The Real Hip-Hop Is "Ova Here" (HHAW3WO)

"Think that's cool? 40 acres and a mule
F*ck that! Nellyville - 40 acres and a pool"

The lines above were said by Hip-Pop icon and industry heavy-weight, Nelly, in the song Nellyville. This represents a perfect example of how the youth in the Hip-Hop community has become desensitized and irresponsible, allowing a new wave of untalented (most of the time) rappers to construct and reflect a negative and completely false image of the Hip-Hop culture. Nowadays, most rap videos feature half-naked women, a whole lot of Cristale, and thugged-out rapper flashing their expensive jewelry, driving brand-new Benzes sitting on 22s, and rapping about...well...nothing other than b*tches, guns, drugs, murders, and all that other good stuff.

Veteran and icon, KRS-One, who now devotes his efforts to the preservation of the true expression of the culture, has denounced this rampant and destructive trend. He took considerable offense to the line that Nelly spit on Nellyville because it reflected ignorance and indifference towards those who had fought and worked for the betterment of the black community.

Nelly's ignorance did not allow him to understand what the teacha's work was all about. Nelly took it to heart to challenge KRS, he threw subliminal shots at the veteran in the smash hit "#1", flatly dissed him in the remix of "Roc The Mic", and even recorded a laughable freestyle in which he spits "He callin' me commercial rap, who did commercials first? / Who the one was drinkin' sprite like obeying his thirst?"...if you don't hear dumbness resonating from these lines you must be deaf.

Nelly…I mean Nelly…Nelly, dissed KRS-One!!! This was about to be the clash of two Titans. Well, that is not a fair comparison…Of course Nelly is a Titan when it comes to commercial success, but his talents weigh less than a feather. Nelly is the epitome of Pop rap, which has caused the whole culture being labeled as a negative influence on the youth and a plague to society.

KRS-One took on the responsibility of exposing fake Hip-Pop (through Nelly) and bringing the real and enriching elements of Hip-Hop by releasing "The Mix Tape: Prophets vs. Profits"

TRACK LISTING
01. Ova Here
02. Things Is About to Change
03. Splash
04. Kim-O/Steph Lova Shout-Outs
05. Down the Charts
06. Priest Shout-Outs
07. The Message 2002
08. Kreditz
09. Stop It
10. Problemz
11. Deejay Red Alert Shout-Outs
12. Ova Here (Remix)
13. Preserve the Kulture

“The Mix Tape” commences with “Ova Here”, which allows KRS-One to completely annihilate Nelly lyrically over a wonderful piece of production by The Beatminerz who lace the track with royally-fit horn fanfare and a bass kick that explodes one’s ear drums. A Remix of the track is also featured on the album, nothing much changes except for Tin E Tin scratching contributions and a few modifications in the second verse’s lyrics.

Yo Nelly! You ain't Fo'Reel and you ain't Universal
Your whole style sounds like a N'Sync commercial
Ignoramus, I'm the baddest with the mic apparatus
Challengin’ the God of rap is madness, I'll snatch your status
With this ugly lookin’ Billboard you could stop them
But I got enough albums to make my own Top Ten
You limited, like the spread of traffic
You bite my style off the radio so when you speak you bet I hear the static
You better chill out like Chuck, I kick like three Norrises
One of my sixteen bar rhymes is eight of your choruses

Nelly’s lyrical beat-down continues with “Things Is About To Change”. The Instrumental features keyboard sound-effects, muted percussion, and bass. The Teacher’s attacks on commercial rap continues with the creative “Down The Charts”, which analyzes how rappers measure their artistic success by their albums’ and singles’ position on the Billboard charts instead of sampling focusing on making good music.

KRS-One depicts in a picture-perfect manner what it means to be a “Master of Ceremony”, while also teaching his adversary what Hip-Hop is all about, on “Splash” that features a nice instrumental encompassing pounding drums and a symphonic backdrop:

I climb up the back of rappers
Reach over they head, and rap backwards at 'em
Excuse me madam; I used to throw these uzis at 'em
But I'm a teacher, skills I TRULY have 'em
These clubs I duly pack 'em
Potential lawyers, engineers and doctors I do attract 'em
Go to your professors and ask 'em
If the songs off the 'Edutainment' in college they didn't blast 'em
Yes; I'm that ancient one
I set the framework for today's rappers to MAKE they funds
But no, you don't know me son
My facial features matches the Sphinx with its nose redone
[...]
Steppin’ to me? I know you blind
‘Cause your whole flow, your show, your style, you know it's all mine
The first time you learned to spit
It was either me, Kane, Rakim or Slick Rick!

“The Message 2002” is a tribute to Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five’s classic song. This tribute to an old school song builds furthermore the momentum of the mix tape as it attempts to educate. Mad Lion and KRS-One reunite on the banging “Stop It”, a self-produced track. “Problemz”, produced by Inebriated Beats, sees The Teacher drop more knowledge and insight on how the industry is raping the culture: “Do the math, radio gets a 20 record a week stream / But only three are ever seen - what happens to the other 17? / It's a Problem! Problem! Problem in hip-hop today! / [...] We gotta stop treatin’ hop-hop like a product and more of a strategy”

On “The Mix Tape”, The Teacher does what he does best, and that is educating listeners and bringing forth the true elements of the Hip-Hop culture. Though not flawless, this EP is exemplifies the need of the musical artistry of the Hip-Hop genre to not be plagued by commercialism, which it denounces, while also celebrating the true elements of the ‘Kulture’


This is my contribution to the Hip-Hop Appreciation Week Write-Off hosted by madtheory. Here is a list of the other participants:
andrewtarr, bigd99999, Boffie, brotherman, cletta1201, ekidd911, heirograffiti, madtheory, matthos, mrjulius, PacManY2J, paulyoungotti, roheblius, konspirator01, sadgit, speeddemon531, sun_tzu, youngchinq


Long lives true Hip-Hop!