Drake

Aubrey Graham, known to the masses as Drake or “Drizzy” Drake, is one of the most loved and hated rappers out. He had a fresh set of wheels early in his career, playing the sexually deficient wheelchair bound rapper on Degrassi 2.0. That gave him his street cred. Then he put out his most famous mixtape So Far Gone which turned into his most famous EP So Far Gone and now his debut album Thank Me Later and the rest is history. Besides being Young Money’s lothario, the doe eyed rapper spits plenty of emo rhymes questioning his success exactly 15 minutes after he achieved it. There are a million reasons why Drake is a moving target, but none can keep him from succeeding. One thing Drake has that his alter ego Jimmy doesn’t: When the haters attack, he can walk it out.

Pause

pause \ poz\noun

1: a temporary stop 2 a: a break in a verse b: a brief suspension of the voice to indicate the limits and relations of sentences and their parts 3: temporary inaction especially as caused by uncertainty : hesitation 4 a: the sign denoting a fermata b: a mark (as a period or comma) used in writing or printing to indicate or correspond to a pause of voice 5: a reason or cause for pausing (as to reconsider) <a thought that should give one pause> 6: a function of an electronic device that pauses a recording

Hip-Hop is a culture filled with intricate wordplay. The rhymes of an MC must be as creative as possible, and nothing is truly as eloquent as Hip-Hop colloquialisms. Sometimes during friendly conversations, a man (or woman) will make a statement that could possibly be considered an innuendo to the receiving party [Pause]. They may take offense and ask where you were going with that thing [Pause]. To which you reply, you were just being friendly [Pause] and would like the innuendo to cease by nipping it in the bud [Pause]. The simplest way to put it to an end is by using this handy word. Pause has made its way into almost every sentence used by Hip-Hop enthusiasts. Not a single word in the English language is safe from its insertion [Pause]. There are many ways to play with it [Pause]. For instance, if MC Johnny asks DJ Jimmy where should he put his vinyl, DJ Jimmy might say, “Put it in my box. Pause.” MC Johnny might reply, “Is there room in your box? Pause.” And so begins the friendly match. Many words serve as wonderful accessories to Pause, including: dog, cat, stick, turpentine, yard stick, box, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, hole, Garry Shandling, fishing wire, soup, shirt, boy, girl, meat, the 1984 Olympics Basketball Team, helium, stains, crabs, apples, $2 bills, Fig Newtons, and balls. You can put it anywhere [Pause].

Keffiyeh Scarves

Commonly referred to as the “Houndstooth Desert Scarf” “arabic rag” or “the Arafat scarf” (not at all offensive), the Keffiyeh scarf has proven itself to be multi-functional within the Hip-Hop community. Rappers often wear the scarves to align themselves with political statements that they may or not be aware of. The signature “red is for the revolution” color, implies that not only is the rapper into the revolution, he’s into the Arabic version of it, which in the mind of most middle Americans means a Jihad. Not too many rappers know what a Jihad really is nor would they even know what to do in one, but the idea that they might partake in it is reason enough to wear the scarf. For rappers who understand the potential political undertones associated with a Keffiyeh scarf, they wear it as a means of appearing sophisticated and gentlemanly. This version of the scarf is usually worn in the black and white pattern – hence the nuvo-titling of Houndstooth Desert Scarf. Finally, as the scarf trickled down to the Hipster Rap movement, it just began to serve as a means of neck warmth in the crispy Brooklyn weather…available in pink and purple.

Twitter

Hip-Hop as of late has embraced modern-day technology to the point where any new invention is subject to the “Hip-Hop Takeover.” Take Twitter for example. What started as a simple means of taking the guesswork out of Facebook statuses has now evolved into an all out basement party a la the Sugar Shack circa ’92. Everyone is invited to this party – artists, label executives, journalists, promoters, weed carriers, and even those people you bump into at parties and aren’t sure what they do for a living. A Twitter exchange usually happens in real time between any one of the aforementioned parties and goes something like this:

HalfofDasEFX: Hov is changing the game with that new track on @AllHipHop. You can tell I was a big influence on him.

DJDollarADay: @HalfofDasEFX You need a beat? Lemme break you off *pause* Send me your FB info.

HalfofDasEFX: @DJDollarADay Any samples? My publishing got jacked @ASCAPLuvah because I couldn’t pay some fees. All original?

MistaDobalina: @DJDollarADay Got that fire? Hit me with that goodness *pause*

IWrite4HipHop: @HalfofDasEFX @DJDollarADay Lemme know when that collab happens.

HalfofDasEFX: @IWrite4HipHop You do bios? Money is tight, but I could use the look with the projects I’m doing.

OtherHalfofDasEFX: @HalfofDasEFX Um, what projects?

Barack Obama

Nothing but love. Welcome home, Mr. President.

Aaliyah Haughton

No one could ever hate on Aaliyah. She would have turned 30 today. Hip-Hop loves Aaliyah for being one of the official girls who was still the ride or die chick. While simultaneously being the woman that most emcees wanted to chill with and marry, Aaliyah had that intangible something, which radiated through her personality, style, and music. Her sound was the turning point where R&B met Hip-Hop. With Timbaland’s production, Aaliyah brought forth a Hip-Hop friendly sound that still achieved the essence of R&B. We love her, we miss her, we wish her a Happy Birthday.

The American Flag

Change the color, adjust the size. The American flag still represents one thing: America. The idea of patriotism is something that has plagued Hip-Hop – to the point where treason appeared to be the better option. As the landscape of the American government approaches change, perhaps so shall the impression of the American flag. From the ’80s and into the early ’90s, the American flag was a favored part of fashion. This was all due to the “pretty boy” era – where Polo shirts and rugbies were perfect with a pair of Timbs. Ralph Lauren logos included tiny American flags and often shirt designs were chock full of flags. As the distrust in the government grew, those shirts met the Salvation Army. Then the flag burning began, where even Lil Jon was burning a flag on his first album cover along with Dead Prez at their live shows. Then the colors changed – from Outkast black and white to red, black, and green.  One thing remains constant – 50 stars and 13 stripes. What’s next?

The King of _____________

*special thanks to Tonedeff for the suggestion.

Hip-Hop has always had a huge fascination with being the King of something. Whether a region, city, state, supermarket, announcing that one is in fact “The King” is usually the only criteria for becoming just that – that is until someone else claims the same of themselves. While this Grand Schism usually leads to some sort of argument/beef, the winner is almost always the one who declared it first. Some rappers, however, believe the real king to be God. As referenced in Run DMC’s “Down With the King,” the verse goes Only G.O.D. can be the King to me/and if the G.O.D. be in me, then the King I be and in the Notorious B.I.G. dedication “We’ll Always Love Big Poppa” the LOX declare Biggies entrance into heaven with I guess you with the real King of New York now, forreal. With all this talk of the King, who’s the real Queen?

MySpace

While much of the free world is now comprised of Facebook fanatics, Hip-Hop’s separation anxiety from MySpace is a serious phenomenon. Since its inception, MySpace has offered musicians of all genres the opportunity to promote their music in a user friendly interface. Hip-Hop became a fan of that simplicity and began to migrate toward this beta community. With sites built upon MySpace user pages, music, videos, and photos, a MySpace page is an essential part of a Hip-Hop head’s career as an artist, designer, dancer, juggler. What used to be a mark of shame (internet love), now gets an internet hug.

Movies About Dancing

While breaking is one of the four elements of Hip-Hop and has had many movies like Breakin 1 and 2 and Beat Street honor its fluid legacy, there are several movies that have followed involving a brand new twist on Hip-Hop’s famed form of dance. Modern-day “Hip-Hop dance movies” must incorporate one or more of the following: 1. A girl from the suburbs who moves to the inner city with a desire to dance. 2. A crew of friends who all like to dance. 3. An adversarial crew that also likes to dance. 4. Someone has to die. 5. Someone has to fall in love. 6. Someone has to win a competition, get into a performing arts school through a recital and or talent show, or gain hood recognition by dancing in the street. Lastly, at least one person must emphasize that they are taking said dance routine “to the streets.” Once the streets have properly been identified, every cast member of the movie must dance on them. There must also be at least one known rapper or singer to provide the Hip-Hop stamp of approval by playing a role in the movie. No actual dance skills need apply. And finally, a valuable lesson must be learned by the close of the movie.