Anyone know where I can listen to the New Fat Joe and 50 Cent CDs online?

If you are familiar with newsgroups, you can find most new CDs including 50 Cent on the alt.binaries.mp3.rap-hiphop newsgroup. Thats how I sample most of my music before I buy it.

 

50 Cent has moved up the release date on his cd to this Thursday March 3rd instead of next Tuesday the 8th.

 

ok... i'll bite.

yo... turn my microphone up... yeahh... ok.
uh-huh... yeah... i can't hear it... turn it mic up.
seriously man, i can't hear nothing... turn my microphone up.
oh yeah... there it goes... uh-huh... turn my mic up.

/lame chapelle show ref.

 

FORMULA 50!!

http://glaceau.com/
click on Vitamin Water and select Formula 50

 

BWAH! Now we know the hype machine is cranked up for fitty cen's new CD.

Why?

One of members of his entourage got shot yesterday in New York:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/01/station.shooting.ap/index.html

I'm sorry for offending anyone, but in my humble opinion, incidents like this, as well as lyrical stupidity ("...till the sweat drips from my balls", anyone?) is why rap music is a complete and total frigging joke. Where is Grandmaster Flash now that we need him most?

 

Well...there is plenty of rap that doesn't talk about "sweat dripping off balls" and rappers who don't involve themselves in violence or starting fueds. 50 and lil john are 2 rappers in the entire industry. Though the media and record labels only seem to want to promote and give exposure to those two and a few others, don't paint all rap with the same brush. That is like basing your opinion of female singers off Hilary Duff and Britney Spears. Those are just two in an entire sea of singers.

 

Then why do we never hear about them????

 

Because gangsta rap is what sells. Mainstream music and good music are two different things, in any genre.

 

And that is what makes rap music a complete joke to me

Truer words were never spoken.

 

Maybe because you don't want to look for it. If you want to hear some good rap, it is out there. If you want to readily accept what radio and MTV are giving to you and label an entire genre based on that, then you are missing out big time.

The reason other, better rap doesn't get promoted is because the labels always want to go the "safe" route. Talib Kweli came out last year, got no promotion at all. Probably one of the best CDs of last year, IMO. Same with Joe Glass and IROC. Labels are in the business of making money, so if they don't think something is not going to appeal to the mainstream, then they won't even give it a chance by putting money behind it. Unfortunately, the labels feel that gangsta rap and Jay-Z are the only things that will sell.

 

Do you ever go looking for them?

 

Yup. I kinda like old school rap.

 

Ah, ok. Then I guess you didn't mean all rap music was a joke when you said,

 

Just the stuff you hear about. Like said earlier in this thread, there is a difference between mainstream music and good music. If we heard more about the good, and less about the bad, opinions might change.

 

Remind me to burn you some stuff.

 

OK

 

I've always thought that "good music" is whatever you consider good. It's subjective. It's as if people say anything that is popular can't be good. And you see this in everything - I mean every walk of hobby, arts, culture, etc -- "what's popular isn't good". To a certain extent it can be proven that "what's popular isn't what you probably would like the most" since you haven't been exposed to everything, but to say "what's popular isn't what's good" is a reach IMO.

To each their own I guess... I'm going to go ahead and pop in my Hanson CD.

 

I agree with this. Good is simply a matter of opinion.