"I'm not a businessman. I'm a business..man!"
- "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" Kanye West w/Jay Z
The tension had been building for months when it finally happened; the clash of the Hip Hop Titans. Lil Wayne and his crew of Bloods bum-rushed a Jay Z interview at a New York radio station. When Weezy grabbed the mic and launched a vicious verbal attack, Jay Z just smiled, sent a text on his Blackberry and quietly left the studio. Claiming a victory, Weezy and his boys went bombastic and starting throwin' up gang signs, only to return to their cribs later that evening to find their lights cut off, cars repossessed and eviction notices on their doors....
Recently, the streets have been buzzin' about Lil Wayne's jab at Jay Z following his "Baby money " line on H.A.M.. Weezy responded on "it's Good" by reminding Jigga that he is the wrong Blood to mess with and threatening to kidnap Beyonce, for his "how much you love your lady money."
Really?
What is interesting about this this beef is the clash of iconic Hip Hop images, one loyal to the streets and the other becoming more closely aligned with Wall Street.
Let's be real from the jump. Neither one of these cats is suffering from the Recession and unless they do something really stupid (or in Wayne's case, stupid-er) they don't have to worry about their grandkids ever spending a day flippin' burgers at Mickey D's. However, Jay Z's public image is very different than that of Lil Wayne.
To middle America, Shawn Carter represents the quintessential hood to riches story of a kid from the projects who went from sellin' drugs on the corner to jacking a big piece of the American pie. In contrast, Dwayne Carter represents the boyz in the 'hood who would rather wear white Tees instead of $5,000 Armani suits. ( even if they could afford them.)
While Weezy reps a nation of Bloods who claim ownership of many street corners in 'hoods across the country, Jay Z runs with the gang that owns the companies that control the water, lights and cable in those neighborhoods. Weezy's crew represents that "young money" but Jigga's crew controls that old money, the type of money where your name is your Black Card.
While Lil Wayne is adored by a nation of teenagers who follow his every tweet , Jay Z gets mad props from Warren Buffett.
Now, I'm not saying that Jay Z is the Hip Hop head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and one verse from him can destabilize the economy of a small country but he can effect the Dow Jones.
Does Weezy posses that kind of juice? Not really. Making an artist blow up because of a guest colabo is not the same as runnin' the stock exchange.
To the industry, Jay Z is a long term investment but Lil Wayne is disposable and can easily be thrown away after Lil Johnny from the 'burbs no longer wants to gang bang ,vicariously, through his music or the owner of his record parent label pulls a NFL Jerry Richardson/Cam Newton move and decides that face tattoos are no longer conducive to the well being of his company.
The underworld has always been a road to the riches. It was even an acceptable avenue for poor black folks to move from Fred Sanford's junkyard to George Jefferson's "de-luxe apartment in the sky." Back in 1957, E. Franklin Frazier wrote in his book "Black Bourgeoisie, " the black bourgeoisie is also being recruited from the successful underworld Negroes, who have gained money from gambling, prostitution, bootlegging and 'the numbers."
However, for most suburbanites, Jay Z is like JFK's pop, Joe Kennedy, who, legend has it, made his millions by bootleggin' liquor or a Mafia don who went legit and became a model, tax paying citizen. But Lil Wayne is the cat, who, though exciting to watch, may still punch you in your face and snatch your necklace, just on general principle.
It must be noted that like most of the Hip Hop beefs, the Carter conflict is based on the proverbial "code of the streets." In his essay "The Black Child," the late psychologist, Dr. Bobby Wright wrote, "Street sense generally prepares Blacks to deal with one another in very destructive ways and the Whites wipe out the winner."
But America needs Sean Carter and Dwayne Carter. They need Jay Z to propagate the lie that if you would only hustle hard and not use your celebrity status to make waves and upset the status quo, you too can marry the baddest chick in the game and own a NBA franchise. They need Weezy to promote the "You can take the boy outta the hood but you can't take the hood outta the boy" stereotype and to perpetuate the urban legend to millions of impressionable kids that if you run with gangs and perpetually sip who- knows -what out of styrofoam cups, you can be living large at 30 years old instead of dead or in jail.
Perhaps, the worst thing about Hip Hop beefs is that they promote the self destructive idea that two Black men can't shine at the same time and cannot coexist without threats of violence, whether real or on wax.
Despite the outcome of the beef, whether Lil Wayne releases a vicious onslaught of remixes or if Jay Z posts Photo Shop pictures of Weezy on the stage at every stop of the "Watch the Throne" tour, they will never understand that they are both just pawns in the game.
Follow @hiphopgeek_
No comments:
Post a Comment