Is it really all that damn serious?
Words: Mario “2Tyme” Hankton

I am watching a tube video of R. Kelly mildly expressing irritation at some of today’s artist’s lack of respect and integrity. It made news about a week or so ago, but the content therein had been brewing for some time. Ironic how history repeats itself… Seems like just the other day Kells was unseating Aaron Hall as the new R&B King…

The irony of his personal troubles and his professional opinion are too something to marvel, but the reality is, he’s made some tracks (pun intended) during his reign. Then I immediately think about the age old first person musical argument. “YALL aint nothin! without David Ruffin!”

Artists, or their supporters, have been exclaiming themselves as the savior of music in one way or the other since the inception of the art form. It was a method of marketing one’s ability or sales potential and in other ways it’s just that good old ID (see Sigmund Freud).

Rappers are notorious, or should I say N.O.T.O.R.I.O.U.S, for committing first person acts of “big timing.” Don’t even think for a millisecond that this is unique to Hip Hop and R & B, or that fighting through sound just started. I won’t even take you all the way back to Africa for that.

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