Breath of Fresh Air (5 versions)

The beat came fairly easily. When I’m working with YZ, I basically describe the feeling I want to exude and he just brings it to life. It’s a very unique chemistry that we have. It’s been over 10 years, and to this day I still have no idea how he does it. It’s almost like I describe a color that doesn’t exist and he creates it.

He nailed the beat in just a few hours. We created these spaces, or breaks, in the verses because I wanted to give the beat room to breathe and let the lyrics linger for the crowd. The whole song was created with liver performances in mind. Matter of fact, the whole album was created that way. Even the mellow songs.

As he was producing, I was working on the theme, hook and breaks. I wrote something that we both thought was pretty good. I wanted a “oh ooh oh” chant in the breaks. The hook was going to be anthem-like. I went in and recorded the idea myself.

I sent it over to my go-to singer Yendi to have her knock out the hook. She did an amzing job. Unfortunately, it lost something in translation. It just didn’t have the same, I dunno, energy once she did it. There was something about the way my voice sounded that gave it an appeal. Unfortunately, my voice wasn’t polished enough to be on the final song (in my opinion). We tried mixing it with my voice – no dice. We spent about two months trying to make this version work, to no avail.

My next idea was to bring in a rock singer to belt out something powerful and strong. I tried a few people out (never recorded any on the beat though) and that idea was quickly scrapped.

I then tried writing a chanty-type hook. I repeated “ease back” a bunch of times. Strike three.

Then, one of my closest and most talented friends DJ Cinema came by to try and help out. By thtis point, the song had been collecting dust for nearly a year. John had recorded some verses, but it was hookless. He had an idea to use a sample from this 80’s singer Pat Benatar***. He went home and gave it a whirl and sent me the idea. I kinda liked it. I was also desperate at this point because I was on the verge of cutting the song from the album, even though I loved everything else about it. I was afraid that maybe I was just liking it because it was the best that we had, but still not good. I downloaded an acappella version and put it together. It was pretty good.

At the same time, my other good friend Meylin, who had already blessed the hook for Yesterday, asked if she could lay down an idea. She did, and again – it was good. It just wasn’t right. I couldn’t put my finger on it. In hip-hop, it’s fairly common to not put much thought into the hook. The first thing that comes out is usually what’s on the final product. Any one of these hooks could’ve went on the album and been fine probably. But that’s not how my mind works. It had to be perfect. If it wasn’t it’d end up on the cutting room floor.

Finally on the weekend when John came to the studio to record the majority of the album, I had an idea. John was already at the studio on that Sunday morning and I was driving to meet him there. I recorded it quickly on my iPhone on the way there and, well – it was perfect! It was going to be the second song on the album. We had cut a lot of features  already because it felt too crowded, but there were still a lot of other artists throughout the album – especially on the hook. I knew the song was going to be second, so I didn’t want a feature on it so early. The title track was just John and I wanted this to be just John. I figured this would be the song he could really belt out at open mics, so I didn’t want him relying on another artist who probably wouldn’t be with him for the chorus. Also, the subject matter was blasting other emcees. It didn’t feel right having a girl singing the hook for a song like that. This worked.

The other battle we had was over the lyrics. We wrote the verses pretty much 50/50, with me writing the second verse and the first half of the third and John writing the rest. I have a lot of experience in performing so I knew how to write it in a way that it would really connect with the crowd. I was writing already anticipating the crowd’s reaction. You can hear the clarity. He had written a different third verse and we fought over those lyrics a bit. Same with the end of the first verse. In the end, though, we all agreed on the new lyrics and a great song was born.

My biggest regret of the entire album was not ever hearing this song performed live.

I’ve been wanting to write about Drake for a while, so let me get right into it.

First off, there are going to be some people who simply don’t like Drake, for whatever reason. Some people don’t think he’s that strong lyrically (more on that later). Some think his subject matter is limited (more on that later, as well). And some don’t like the mixture of R&B in his records, or the fact that he often displays his emotions. Let’s talk about that first.

I think it’s the height of corniness to keep faulting Drake for not creating a sound that he has no intention of making. How many times do you have to say “this new Drake song is soft, b – like teardrops on a pillow”? We get it. You don’t like singing or mellow, emotional music. That’s why God created Slaughterhouse. If you prefer old school Mobb Deep records, go listen to that. Why listen to every new Drake record hoping he suddenly changes direction and starts rapping like 50 Cent (which would open up an entirely new level of criticism – see **Tony Montana**)? That’s not his lane. Not everybody is angry. Not everybody wants to hear rappers killing everyone or rapping aggressively.

I’m not a Taylor Swift fan. It’s just not my type of music. Yet, you won’t see me bashing every new song she releases saying it “isn’t hip-hop enough”. She’s not a hip-hop artist, so why would I compare her to that? I don’t listen to Adele’s 21 hoping to get amped up. Saying every Drake song is kitten whisper soft shows nothing more than you’re obsessed with an artist you claim to hate and you don’t have enough else to write about.

It’s also extremely hypocritical. You know that Drake is popular so you use his name to gain twitter followers or blog views. That’s the same as a rapper selling out and making a cookie cutter radio song to gain airplay – which is something these so-called hip-hop purists hate. So writing about Drake to gain views is basically the same thing. Especially when it’s a dozen articles on an artist you supposedly don’t, all saying the exact same thing. You know how often I write about artists I don’t like? Never.

If you don’t like soccer, don’t tell everybody how much soccer sucks. My wife likes reality shows, doesn’t like sports. I like sports, don’t like reality shows. I don’t say her shows are stupid, and she doesn’t say mine are. We just like different things. There are many different types of music, many different types of television shows and movies. Drake has a certain lane and he doesn’t stray from it. That should be applauded in an era where everybody tries to copy whatever is successful or tries to be everything to everyone. Hip-hop is about diversity and Drake is doing something that nobody else does. Nobody faults Skyzoo for being too lyrical.

Next, let’s get this out of the way. Drake has bushy eyebrows. Also, Jay-Z looks like a camel, Nas contradicts himself, Wayne wore women’s leotards at an award show and Rick Ross was a correctional officer. Great. How many times do we have to rehash these same lame jokes? Every time I see someone on twitter tweet or a blogger write about that, it makes me sad for journalism. All it does is prove that their writing scope is insanely limited. When you have to resort to pointing out irrelevant things such as those about an artist, either they’re doing something right or you’re doing something wrong.

*exhale* Okay, let’s talk about the album.

Take Care is an amazing body of work. Drake really figured it out this time. His debut Thank Me Later sounded like a mash-up. A collection of mediocre, good and great songs put together into a compilation. It sounded like somebody else’s idea. Having said that, it was still solid – one of the better debuts an artist has ever made, especially considering the expectations. A bunch of those songs are still in my regular rotation. But as a whole? It was a bit of a disappointment. It seemed more about the names and loading as many huge stars onto the project as possible to force it to be epic. Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Alicia Keys, TI, Swiss, Jeezy – even a fucking Aaliyah sample! But in the end, all that was left was a collection of records. It was an unfocused effort.

Take Care doesn’t suffer from this at all. Even though Take Care is also star-heavy, far less emphasis was placed on who is featured on the album than last time. First off, Drake wisely put his go-to producer Noah “40” Shebib at the center of the project (did you ever imagine that a child actor once known as Wheelchair Jimmy and a Canadian producer named Shebib would be on top of the hip-hop universe?). Every song went through him. He had the flexibility to add, edit or change any beat that was being used on the project. That allowed for the cohesiveness that was lacking on his debut.

I really respect this direction. For those who followed my personal career, when I was creating Sorry I’m Late, we did something eerily similar. Of the 12 songs, I had our go-to producer YZ produce 7. But he recorded, mixed and edited all of the records, including songs that were produced by Needlz, 88-Keys, Nottz and Dub B. It gave the album a cohesiveness that couldn’t have otherwise existed. Like Noah (prior to Thank Me Later), YZ was an accomplished, yet little heralded, producer. It was about the talent and creating great music far more than it was about using the credits for promotion.

There is an amazing chemistry between the two and Drake is really in his comfort zone on 40’s tracks. Noah knows his strengths and weaknesses and isn’t afraid to tell Drake when something isn’t working. That’s invaluable in an industry where most of your inner-circle is star-struck. This album feels complete. It recognized a vision. Not a single record sounded out of place, except maybe Practice (more on that later).

It opens up right where TML should’ve left off with Over My Dead Body – a brilliant beginning. The music, as it is throughout the album, is magnificent. He raps over simple piano chords and very light, sparse drums. He’s as genuine and honest as ever and continues to expand his flow – an improvement which he displays over the course of the album. This, along with The Ride and Look What You’ve Done, is one of the most poignant records on the album. This isn’t just a superstar bragging about money, this is a superstar who admits to feeling pain. What Jay-Z did for humanizing hustlers on Reasonable Doubt, Drake does for the emotional struggles of successful people. I’m not putting TC on RD’s level, by any means, but I’m trying to explain the depth of which his lyrics reach.

You’ll notice right away, however, in the first two tracks, that his subject matter isn’t going to delve much deeper than it already has. Drake raps about Drake. His story is a fascinating one, though not everyone will agree. He was a successful teenage actor who decided he wanted to take a shot at music, and quickly became successful at that. He discusses that, as well as the pitfalls of fame. Missing his old friends in Toronto. His unlucky streak in love. People sometimes claim that they can’t relate because they aren’t famous or that he doesn’t talk about anything other than love and his career, but that’s only true if you take what he says at face value. I’m far from rich, but I’ve experienced a tremendous amount of personal and professional growth since my days in Brooklyn and I often feel many of the same emotions that Drake expresses.

Funny, many of these same people listened to Watch the Throne, regardless of the fact that none of them have the money to chop up a Maybach when they’re bored. Or they listened to 50 Cent, despite the fact that they’ve never shot anyone or been shot. Most artists talk about themselves. It’s about how well and how creative you can do it. I don’t want to hear about Kanye shooting anyone or 50 talking about the AIDS epidemic in Ethiopia. I listen to 50 when I want to get riled up and feel tough or punch a wall. I listen to Jay when I want to lose myself in my imagination of having a cheat code for life. I don’t only watch movies that only relate to me. I watch good movies about a variety of topics. This is Drake’s. There aren’t many who have followed the path he has.

I think much of the hate stems from subconscious jealousy. I think Jay gets that a lot too, but that’s a different article. See, fans love hearing about struggle. They love the underdog (that’s why they USED to love Jay, til he became too successful). They like hearing about Sha Stimuli’s ups, downs and almosts. They like rooting for people. They like that because many hip-hop fans are struggling to achieve their dream, so they love hearing stories about an artist who was in a similar place as them and became successful. It gives them hope.

But Drake? Drake wanted to be an actor, then became one. Then he decided he wanted to become a musician, and he did that too. His mixtape birthed a nationally successful single in Best I Ever Had. Kanye West then produced the video. His debut album featured hip-hop and R&B’s top tier artists and producers. So I think people feel like “EXCUSE ME for not shedding a tear that Rihanna dumped you and was just using you as a rebound. YOU WERE FUCKING RIHANNA!”. These aren’t regular people problems. It’s like the millionaire complaining that he has to pay a lot of taxes. Most people just don’t relate. What people should (but probably won’t) do is realize that everybody’s problems are the same at their core, we just eat at different restaurants while going through it.

His subject matter is not going to surprise you: relationships, success and it’s pitfalls. If you’re looking for something else, go listen to someone else. I will say, in order to have a long career and not get stale, he will eventually have to touch on new topics and create some concept records. It’s still early in his career. Nas didn’t create I Gave You Power right away (though it only took until his second album). But Drake has gotten VERY good at making songs about Drake.

The head-and-shoulders standout track on Take Care was Lord Knows. WOW. Did Just Blaze deliver the beat of the year or what?? He brought in a live choir and produced the shit out of this. And shockingly, Aubrey sounded aggressive and comfortable on the record, delivering some of the best of the album. This track was SO good, that Rick Ross didn’t even fuck it up. His verse, which included the oft-quoted “only fat nigga in a sauna with Jews”, was clever. This is a strong candidate for song of the year and if they don’t make a video for this, I’m going to punch my friend’s dog in the stomach.

Another highlight is a song that I’m sure will get lots of hate, the title track featuring Rihanna. For fans of good music, and happy, normal people, this song is killer. I can see hip-hop purists not liking it because of it’s obvious house influence, but this song is amazing. It’s a single that sounded like it was JUST about to get cheesy but never did. The chemistry these two have is amazing. It’s funny to wonder how many of these sad, regretful songs were written about Rihanna, which makes the song that much more alluring. I can imagine Aubs keeping this song on repeat, staring at a picture of Ri-Ri, single tear in his eye, while having regretful sex with some random girl that he met while away from Toronto.

I don’t know if there’s a hip-hop artist who’s as honest as Drake. One listen to The Ride (which I believe is the end of a trilogy, started by The Calm and The Resistance) and you can feel like you understand his thoughts. He does come off as someone who has it all, yet still constantly complains. I see where people can take this negatively.

The album is too long. The Practice had no business being included in the album. I kept praying that this was some type of bonus song and that my illegally downloaded leak was wrong. I’m glad this review is finally finished so I can delete this horrible thing from my playlist. I get what he was trying to do, but he should’ve left this as one of those octobersveryown.com freebies. Maybe I’m wrong and this will become an Atlanta anthem, but to me, it’s bad.

He could’ve easily replaced this with Club Paradise of Dreams Money Can Buy (great songs). Actually, he should’ve just cut it. At 18 songs (plus 2 bonus tracks), it’s already way too long. I liked Cameras – the idea of it – but I quickly got bored of the monotony of the beat and hook even though it was lyrically and conceptually strong. When I shuffle it and it comes on, I find myself wanting to skip it. Andre 3K’s verse on The Real Her was completely unnecessary. I mean, it’s cool to have Andre on your album since everybody (except me) seems to think he’s some sort of rap God, but it was just completely out of place. So was Kendrick’s verse on the interlude, but at least his verse was really good and added something to the song.

If the album would’ve ended on track 15 with Look What You’ve Done, it would’ve been damn near flawless. Everything up until that point, excluding Cameras, was impressive and served a purpose. After that, however, it was just a mess. HYFR was just a random collab with Wayne which should’ve gotten leaked on the blogs and forgotten about. Sure, Drake’s fast flow was cool, and the song wasn’t bad, it just didn’t maintain the focus that the album had created. The Real Her was a good song for the first couple minutes. The beat was creative. Drake crooned as usual. But then Wayne came in with a pretty horrible verse. And then, as mentioned, 3K comes in out of nowhere and drops a predictably crappy 3K feature – the type he’s sadly becoming known for.

It reminds me a lot of Reasonable Doubt (again – NOT saying it’s on the level) because the first three quarters were flawless, then it had some random, unnecessary songs, and then closed out remarkably. The Ride was awesome. For all the “journalists” who “reviewed” the album before even hearing that record, you did yourself and your readers a tremendous disservice. This song is the epitome of Drake. This album has officially made me a The Weekend fan. The Crew Love feature was also dope, though I wish they would’ve came up with a different name. Crew Love will always be Beanie bodying a beat hardbody to me.

I think Drake works with all of these people as a way of elevating his status (ie. Stevie Wonder “collaborating” on a song by playing a harmonica on the outro that any decent harmonica player could’ve done). Funny thing is, Drake is one of the rare artists both talented and interesting enough to carry an album by himself. Why he keeps putting everyone else on his tracks is baffling to me. Sure, Kendrick’s verse was cool, but it should’ve been on Kendrick’s project. Wayne doesn’t add ANYTHING to any of the songs he’s featured on. The Nicki verse and hook were solid, and Rick Ross surprisingly delivered a solid verse, but other than that – save the features for hooks.

Going back to Look What You’ve Done, this is exactly the type of track that makes Drake such a polarizing figure. See, even on his most heartfelt song, the things he’s complaining about are still better than most people’s DREAMS. “***Riding in a drop top Lexus. Hoping not to get arrested”. He isn’t exactly talking about beating cancer or having to sell drugs to make some money to feed his daughter. He was talking about having TOO much success and TOO much support. But the problem is, the song is SO FUCKING GOOD! We might not relate to the message, but the way he delivers the message is breathtaking. That’s just his personality.

On Marvin’s Room, he tells his ex that he’s been having random, meaningless sex all week but that he wants to come see her. WHO GETS AWAY WITH SAYING SHIT LIKE THAT?? Drake does. Because he knows exactly how to deliver the message. Bill Clinton got a blowjob WHILE IN OFFICE, but was so smooth, that he was able to direct the focus away from that little detail and still end up as the most popular presidents we’ve had in the past few decades. But Herman Cain? He supposedly touched a few butts 15 years ago but can’t seem to get out of his own way while explaining it. Something far less severe than getting head in the Oval Office – that allegedly happened back when the Yankees were winning all those World Series – is going to cost him the GOP nod.

See what I mean? Some people got it, and some just don’t.

Where else does this album fall short? Well, it’s message. It’s a great album. It’s obviously a hybrid between R&B and hip-hop. I think it’s silly to have to box it. We didn’t box The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, did we? Do we not consider that album hip-hop because she sang? Is The Love Below not hip-hop? It’s hypocritical for us to not let Drake into our very specific definition of a genre which, ironically enough, was built on originality and thinking outside the box. So we’ve now gotten to the point where we try and fit music into the very box that we were supposed to be breaking out of? Hip-hop as music has always been about not following the trends and doing what’s different, yet we’re constantly berating those who escape what’s expected. Hip-hop is getting old. People my age (34) or older are sounding more and more like our parents did when we started listening to Run DMC or Nas. We’re gonna diss the new artists who are wearing skinny jeans and just ignore the fact that our parents used to think our size 44 jeans were ridiculous? We’re gonna criticize Wake Flocka Flame for not having a message and Wiz Khalifa for rapping about weed but pretend that Snoop Doggy Dog and Cypress Hill were some sort of prophets who rapped about more than weed and murder? Every generation is going to have their own artists that they relate to. The same way we weren’t appreciating our parents’ favorite artists, the younger generation isn’t going to fully appreciate ours. It’s natural for the younger people to break away and want to have their own things – trends, music, clothing styles. Each generation thinks their way was right and the new way is silly. Welcome to getting old.

That wasn’t random. It’s related to this review. A lot of the hate for Drake stems from the fact that he doesn’t represent what we feel hip-hop should be – what it was founded on. But hip-hop has evolved. We’re no longer a niche. Hip-hop is mainstream music. There’s still plenty of Skyzoos and Sha Stimulis to listen to. Artists who better fit the original definition of hip-hop. And that’s the beautiful thing about today. We don’t have to listen to Drake if we aren’t in the mood for emotional music. Music is freely available to all of us. Yet, many of you do listen to him and then act surprised or angry when it doesn’t sound like Slaughterhouse. Most people listen to music for enjoyment, not to study lyrics or to hear about struggle. They listen in the car on their way to work. R&B and country music always sell well, just like romantic movies, because people are ALWAYS falling in and out of love. There’s always a market for that. Drake is in that lane.

So Drake is our generation’s LL Cool J – only better. Is that so bad? LL is one of the forefathers of rap and is a legend, maybe even a top 10 or 15 of all-time. What’s impressive about Drake is that he does these relationship R&B records, but writes them as if he was rapping. The words, the curses, they’re so natural. His raps are witty. The words are exceptionally real. He isn’t Pharell trying to do something he isn’t naturally good at. He’s more lyrical than most “radio” rappers. Can’t we just appreciate it for what he is?

I could probably type another 12 pages on this topic. It goes so much deeper than just one artist. The hate Drake experiences represents a shift in our culture. The aging of a genre. Hip-hop is supposed to be tough. Graffiti on the walls. Bare knuckle brawls. Naughty by Nature. But it’s grown up now. And there’s another generation who’s embracing and expanding the genre. We can either accept it or end up sounding exactly like we’re parents – doing the very thing we swore as kids that we’d never do. Hip-hop is no longer exclusively the school bully. Sometimes, it’s the guy who bought the teddy bear for his girl and then cried when she broke up with him and dated the bully. Blame Kanye for ushering in this trend (has everybody forgotten about his teddy bear logos already?) – but would anybody really want to imagine hip-hop without Kanye’s influence?

If I was rating this album, I’d give it about an 8½ out of 10. To give it any more would be an insult to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which did everything Drake did AND delivered amazing message after message. But to give it less would an insult to the very genre that we claim to love.

When we talk about classic hip-hop albums, we talk about illmatic, Reasonable Doubt, Ready to Die, The Chronic, Paid in Full. These are the albums that define a genre and an era. They’re timeless. If you were writing a thesis about hip-hop, these are the projects you would reference. Ready to Die changed the subject matter of future rap albums. illmatic single-handedly brought hip-hop back to New York. Classic albums are moments that last forever. As an artist, you create the music, release it, and then let nature take it’s course. Never in hip-hop has an artist announced an album will be classic before releasing it and then actually released a classic. It sets up an almost impossible to reach plateau.

Wale decided to ignore that philosophy. He took every opportunity he possibly could to place Ambition in the same conversation as those other albums before a single song had been heard. Confidence or naivety? Could he possibly create a body of work equal to some of greatest of all-time despite only having one mediocre solo project on his resume? Would signing to the “label of the moment” Maybach Music Group water down his sound?

It’s 11.1.11. It’s time to form our opinion. Did Wale accomplish what no other hip-hop artist has successfully done and predict a classic? Or is he more Rex Ryan, predicting – but failing to deliver on – a championship?

Let’s start off with the most obvious statement in hip-hop history: Wale did not create an album better than Reasonable Doubt, as he had challenged himself to do. And it wasn’t close. Ambition won’t be mentioned alongside the albums that have defined hip-hop. It’s far from the classic that he promised us.

But he did manage to create a very good – but still short of great – album.

Ambition is leaps and bounds above his disappointing debut Attention Deficit. On AD, he sounded like he was trying to create what was expected of him. Perhaps there were too many label hands involved in trying to craft the sound that they thought should be Wale. He was trying to be too many things and, in the process, lost what people actually liked about him – himself. On Ambition, this is Wale. Nothing more, nothing less. Maybe not the Wale you admired after 100 Miles & Running, but this is who Wale has become. His radio attempts fit in very well with the rest of the album. Nothing sounds forced, though perhaps a bit repetitive. It was cohesive. The beats were very good overall, with few exceptions. The hooks helped add to the song and make it better, give it character, the way a hook should (J. Cole should take note).

Ambition is better than Cole World – though my guess is that pure hip-hop fans will prefer Cole’s non-radio effort more. Matter of fact, Ambition is better than most albums that have been released this year. The album starts off as almost a dedication to Wale’s core fans. His first four songs have no features, Wale performing each hook, and a lot of rapping. My wife, and probably the entire female segment of his fan base, might skip past the first few songs to get to the more radio friendly portion of the album, but his “Mixtape About Nothing” fans should be satisfied.

The sequencing of the album is very intriguing to me. Starting the album with a string of songs like this is an interesting approach, to say the least. I often find myself either skipping Don’t Hold Your Applause, Double M Genius and Legendary to listen to the rest of the album, or vice versa – ONLY listening to those and a select few others. He really displays his lyrical talent on the opening tracks, especially on Legendary. His lyrics can sometimes fly over your head if you aren’t paying attention. The key for a lyrical artist is to deliver records in a way where even if you aren’t catching the meaning behind each line, the song is enjoyable to listen to. He’s done that here. There are lots of double entendres. The depth of his lyrics gives the album a lot of replay value, though the subject matter is a bit less diverse than his core fans would’ve hoped.

A lot of people seem to like Legendary, and in a way, I do too. But it’s hard for me to take Wale seriously when his hook says “fuck money, fuck fame”, when all I hear him do all day on twitter is brag about those exact things. Some random person with 29 followers will tweet “@wale if your album flops that’s a huge fail for you” and Wale will respond with something along the lines of “BITCH I MADE $100,000 LAST WEEK! IM CHILLIN”. So four minutes of him telling me how money and fame don’t mean anything to him hits me the same as Jay-Z telling me he buys gas for his Maybach with food stamps.

Matter of fact, I think I would’ve enjoyed this album exponentially more if I didn’t follow Wale on twitter. If I didn’t hear him promise it was a classic and say he was aiming for Reasonable Doubt. But I did. As objective as I try to be, it’s impossible to completely block out your sub conscience.

Lotus Flower Bomb – which I didn’t hear until I heard the album – is an awesome single. Miguel sings the shit out of the chorus and Wale keeps his lyrics relatable an friendly, without being cheesy. It had enough of a concept to stop from being too “been there, done that”. Production was top notch. Just an all around great choice for a lead single. This was the beginning of Wale telling us how much he admires and appreciates “bitches”.

Chain Music is my favorite song on the album and I hope it becomes a single. One thing that makes it great is that it’s different from the rest of the album (more on that later). What’s also great is that though it sounds like an ignorant money record, it’s actually a concept song with an good message. It’s a mock of the materialism – which again, would be great with the exception that Wale forever talks about his money and accomplishments. *focus Wil…..be objective….ignore tweets*. Okay, I’m back. He basically says that talking about money has gotten people to listen to his lyrics. It’s a bit ironic, but it’s a great song. Beat is outstanding, bass drives home. Sounds amazing through the big Event speakers in the Culture VI studio and in the Culturemobile. And this is the type of Rick Ross feature I can enjoy. One where he’s not actually rapping.

Then it transitions into Focused. What can I say? I’m happy that Wale and Cudi made up. I really am. I don’t know why they were mad at each other, but I’m glad they’re buddies again. I can only wish to God that the reconciliation would’ve happened after Ambition’s song submission cutoff date had passed. My best guess is that he wanted to do a song with Cudi as some sort of show of solidarity and then left it on the final tracklist because he didn’t want to offend him and ruin their newly renewed friendship again. Cus, except for the gimmick of two frenemies getting on a song together, the song is completely unnecessary.

Then comes “Lotus Flower Pt. II” and “Lotus Flower Pt. III”, aka Sabotage and White Linen. As with LF, they’re both pro-woman songs featuring a prominent singer and Wale rapping nice lyrics that girls can pretty much understand on their first listen. Sabotage is a bit more uptempo and White Linen has an 80s style beat. They aren’t bad songs at all. They’re actually pretty good. They’re just very similar. These two songs, I believe, are why people are going to either like or dislike Ambition. Fans who loved the album’s first four songs might be turned off, especially because these are back to back – which gets back to the sequencing. On the other hand, part of Wale’s promotional strategy included visiting a college, tweeting he was outside and watching the hundreds or thousands of students come flooding outside to greet him. That niche – the college girls specifically – will probably love the album for these few songs, even if they don’t understand the lyrics on the first few. Personally, I prefer Wale on these records more than I do on songs like Legendary. I’m probably one of the few old school hip-hop purists who feels that way. There is a laundry list of other artists I’d prefer to listen to if I’m just listening for lyrics, such as Lupe. But there aren’t many other radio rappers that I’d rather hear than Wale, because at least he has some substance and lyricism. He raps circles around the Ross’ and Wackas of the world.

And that’s sorta how I think of Wale. Not quite revolutionary enough to be Common, but not fun and frivolous enough to be Ross. He does a respectable job of toeing the line and being just believable enough in each role to be enjoyable, but not authentic enough to have his own lane. As I mentioned before, he’s also quite contradictory. I almost feel like there’s two Wales: the one that he wants to be and the one that exists. He works hard to exude a charm, humbleness and confidence and come off as a genuinely nice guy who cares about his fans. And I believe that is part of his real persona. It’s the insecurity and arrogance that renders him extremely polarizing. He’s exactly the type of person who you could imagine googling his name, finding negative comments about himself on a rap forum, and registering just to rebut and argue. He seems to feel the need to dispel every negative feeling towards him. He’s seemingly bipolar. I can relate because the same has been said about me by more than one person. This is probably why I find myself in disagreements with people like Wale and Joe Buddens, because we share many of the same character flaws. I acknowledge mine and work feverishly every day to improve. I’m not sure either of them ever have. But that, too, is a different discussion.

I really wish Bad Girls Club feat. J. Cole would’ve been on the album. That and Biait. Since the idea was to flood the album with potential radio singles, this would’ve been a welcome change of tempo and departure from the “I’ll rap 3 verses and (insert famous singer) will do the hook over an R&B/hip-pop sounding beat” formula that he found himself relying on for much of the LP. I’m sure he had his reasons, but I would’ve preferred either of those over Lotus I and Lotus II.

I should hate Slight Work. It has everything that I could ever hate on a song. Police sirens blaring for 4 minutes. Big Sean rapping. Not quite a Swizz Beatz beat – but a beat that sounds like a Swizz Beatz beat, which is even worse (who would you rather be: the guy who drives a Pinto or the guy who wishes he did?) – though at least Swizz isn’t yelling on it). And Wale repeating the same word over and over and over and over and over again. Yet, because of the mellowness of three of the four tracks preceding it, I find myself excited when this song comes on. I actually liked Big Sean’s verse on here. I’m curious to see how the song is received. Like Wale, I’m guessing it will probably be very polarizing. People will most likely love it or hate it.

Ambition is the hands-down best song on the album. The beat is tremendous, the verses and hook are all on topic, and even Meek Mill didn’t ruin it. Believe it or not, Rick Ross actually spits a few bars on this one. It was the perfect theme song for the album. All three verses were great, but Wale does what an artist is supposed to do on his own song – he stole the show from his featured guests. He went perfectly with the slight beat change up. The song packed tons of emotion. It was MMG at their absolute best. I wish Rick Ross would rap like this on his solo project.

Illest Bitch Alive is a well executed song covering an all-too-familiar concept. Trying to be clever, he calls the woman “bitch”, but is complimenting her. It’s supposed to be ironic. Problem is, it’s been done before. Overall, the song is cool. It reminds me of Common’s skit after The 6th Sense on Like Water for Chocolate where the woman is thanking him for all his positive lyrics for women and he interrupts the conversation mid-sentence (“I was raised by my mother. I have a daughter…”) to smack the girl that he’s pimpin’ out. That was some fifteen years ago. It’ll probably be appreciated by the younger generation, though.

You can really hear Wale’s spoken word roots in songs like this. First, this is a very common topic among the spoken word circuit. But second, his delivery – the way he’s simply speaking to the audience – it displays his roots. Every artist should start in the spoken word realm. It helps improve writing, lyrics, songwriting and delivery. I’ll probably write an article on that soon.

The album comes full circle on the last two songs. No Days Off sounds like the first few songs – just Wale and a beat. More strong lyrics. More messages. Another strong beat. By the way, his flow throughout the album is nearly flawless. He properly adjusts to each beat and keeps the music interesting.

DC or Nothing was a perfect closing song (I believe – and hope – that That Way was just a bonus track). He speaks on DC’s troubles, corruption, etc. It’s a nice way to close out, especially since he has mostly abandoned his DC Go-go foundation on Ambition. It’s lyrical, conceptual, and pleasant to listen to.

If you’re into lyrics, you should enjoy the album.You need multiple listens to fully comprehend what he’s saying. There’s definitely some hidden gems in there.There is a fine line, however. “Just because you can’t understand him, it doesn’t mean that he’s nice”. I think on his first album, he had too many “hidden” lyrics. Lyrics that he understood but not many others did. That was his defense. He rationalized that people didn’t like the album because they couldn’t understand it. Almost like we weren’t smart enough to understand the genius in his music. That’s not at all true. If someone doesn’t like a song, reading and understanding the words won’t make them suddenly like a song. It might make them appreciate it, but a song is a song. It isn’t just lyrics. It’s the way that you choose to deliver them. Politics isn’t about the best message, it’s about who conveys it the best. Wale did a much better job this time around. Liking the song buys a listener time to actually value his words. Not everybody listens to music to study. He didn’t go too far, like many artists do. He didn’t dumb down to the point where he sounds commercialized. He understood what he needed to do and handled it. It’s the rare album that both my wife and I could listen to together.

“I’m just trying to make a classic album, something that you can put up there with Reasonable Doubt and all the stuff that’s blasphemous to compare your work to now,” Wale explained. “Why can’t I say my album is just as good as Reasonable Doubt or I’m trying to beat Reasonable Doubt? That shit is blasphemous to say.” -Wale

Ambition: “I guarantee it’s a classic” -@wale

As I listen to the album, I just can’t get that tweet or those comments out of my head. As much as I try to separate it, I can’t. He did well to create anticipation, but I feel he set the bar so high that disappointment was inevitable. No knock on Wale – he’s a good artist – but I don’t believe he has the talent to create a Reasonable Doubt-esque album. Kanye West is an interesting comparison. Kanye makes boastful statements such as this (don’t I remember him saying he gave Jay the “best beats of all-time” for Blueprint 3?). The difference is, Kanye backs it up. He keeps releasing classic music. See, that’s the thing. It all comes down to the music. Everything else is just a side show. He brags and then follows through. Many people want to hate Kanye for all his antics, but they can’t stop listening to his music. When you make these statements and don’t follow through, you start to lose believers. Rex Ryan has the Jets in the AFC Championship two straight years. But instead of being hailed as a genius, most people are instead critical because for both of those years, he has predicted something grander than that – a Superbowl. So, despite his success, the bar was set so high that he’s considered a disappointment. People can’t wait for him to fail so they can say “I told you so”.

Wale is Rex Ryan. He created an album beyond most people’s expectations, but it’s ultimately going to be regarded as a failure.
Overall, what are my thoughts? I think it’s a good album. I think if I never saw him compare it to a classic, I’d be saying “good for Wale – he’s improving”. But, similar to when Slaughterhouse declared their disappointing debut a “classic”, they’ve reset my expectations. In that sense, the album didn’t nearly live up to self-induced expectations. I don’t really have a rating system, but this is somewhere around an 3.5-4 out of 5 – similar to Cole’s.

Was he smart by raising expectations for an album that many people weren’t anticipating? Well, he’s certainly gotten our attention. I’m very interested in seeing how it’s received. My guess is it’ll receive a very lukewarm response. I predict a lot of 7/10s or 3 1/2 mics. I don’t think any respectable media outlet will mistake this for a classic. As far as sales? He’s done a great job of promoting the album. I’m guessing he’ll do 250k the first week, which will be enough for him to secure another release.

I didn’t expect much out of Wale, honestly. And because of that, I’ll admit here that I was wrong. He delivered a quality project. He has me back on the bandwagon….as long as that bandwagon doesn’t have the world “classic” plastered on it.

If you haven’t read my recent interview with Wale, I suggest you take a listen. It was extremely candid. You can find them here: part 1 part 2 part 3. He also used part of our interview in the first part of his Making of Ambition promo video.

How about investing it into the communities that supported you when you were a minimum wage-earning correctional officer?

Okay, I know that’s asking too much. I know it’s also asking too much to want the Rick Rosses of the world to rap like Lupe and actually have a message in their music. People wanna dance on Friday nights. I get it. As Jay-Z once said “I used to rhyme like Common Sense, but I did 5 mill and ain’t been rhyming since Common since”. I’m at a bar right now in Hawaii (note: I was at a bar in Hawaii when I started writing this three weeks ago) and the last thing I wanna hear is somebody talking about the plight of society. I wanna drink my vodka tonic and hear that i’gnant shit.

However – that doesn’t mean you can’t be involved in the communities in other ways and help affect change.

I won’t even blame the artists. See, most of them come from the same place many of us come from – nothing. They finally get a little bit of money and don’t understand the responsibility that comes with it. I’ve never seen Gwyneth Paltrow throw a stack of hundred dollar bills on a naked man before, but I do see her as the face of Save the Children and her numerous other causes, and not just because she donates money, but because she gets involved.

One of our problems as a society is we do whatever is easiest because we don’t have a sense of accountability. We don’t take care of ourselves or our communities, but then we blame everyone around us for our shortcomings. We live in a generation of instant gratification. We believe we deserve the world and everything should be handed to us. We no longer need to do research at the library. The answer to all of our questions is on our iPhone. No need to wait for an album’s release date, we can download it off Hulkshare.

You know how clichés become clichés? By being true a lot of the time.

So where do we start? Well, how about being the change that we’d like to see? Let’s start with our home. Let’s not twitpic ourselves in our dirty bathrooms in our thongs. What other radical changes can we make? How about not trying to imitate the rap videos that we watch and spend 85% of our weekly paycheck on bottles of cheap vodka in an effort to impress girls? And girls – how about not being impressed by a dude spending 85% of his weekly paycheck on overpriced bottles of cheap vodka?? Ever heard of a 401k? Owning property and stocks? If you’re gonna be one of those girls who is impressed by money, be impressed by real money, at least. If you’re gonna chase cash, chase real cash (not that I’m condoning chasing it at all…I’m just sayin…).

Maybe we can try aspiring to own homes instead of rims. We can take our kids to the park on Sunday morning instead of being hung over from drinking cheap vodka at Marquee the night before. Maybe not get every girl pregnant that says we don’t have to use a condom? There are plenty of things we can do as a society to improve our quality of life other than complaining about government conspiracies.

What other radical changes can we make? Well, I grew up in Williamsburg/Bushwick, Brooklyn, and some of the guys in my neighborhood acted like we lived in a Mobb Deep video. They walked around with guns describing the streets like some warzone. I had my share of fights, but I never felt like I lived in Iraq. That violence? It was mostly self-inflicted. It didn’t affect the majority of people who kept their shit clean, it was really for the people who wanted it to be that way. If you don’t carry guns, pull guns, start beef because somebody looked at your girl or stepped on your Uptowns, if you weren’t selling drugs or trying to grab territory – for the most part – you were left alone. I mean, out of the 30 people in my homeroom while I was in high school, only a handful of us were constantly in fights, in jail or running around like idiots. Was there violence? Danger? Sure. But even though it might seem like a lot, it really affects a tiny percentage of people.

We see rappers, even those who are only mildly successful, living in great houses and driving expensive cars. And that allure is what draws us to them. That’s our fault, not theirs. They can only feed us what we’ll eat.

See, the easy thing to do is to pass the blame. Blame Government for not initiating change. Blame the rappers for not being more involved in their communities. But how about looking at ourselves first? I mean, we’re the ones who buy the records and attend the shows. We’re the ones who spend the money, so we’re the ones who control what we support. Without fans, there’s no industry. They don’t force us to buy shitty music. We support it. And rappers? We could force them to devote more of their attention to important issues if we diverted our money to the ones who did and stopped rewarding ignorance.

Rappers will give us what we ask for. But that doesn’t mean a handful of people literally “asking” for artists to help initiate a change. Asking involves action. We, the fans, need to get involved and become the change. If we don’t agree with the death penalty, we need to take action ourselves. Artists, celebrities who have a voice, they’ll react to our movement if they see it can benefit them. Look at Occupy Wall Street. Artists and celebrities are now involved because it’s good press – regardless of if they actually agree with the crusade. So it’s our responsibility to create the opportunity and then the ones who possess the strong voices will join. Don’t blame them for not giving something we’re not really “asking” for. Tweeting an artist about change but then supporting his ignorance isn’t “asking”.

Just a few quick thoughts. Feel free to comment.

Shouts to Big Ghostfase (@bigghostfase). I focus more on substance, while he focuses on entertainment. Both are important to our lives in different ways. We might have our disagreements, but I respect his craft. And if our little twitter back-and-forth helped get a few more people to read this and maybe help make a change, then it was all worth it. Do yourself a favor and visit his blog: http://bigghostnahmean.blogspot.com/

For the record, I don’t think either of these are the greatest hip-hop album of all-time. For me, that distinction goes to illmatic, followed closely by Paid in Full. I put Reasonable Doubt and Ready to Die in my top 5, but that’s an entirely different article.

I read and rebutted the Complex Magazine article where they inexplicably claimed Jay-Z’s Blueprint was better than Reasonable Doubt. My comment in that last paragraph is exactly the reason I find that comparison ridiculous. While Blueprint was a great – perhaps even classic – album, nobody who I respect has ever placed it in the conversation of greatest album of all-time, while RD is consistently in that discussion. That should be all you need to know about that silly comparison.

I don’t even know where to begin with these two albums. I’ve never analyzed this before, so I’ll just be thinking/typing out loud. Here we go…

Let me get the first, most obvious argument out of the way. Yes, if it wasn’t for Ready to Die, I’m not sure that Reasonable Doubt would even exist. We all know the impact that Biggie had on his protégé, but that can be said about almost any album. Every artist was inspired by someone before him. To use that as the basis of your argument is a copout, in my opinion. Using that logic, nothing from the present can ever be better than anything released previously. For that, we could just say that every Rakim and KRS album was better than anything else ever. So let’s get past that and have an intelligent discussion.

Here’s my overall take. Reasonable Doubt is the more polished album. It doesn’t sound like a debut. Minus a few songs towards the end that were meant to showcase Roc-a-fella artists (the entire point of the album was to help launch the artists from the label, remember), it was a very cohesive, experienced album. It was more on par with Life After Death sonically.

What Ready to Die had was raw emotion. Every word was spoken from the heart. It didn’t sound rehearsed – just natural talent, whereas RD sounded like a team of experienced professionals. That makes the comparison exceptionally difficult because neither one is necessarily better than the other – but rather “apples and oranges” different. Ready to Die was both simple and complex at the same time. It also had a much wider reach than RD, thanks to Puffy’s invaluable vision. You can hear what it would’ve been without Puff’s magic touch – just another underground rapper’s tough-guy album. A collection of Gimme the Loot’s. The singles really made it sound like two completely different albums, whereas RD was more cohesive. This was less a Biggie solo album than it was a Puff and Big collaborative effort.

Since this isn’t Complex Magazine, I’m not gonna waste your time comparing album covers and pretending they mean as much as factors such as lyrics and beats. Let’s get right to the heart of these albums.

Lyrically, these are two completely different albums. Jay was wordier and more vividly descriptive (similar like Nas), forcing the listener to pay attention and rewind in order to fully comprehend the depth of his verses. That’s one of the major reasons why this album wasn’t fully appreciated initially. Jay’s voice and delivery instantly sounded like another instrument on the beat, leaving him enjoyable to listen to, whether you understood the lyrics or not. At first glance, he sounds like any other drug dealer rapper. It isn’t until multiple listens where you really start to appreciate the level of detail and uniqueness of the angle he takes in regards to this lifestyle.

Biggie is the polar opposite. He uses a much simpler, less wordy flow that sometimes isn’t appreciated until you realize how elaborate his rhymes really are. He was much more direct in his approach, relying more on being clever than being intricate. You understand his words the first time you hear them. His vividness was in his simplicity. Descriptive without needing too many or complicated words. It was art. The rhyme patterns were more straightforward. While Jay discussed the boss sitting in his throne overseeing the entire drug game, Biggie rapped from the trenches of a hustler who would do anything to keep from going back to jail. Lines like “I don’t care if you’re pregnant, gimme the rings and the ‘number 1 mom’ pendant” and “she looks so good, I’d suck on her daddy’s dick” were so shocking and honest that they just hit home like no other rapper before him had. While Reasonable Doubt was full of “damn, what did he say? Rewind that” moments, Ready to Die had that “Holy shit, did you hear what he just said?! Rewind that shit!” effect. Therefore, I feel Ready was appreciated upon first listen, as opposed to Reasonable, which – like wine – took time to fully appreciate. Some of Big’s rhymes would seem simple by today’s standards, while Jay’s lyrics on RD are still the benchmark by which lyricism is judged.

Lyrically, these are two completely different styles with different objectives. It’s almost unfair to compare them. I’d have to say RD has a slight lyrical edge, but it might be based more on taste than anything. There is a unique talent to both styles. But when you go back and listen years later, you could literally print out the lyrics from RD or read them out loud as spoken word and they’d be equally – if not more – impressive as when they were first released.

In terms of production, these are – again – two very different albums. RD followed a formula. It was some of hip-hop’s top producers using jazzy soul samples to create a very distinctive soundscape. These were sounds that weren’t meant to overpower, but rather compliment Jay’s elaborate rhymes. Never did a beat sound like it dominated the song; it almost always perfectly complimented. The songs really sound like they were created together, with everybody on the same page, working in unison to create a song and album. Not a single song sounded like Dame or Biggs telling Jay “trust me, you NEED to rap on this beat”.

R2D was a little more ‘all over the place’. Again, it felt like two different albums. Things Done Changed, Gimme the Look, Machine Gun Funk – these were beats that could’ve been found on any underground rapper’s album. But Juicy and Big Poppa were sounds taken from 80s hits. It was interesting and impressive how Puff managed to blend these together and keep the album from feeling unorganized. The beats seemed to dictate Big’s flow more than on RD. The drums were harder, forcing Big to rap with more energy than Jay’s laid back “boss” flow. He sounded angry and hungry.

Biggie adopted Jay’s demeanor more on Life After Death, once he was more comfortable with his voice and delivery. Oddly enough, Jay adopted Big’s sense of lyrical simplicity on his later albums. He became less wordy and more clever. They both really borrowed off one another, despite the common attitude that Jay took more from Big. On R2D, Biggie had a “worker” mentality. On LAD, he took Jay’s “boss” persona. It’s impossible to know who would’ve learned more from whom if Biggie had managed to avoid that bullet in Vegas.

Can’t Knock the Hustle would be the closest comparable to a R2D single, but even that was geared more toward the streets than it was the clubs. Ready to Die had a vision. They wanted to create beats that had a variety. Lots of hard drums and break beats, mixed with hits from the 80s. I give Big a lot of credit for trusting Puffy and spitting his heart out over the type of beat the he was originally uncomfortable with. It laid the foundation for his success. Slight edge to Biggie because of the diversity, though I personally appreciate RD’s focused production better.

Let’s talk actual songs. Lyrics and beats are important categories, but it’s the songs that they create that ultimately determine the success or failure of an album. This is another very close comparison. And again, a lot of it is based on personal preference.

RD had a heavy emphasis of jazzy, soulful samples. The songs were very reflective, rarely aggressive. They were introspective, focusing on the successes and pitfalls of a drug dealer’s life. They took an honest look into the game, which is a perspective that hadn’t been previously explored in such detail. Songs like Regrets simply didn’t exist before RD. Rarely was an urban artist that honest with himself. Jay spoke highly of his exploits and the accomplishments of his team, but exposed his fears to us. It was the first time we’ve gotten to see the inner workings of a hustler’s mind. Every song contributed to this singular theme, each exploring a different viewpoint. It was a hustler’s blueprint.

Ready to Die, on the other hand, was a completely different type of album sound wise. Driven by heavy break beats, the album took on an aggressive tone from the outset. The intro immediately set a nostalgic mood, and the mix of heavy drums with hits from the previous decade delivered something innovative that hip-hop hadn’t yet experienced. It was fierce and raw and uncensored. Biggie represented what we saw in the streets every day, where Jay represented what we aspired to be. Juicy was – by far – the greatest song created by either artist. It’s one of the most impactful, influential and greatest songs ever recorded in hip-hop history. It represented ambition. The ultimate rags-to-riches story. The songs were a mirror reflection of many of the people who were listening.

If I had to give an edge, I’d lean towards R2D, only because it helped usher in an entirely new sound. While RD was the epitome of jazz soul, it wasn’t a new concept, nor did it create any new trends. R2D’s sound was not only copied, but basically birthed an entire era of copycats.

Conceptually, both albums followed a similar theme, yet managed to push the envelope. For Jay, songs like 22 Two’s and Friend are Foe are still unmatched fifteen years later, as are Warning and Me & My Bitch. Brooklyn’s Finest and The What are still prime examples of flawless collaborations between artists at their peaks. Both albums hardly strayed from their theme, which was a good thing.

And the last thing I’ll consider is social impact, which is important factor in any classic album debate. See, a later album might sound technically better – a combination of larger budget and increased experience – but the influence of an album should not be understated. Biggie’s album was more widely accepted and caused a greater impact immediately, mainly because it had ready-for-radio singles that helped changed the face of hip-hop. Songs like Juicy and One More Chance (the remix – which wasn’t on the album) changed how artists approached radio and helped enlarge hip-hop’s fan base. R2D managed to capture a sound that has transcended its era and still remains relevant.

Reasonable Doubt had its share of singles. Can’t Knock the Hustle, featuring Mary J. Blige, still remains a tremendously inspiring and powerful record. Ain’t No Nigga was Jay’s last-ditch attempt and first successful foray at a hit record. Other than that, the songs were more respected than critically acclaimed. It was a different type of success. Dead Presidents and D’Evils are constantly referred to for their stellar lyrics, while Friend or Foe is quoted by rappers and hustlers everywhere.

The social impact of Ready to Die was felt immediately, while Reasonable Doubt took time to mature and be fully appreciated. Both albums helped propel the respective artists to the top of the hip-hop world. Ready to Die instantly thrust New York back to the forefront of the urban world, which Dre and Snoop had temporarily claimed, while Reasonable Doubt catapulted Jay to “heir to the throne” status once Biggie had prematurely passed on. Once again, a slight edge would have to be given to R2D.

Where would Jay have been if Big would’ve lived a long, healthy life? It’s impossible to tell. Many artists have had an impressive debut or two-album run. If 50 Cent or DMX had died shortly after their debuts, would they have been held in the same light at Christopher Wallace? Would Jay have been able to escape the shadow and stand alone as his own man? These are questions that can never be answered. Jay was influenced by Big, as Big was influenced by Jay. The bottom line is, they both recorded amazing albums that stand as two of hip-hop’s best. I’ve given more edges to R2D, but I personally feel that – song for song – Reasonable Doubt is a slightly better album, while Ready to Die had the bigger impact. That’s probably a cop-out, I know, but hopefully – with the analysis I’ve provided – you can come to your own conclusion. Maybe I should compare linear notes, album covers or some other arbitrary item to break the tie (shouts to Complex).

But if I definitively had to state which album ranks higher in my “Best Hip-Hop Albums of All-Time” debate (which I’ll write one day) – I’d give a very slight edge to Ready to Die, even though I personally prefer Reasonable Doubt a bit more. It had bigger records – songs that transcended the genre and defined an era. As great as Can’t Knock the Hustle was, find me another song that gets the reaction that Juicy does when it comes on in a club. It might be the single greatest song in hip-hop history (although that’s certainly up for debate).

Having said that, give me illmatic over either of those any day.

Dear Complex,

Reasonable Doubt vs. Blueprint. Word?

First off, from reading the article, I can’t possibly imagine that the author was alive or at least coherent when Reasonable Doubt was released. It’s obvious from his writing that he has no idea of the social impact that album had.

You can say that any number of an artist’s newer album were technically better, due to increased budgets, experience and advancement of technology. Was It Was Written not technically better than illmatic? Was Life After Death not technically better than Ready to Die? Forever better than 36 Chambers? But I think that out of every 100 hip-hop fans you ask, 95 of them would say they consider those debuts as better, more important albums than the sophomore efforts.

That’s because music can’t just be judged in segments. Social impact is a huge factor.

Let me start with this. Judging the album based on “categories” was among the most ignorant attempts at proving a point that I’ve ever read. It’s obvious from the beginning that the author was writing from a strong point of bias. There was no suspense on which album would finish on top. He sought to point out any negative about Reasonable Doubt that he could find, while propelling any positive from the Blueprint. He sounded like a Republican trying to write an article comparing Obama and a GOP candidate.

Twelve categories? Really? So, according to the author, the album cover is just as important as the lyrics? The album cover counts as one “point”, just like the production does. Okay. Find me a single person who thinks an album cover is just as important as the production and I’ll wash the author’s twelve speed.

Guests:
This one left me wanting to punch myself repeatedly in the face. Let me make sure I got this right. You create a section for “guests” and then say that BP was better because it didn’t have many? Oh ok. In RD’s 15 years of existence, I have never once heard anyone ever say that Mary J Blige and Biggie’s features felt like “crutches”. That was the epitome of the author making something up and trying to use it to prove his point. Mary J’s feature worked flawlessly with the song. And Brooklyn’s Finest was exactly what a collaboration should be. Two tremendous artists going back and forth, bar for bar. It accomplished what Renegade couldn’t. I also noticed he didn’t mention that Renegade was an old Eminem and Royce the 5’9” collaboration that Jay-Z resurrected. But right, why point that out? And are we ignoring the amazing Coming of Age collaboration, the song in which Bleek didn’t suck (probably because Jay wrote the entire thing)?

FOXY SAVED HIS CAREER??? First, you refer to Foxy as a “hot up and comer”. I’m guessing you didn’t realize that she wasn’t even a rapper at the time. She was someone that Jay-Z pulled out of his neighborhood because he needed a girl for a song he wrote. But yea, you’re right, the hot up-and-comer who had never rapped before saved Jay’s career. Brilliant point.

And the reason he had Sauce Money and his other “friends” on the album is because Reasonable Doubt was supposed to be the jumpstart for their Roc-A-Fella Records label, not for Jay’s solo career. This was supposed to be his only album. Only the album ended up becoming an instant classic, pretty much forcing Jay to record another album. Think about that. He dropped an album that was SO good and had such an impact on the genre that he had to create more albums. This one piece of work catapulted him to the top of hip-hop’s most respected artists.

Numbers:
Are you seriously comparing album sales from an artist at the height of his popularity in an era where 50 Cent’s debut sold 10 million albums to an unknown artist’s debut in an era where hip-hop was still struggling to be accepted as a popular art form? Sure, the top two or three albums in the mid-90s sold well, but most albums – especially ones that weren’t geared toward the pop world – struggled to sell. illmatic didn’t sell either. Since when do we judge the greatness of an album based on it’s sales? Should I bring up all the Gucci’s throughout history who have sold well and compare their albums to RD as well? Using your logic, Nastradamus was better than illmatic because it sold more and had more top 50 songs. Reasonable Doubt single-handedly set Jay-Z up as the heir to Biggie’s throne once he passed away.

Lyrics
You can’t take twelve categories and give them equal weight. That just isn’t factual. A hip-hop album is comprised of three main facets: lyrics, beats, flow. Then you can start looking at concepts, features, hooks, etc. The lyrics on Reasonable Doubt were so far beyond not just Blueprint, but damn near every album that had come out during that era, that it’s importance can’t be quantified by a 1/12th scale. Jay has said himself that he was disappointed in the lyrical content of Blueprint. The album was done so quickly that he didn’t put much thought into the words. That’s why you see a renewed effort on BP2 to step his lyrical content up. BP2 is miles ahead of BP in terms of lyrics, which makes RD light years ahead. But according to your basis, that only accounts for 1/12th of the album’s grade.

Concepts
How can you say “except for 22 two’s”, the whole album was about hustling? Then you follow that up by explaining that Never Change had some amazingly different concept than the rest of the album? That’s just complete bias.

Was Friend or Foe not on your copy of Reasonable Doubt? Coming of Age – the mentoring of a young hustler? Or Regrets? The first time you’ve ever really heard a rapper open his soul and expose the drawbacks of hustling? And the “street hustler” topic that you’re so tired of? Have you ever LISTENED to this album? He was describing hustling in a way that had never been done before. Explaining the pitfalls, not just the glory.

Production:
Kudos for Jay for “taking a chance” on the up-and-comer Just Blaze. So I guess we’re just pretending “The Dynasty” never happened? Because, I’m sure you realize that Just produced nearly twice as many records on Dynasty than he did on Blueprint. So it wasn’t really taking a chance since he had just produced the majority of his last album. Sure, it was the album that exposed Kanye West to the world and helped make Just a staple. I’m not saying that isn’t true. I’ve always given Jay-Z credit for giving some lesser known producers a shot. But he didn’t set out to do that. He happened to get a CD of beats and created masterpieces to them. It was a no-brainer. It created a great sound. But the collection of producers on RD were classic. It helped define that eras sound.

The bottom line is, both albums were great. I’ll never knock Blueprint because it’s probably a top 30 album in hip-hop. But Reasonable Doubt is among the greatest albums of all time. It’s in the same conversation as illmatic, Ready to Die, Paid in Full. These albums defined hip-hop. Without Reasonable Doubt, there is no Blueprint. When you talk about The Chronic, you don’t put Blueprint in that same category. Maybe the author wasn’t alive during the era and couldn’t witness it first hand. Time often has a way of diluting greatness. There are people who argue Babe Ruth wasn’t the greatest baseball player of all-time. As long as people have free will, debates like this will always rage on.

But just like saying Barry Bonds isn’t better than Babe Ruth, Blueprint isn’t better than Reasonable Doubt.

Sincerely,
Reality

That’s what the album WASN’T. Let’s talk about what the album WAS.

Cole World: The Sideline Story was solid. It was a strong debut from a very anticipated artist who was under an immense amount of pressure. I think your view of the album will depend heavily on your own personal expectations. Let’s look at it two ways.

If you looked at Cole as Jay-Z’s protégé; the main artist on Roc Nation receiving Jay’s guidance; if you think of the three or so years he spent crafting the album; if you take Jay’s words about wanting to create classic music; if you look at J. Cole as the next great superstar? If you look at it from that perspective, you might be disappointed.

If you look at J as a humble artist from North Carolina releasing his first album; an artist on a visionary record label that places a heavier emphasis on touring than album sales; as an artist who can toe the line of both commercial and underground, yet still remain true to his personal direction; if you root for him to succeed because he represents everything an aspiring artist should? If that’s your view of him, then my guess is you’ll be very happy.

I had only skimmed through Friday Night Lights once before listening to Sideline Story and won’t listen to Wale’s 11.1.11 Theory until after Ambition. (Sidenote: he took offense to me not listening, but for me, it’s the only way I can even semi-fairly judge an album and maintain my anticipation).

Most of us have formed an opinion about an artist and an album far before we ever experience it. Wale is a prime example. He’s already comparing his Ambition album to Reasonable Doubt and guaranteeing it’s a classic. That almost forces you to judge it against the greatest albums of all time. Cole has maintained a relatively quiet persona – only tweeting intermittently, not granting many reviews – and rarely brags about his album. You hear more of a frustration when he speaks. You can relate to his struggle, therefore many will listen to the album wanting to like it. Rarely, if ever, has an artist ever said he’s going to create a classic album and then actually do it. Classic albums just happen. With that said, I my feeling is that this album will not be an era-defining classic.

Let me say this – recording a classic album is extremely difficult. If you were to ask me, the last album that I would consider classic would be Skyzoo’s The Salvation. Before that? Maybe Lupe’s Food & Liquor. Kanye’s Graduation? Arguably. In the 2000’s, I can only think of those and Get Rich or Die Tryin’ offhand, though I’m sure there’s a few more. Point is, they’re far and few between. Blu’s Below the Heavens, maybe. Marshal Mathers LP, for sure. You get my point, though. I hold the title “classic” in very high regards.

Great albums? Those are pretty rare too. If classics are no hitters for a baseball player, great albums are triples. A little more attainable, but still extremely difficult for most. Did Cole release a classic? No. Did he record a great album? I think he falls a shade below “great”, but again, it depends on your standards and expectations.

It is definitely very good, though. The production throughout is solid, but with the exception of songs like Dollar and A Dream III (which he co-produced), is mostly unremarkable. Most of it sort of blended together. He could’ve used a few more producers to add a different vibe and feel to a few more records. Even the ones that were produced by others sounded similar to his own distinctive sound. When I’m listening on shuffle, it’s hard to tell if I’m on track six, nine or fourteen. I certainly respect the effort of wanting to do it on his own, and he scores points as a musician for crafting most of his own songs. But just judging the music? It needed some variance. Kanye can produce an entire solo album himself because he’s so versatile, but even he ventures out and brings in a Just Blaze or Nottz to add a different flavor. And he’s now taken to collaborating with the outside producers, which has been very effective.

But to give equal ink to the positives, let me just say that there weren’t any weak beats either. If we’re rating them from 1-10, there weren’t any 5s, but very few 9s. There were a lot of 7s. Lost Ones, Nobody’s Perfect, Rise and Shine, Nothing Lasts Forever – these all show off his strengths. He certainly knows how to compliment his voice.

The mood of Cole World is mellow, which I personally enjoy. The feel of the album reminded me of Drake’s Thank Me Later. A great sound, but lacking some oomph. When an album has one consistent vibe, we complain that it doesn’t switch up. When it switches too much, we say it doesn’t have a direction. That’s just the nature of being an artist, trying to satisfy us fickle fans. One of the things I usually dislike about an album is when it tries to be a little bit of everything instead of establishing an identity. That was the biggest difference between Jay-Z’s critically acclaimed Blueprint and the underwhelming Blueprint 2. Blueprint was one, beautifully cohesive soulful sound, while Blueprint 2 sounded like more of a compilation, using experimental sounds while trying to do a little of everything.

The difference with Cole World is it didn’t really define or redefine a sound.

His lyrics were very solid, very true. They sounded forced only a few times (“you can’t out-fart me”? Word?), but overall, they were very strong. He sounded authentic, even on the crossover records, which is important to me. It was all very personal. I felt like I really knew Cole once the album was over. He’s the opposite of Rick Ross in that regard. It definitely takes multiple listens to truly appreciate all the gems that he drops. If you aren’t really listening, he’ll sometimes fail to hold your attention. Luckily, he has a voice that’s easy to listen to, so even if you aren’t really paying attention, the songs sound right. Every now and then, he’ll use a catchy flow or melody to snatch your attention back. Unfortunately, when he does, it usually isn’t with one of his stronger lines.

By the way – anybody who knocks Drake for regurgitating the same story better not praise Cole, because they both tell similar stories over different beats.

Speaking of his crossover songs, I never hold radio singles against artists. It’s important to reach a wider audience. That gets your music to more people, increases the investment a label is willing to put into the project, etc. I wasn’t mad at Wale recording a song with Lady Gaga and I wasn’t mad at Eminem recording with Pink. Unfortunately, J. Cole’s attempts just aren’t very good. He has yet to display the ability to create a hit, and until he does, it’ll keep him from reaching that superstar plateau. The song with Trey Songz wasn’t bad. That Kanye-sampled Workout wasn’t horrible either, though it was largely unnecessary. Mr. Nice Watch ended up being a solid song, but if it didn’t have a Jay verse, I don’t think he could’ve held that song on his own. Ironically, his best and most successful radio attempt was In the Morning featuring Drake, which didn’t feel much like a crossover at all. He was recently featured on Wale’s single Bad Girls Club, which I thought was easily better than any of Coles’ solo attempts. I get the feeling that Wale and Cole will have opposite problems. With Wale’s MMG affiliation, singles shouldn’t be a problem. I wonder about the rest of his efforts though. Cole’s problem is when he just creates J. Cole type music, he’s great. But it’s the crossovers that are holding him back.

He attempted a few concepts, which I enjoyed, and he executed them well. Lost Ones, Breakdown, Rise & Shine, Daddy’s Little Girl – these properly display his versatility and lyrical ability. Unfortunately, one problem is, pretty much all of these stories have been told before – numerous times. I know, there aren’t too many topics that haven’t been touched on in hip-hop, but – except for Daddy’s Little Girl – Cole’s tend to really feel “been there, done that”-ish. They’re executed well, but they’re still overdone topics. When Jay dropped Reasonable, he talked about the hustler life that had been tackled dozens of times, but approached it from a completely different vantage point. Cole didn’t.

Lost Ones was an example of a very well executed song, but a redundant topic. Cole’s take on abortion was impressive, but it pales in comparison to Common & Lauryn Hill’s Retrospective for Life. Breakdown was a beautiful, heartfelt letter to his father who wasn’t around, which was already tackled more impressively by his boss Jay and Beanie Sigel on Where Have You Been. Dollar and A Dream III was done better by Kanye on Last Call and numerous other artists. D&D III was also eerily similar to Sideline Story, both in musical composition and content.

Daddy’s Little Girl, however, was the ultimate teaser to this man’s talent. A purely ingenious song. It had his skill on full display. When Cole is good, he’s really good. Rise and Shine is another obvious standout, starting with a Jay Backstage sample of him talking about signing that hungry, young rapper who wants his spot. I’m very glad that J. didn’t give in to the pressure and release this album too early. So many good songs hint at his potential and this album should be an incredible learning experience for him.

I also thought the collaboration with Missy Elliot was a brave surprise and brilliantly done. One of the better songs on the album. Missy sounded amazing. The whole song was tremendous.

As far as hooks and choruses, unfortunately, he shows us the enormous gap between him and Drake. A lot of his hooks, especially those he sings on, had very similar feels and melodies. I found myself humming the wrong melodies to the wrong songs at times because they sounded fairly interchangeable. Many of them seemed like you could’ve switched it with any other chorus. The bright side was, he did create songs, which is something his fans often wondered about. They didn’t hold the songs back, but they failed to take them to another level. Most of them were forgettable. He should hang out with Drake a little more.

When I first heard Work Out and Mr. Nice Watch and was very afraid that he would fall into the trap – trying to follow a formula – but thankfully, he. He dumbed down a bit at times, but overall, he sought to simply make great music. I think fans of The Warm Up/Come Up, as well as more casual fans will both be satisfied, which isn’t easy. And he accomplished his mission. He has a very successful career as a performer and he definitely created enough fan favorites to keep him on stage for the next couple years.

I’m not going to deduct points for some of these songs being years old, although some people will. Since he didn’t release many leaks, the album didn’t feel old to me. Besides, I won’t assume that everyone lives on the internet, downloading every breath a rapper records. Many people only know what’s on the radio and what they buy on iTunes.

If this is your first introduction to Cole, you’ll probably really enjoy the album. But if you’ve been listening to the dozens of songs he’s put out over the past 18 months, then this isn’t a huge improvement. This album isn’t a quantum leap over what he’s already released – and that’s certainly a disappointment because you’d like the album material to be vastly superior to the free music that an artist releases. It’s just a bit more focused and polished. He didn’t push the envelope or take many changes. That could be a good or bad thing, depending on your expectations.

Over the years – especially in hip-hop – we’ve been spoiled by some really amazing debuts. Reasonable Doubt, Ready to Die, illmatic, Capital Punishment, Food & Liquor, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, 36 Chambers, etc. The advantage an artist has during his first album is he has his entire life to write it. He has his 20 or so years to write about his experiences and emotions. It’s usually an artist in his purest form. Cole had some obstacles that many of these other artists didn’t have, however. We live in an age of instant gratification. It used to be standard for an artist to wait 2 or more years between projects. That’s still the norm in most other genres. But in hip-hop, we’re expected to release songs on a constant basis and albums annually. We were anticipating illmatic because of Nas’ incredible Live at the BBQ verse, but we weren’t blogging, talking and reading about it every day. But with Cole, there was so much attention on him because of his signing to Jay-Z and the nature of our society today, that every day the album didn’t leak felt like a year. We begin to lose interest. We treat an album like stocks. Instead of judging over a long period of time, we build it up and tear it down daily. Every pushback raised expectations to a level where he might’ve never had been able to achieve overall satisfaction. Signing to hip-hop’s living legend didn’t do much to quell expectations either. Unlike Reasonable Doubt or Ready to Die, J. Cole didn’t have the advantage of being able to sneak up on anybody. We’ve also heard so much music from him over the past couple years that this hardly feels like a debut. He’s almost like a veteran. We’ve heard his story before, now we’re just hearing it over better mixed records and in a slightly more cohesive form.

Cole World comes off as a more polished version of Friday Night Lights, or any of the other original songs from his mixtapes and EPs. It’s better than most recent releases and better than most artists’ debuts, but falls far short of revolutionary. I know my review sounds harsh, but it really isn’t. I’m actually a fan of the album. If I was to give it a rating, it would probably be somewhere around a 3.75-4/5. For most other artists, this would be an incredible debut. But when compared to the almost unmatchable expectations? It fell just short of living up to the hype. I’m sure there are those of you who will disagree with my assessment and consider it a 5/5. And to those of you, I salute you. I wish I had your ability to listen to music unbiased and just appreciate it. If I had never heard of J. Cole and somebody handed me this album, I’d probably give it a 4.5/5. Unfortunately, my brain is no different from any others. When I see a piece of art, I automatically compare it to every other piece of art I’ve ever seen.

Cole World will get plenty of spins in my iPhone and it’ll get my $10. I would strongly recommend it to anyone who is a hip-hop fan. Help bring this natural type of music back.

SIDENOTE: This is definitely natural hip-hop. I spoke a lot in my previous blogs about change. People who were upset with the Troy Davis situation complained, but didn’t actually DO anything to initiate change. Well, here’s your chance again. J. Cole has nearly 900,000 followers and he created an album that was more hip-hop than pop. We have the power, as fans, to support a movement. A movement towards natural rap. See, labels are a business, and their business is to make money. J took a chance by not filling the album with “club bangers”. We now need to support the album and show the labels that this sound sells. We say we want “real hip-hop”, but then we don’t buy it. Yet, a million people will go buy the Gucci Mane record. It’s time for us to stop being hypocritical. Regardless of what you think of the album, support the movement. Support the artist. Support natural hip-hop.

That is all.

I kept trying to figure out why everybody took such a deep-rooted interested in this Troy Davis case. I kept hearing about how we “took a man’s life” without knowing if he was 100% guilty. I kept hearing about “a life unjustly taken”. But every day, I open the newspaper and see plenty of examples of lives that were unjustly taken – many times by people just like Troy Davis. Yet, I never hear any of my peers on twitter talking about THOSE lives that were unjustly taken. I couldn’t figure out why Troy Davis was so different.

Then it hit me.

It isn’t about a life being taken unjustly at all. It’s about being able to tell the government “you fucked up.”

See, society in general loves to spit in the face of authority. Especially the urban youth who are basically taught by their parents that cops and government are the enemy. Yea, we’ll get our check on Friday, buy overpriced bottles of Absolut at the club on Saturday, Gucci sunglasses on Sunday, and are broke by Monday. We have nice cars, but no health insurance. We spend money on outfits for ourselves but can’t afford to take our kids to the zoo. We do all this and then complain that the government is keeping us down, that it’s their fault we’re not succeeding more in life.

So here was our opportunity to show everyone that we were right all along. We don’t really have a fair chance to make it because any one of us could’ve been Troy Davis. It wouldn’t matter to us what he did – he would be our scapegoat. Our reason to prove that we’re not struggling because of ourselves, but because the country is racist and elitist.

There’s a very good reason why most people aren’t still talking about Troy Davis today. Because most people didn’t care in the first place! Most people will go about their usual bad habits and then point to this case whenever it’s convenient, so we can show why we’re still stuck in poverty, or why we aren’t further along in the social structure. See, if people actually cared, they’d be working today to find ways to get capital punishment rescinded. I wrote an entire article on yesterday on some of the ways we can make this happen. But it involved actual work. People don’t want to work, they’re just searching for crutches. My tweets about Jay-Z and Kanye received over twenty times the amount of replies than my Troy Davis tweets did.

I’m reading the NY Daily News this morning and there’s an article about a man who kidnapped and raped a girl back in 1988. He was sentenced to fifty years, but got out on parole after serving only eleven. He then kidnapped an eleven year old girl from her school bus stop and held her captive for eighteen years, raping her repeatedly and fathering two children with her until she was finally rescued.

Where’s all the outrage on twitter for this? What about this eleven year old girl on her way to school – a girl who could’ve been any of our daughters – her life irrevocable altered? Where’s the outrage for the parole board that let this monster out after barely serving one fifth of his sentence?

Oh wait, there’s nothing to rally against because we don’t want to end parole. Without early parole and very forgiving parole boards, our friends, our favorite rappers, they might actually have to serve close to full sentences. So what if every now and then, someone like this gets and takes or ruins an innocent life? It’s worth it so we can wear our “Free Weezy” shirts and scream about how the government shouldn’t incarcerate all our innocent celebrities of color.

We only want to scream for reform when it’s convenient. And all we want to do is scream, not actually work towards reform.

In the Bronx a few weeks ago, a young man with a gun open fired on two others but missed them and hit a two year old baby. The baby was shot in the head, lost her eye and had to undergo an extensive amount of surgery. That baby couldn’t been your son or daughter. Shouldn’t we be fighting causes that will help protect our families?

You want to talk about victims? That’s a victim. But if it was up to some of y’all, I feel like you’d rather defend the shooter for not being read his rights or some other technicality. This “I Am Troy Davis” stuff is nothing but propaganda. If you’re living a normal life, not carrying guns or selling drugs, if you work a job and have a family, then no, you aren’t Troy Davis. If you are, then you’re putting yourself into those positions and risking the consequences that come with it.

See, if you want to rally behind change, how about using a cause like our lax gun laws in this country? that’s a cause worth fighting. Not only that, but it’s a cause where you can actually make a difference. Instead, you choose to put all your energy into this one man who was a convicted criminal because his one life might’ve been unjustly taken, when you could be putting your efforts into reforming laws that could help save hundreds or thousands of truly innocent people by reforming laws that allow criminals to have free reign. To me, I don’t understand how you could put the rights of one man over the lives of thousands of others.

You want a cause? Open up your local newspaper tomorrow morning. You won’t need to skim through more than four pages to find plenty of worthy causes worth fighting for. Oh, but who cares about causes if we can’t say “I told you so” to the government. Those aren’t worth fighting for.

It was never about Troy Davis. It was never about the death penalty. It was never about one man’s life being unjustly taken. It was about revenge. A vey sad day for our generation.

Here’s my problem. People keep screaming about the injustice of the trial, about the merits of the death penalty. Well, here’s the challenge: do something about now so maybe you can make a difference the next time.

See, tweeting about something a day before it’s supposed to happen isn’t the way for change. Just like spamming your music to @iamdiddy isn’t going to make you famous. To do anything well in life, you need preparation. Preparation and execution.

My last article was very critical. For the people who actually do care and have taken action, the people who have dedicated their time and resources to reform, I sincerely apologize. That last post wasn’t for you, nor is this one.

To the other 95% (I’m being kind, my feeling is the percentage is much higher), keep reading, though what you read might be hard for you to hear.

See, changing a policy isn’t about picking out an arbitrary opinion and demanding it be changed. See, the people who decide these policies, who make the decisions on subjects such as the death penalty, they dedicate their entire lives to this. They debate the merits with other experts, they weigh these decisions for years, and are constantly reevaluating. They create these laws based on many different facets.

But now you read something on Wikipedia that you disagree with and suddenly you want the policy changed? Oh, ok.

Honestly, that’s about as silly as the rapper who records a few songs in his house and spams Kanye West asking him for a beat.

If you want change, that’s great. Very noble. Now, put your time and effort behind it. Let’s use the death penalty as an example. If you strongly disagree with the idea of our government putting someone to death, become an expert on the topic. See, you can’t just look at one side of the coin. To intelligently have a discussion with someone, to effectively effect change, one must understand both sides of the argument. So read the history of the death penalty. When it began, how it’s evolved. Read what other countries feel or how they implement it. Discover which states are in favor and which aren’t. What the guidelines are for who can be executed. Find out which of your local politicians and judges are in favor or opposed. Now, you’ll have a solid knowledge base.

Next, study those who fought against the death penalty and how they won or why they lost. See what can be improved on. Read articles or even books on why people are opposed to it. What prominent people share your views and what have they done? Try and come up with arguments that have yet to be presented.

Next, and even more importantly, read up about why people are in FAVOR of the death penalty. That’ll help give you perspective and understanding. It’s human nature to believe that we’re always right and there’s only one way to think about things. Unfortunately, that’s extremely ignorant. Read about what people have done to keep the death penalty in tact. Read up on why they feel so strongly. What states still use capital punishment. Learn the more prominent cases and the results.

This will help greatly in your discussions, because now you can have healthy debates instead of arguments. If you don’t know why the other person feels the way they do, then they’ll spend the whole time trying to convince you and you’ll be hearing it for the first time, so your retorts will be to throw your feelings there way. If you already know what they’re going to say, you can have your rebuttals ready. You’ll be prepared. Maybe you’ll even change a few minds.

Next, find other people who feel as strongly as you do. Our generation has the gift of social media. We can organize rallies and meetings with people all across the world from the luxury of our local Starbucks (thank you, free Wi-Fi). Find people who are dedicated to this cause and try adding to this group, one person at a time. Create a Facebook page and a twitter account specifically for your cause. Get people to “Like” the page or follow the account and share their feelings. There are strength in numbers – organized numbers. So gathering all these people in one place can give you a voice when you actually try and approach someone in authority because you have hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands or more people backing your cause.

Remember, social media is only as strong as the people using it and the effort that’s invested. Again, relating to music, you can either choose to spam links to all of your followers and friends, or you can use these tools to build relationships and establish a real fan base. That’s totally dependent on how much time you’re willing to invest.

Organize events. Remember Woodstock? Well, before it could become legendary, it had to become an idea. You see tons of rappers and celebrities using hashtags in support of Troy Davis, tweeting about how important this is. Well, let them really show their support. Maybe organize a music event for your tens of thousands of supporters that you’ve gained through social media. You can approach an artist directly about doing a free show to raise awareness (or a show where all the proceeds go towards the cause). You’ll find a good number of artists who believe in this cause enough to actually contribute.

And guess what? If all that talk they were doing was hollow and they aren’t willing to work? Well, guess what. You’ve invested enough time into this important cause where you now have 80,000 followers on your twitter page. That, in itself, is a dangerous weapon. Because does this artist really want to be exposed to that large of a group of people and potential fans as being phony and not caring about the cause that he was tweeting about? You’ve gained leverage now. Maybe they won’t all do a free show (or at a greatly reduced fee) , but maybe they’ll contribute some free autographed copies of their cd for you to sell or auction off to raise money. Or record an exclusive song about the cause. Or shout out your organization and promote your social media pages to their fans. Or record a drop or a message exclusively for your organization. There are plenty of ways for an artist to get involved.

You can now reach out to local media. You’ve built a following over the past 18 months, you have celebrity artists involved in your cause, now the media is interested. At the beginning, maybe it’s a few blogs. Then some websites. Then college radio, local TV stations, and then who knows? The point is, you now have a voice. You exist in a world outside of the few hundred followers that you used to complain to before you started this process.

You can now place calls or even secure meetings with your local congressmen and women and get involved at a political level. You can organize voting drives through your social media following and even get volunteers in various cities (one of the benefits of using the internet to gather these groups) to work the campaigns of politicians and judges who share your similar views, because now you have significant numbers. You can bring dozens of volunteers and dozens, hundreds or even thousands of votes to this person. By now, you have over a hundred thousand hopefully active supporters. If you can get contributions – $1, $10 – to donate into these campaign war chests, trust me, you will be heard and will make a difference.

Does this all sound lofty? The longer you read, the more out-of-reach it seems? Well, that’s because it is lofty. But it is all extremely attainable. These are just thoughts I literally came up with while typing. This isn’t even something I spent an hour on. If you got together with like-minded people and created an actual plan a roadmap? You could absolutely make a difference.

That is, if you care enough.

Realize, this might interfere with your clubbing on the weekend. It might not leave you as much time for your fantasy football leagues or for watching Dancing with the Stars. See, to really initiate change, you’re going to have to invest time. If you want to point fingers at the people who invest their lives, you have to be willing to match that effort. It’s simply unfair to attempt to put in a fraction of the time but want the majority of the decision making power. It’s part of our spoiled mentality. Our generation doesn’t want to fight for anything. We’re so used to convenience. Our phones have all the information in the world at our fingertips, there’s no more going to the library. We don’t have to leave a message and wait for someone to come home to return our call, we can call their cell phones or send a text. We’re all about instant gratification. If it can’t be done quickly, it’s not worth doing.

It isn’t a black or white thing. It isn’t a social economic thing. It’s just a way of life that has engulfed this entire era, and it’s progressively gotten worse. So here it is, people, here’s a basic blueprint for that change you’ve been saying for the past 48 hours that you’ve wanted. This is what it’ll take. It just depends how badly you want it, or if you’re satisfied RT’ing Kim Kardashian’s tweets and then complaining that the government unjustly murdered Troy Davis and there’s nothing we can do about it. You have the power to save the next Troy Davis. The question is, will you use it?

If not, then please shut the fuck up. Accept the way things are and stick to planking or whatever new fad you’re on to.