Yesterday, Spin magazine wrote a go-fuck-yourself critique on Lupe Fiasco (we know, who cares?) and his new single and video for "complex" girl power tune "Bitch Bad." The song and video describe three ways "bitch" is used in popular rap and urban culture -- first is the supreme-chick, the second is something of a video vixen, the third has both definitions meeting in confusion.
Sure, Spin's response to this so-called conversation starter indicates the bullshit of its inconsistent rap commentary:
"The use of the word 'bitch,' sensitively deconstructed by Jay-Z on '99 Problems,' and currently being twisted and challenged by Azealia Banks, Nicki Minaj, and many more female MCs, proves that the discussion doesn't need a backpack rap hustler selling cynicism."
The right response from Fiasco would be to brush off his shoulders, and freestyle (who does that anymore?) about it on YouYube. But apparently he reads Spin and is a complete twat about people's opinions of him. So, he created a hash on Twitter to boycott the magazine: "Yeah, I think a #SpinMagazineBoycott may be in order...sick of the foolishness ..."
He goes on and on about it, because he is a baby.
Spin already broke down the "Bitch Bad" video, so we'll spare you the critique on that.
Not too long ago, another socially conscious rapper started some shit to get record sales. Erykah Badu-reject Common went on a diss track "ripping" Drake a new one on his record The Dreamer/The Believer (awful name). Drake responded with a pretty mild line about dudes "reaching" for record sales on posse-cut "Stay Schemin." The back-and-forth only lasted a week really, and Common probably saw nothing from it.
Rap beefs used to mean something here in America. Not saying that the violence associated with it was justified at all. It was terrible and took the lives of some of the game's best MCs and created a really tense environment. But those rap conflicts also brought out a lot of creativity and bravado, and it generally got kids like us excited about hip-hop again.
Now we're sorta given the scraps of what modern-day beefs are: Dudes like Lupe Fiasco starting shit with alternative, geeky music magazines, on Twitter of all places, to get record sales. Newspapers and magazines already have a hard time adapting to business model after business model to stay afloat-- not that Lupe Fiasco will make a dent anyway.
We definitely don't want violence -- we want healthy, creative interactions that challenge, not just chatter hiding under the pretense of starting dialogue. Common, Drake, Lupe -- these dudes have no reason to be beefing since their narratives contradict that.
So yeah, Lupe, shut up.
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