David Banner Is Suddenly A Political Activist... Did I Miss Something?

 

This video; a powerful representation of African Americans showing deep anger and hurt with the events that have unfolded in America since the new millennium, since the 50s, since slavery, since; ever. I have to show respect to someone who is willing to put themselves out there in a world where political opinions can kill relationships, can shatter peoples' images, and (in extreme cases) can cost people their lives. But, me being the man who tries to understand both sides of the story, I have to ask; when the FUCK did David Banner become a political activist?

David Banner is known in the hip hop world as many things, but with the events that unfold in this video and the way he shows himself along with the other members of what seem to be a secret society he runs with in the video, he might be using more of his anger than his logic in this scenario.

The video for Banner's new "Black Fist" song violently depicts a group of black males alongside Banner punishing, torturing, and eventually killing a white police officer, which is dragged out for roughly 3 minutes. Now as I said before, I like to be the guy who tries his hardest to understand both sides of a story, and assuming Banner is angry about what has been eating at (not just black lives) different civilians and races all around the country for the past few years, then he wouldn't put himself in such a position to be picked apart by talk show hosts and bloggers everywhere that think their opinions matter in the slightest (wait a minute...).

I also watched a Vlad TV interview with Mr. Banner dating back to July 7th, 2015 (or so it's dated on YouTube). I couldn't help but laugh at what this man was saying, and passing off as "open-mindedness". Banner got to discussing how white people "own everything on this Earth" and how you "can't go anywhere to escape white supremacy". This quote got me especially riled up; "if you look at most hip hop blogs and most things that deal with hip hop, they're now used to crush the hip hop artists." HA. These so called "points" coming from a man (who also believes that labels are objectifying hip hop artists to use the derogatory details of their lives to exploit them) that made THIS.



Are you going to blame this song on the label David?  Hmm?  Did the label write/make you write this song?  I'll first say that if you're not writing your own songs then you lose a lot of credibility in ANY part of the music industry, and probably deserve to be strung around like a puppet, and that goes for artists of ANY race, and also taking into account how many successful indie artists there are out there nowadays. But secondly, if you are writing your own songs, then later on complain about what the label is making you do (again, if you're going to complain about a label, then go indie), but have this song appear on an album of your "Greatest Hits" collection, then you should probably stay in your lane as an artist. If you aren't making the music that YOU want to make, then set the example, and make a change. Check out Banner's interview with Vlad TV below.


(*I do not own any of these songs, videos, interviews or the rights to them*)
     


      

            

    





     

Why Snow Tha Product Is the Best Femcee

It seems like whenever a girl is on the come up in rap, they're never taken seriously at first, if ever. Few chicks in rap today get the attention they deserve (at least because of their music). For whatever reason that may be, this particular femcee (yeah, that's a twist on the phrase "female emcee", do you like it?  I read it somewhere and I'm using it from now on) could be the one to change that. Her name is Snow Tha Product, and if you don't know who she is, you're about to. I had been introduced to her briefly (one feature verse) before, but the Latina femcee definitely earned my attention.

So obviously if you tuned into the BET Awards, and you're like me, the only reason you really watched was because of the cyphers. Of course it's depressing knowing no cypher will measure up to the 2011 edition featuring the monstrous Shady 2.0 cypher, I watch every year just to see if anyone worthy of watching is participating. This year was certainly another disappointment, but there's always that 1 or couple of verses that you hear and you're left wondering:  just how in the hell have I not heard of this artist before?  Well, now knowing Logic is as underrated as it gets, the other verse that caught my attention was Snow's. This chick got on spitting ridiculous, keeping up with the best of the best, even had a point where she got off some Spanish bars!  After I saw this I knew she was the real deal and like a drug, I needed to have more.

And I certainly wasn't disappointed in what I'd found. A datpiff.com search came up with 3 mix tapes, and like the thorough researcher I think I am, I checked out all 3. Her first effort, Run Up Or Shut Up, was the typical first mix tape you'd hear from an artist on the come up. Iffy production, an over saturation of party tracks, and talks of haters and "shwag" (another new word, but one I like to think I've created, it's pretty much the parody of "swag" and the realization of how dumb the word "swag" really is). Her second mix tape, Good Nights & Bad Mornings, was exactly the potential I believed Snow could reach put into musical form. She comes with a more aggressive style, better production, a better quality in music including more topics and subject matter, and her competitive and confident attitude takes full swing. It's safe to say Snow found her voice on this project. Her third mix tape, Good Nights & Bad Mornings 2: The Hangover, is certainly a continuation of the great music she made on the first edition of the series, the only difference being the addition of some big name features including Ty Dolla $ign, Dizzy Wright, Trae The Truth, Cyhi The Prynce and Riff Raff.

So looking into her music, I was certainly impressed (and I'll be downloading some key tracks from those mix tapes, I'll admit). I cant say I had expectations going in, but if I did Snow has far exceeded them. She definitely made an impression on me with her mix tapes, but an impression being made on me in terms of lyricism, flow, and proving that you're a good rapper is a completely different story. You can make good music without being the "kill you on your own track" type of rapper. To me, this sort of thing shows true ability and the aspect of competitiveness that takes a rapper farther than their abilities alone, and if there was one track I needed to hear to have Snow prove her abilities to me, this would be it.

Ummm... alright. Ms. Tha Product, is it?  You have my full attention. Normally any one rapper (man or woman) being featured on a Crook song doesn't get my attention because, well, I know what Crooked I can do. He's Crooked I. What else need be said?  No other verse I've ever heard on the same song as Crooked I having a verse has come even close lyrically, but if I had to pick one, this one certainly takes the cake.

So who is Snow Tha Product?  If you asked me, I'd simply reply "the best female rapper you haven't heard of yet." The rest of the game has it's Nicki Minaj's, you have your Iggy Azalea's (and people will claim Iggy isn't hip-hop, though it's hard to argue at this point), you even have the proven greats like Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, Lil Kim, etc., but Snow is unlike anything you or I have heard before. To say it isn't hard for a female to come up in the music industry (especially rap) would be a straight up lie, but obviously for the ones that have made it, you give props to them because whether you like their music or not, they've earned that come up. Snow isn't quite there yet, the main reason being she has no studio album out yet, but I believe Snow is the next Nicki Minaj. No, scratch that. I believe Snow has potential to represent every woman in America with strength, dignity, and an unrivaled ability to spit with the best of them all, period. If you haven't seen it yet, check out Snow's cypher verse, spitting alongside Vic Mensa, Treach (Naughty By Nature), King Los and David Banner in the 2014 BET Awards below.

                                   (*I do not own any of these videos, or the rights to them*)