My Trip to Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu

I just thought I’d write a short post announcing my return from a vacation to Peru (where I’m from). Of all the places I went (Ica, where the huge earthquake struck last year, Lima, etc.) I was most interested in revisiting Machu Picchu (recently designated as a “Wonder of the World”). If you’ve never heard of it do a Google Search…it’s magnificent, for real.

I felt a little like Ernesto “Che” Guevarra in The Motorcycle Diaries except with a thousand tourists around me. I must say that even under those conditions, the fact that I was able to escape the reaches of a T-Wayne song somehow made the entire trip seem that much more distant.

Another thing that told me I was no longer in the U.S. was the police officer I saw get bribed for $3 and the homeless family who vigorously ate up cold leftovers from a restaurant we handed to them at a traffic light. The 7-year old selling candy alone at 2:00 am was nothing new and neither were the countless families that I saw living in mud/straw houses, yet they always help to remind you of your privilege. Do you really got the gulliest hood? You sure?

In Peru the name, “Tupac Amaru” does not bring with it memories of a slain rapper. Instead it brings to mind legends of a slain Peruvian revolutionary of Incan blood who around the time of the American Revolution had already freed African-Peruvian slaves (well before Abraham Lincoln) so they could fight alongside the Indians against the Spanish. When the revolution finally failed Tupac Amaru’s four limbs were tied to four horses who were whipped until the great grandson of the last Incan king was dismembered.

The reason for this post is simple. I needed a break from hip-hop…and now that I’m back I got a whole fresh new perspective on the game. I probably have enough song concepts in my head to fill an entire album (if I was inclined to do so). I imagine it might also help a lot of you out there with writer’s block (or laziness) to take an occasional break from the game even if it just means changing your radio station now and then.

I’m finally back in the U.S. where Tupac is Tupac and T-Wayne floods the radiowaves. Ahhhh….back to work!

Til next time,

-Carlos Bonett
Author & Site Administrator
TheStateofHipHop.com
RapFundamentals.com

Is Missy Elliot Relevant?

I’m tired of the overuse of the word “relevant” among hip-hop heads lately.  It seems like the biggest diss cats can come up with now about rappers they dislike is…”they’re not relevant”.  What is that supposed to mean exactly?  That they haven’t kept up with the latest trends? That they’re not shuckin’ and jivin’ on TV?

Nevertheless, I get it.  Some people like LL Cool J just aren’t relevant anymore and neither is Coolio…though they have both made serious contributions to hip-hop (yes I said Coolio…I still listen to “Geto Highlites”).

Anyway this brings me to the subject of Missy Elliot.  I can’t say that I’ve ever been impressed with her lyrics but her flow has worked in the past and Timbaland consistently held it down. Maybe it was around the time she started referring to herself as “slim in the waist” that I did a double-take.

My question is:  Is her teenie-bopper appeal played out?  What the hell is she actually talking about in her new single Ching a ling? Do lyrics even matter anymore? 

I’m all for catering to your audience but what happened to maintaining some integrity? I clearly see the lack of substance in hip-hop nowadays to be a reflection of corporate manipulation and artists being more and more greedy and jaded.  But is Missy Elliot still hot?  When I go to the club…I gotta say…I’ve gotten busy to some Missy and might even do so this weekend.  What do you all think?  Is Missy Elliot irrelevant or still hot?

TSOHH blog officially launches…

Eventhought the first blog post was posted last month…the TSOHH blog was officially linked to thestateofhiphop.com a couple of days ago and it’s here to stay.

Here’s where I’ll be commenting on the news of the week and hope to get all of our visitors’ comments on them as well.  You’ll also find a lot of random thoughts on the latest events in hip hop and the music world as a whole.

Thanks to all of our visitors new and old and we hope this new stage in the life of TSOHH keeps us moving in the direction that we’ve been steadily headed in since our launch.  We’re up to about 600 visitors a day…There’s going to be a lot of new updates in the coming weeks so I hope to hear from you all soon.

The Big Bang!

What’s up fellow hip hop heads…for those that don’t know me this is Carlos from TheStateofHipHop.com and this is TSOHH’s first official blog post!  I’m amped up about 2008 because the site is going through some exciting changes and is going to be partnering up with my man J. River on a lot of new projects to help out aspiring MC’s and producers.

I’m also going to get a couple of new artist interviews up soon as well as release a couple of audio tracks myself just to shake things up a bit and bring something new to the fans of the site. 

As you may have noticed we just added 100 lyrics to the rap lyrics section and there’s a lot more on the way.  Be sure to subscribe the this blog and leave your comments.  I look forward to hearing from everyone who’s been supporting the site for the past 3 years! (time flies…)

Peace out for now all…I gotta catch American Idol with the misses.