WWW.BIGJTHAWHITEWONDER.COM: January 2011

Thursday, January 20, 2011

The 8th Annual March Madness Birthday Bash

N.E.X Clothing Boutique Commercial

make sure you check out my homeboi Zach over at N.E.X. Good people, Great vibe, Dope clothes!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

BIG J - Lets Ride "Gin & Juice Remix"

Toledo's Own B Wills Live on BET : 106 & Park

The Rap Game : As I See It

A strange thing this rap game. Growing up it's all I knew. Every aspect of my life, from breakfast to doing my homework was saturated with it. It wasn't something I even consciously exposed myself to, it just was. I didn't always want to make music for a living, I just knew that if it wasnt there, I wasnt happy. There were emcee's from my city who were doing there thing when I was coming up, but they were few and far between. Not just anyone could pick up a mic and start rappin. And if you were really nice, you were special, a cut above the rest. now there's not a person I come in contact with in my daily life who doesn't either rap themselves or know a rapper personally. Self expression is a beutifal thing, and to take that away from any individual would be a detrement, but the fact of the matter is, the majority of these so called rappers should stick to spittin in the shower. I say that not because i think these kats aren't talented. Some of the underground rappers I've dealt with are doper than some rappers in the mainstream. The problem arises when you have a majority who are not concerned with mastering their craft, or putting in the consistent work necessary to achieve their goals, yet they stick around just lingering in limbo. I am not so niave to think that this is a problem that will ever be solved. Technology is too easily accesible, and the internet has made it too easy to be fake and inconsistent. Those factors taken into consideration, you don't even have to be able to rap these days. It makes for a strange dynamic. Fans aren't fans anymore, their just people who listen to music. I can remember skipping school to buy "The Chronic". Every time an album (An album, not a single) dropped I couldnt wait to unwrap the physical cd, smell tha package, read the credits, see the artwork. I was apart of something. Yeah, i was a white kid, but I stood shoulder to shoulder with my brothers scrapin just to get by. However blind to the big picture, growing up to me wasn't about black and white, it was about rich and poor, and we was poor! So when Scarface said he "never seen a man cry, til I seen a man die", or Pac talked about puttin money in his momma's mailbox, I felt those words to the core of my being.

It's easy to criticize new generations fads and trends. I just feel like coming up, we as fans made the music. We fought to be heard, now you have to fight to not hear the bullshit. We are force fed what they want us to like. That's why to me, fans are more important than ever, never more so than in the underground. As a whole, adolescents are lost, searching for who they are as individuals. They take on the traits of the music they listen to. They become that until they can determine who they are. So as a rapper, an emcee, it's my responsibility to at the very least, be real.

All hip-hop has a place. I like it all depending on my mood. I am not criticizing the music. I am only concerned with our lack of participation in the process. maybe It's wishful thinking, but Hip-Hop should be a community and we all have a part to play. Are you playing yours?

--BIG J