Do You Hear Me Now Black Male Vulnerability Don Cornelius Soul Train

Now that Lil Wayne went platinum in the first week, is he, as they say, the new “savior of hip hop”?

-DJ Blue Cheese, Vicksburg, MS

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Sugar’s Take

Hell naw!!! I mean…I don’t agree with that title.  If we look at Lil Wayne’s track record,  we will see that history is repeating itself. 50 Cent was kinda known until he hit the mixtape circuit, started featuring with well known artists and is in a place where he can probably turn down business offers. Busta Rhymes broke away from LONS by featuring on EVERYBODY’S album and now has a sound solo career. Method Man had a major solo run by featuring on quite a few songs. Lil Wayne hit the mixtape circuit crazy, featured on every major remix above and below the Bible Belt and is the wide open mystery the press loves and loathes covering. With all of that, I don’t believe Lil Wayne is giving me something I wanna share with my kids in the basement on the old record player, but that’s just me.  Hip Hop don’t need saving, dog.  She is the cool young auntie that’s down wit whateva you doin, long as that’s who you really are. And she is definitely giving an ovation to Lil Wayne’s hustle…and genius.

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Ed’s Take

Brother Cheese,

Lil Wayne going platinum proved one thing; he has the collective conscious of the average consumer.  You have to give Wayne props for evolving as an artist, spitting on other artists tracks, and building relationships outside of the hip hop genre ( i.e. his collaboration with Robin Thicke).  But, to call him the new savior of hip hop seems to grossly inflate his influence.   There is hip hop outside of the billboard charts.  Artists like Killer Mike, Little Brother,  Dead Prez, and Jean Grae–to name a few–are dope but rarely get their just desserts when it comes to folks ‘best rappers” lists. Lil Wayne’s flow is sick, but to say he saved hip hop discounts the contributions of so many underappreciated hip hop heads keeping the spirit alive.   If anything, he is proof positive that honing your skills, evading mindless beef that traps many artists, developing marketing savvy, and being unafraid to expand hip hop possibility can lead to success.  Legacy and influence is not solely determined by album sales.
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Got a question; email us at askedandsugar@afrostoshelltoes.com.

About Sugar Between catching the uptown train to conduct “we luv the kids” writing workshops to dancing rumba on the lower eastside, Sugar Johnson flaunts his creative freedom in various mediums. The actor, vocalist, and educator have not only shared the stage with prolific artists such as The Last Poets, M-1 of Dead Prez, Jessica Care Moore, and Spike Lee, but he also labors to cultivate the forgotten souls of Rikers Island. Johnson made his film debut in Dave Chappelle’s Block Party. The ASCAP member holds a B.A. in Mathematics from DePauw University and will release the poetry collection Food Clothes and Shelter on his imprint Home Grown Publishing, LLC in 2008.

About Ed Award winning writer, educator, counselor, and activist Edward M. Garnes, Jr. is the founder of From Afros to Shelltoes: Art, Action, and Conversation, a nationally acclaimed series of cultural productions confronting the social divide between elders and hip hop heads, and holds a B.A. in English Writing from DePauw University and a M.A. in Counseling from Michigan State University . His seminal essay, ” Sweet Tea Ethics: Black Luv, Healthcare, and Cultural Mistrust,” currently appears in Not In My Family: AIDS in the African American Community, a 2007 NAACP Image Award nominated collection edited by Gil Robertson. (www.afrostoshelltoes.com).

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