1/04/2013

Article 37: What's your definition of real?



What’s real and what’s fake-can you tell the difference? 

Too often people do not get what it means to be real and at the end they become very ignorant. Too often it’s the fine line between truth and lie, between want and need, real and fake that confuses the hell out of people. When we were growing up we believed the shity stunts in the movies to be real.
We thought those wrestling stunts were also true until we grew up and found out the truth, but even now there are still lies that we cannot see through. There are still lies covered in shine and shimmer. Guys still tell girls they love em when they don’t. Parents still lie to their kids and kids still lie to their parents. People say things they don’t meant just to get what they need. While some remain true and loyal to whom they are, sticking with what they believe in, others do things that are foreign to them because they feel the pressure to fit in. How do you know when shit real? 

We live in times where it’s become really hard to tell the difference between what’s real and what’s not. People are stunting out there, they ain’t who they pretend to be, and they ain’t who they say they are. A lot of artists have sold their realness for a lil bit of fame and validation they get from the people whom they regard as important. If you do something you do not believe in because it will up your sales or make you famous, you must know you will lose who you are and what you stand for. 

Sometimes artists need to ask themselves why is it that they started doing what they do. Who were they doing it for? Is the love still the same, is the passion still there? Are they still happy doing what they do, do they feel validated, are they making a difference, Progress? Have they forgotten their fans? The people who matter the most? The people who have been with them since the beginning, who buy their music and attend their gigs, are they looking out for them, are they a priority for them. Sometimes artists seem to forget them when the money comes and they are doing great that when they go to the studio they do not give their all in their music. They quality of their work deteriorates and they don’t sound the way they used to. 

There is a lot of cock-sucking in the rap game. Rappers change who they are and what their art is all about for fame and radios and TV appearances. They sacrifice that and forget why they got on it in the first place. Today becoming a celebrity is more important than becoming an artist. It’s like you have to pull silly stunts and be who you not to get recognition (look at 2chainz). A lot of conscious/ underground rappers seldom get the fame and money. Many will do whatever gets them the fame and the shine, even if it means losing that which they are and .Rappers now rap for fame and no longer consider the people. They record material that they know will be radio friendly, catchy and suitable for clubs. No one wants to be different it seems. They do what they do for incentive and not because they consider the fans. Today being a conscious rapper is a difficult thing, so we keep hearing the same tracks with the same content. So the standards drop, content flops and we all listen to the same raps. we all hearing the same lines, everyone is a boss, everyone got swag, everyone got a snapback and a tattoo, everyone calling woman bitches and bitches calling each other bitches and beef is a thing of the norm. Everyone got money and has had sex with over hundred bitches. Who is talking about education? Who is encouraging brotherhood and poor mentality in the streets? Who is spiting a 16 with no curse in it? Who’s changing the rap scene? 

The fans deserve way more than what they are getting. No one is themselves anymore. No one is real anymore. Y’all are busy claiming on every song. Yeah, if you are living well you gots to say so, but were you always popping bottles and flying on jets? How about narrate us a story of how you got there? Yeah, we can’t all be conscious but we can’t all be ignorant either. There are a lot of uninformed people out there who do not know what it means to be real. Rappers are giving just to receive, they no longer rapping for the cause, for the people, to uplift, to consciousntice, to teach, to wake up people, to inspire. Rappers are no longer connected to their fans. They no longer rep them, they no longer tell their stories. They do not even tell their own stories. They have distanced themselves from things that matter. Music is not what it used to be, it does not sound the same and it does not make the same impact it used to make. 

Whatever happened to keeping shit real? What about being the person for the people, to saying what’s on your mind? To saying what needs to be said? Hell, Artists are not even controversial anymore. A lot are too ignorant to realize the importance of being real.


TheNASHmag Ed.


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