NH(O)T BOYZ: EVERYBODY GET YA ROLL ON

Been traversing the past so intensely, I got snow in my goggles and missed out on 420 Project Vol. 2, the NhT Boyz mixtape that dropped last week. Honestly, ya boy ain't the biggest fan of weed raps. Its legalization in certain states, and the monetization of a formerly outlaw market, has turned getting high into a respectable pastime and career. Wiz Khalifa is Sammy Hagar singing about tequila. Snoop's blunt is Bob Hope's golf club.

But when a group is involved, the drain-circling of a man trapped by stage persona alchemizes into the excitement you felt when you and ya boys was rollin' lopsided joints in the back of a hooptie driven by a 35 year-old man named Jesús. It's a rap truism: the tight-knit group is always greater than the solo artist. The tape sags toward the end, but not before pandering to my taste with two Cash Money homages. Ima leave it to this Soundcloud user to describe the sound of NhT Boyz breaking into the "Get Your Roll On" chorus:

Groups planning to make another mixtape about smoking weed, please consider writing a concept album about steak and shrimp.

NEEDLE AND THE DAMAGE, DUNN

Before sizzurp went mainstream and molly became a rap meme, rappers generally disapproved of all drug use except reefers. 50 Cent went Ted Nugent on the game, claiming he'd never smoked weed beyond a contact high, while writing off "High All The Time" as a shrewd act of demographic pandering. Part of the reason 50 was able to shit all over Ja Rule's career so easily is cause he rapped openly about being a lovey-dovey sensualist rollin on X pills. Unless you was smokin L's with ya boys reminiscin on the trife life, getting high was generally looked upon as something for the Tommy Tuckers.

So considering the climate, I couldn't help but raise my Peter Gallaghers when an artist as big as B.G. was open about snorting dope. New Orleans is different like that. Under the names Lil Doogie and Baby D, B.G. and Lil Wayne would dis Partners-N-Crime, but they shared at least one thing in common: a love of opiates. "Herion," probably the only ode to shootin 'boy with an R. Kelly interpolation, is a G-Funk creeper in the vein of the Chronic interludes, juxtaposed with a sudden intrusion of the singsong bounce flow. Rap just a nationwide game of raquetball, ya smell me? The title is either a misspelling or a nonstandard phonetic spelling of heron, but junkies are better known for stealing hubcaps than their grammar. Their logic ain't much better. Give me some heron please / Cause powder makes me sneeze? Aight...do you, playa. So sterilize ya works, fix yaself a shot of somethin fire, and nod out to the PNC! Tell the methadone clinic RAP MUSIC HYSTERIA sent ya!

GREAT MOMENTS IN GAY RAP VIDEOS

The Cash Money kiss will go down as rap's version of Jerry Lee Lewis's cousin-bride, and subsequent viewings of the "Still Fly" video wouldn't placate the puritanical outrage directed at a father/manager figure who just wanted to kiss his contractually obligated son on the lips, is that really so much to ask for?  The market still hasn't welcomed an openly gay rapper, so who knows what Baby was thinking when he tried kicking the doors open for NAMBLA.

Whereas the kiss was a disquieting glimpse into Cash Money's tourbus ca. '96, the eros of "Still Fly" is a playful wink wink in the direction of the Paul Lynde school.  It's a great video for many reasons, but its progressive stance on gay relationships was unique for the time.  Baby and Mannie live next door to each other in adjoining houses.  In the course of the video, they wear at least five matching outfits.  Big Tymers on some Bert & Ernie shit, 4 real (obviously Mannie is Ernie). Maybe it's a New Orleans thing?  Jazze Pha gets in on the fun and rocks a pith helmet with his urbanized safari gear, proving once again that videos were better in those days.

On a side note, if Mannie used ghostwriters to the extent commonly believed, it has to be one of the most successful examples of such a relationship: collaboration rather than ventriloquism.  His personality is represented to well for him to simply be reading a script.  We at Reap Music Hyseteria could give a fuck about a ghostwriter, but that's a different story for a different day.

'98 WAS A QUALITY YEAR AND IT STILL IS!

1998 was the year my parents finally caved in and gifted me n the sis with the only learning device that mattered: Cable TV.  We sat in front of that motherfucker all summer, soaking in the finer points of American culture wit the mad hunger of a lapsed Mormon makin up for lost time.  Hours I would normally have wasted playing outside with my friends were now devoted to religious viewing of the Box Network.  I saw things I can't unsee: Jon B, Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Bing & Bowie's yuletide sexual tension.  Most importantly, I was exposed to the artists of No Limit and Cash Money.  For a simple rube whose idea of rap started with Biggie and ended with Naughty, the music was a culture shock I never got over.

1998 is where my understanding of rap begins.  Aquemini, Capital Punishment, and 400 Degreez are certified classics, but it's the good, great, and spotty releases that tell the whole story.  A year of transition, it was a gloriously confused time when the inconceivable was possible: Young Bleed debuted at #1 on Billboard's Rap/R&B chart, Cappadonna rowed a tiny oar on the cover of a gold album.  The heyday of the Jiggy Era, it was also a banner year for the South.  In addition to quality material from Dungeon Family, Cash Money, and the Three 6 camp, No Limit had one of the more ridiculous runs in rap history.

The South's mainstream inroads signaled the beginning of a cultural overhaul that would change the rap landscape for at least the next 10 years, advancing one of the only compelling arguments for the old industry model.  A label putting its money behind an album was a vote of confidence; the risk of monetary loss enforces a modicum of quality control, questionable judgment notwithstanding.  Even tho they was "controversial" at the time, a release on No Limit and Cash Money rang more bells than slapping a Coke Boyz logo on your mixtape's cover JPEG ever will.  Considering today's saturated yet fragmented market, it's amazing how easy it was for a young bumbler like me to get connected with Fiend, 8Ball, and the RZA.

This is my '88.  I can go back and listen to the ol' chestnuts and end up lovin em, but they belong to history more than they belong to me.  Sometimes I wonder how many whippersnappin' rap writers really know their By All Means Necessary or whatever.  Does it matter?  Must you be versed in BDP and Schoolly D before you can extol the virtues of Chief Keef, or is that like expecting ya average rock scribe to go deep with the Everly Brothers?  Has rap mutated so much that it doesn't matter if you don't know its past?  Does this prove the R-tard argument that rap and hip-hop are different things?

IDK, I just be askin questions n shit.  Rap's a deep-ass well, and I'm still twinklin' my toes doin the backstroke thru '98.  Here are some good songs from that year.  Skews toward the South and East Coast, 'cause that's where my heart resides.  With the exception of DMX, the more ballyhooed artists were avoided to let the second-stringers and unsung get some.  Like Pac at one time, X is becoming weirdly glossed over in the conversation despite being one of the biggest artists of the era.  Fuck what ya heard, "Stop Being Greedy" is a great internal dialogue.

Playa Fly - Funk-N-Bock
Soulja Slim w/ Big Ed & Mr. Serv-On - Head Buster
Parental Advisory - Like We Do
M.O.P. - Blood, Sweat, and Tears
Noreaga - N.O.R.E.
DJ Quik w/ Suga Free, Mausberg, AMG - Down, Down, Down
Witchdoctor w/ Cool Breeze - Georgia Plains (Holy Grounds)
Big Tymers - Big Ballin'
Devin the Dude w/ Odd Squad & KB - Ligole Bips
Cam'ron w/ Noreaga - Glory
Trick Daddy - Back In The Days 
Kool G Rap - Let The Games Begin
Scarface w/ Tela, Too Short, Devin the Dude - Fuck Faces
The Coup - Me And Jesus The Pimp in a '79 Granada Last Night
Mac w/ O'Dell - Slow Ya Roll
RZA w/ Method Man - NYC Everything
Z-Ro w/Al-D - Life Story
Gangsta Blac w/ Playa Fly - Da End
Cappadonna & Ghostface Killah - Oh-Donna
8Ball - Time
Young Bleed - Ghost Rider
Ras Kass - H2O Proof
DMX - Stop Being Geedy