Like Billy the Kid... Part 4

Ed, your post was so good, I hate to post over it here on the main page. But I have to for the sake of freshness.

This is Part 4 of a series lookin at what I expected this phase in my life to be like and what its really like. This is a post about one of the pros of moving to LA...

First off, I would like to plug a couple of positive hip-hop artists I learned about here in LA:
myspace.com/readnex
myspace.com/perceep
myspace.com/nativeguns
myspace.com/bluescholars - and their song, freewheelin

Secondly, I got the title of this post 'Like Billy the Kid' from a song by Master P off his double-disc set T.R.U. One of the verses ended in: "And like Billy the Kid, I ... headed to the west." I thought of it for obvious reasons.

A little history about my exposure to hip-hop:

• In 5th grade, I danced to hip-hop for the first time. MC Hammer and Whoomp There it Is probably... with a little End of the Road when the lights dimmed down. Shout-out to Lindsey B!

• I learned about OutKast at the Brewer's house in 6th or 7th grade. I also learned about grafitti about this time - with some older kids tagging the Little 5 Points and nearby areas.

• Then, in 8th grade, some friends of mine decided that booty-dancin was the thang to do. I believe it was the Tootsie Roll had the Inman Middle gym rockin. Breakdancin' not yet popular where I am.
  

• In high school, Atlanta's Freaknik [a.k.a. Black College Spring Break] and the woofers in my friend Lee's car got big. I started to work at a record store (Full Moon - that place is the greatest) that mostly proferred older, but not oldies, rock over modern, trendy pop and hip-hop.
  

• Then some southern rappers blew up while I was in college. Nelly, Lil Jon, Luda, and more hit T-5, L street, the DOMC, Unit E, N street, O street, Q street, more Unit E, and others.
  

You wouldn't think from this history that I had to come to LA for some hip-hop exposure. What has happened is that I have come to know so-called conscious hip-hop by moving here. Always, my experience was that rap artists are traditionally from the city, where they're more likely to understand (or be victimized by) economic, racial, social, and other inequality. But few had really gotten at it with some flow, some dedicated beats, and some realness.

Most rappers know that our nation's decisions and lies about war disproportionately affect poor communities. NWA led the way in attacking the system with their rhymes and founded this category of rap serving as a voice for hating entrenched power. Another xample is the Blue Scholars video I linked to above continues in that tradition. And Read Nex played at a 'Make Hip Hop, Not War' show a couple months ago. Other examples are aplenty.

I was chilling with this guy from my reading group a few weeks ago - yes, I'm in a freakin reading group - and he rebutted my claim that hip-hop doesn't have any good love songs. And he's right.

For example, Goodie Mobb has this great song, Beautiful Skin that [I can't find for free anywhere on the net but] brings positivity towards women and some good rhymes without the bling.

And that's what I've been gettin into. What you know about that?