body or being incapable of love.  I’m actually ok with that description and I do my best to embrace it.  However, just because my heart is an icebox, it doesn’t mean that I can’t still give out some music advice as we approach Valentine’s Day.  So, for all you guys out there looking to bring the hip-hop purist out of your lady, put the following playlist together and she’ll be putty in your hands. 

Method Man – All I Need (Original Version)

You’re tempted to replace it with the remix featuring Mary J., but don’t, you’re trying to bring the hip-hop purist out of your girl.  You need the grimy version.

Pharcyde – Passing Me By

MC Lyte – Poor Georgie

It’s not only a love song, but a PSA for drunk driving…Poor Georgie indeed.

Mos Def – Ms. Fat Booty

Ghostface – Camay

For that grown woman in your life that makes baked macaroni and turkey wings.

Lost Boyz – Renee

J. Cole – Dreams

If she has a man, this will persuade her to leave him for you.

UGK & Outkast – International Player’s Anthem

Notorious B.I.G. – One More Chance (Original)

Refer to the comments on Meth’s All I Need.  You need the grimy version.

Goodie Mob – Beautiful Skin

The sentimental moment of the mixtape.

Dogg Pound – Let’s Play House

Outkast – We Luv Deez Hoez

Don’t focus on the misogynistic word.  Focus on that they luv you despite the weave and fake nails.

2Pac – How Do U Want It

Naughty By Nature – O.P.P.

This is for the couples like Will and Jada.

Little Brother – Slow It Down

Mobb Deep – Shook Ones Pt. II

This joint is to mixtapes what ranch dressing is to food, it goes with anything!

Andre 3000 – Happy Valentine’s Day

Regrets

 Most of us have some sort of regret in life.  We either did or didn’t do something that every now and then comes back to haunt us.  Personally, I have a few regrets that center on hip-hop.  Albums that I shouldn’t have bought or a concert I missed for some unnecessary reason.  Some of these regrets are embarrassing and others are ones that I believe any person could have made.  So, I’ve decided that every now and then, I’m going to share some of these regrets with you.  Please don’t judge me…

Midnights Marauders for Mokenstef 

 

A Tribe Called Quest had released Midnight Marauders in November of 1993 and the album was considered a classic by most fans.  I was a Tribe fan.  I enjoyed their previous album, the Low End Theory, but back then, I didn’t have the appreciation for Tribe that most of my friends had.  Midnight Marauders had joints like Award Tour and Electric Relaxation, but I had never fully got into the album.  The main attraction of the album for me at the time was the dope album cover that featured a who’s who of hip-hop stars at the time.  I don’t believe I bought the tape when it was first released, but I bought the CD some time during my senior year in high school in ’95.

Check out this article about the making of the album cover.

Now, I’m not sure who I completed this transaction with, but I’m pretty sure it was my boy Shun because there’s not many people I would have traded music with.  There was this R&B group that had come out in ’95 named Mokenstef and their first single was called He’s Mine.  At the time, I thought it was dope.  Almost twenty years later, not so much.  Anyway, Shun had their CD and we were talking one day and I must’ve mentioned how I wasn’t really into the Midnight Marauders album.  So, Shun suggests a trade.  Midnight Marauders for Mokenstef.  Like I said, please don’t judge me and forgive me for my ignorance, but I really liked He’s Mine at the time.  I thought the song was dope.  I would like to say that it took some arm twisting and pleading by Shun for me to agree to the trade, but it didn’t. 

In retrospect, this trade was as lopsided as the Lakers trading Vlade Divac to the Hornets for Kobe Bryant in ‘96.  A Tribe Called Quest is considered one of the greatest rap groups of all-time while, if you weren’t a fan of R&B music in ’95, you probably have no idea who I’m talking about when I say Mokenstef.  As time passed, I would grow to regret my decision and wouldn’t bring it up in fear of damaging my reputation as a connoisseur of fine hip-hop.  Last year, I did finally buy the Midnight Marauders album again and after giving it a thorough listen, I cried in shame at my mistake.  I can never go back and erase my mistake, but in an effort to redeem myself, a couple of years ago, for my acknowledged nieces and nephews, I started buying them classic hip-hop albums for Christmas and Midnight Marauders will most likely be the choice for 2014.  In closing, I tell this tale not for you to ridicule me as some of you will, but to be a cautionary tale of what can happen when making haste decisions.  So, please, I implore all of you, if anybody ever approaches you about making a music trade (although with downloading, who actually trades CDs anymore?), remember this story and choose wisely before making the trade.