love and hip-hop.

a moment of clarity.

words.

"The release date leak date is a grand event, the starved and deprived community comes together and lets their thoughts overflow, interjecting their opinions into a sea of other opinions until we’re submerged in a unified pool of thoughts. It’s like everyone gives their “1 Listen Review” at once; we argue, debate and then chase after the next cover and tracklisting. It becomes old news the moment there’s a new topic, something shinier, more mysterious. Lupe’s album is basically already in the retirement home, Joey’s album will be yesterday’s news before the season finale of Empire. Music as an intimate entertainment has been changed, it’s now only a source of social discussion.

 ...Art needs time to manifest, but the internet's constant desire for relevance makes that hard. We are truly living in the era of, “only funky as your last cut.” What happens once Andre3000 drops a solo album? Does he ruin himself indefinitely by feeding us what we want most? Same goes for Jay Electonrica. Will Act II only be a masterpiece if it never drops? At this point can the reality match the expectation? Music is the offspring of creativity, emotion and time (with the occasional shot of whiskey.) Realistically, we can’t expect artists to put out the best product without having “time.” D’Angelo made fans wait 14 years, he didn’t care about relevance, but about delivering a product that represented his art form. He showed me that listeners need to be humbled by patience, that music is a gift, and should be cherished.

 Let’s stop treating hip-hop like the Playboy mansion and more like the Smithsonian."

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