JUST THINK: Rap and hip-hop now?

By: Aryan Javan

When it comes to modern day rap and hip-hop music it boils down to two things. Puns and trap type beats. Every song has clever puns mixed with a certain lingo or drawal. By trap type beats, I mean beats with heavy bass, snares and organ-like noises. Granted artists that are nation wide known can stray away from such beats (Kanye, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Jay-Z, etc.), yet there is still some type of influence for both characteristics that I mentioned. People love the heavy bass and people love the puns. Keep in mind I am from Atlanta, so I do hear a lot of music with these similarities. We all know that Atlanta has become somewhat of a hub for rap music across the nation.

Personally, I think puns were really made famous by Lil Wayne. Of course puns existed before he even rapped, but he really utilized them and made that the basis of his rap flow. From similes, metaphors, hyperboles, Wayne uses all those literature terms to create his puns. He has whole mixtape devoted to pun-based lyrics.

"Real G's move in silence like lasagna." [6 foot 7 foot]

That line took me years to get what it actually meant (the "G" is silent in lasagna and G's refer to cool people and they move silently in their affairs.)

"I turn around and bend her over like a low blow." [Wasted (Remix)]

When you get hit with a low blow in the stomach you bend over. He is letting us know about how he and the women get it on in the bedroom.

"I can make ya b**** root for me like a grew her." [IANAHB]

He will make my lady cheer for him or as he says "root" for him like a root grows from the ground, clever, clever.

We could go on for days. He of course has zillions of more in every song he has ever made. Once he got really big, after Carter III, we started to see the landscape change across the hip-hop scene. Rappers utilizing puns as their entire flow. 2 Chainz and Ludacris rappers who almost entirely use catchy puns in their lyrics. If you listen to rap now-a-days whether it is a one-hit wonder, established artist or whatever, puns are overkilled on most every track.

Now mix the puns with the dirty south type heavy bass trap beats and that is a perfect way to describe the instrumentals used today. For some reason the Atlanta sound (trap/dirty south) has captured the ear of America and has stayed here. Back in the early 2000's, we had the crunk rap scene (Lil Jon, Eastside Boyz, Ying Yang Twins) and the introduction of trap (T.I., Young Jeezy, Gucci Mane). Especially with the younger generations this sound was extremely popular. I kinda equate the "crunk scene" with what I call now the "turn-up" age in rap. Everything is about drug use, partying, women, and "turning up." Granted that is what most rap was anyway but now those are really the sole subjects. I think this has also made the existence of potentially one-hit-wonder-type artists turn commercially famous (i.e. Migos, Rich Homie Quan, Future, Young Thug). Like I said this article is mostly based on what I hear in Atlanta, but Atlanta has become a top spot for the rap and hip-hop industry and now has a huge range of influence. So it is safe to say most other regions are affected by the dirty south movement in music.

The trap movement, I believe, was created by three of Atlanta's most well-known artists: T.I., Young Jeezy and Gucci Mane. T.I. and Young Jeezy went on to be commercially famous nation wide and very well-known. Gucci Mane is my focus out of these three. Due to so many run-in's with the law, Gucci has never really been able to breakthrough commercially in the industry. He is known by fans of rap, but can be hated because of hs subject matter, southern drawl and how he raps. He claims that being independent is the best thing for him and his style of music. He actually does not care to be in the commercial rap game and prefers to make a name for himself independently, through 1017 BrickSquad and So Icey Entertainment. He's had hits go nationwide but Gucci's main sphere of influence is in his hometown Atlanta. He is some what of a legend here, stemming back from his involvement in a murder (Jeezy sent a hit on Gucci, allegedly). His influence on the ATL rap scene can not be understated. Future, 2 Chainz, Young Scooter, OJ da Juiceman, Rocko, Young Thug, Waka Flocka Flame, Frenchie, Whoo da Kid, Migos, Rich Homie Quan, Peewee Longway, Young Dolph, French Montana, are all people Gucci has discovered or helped along the way in their careers. All the producers, Zaytoven, 808 Mafia (TM 88, Southside, Metro Boomin), Honorable C-note, Dun Deal, London on the Track, and Mike Will Made It, to name a few. To have all of these people work with him or under his tutelage does say something. He is a legend.

Lil Wayne gave us the puns and Gucci gave us the sound. Both rappers can easily take credit for the landscape of modern-day rap or hip-hop. Whether you like it or not their influence has been imprinted on rap, and for now it looks like it is here to stay.

Both are currently in legal binds right now. With Gucci it is the same story, jail time. He is scheduled to be released from prison early 2016 or late 2015. Lil Wayne was more breaking and shocking news. Wayne is currently in legal issues with longtime mentor and Cash Money CEO, Birdman, over the release of Tha Carter V. That album is slated to drop sometime later this year.

Let us know what you think about modern-day rap. Who do you think the main contributors are? Is modern-day rap good or bad? Let us know #IfYaSleepinYaAIntMaking$$$

NBA All-Star Weekend RECAP

By: Aryan Javan

The 2015 All-Star break is officially over and it was a great success! The Saturday night festivities did not disappoint from the 3-point contest to the dunk contest.

Warriors PG, Steph Curry, lit the nets up in the 3-point shootout to walk away with the hardware. Rookie, Zack LaVine of the Minnesota Timberwolves, dazzled the crowd with his crazy dunks. Some say it was the best showing in a dunk contest since Vince Carter in 2003!

The All-star game itself was an exciting one to watch. The first half was very lackadaisical and full of offense and the second half became a bit more competitive. Russell Westbrook earned his first All-Star MVP honors, after dropping 41 points! 1 point shy of tying Wilt Chamberlain's record in an All-Star game!

Notable other facts from All-Star weekend.

-Mo'ne Davis can ball, she put a nasty spin move on Kevin Hart in the celebrity All-Star game Friday night.
-The World team beat team USA in the rising stars competition (Dennis Schröder of the Hawks had 13 points and 9 assists).
-The 3-point contest did not disappoint! It really was a contest between the best shooters in the league.
-Victor Oladipo from the Magic can throw it down and sing!!
-The dunk contest was highlighted by Zach LaVine and Oladipo! The 2 were creative and spectacular!
-Carmelo Anthony played 30 minutes in the All-Star game. It is rumored that Anthony is going to shut it down after the All-Star break, yet he played 30 minutes in an exhibition game? Personally, I do not think it is a big deal he wanted to give his hometown fans someone to root for.
-LeBron James was spectacular as always. He finished with 30 points. He is now behind Kobe for all-time point in an All-Star game.
-At one point on the floor there were 4 Hawks players (Al Horford, Paul Millsap, Kyle Korver and Jeff Teague) and LeBron James. That is everyone's dream if you are a Hawks fan!
-Dirk Nowitzki dunked!!! That is amazing in itself.
-Westbrook's energy and relentlessness earned him MVP honors. He shot the ball 28 times...sounds like Westbrook. His teammate Kevin Durant looked hobbled by his toe injury and lightly participated.
-The scoring record was broken with a combined total of 321 points (163-158)!

Overall, a very successful weekend for the NBA. Now it is time to look forward to the second half of the season. Be on look out for the NBA trade deadline and any high-profile moves. Thanks again New York City and Madison Square Garden for a great show!

Social Media and Business: Good or Bad

As we know in today's society social media has become an ever-growing presence. When it comes to business the two can now go hand-and-hand. According to Jason DeMers, of Entrepreneur, almost a third of all referral traffic for companies is because of social media. It can play a big role in gaining popularity and notoriety for whatever brand you are promoting. If used improperly social media can actually have a detrimental effect on your business.

According to DeMers, there are eight common mistakes by companies that use social media which leads to negative business. 

1.) You have the wrong people running and monitoring your account. Whether it is an inexperienced, untrained or poorly unsigned employee, this can lead to a lame account, long periods of inactivity or PR nightmares for your brand.

2.) You can not ignore or delete negative feedback. A good company will respond to negative feedback in a timely manner. It shows the company has good costumer service. Choosing to delete or ignore the feedback will lose you customers in the long run.

3.) You can not BUY likes. Buying likes makes your page look unprofessional and fishy. Think if someone on twitter has 54k followers and they only get 2 retweets, it looks sketchy. The fake followers and likers will not be able to interact with your page.

4.) Especially on social media, your brand can not look static or like it has not changed. Promoting the same product over and over will make the brand seem "boring" according to DeMers. It makes it look like the company does not really care what is posting as long as the brand is on there.

5.) On the flip side of rule number four, do not over-push your product! It becomes like another advertisement on the Internet to skip over. DeMars says that 80 percent of the time engaging content should be posted. Then use the other 20 percent of the time to promote the actual product.

6.) It is a general rule in life, be consistent. Do not post something now and then have your next post be posted seven months later. Keep coming up with fresh and engaging material to spread to the masses.

7.) When responding to customers via social media try not to give back generic answers. Make each post or comment seem personal and engaging with the individual.

8.) Do not bite off more than you can chew. You do not have to use every single social media site out there. Keeping up with all of them can be challenging and less effective in the long run.

Personally, I think these are excellent rules to go by especially with regards to running a business. DeMers is an experienced-professional businessman and has successfully integrated social media into his SEO agency based in Seattle. I connected these principles to people who promote music on twitter. The artist has over a 100k followers, so in my head I am like, "this person has got to be famous!" Yet when you go their profile it is the same post about the same album 100 times and each post has like 1 retweet and 2 likes. It just looks shady. I believe consistency, engaging material and honesty, are the three most important contributing factors when it comes to promoting a business through social media.

Jayson DeMers is founder and CEO of AudienceBloom, a Seattle-based SEO agency. He also started Crackerize.com, a lyrics-humor website. He's the author of the ebook, “The Definitive Guide to Marketing Your Business Online.”