FREESPEAK BY JOHNNY SPANONE

In 2005 Lawrence Chris Parker, aka KRS 1, was quoted on the blog, Basis,  D.L. Chandler's frequent thoughts on the world of hip hop and beyond , stating that he wasn't shocked by the media's obsession with the violence in Hip-hop because it often gave them good stories to report on, and continued by referring to hip hop as a microwave culture that expected information hastily, plus didn't care to substantiate the information before accepting it as the truth. With this, we can clearly identify how the legendary Bronx rapper felt about the way the media portrayed hip-hop to its viewers as a violent culture just to gain a larger viewership leading to profit, at the expense of the culture's perceived moral stance from the public point of view as a whole. Thus, it wouldn't be far-fetched to assume that during the mid-'90s, the media's propagated East-West conflict that was ongoing between rappers wouldn't have impressed KRS 1, who was by the time actively

 Nasir Jones is an American rapper, songwriter, and entrepreneur better known by the stage name Nas. He is considered a legend and one of the best lyricists to ever touch the mic. His music catalog includes 12 studio albums, 7 of which have been registered platinum, selling over 1 million copies in the US alone. Due to the multimillion sales of his albums, he earns a good residual income from them. Being the brilliant businessman that he is, Nas also has an extensive catalog of business endeavors. While learning throughout his career, he would emerge as a venture capitalist. One of the first businesses Nas got into was the restaurant business. Sweet Chick is a chicken and waffle restaurant that serves the dish with different flavors. The first one was opened by John Seymour in 2013, bringing in Nas later as a partner, and together they have continued to expand the brand. The restaurant has branches throughout Newyork in places such as Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens, also expanding ou

William Micheal Griffin Jr, popularly known as Rakim, is largely considered by hip hop fans and artists alike as one of the most influential rappers, if not the most influential rapper to ever touch the mic. Known for revolutionizing how rappers flow plus his unique rapping technique is what has made him relevant to this day and time.  Due to his influence, it has not been surprising to hear rumors about him throughout his career. In the year 2019, while he was doing a round of interviews on different tv, radio, and social media platforms to promote his book Sweat the Technique,  a rumor about him was slowly gaining traction in the media, and while on a shade 45 interview hosted by Lord Sear, on one of his book campaigns, the rap legend was asked to address it.  Apparently, one of his fellow rappers and longtime friend MC Serch had been spotted speaking about him while on a  Vlad tv intervi ew and had claimed of once being authorized by Lyor Cohen to ghostwrite lyrics for the legend

Hip hop albums are created to get released and are pressed into multiple copies for wider distribution to immerse the maximum amount of profit. However, when it comes to the since unreleased Wu-Tang clan classic album Once Upon A Time in Shaolin, the story is totally different. Once Upon A Time in Shaolin was the Wu-Tang clan's seventh studio album. It was secretly recorded in six years, and after the recording was done, only one double cd copy of it was pressed in 2014, then stored in a vault securely at Royal Mansour, a luxurious hotel in Marrakech, Morrocco, only to be auctioned through the Paddle 8 auction house in 2015. Martin Shkreli, a former hedge fund manager, was lucky enough to become the winning bidder for the album, purchasing it for a whopping 2 million dollars. However, the entrepreneur was forced to sign a legal agreement after the purchase which stipulated, that the work of art he had bought was only to be released in 2103, although this didn't bar the purch

Last year May 2020, the legendary rapper Biggie Smalls became only the seventh rapper to get inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame. His inclusion into the prestigious list of iconic rappers that had been recognized followed Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Run D.M.C, the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, N.W.A, and last but not least, was his longtime friend turned rival the late great rapper Tupac Shakur, who also had been previously recognized. As this went on, the soda company Pepsi held a press release announcing their then latest commercial. Surprisingly, their statement read that the new commercial would include a by then-unreleased Biggie freestyle verse in line with celebrating the rapper's legacy while celebrating their company. Boldly the statement went on in an attempt to pester the public with the company's claim that the rap legend had done the verse just to show his love for ice-cold Pepsi. However, not long after that, those claims would be silenced by

 The so-called King of Newyork crown that the now-deceased rapper Notorious Big wore for a photoshoot he did three days before he was fatally killed may be more valuable now than anyone could expect. Although it was created mostly of plastic, it will always be priceless as a cultural artifact. Even with that in mind, the Bad boy owner P Diddy was reported to have said when Biggie wore it, he looked like the Burger King, not the King of Newyork. On the 15th of September 2020, the crown was up for auction at one of the most premier brokerage firms known as Sotheby's. The Brokerage Firm expected the artifact to be purchased for between 2OO, OOO-3OO, OOO US dollars, even though it was renovated piece that had since broken. Even with that, one of the factors that heightened its price was that it contained the signatures of Biggie and the photographer who took the Kingsly photo.  With the crown, the buyer was to receive a customized classic 10th-anniversary edition photo of the crown don

Mary Magdalene is a Kenyan song by Johnny Span-one and Kunta. The song is a fictional story about a girl who gets defiled and defamed by her boyfriend when she leaves him to pursue a new relationship with the character portrayed by Johnny Span One in the song. The artists go on to name the girl Mary Magdalene in the chorus. This is done to relate her predicament to the circumstances that befell the biblical character she is named after. The Biblical Mary Magdalene is a woman whose character has been defamed falsely. All through later history, the very spreaders of the gospel claimed she was a prostitute. Surprisingly enough, the claim is not supported nor implied in the Holy book. The clergymen only propagated the rumor because the Bible also shows her close relationship with Jesus, which rubbed them wrongly. The preachers did not favor the idea of a woman being too close to their spiritual father. Kunta in verse 3 takes the role of the jealous boyfriend and tries to explain the chara

 After the demise of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls, the whole hip-hop artist community started feuding over the spots that were left vacant by the deceased artists, dividing the rappers. By that time, the Brooklyn-born rapper Jay Z, who had previously been aware of the vacancies even before the feuding began, was quick to ascend to fill the spot his long-time friend Biggie had left.  The rapper's quick ascend to the ranks reignited the conflict, now every rapper who had witnessed the power grab became more willing to fight harder and more viciously for the remaining vacant position. In the midst of the feuding, no one was ready to back down, anything that could be used as a weapon in the fight was used by the rappers to take over Tupac's position. In those days, the Quins-born rapper Nas was on good terms with his fellow Quins native and then-upcoming rapper 50 cent, to prove this check out one of the singles they had collaborated on when they were at peace with each other, it

 The B.A.L. or in full the Basketball African League is a recently unveiled, African basketball league that is supported by the International Basketball Federation and the US basketball league famously known as the NBA. It is the first professional, NBA-sponsored basketball league outside the US. The league consists of 12 teams, each team has to qualify through their domestic competitions to be considered as a qualified participant in the new international basketball competition, Initially, the league's matches were supposed to be held in seven chosen cities across Africa. However, due to the worldwide covid 19 epidemic, all the matches scheduled venues were abandoned, and the games were rescheduled to take place in Rwanda, Kigali.  It was noted that Rwanda was considered by the sponsors of the event as a potential host nation due to its recent heavy investment in sports and sports tourism. In recent years, the country has bid and successfully hosted various sporting events, includ

 If you were a fan of the late rapper Notorious Big aka Biggie Smalls, you probably have heard his classic track I got a story to tell. It was one of the singles in his last studio album, Life After Death'. For those who are not familiar with the song, album, or personality, I will try my best to expound more on all the above. Many referred to him as the King of Newyork after he helped raise the then-failing East Coast hip hop industry in the early nineties. This came to be when he released his debut album Ready To Die', back in 1994 when West Coast gangster rap was dominant all over America. He was a highly skilled rapper with unmatched lyrical capabilities. For this, he was considered a hip-hop icon with only 2 albums to his name. Sadly his life came to an abrupt end on March 9th, 1997. This didn't stop his last studio album from selling 690,000 copies within the first week. In 2000, it was certified Diamond by the RIAA(Recording Industry Association of America) after i

  Delray Richardson, an award-winning songwriter, recently claimed that Tupac Shakur wasn't legally signed to Deathrow Records. He continued by clarifying his statement saying Tupac was still signed to Interscope Records when he was approached by Suge Marion Knight, the then C E O of Deathrow. According to law, you cannot sign another contract while still bound to a former contract you agreed upon.  The songwriter went on to add to his claim by stating that there was no legal document available that could prove that Tupac had been let off his contract with Interscope Records. The next point Delray presented to back his claim was that the document Suge Marion Knight and Tupac Shakur agreed upon when he bailed him out of jail wasn't a contract but was more of a deal memorandum that included what Tupac would have had if he later signed to the record label.  2.25 refundable from gross sales of 3albums you may get refunded from the first profit but due to saying 1 million advances f

In the late sixties, a bunch of children from rival gangs met at Hoe Avenue to broker a peace treaty, and later this became the platform where hip hop was birthed.  When the gangs got together, violence was not condoned. When they had disputes, they traded beatdowns for rap battles and b-boying competitions. This just shows the role unity had to play in order for the creation of hip hop to occur. We have to peep the past and reflect so that we can remind ourselves what favored us and what has always hindered our progress as humans. This is the only way we can learn from our experiences and change to create a better future for our offsprings. But returning to our topic, these days we live in a world that propagates a message of individualism, capitalism, and disunity. Hip hop is not exempted from this propagation and this is reflected in rap lyrics that praise capitalism, greed, and individualism.  Due to this, the rappers of today and the industry movers and shakers have become selfish