Our friends over at Real Talk NY recently caught up with Cash Money’s latest signee Bow Wow. When quizzed on his relationship with the centre-piece of the label, Lil’ Wayne, the rapper revealed that he recently visited him in prison, relaying Wayne’s words of advice to him, and adding his own Two Cents on Hip-Hop’s problem with crime.
Check out his comments & my TWO PENCE after the jump…
Bow Wow may be one of the most unjustifiably cocky rappers on the scene, yet it’s important to give kudos where it’s due – the man is talking sense here.
However, his ’stay away from crime’ mantra – while positive – seems somewhat far fetched. After all, a vast majority of the rappers populating the charts have literally been plucked from the streets and handed deals on a platter; unfortunately in one too many cases going on to prove the age old adage ‘you can take a man out of the streets, but can’t take the street out of the man’ true.
Important to stress, though, is that it’s not every Hip-Hop male who falls by wayside. Indeed, the storied careers of the likes of Jay-Z and 50 Cent highlight how the street antics can be left behind to build vast empires. However for every 50 and Jay, there’s a Gucci Mane, a Wacka Flocka, a T.I, a Lil’ Wayne. The can’t stay, won’t stay out of jail crew.
Hence if real change is to come about, it’ll require many a Hip-Hop act to realise the opportunity and platform given to them (in a society which remains grossly uneven). Also imperative is for labels execs to not be so fast to throw out contracts to any and everyone (while rarely backing ‘concious’, and socially-reflective rap). For, if not, we’ll continue to see labels trying to promote albums when the artist is in the slammer (affecting their own profit margins), and negative stereotypes about a whole race reinforced by the actions of select ‘role models’. Sigh…
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