The Hip Hop Perspective

As the Hip Hop world tried to make sense of what turned out to be one big mess for the LA Times, it also meant that the bloggers of the Hip Hop scene (cause you know they are the gate keepers now) had to throw their two cents in… and did they have some things to say.

While XXL rapidly goes down the drains thanks to the mysterious removal of Elliott Wilson, they have a pretty solid website and an even stronger group of bloggers. While I’m an infrequent visitor (Cut my man loose and I had to let y’all go) both Jay Smooth and Byron Crawford had some great insight.

Crawford is a funny guy and his writing lends itself well to the blog scene. He is admittedly a Biggie stan (read: big fan) and I’m not sure if his jibs at ‘Pac are serious or just a ploy to help spur conversation and debate with his audience - I’m guessing they are the latter. Either way he raises some great points as to the legitimacy of the article.

He calls Philips out for using an unnamed FBI informant as his only evidence of anything and makes the point that “For all we know, this could just be some jail house snitch looking for time off of his sentence.”

Can you say Sabatino?

Sure Crawford writes with a sense of flagrant disregard for his subjects but that is the element that draws people into blogs and keeps them continually coming back. You have to give your audience a personality they can interact with take, which often means pushing the boundaries and (gasp!) perhaps offending, or else you won’t see any conversation within the comment box. The test of a good blogger is than to see if while maintaining a persona they still report.

In Crawford’s case he addresses Philips accusations using his own knowledge of Hip Hop history (and the business) to pull out the problems of the article. The best part is he wasn’t responding to the Smoking Gun’s report that the article was flawed – he published his thoughts the day Philips story broke, placing him ahead of almost everyone who doubted the stories validity.

Jay Smooth attacked the article and the errors once it broke that Philips used forged documents and probably should have questioned the accuracy of his “anonymous” source. But Smooth didn’t write - he made a video report. By mixing his Hip Hop swagger with some comedy and his own unconvential methods of reporting (admits he never went to journlaism school) he provides some excellent content and has a message for Mr. Philips at the end.



I have to second Smooths request that Chuck Philips leaves Hip Hop alone and lets those of us who know this culture speak on it. As tempting as it may be to investigate the activities within the Hip Hop scene it’s a tight knit community and more often than not when someone from the outside steps in they fall on their face – and today the bloggers are their to call ‘em out on their BS.