In your opinion, what was the best hip hop battle related quotable or statement ever made? I immediately thought about it a few weeks ago after viewing a video that’s probably one of the illest, (yeah I know I’m dating myself) hip hop moves in recent years. It was a stance and I mean that literally, taken by the only rapper who now has two songs in Billboards top 5. And what I’m referencing is just hip hop, which used to be bold, braggadocios, nut grabbing, chest thumping, declarations of “I’m nicer than you with this rap shit and no matter what, you can’t fuck with me!”

- Cornell Dews

Continue below for Cornell Dew’s latest editorial.

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I put on the news and the first 5 minutes was non stop bad news about the economy. In New York we may have a new train/bus fare between $2.50 to $3! All I hear about is the stock market doing bad, people getting fired and women getting their purses snatched. Clearly I’m not poppin champagne or trickin if I had it. If your wifey/man/family ask for anything expensive this Christmas hit them with the, “It’s a recession,” line. These are the times where you stop trying to be flashy and build that bank account up. How are things going for everyone out there?

Editorial By Michael Partis

What is Hov talking about on his new track “History” ?  Is it about more than “History” and “Victory?”

There is always the tendency to feel as if we are thinking too much; that we are taking it too far.  It becomes a feeling we have when looking at all forms of art: music, paintings, poetry, dance, etc.

But the great artist is the one that legitimates our search for something more.  They make you see further, think longer, listen closer—they make you believe there is meaning to their work; beyond the surface; beyond the first encounter; beyond the first layer.

Jay-Z – History
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Article by Michael Partis

“Cash Rules Everything Around Me” is the reality.  Does politics fit inside of it?

Forty years ago this month, the 1968 Olympic Games was defined by the political statement of two Black athletes. With Black fist raised high, and an ode to the Black Power movement displayed, Tommie Smith and John Carlos made one of the most profound political statements ever seen at an international sporting event.

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I had a conversation with a couple of people the other day about the importance of Tupac.  Somebody told me that Tupac wasn’t one of the most globally known, or internationally recognized Black people ever.  Another person said that his music wasn’t politically or socially relevant; that he wasn’t as important to Black music as Bob Marley.

All of this is just a couple of weeks after Blender Magazine said Pac was the most overrated musician of all-time.

So is the world coming to the end?  Was Tupac really not that important, then and now?

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Article By Michael Partis

If Hip-Hop wasn’t about marketing, advertising, budgets, labels, videos, spins, singles, radio, TV, magazines, Internet, sales, and record exec’s…this would be the Top 5.

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Every rapper says, “It’s more then music. This is a movement.” Oh yeah? Is America hip hop still a movement or has it been neutralized? And if it has been neutralized, by whom I ask?

According to www.dictionary.com, movement is defined as a progressive development of ideas toward a particular conclusion; a diffusely organized or heterogeneous group of people or organizations tending toward or favoring a generalized common goal; a group of people with common ideology who try together to achieve certain goals.

-Cornell Dews

Perfet timing for this editorial by Cornell Dews with Hell Rell & Big Joe shedding light on how The Dipset movement was run behind the scenes.
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