Will The Hip Hop Alliance truly become a saving grace for hip-hop and R&B industry people that need support?

Is Azealia Banks right about Queen Latifah being the true Queen of Rap?

Did Big Daddy Kane or KRS-One win Verzuz? 

 

 

Who are the five rappers that turned down Busta Rhymes for Verzuz? 

Will there be another hip-hop Verzuz as good as the one between Big Daddy Kane and KRS-One? 

Sunday night Big Daddy Kane and KRS-One gave a clinic on hip-hop for their Verzuz session. Their friendly competition was interspersed with appearances from Buckshot, Nice & Smooth, Roxanne Shante, Hakim Green of Channel Live, Masta Ace, Craig G,  DJ Scratch, DJ Red Alert, Mad Lion, Das Efx, Popmaster Fabel, Crazy Legs and Bboy Cha Cha. Kane schooled the crowd on how he became the father of so many rap styles and proved to still have the speed and precision of his Golden Era days. KRS-One reminded fans of his many classic songs and exposed his lengthy catalog to those who didn’t know. The rap legends made sure to let the audience know the history of their friendship even sharing the story of how KRS-One and his late ex-wife Ms. Melodie helped Kane move out of his parents’ house. They were focused on bringing all the elements to the stage; DJing, MCing and Bboying. But the graffiti foundation was the only one missing from the show that took place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.   

Fat Joe was the host for the event and was later seen in the crowd with Busta Rhymes and 9th Wonder. The audience was taken down memory lane to the time before the explosion of gangsta rap. However KRS did perform “Poetry” from his BDP masterpiece Criminal Minded, the one album where he did advocate for violence. Fans saw his evolution from this era to the emergence of “Self Destruction” which he performed in a medley with “Ah Yeah” and “9MM Goes Bang.” Both emcees freestyled and had fun teasing each other between their nonstop lyrical bombs. Kane’s swift flow was an education on the origins of fast rapping and he gave a special demonstration for the younger generations over the ever popular triplet trap beat. He also introduced Shante as the queen of the Juice Crew and let everyone know that the men in the group were introduced to the world by her.  The b-boy dancers were led by pioneers Crazy Legs of the Rock Steady Crew and Popmaster Fabel. Bboy Cha Cha captivated the audience and put the viewers in a zone with his kinetic movements. When the night was over the audience saw master lyricism, breath control, freestyling, b-boying and DJing.

 

 

 

Boogie Down Productions’ “Love’s Gonna Get’cha (Material Love)” is one of the rare hip-hop songs to probe capitalist desire. KRS-One’s rap about poverty breeding an apetite for material goods out of necessity and peer approval was told from the standpoint of a young drug dealer who experiences short-lived success until his brother is murdered and things get worse. KRS-One, D-Nice and Pal Joey produced the song that came from the 1990 album Edutainment. The title was an obvious signifier of making music with important messages that can still entertain the audience. The sturdy beats and KRS-One’s delivery of the tragic story accomplished the album’s mission of educating while entertaining. Late Civil Rights and Black Power leader Stokley Carmichal also has multiple interludes on the album. It was only three years earlier that BDP set the groundwork for gangsta rap with Criminal Minded but the death of founding member Scott La Rock changed their style from rapping about violence to promoting peace and enlightenment. Edutainment reaffirmed the importance of BDP to hip-hop and KRS-One’s teacher alias. Boogie Down Productions officially split after their 1992 album Sex and Violence. 

In 2018, KRS-One appeared in the Luke Cage episode Can’t Front On Me as himself and performed “Jack Of Spades” and “Love’s Gonna Get’Cha.”  KRS-One released his 16th studio album Between Da Protests in 2020.