Multi Talented Rappers (Actors, Ball Players, Etc.)

Sometimes you hate to see your favorite emcees do anything BUT rap, but it can be a cool thing to see them appear in your favorite TV show, play in the celebrity game at NBA All Star weekend, or even make business deals (focus on your music though guys, *cough cough Dr. Dre, Jay Z, Diddy, etc.). Rappers rap for a living (hence the term "rapper") but this is a new day and age. I put together a small list of some rappers who could probably do other things with their careers and be pretty good at them.

Dizzy Wright - basketball player

Sorry for the crappy picture quality, unfortunately this is how all pictures shown in this post will appear (#TechnologyStruggles). Anyways, Dizzy Wright was quite the baller in his high school days, and he could have even played at UNLV but bad grades prevented him from doing so.

2 Chainz - basketball player

Twooooo Chaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiinzz! This dude is just funny period. The last thing you think of when you think of 2 Chainz is smart, intelligent mind building rap (or smart, intelligent, mind building anything), but Chainz was actually a college basketball player, and even graduated as a 4.0 GPA student in only 3 years at a 4 year school (attended Alabama State University on an athletic scholarship, believe it, it's true).

Common - Actor

Common is an easy choice as one of the stand outs because he is very hot right now, especially after coming off winning a Grammy for best original song ("Glory" ft. John Legend). When you think of conscious, thought provoking rappers, Common is the epitome (where do you think the name "Common" originated from? Common Sense of course! [His original rap name]). Common is always in the conversation when it comes to rappers who use their voice effectively, and his role in AMC's original series Hell On Wheels only adds to his already impressive resume of talent.

Childish Gambino - Actor/Comedian

Childish Gambino is the most interesting character on this list (literally a "character"). Gambino has made quite a career as a rapper with his mix tape releases and his debut album Because The Internet, but the "Gambino" I personally got to know wasn't Gambino at all. Donald Glover (his government name) started out as a comedian who even got a couple of stand up specials to air on Comedy Central, and his hilarious takes on race and everyday observation sold me more than any music of his could. Not only does Gambino rap AND do stand up (or did do stand up, no rumors on if he still does or if he will return) but he also has a great resume of acting, and even has appeared on the television show 30 Rock multiple times, and wrote for the show for 3 years (from 2006 to 2009).

Seeing any type of celebrity tackle as many careers/topics/activities as they do could make any person's head spin. When I think about what I'm doing and then compare it with what Jay Z's day might consist of, I start to feel pretty bad about myself (but then I remember I'm just a hip hop writer). But anyways, you should never limit anyone by the way they appear to you. Talent is never fully measured by ones interests, ones career, or even ones demeanor. Sometimes you can tell how great someone is destined to be just by the way they talk to you. If this list isn't even a slight example of what it means to make the sky the limit (or the galaxy [Hip Hop Unlimited], this is what we do now, come on) then maybe you should re-evaluate what you make your limit. The people on this list did, and look at them now.              


   

 

Hopsin Retiring From Rap?

News hit very early this morning that Hopsin has decided to quit the rap game for good and move to Australia. Now I don't know how many Hopsin fans there are out there, or how many rap fans are particularly disappointed about this, but this struck me as odd; why would a rapper in the prime of their career at only 29 years old (which may seem old in rap, but really it's practically the prime age) decide to just pull a Dave Chappelle and bounce? 

Hopsin's open letter read as follows: "I just wanted to take time out to say that I appreciate all of u who have supported my music for these past few years. A lot of u have told me stories about how I have changed your life. You too have changed mine in ways that u could never imagine. Unfortunately, tonight is the night that I am actually moving away to Australia. Over the past couple of years I have come to the conclusion that this profession just isn't for me, so I'm going to venture out into new areas of life. I will always be an MC at heart, but this rap stuff just isn't for me. I hope you guys can respect it. I've signed over my half of the funk volume label to my business partner, Dame. I also wished Swizzz, Dizzy Wright, and Jarren Benton good luck in their careers. Thank u all!  I'm out."

You have to respect his humble mindset he displays in this letter even if you don't know much about Hopsin or listen to his music, but is there more to this quick and seemingly out of the blue decision to quit?  There absolutely is. Hopsin has battled issues with the label for as long as anyone can remember, and proof of it shows in his tweets. The past couple of years he has tweeted about them a lot, saying things about the label holding back his album, not being able to put out a single, messing with his creative process, and much more.

So is Hopsin crazy for quitting?  To die hard fans, a rapper will never be able to justify quitting or retiring because they want your music, but I believe Hopsin is taking a proper stand and making a good decision. Why Hopsin doesn't just leave the label and look for a new one we'll never know, but I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of Hopsin, I see this just as a break for now. This is a prime example of the toll that the industry takes on artists physically and mentally, and whether you think Hopsin is the hero or the villain for it, this shows a truly human aspect of Hopsin that you really don't get with many other artists. Besides, even Chappelle made a return (not nearly soon enough if you ask me, but better late than never).    

          

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*)