Good read: African artiste speak on jay-z visit

[thugjr]

Rockstone decks Jay Z
Reggie

A hip hop MC has to be more than just somebody who can sit and piece together a few rhymes. In hip hop there is nothing more objective then one’s personal opinion of what constitutes not only a good rapper but a great one. Reggie had thought of Jay-Z as a great rapper… well until Jigga breezed through the capital and “fleeced” Hip hop heads with his refined brand of predatory capitalism. Rockstone is still perfecting a mean punchline for a few diss bars he might be putting on wax soon.

He’s peeved: “African Americans romanticize Africa, you know. These are the big wigs, these ‘cats’ got money and they’re trying to act like there is nobody here. When they go to Europe they don’t charge that much plus they try to do collabos with these European artistes. Is he saying that we don’t count and then he comes here and charges like five times the price? They will pin the over-pricing on the promoters but if people are getting pimped like that, Jay Z is the king of his castle and he could have made a statement about it so at least we know he is not about extorting people. Matter of fact he was supposed to be getting water for these same people who love his music. How the f#*k do you turn around and over charge them. Motherf*@^$# didn’t even take a picture with any of the artistes who opened for him.”

Well that kind of puts Reggie’s boycott in perspective -- the fact that Jigga came to a third world country and charged between $75 to $105 dollars seems very much contrary to the ‘keeping it real’ anthems in his songs. In Nigeria tickets went for as much as $800. That’s minus the extra bucks that came along with black market pricing.

“I was one of the first to start ‘bigging’ him up when I heard he was coming to Africa. I actually wanted to meet him. Better yet I thought he had to know who I was and how much grinding I put in this thing to make the environment conducive for him to be here. If he checks out my history, he will know that I’m like ‘Kool Herk’ or Africa ‘Bambata’. Can you reject something like that? This is a man who gives props to dead rappers like Tupac and Biggie as part of his stage act. Do you think any of them Negros like Mos Def or Talib Kwale would come here and do that? Or you think Tupac would come to the motherland and disrespect like the way Jigga did when his mother is Afeni Shakur?”

Reggie wasn’t looking at Jigga as an artiste. He wanted Jay Z to be aware of who he is so he can become a mouthpiece for the people, as supposed to all the Ghanaian artistes being opening acts with the possibility of Jay Z not even watching them perform. Rock sights this as another reason he boycotted the concert plus not being able to watch one of his favorite artistes should also make him double pissed off.

“If I had gotten on that stage, he knows I would have pulled his coat about the prices. What the f#*k happens to us black folk when we get up there. Matter of fact, the Negro that made him an ambassador for this water project was born here so he could have at least humored us with just a little respect. Somebody might be out there calling me arrogant and think I’m just doing this to get my shine. F#*k shine I need. If you check my track record, I was opening for artistes Jigga would have loved to be on a bill with back in the day. But forget that, I’m responsible for a whole genre of music that is putting food on people’s tables. Urban clothing, freedom of speech, the attitude and the culture all came out as an extension of Hiplife. Jay Z is the CEO of Def Jam and he can make power moves that could empower this movement that I’m about. If you throw me on stage like I’m nobody and my people couldn’t even speak for me, that ain’t right. Do you know what would have happened if I walked onto the stage with Jay Z and he saw the love that my people gave me? That would have opened a way for dialogue.”

Maybe what Jay-Z also didn’t know is that one of the people that helped Reggie set off Hiplife works for him. Rab Bakari sent a package containing Reggie’s dossier to Jigga through his personal assistant, Carlene. Whether the package got to Jigga at the moment isn’t very clear. “I was supposed to go on stage with Rita Marley and Jigga. That’s Bob Marley’s wife and you sh*t on her like that? It wouldn’t have hurt Jigga nothing to do that. At the moment I feel like the streets are calling for another Reggie album so I just might be heading back to the studio. All I wanted was recognition for Hiplife but obviously Jay Z didn’t think we were important so he came in, made his money and that’s all that mattered to him.”

So much for a great MC whose claim to fame was ‘repping’ for the have-nots.

- Our own Ghanaian hiplife star vs Jay-Z?

[East st and ave]

Jay-z got no love for black people. Wait for Jay-z stans to say why does Jay need to represent for the blacks of Africa and contridicts earlier statements of him visting the motheland was so big

[thugjr]

Originally Posted by East st and ave

Jay-z got no love for black people. Wait for Jay-z stans to say why does Jay need to represent for the blacks of Africa and contridicts earlier statements of him visting the motheland was so big

word

[EssTee]

Ghana stand up!!!!

thats wassup. Jigga need to be put in his place, disrespecting my people like that. Narrow minded clown he is. REggie Rock holding it down. Props

[Mister Discotheque]

My fam's from Ghana too but I don't care. Jay can do no wrong. We have to step it up to be able to pay $100 for a rap concert ticket. International Hov, YEP!



Now if he can shyt on a 3rd world country like that, I don't understand why people are so hyped for him like he's bringing something positive to the game.

[THACEO]

this issue is too deep to be talked about. and it wont be talked about coz unless black ppl here are on the defensive on discrimination we dont think we'r doing something wrong.

[Meteret1]

Jay's an idiot.

[God_Tua]

Take Your Chwi Chwi Language With Ur Kenti Cloth Back To The Jungles!!

[-Clownaveli-]

jay z is a uncle tom...2pac loved his african bros. and sisters...he dressed up like an african on "same ol' song". pac is a great african

[SUGEKNIGHTJR.]

this shyt had me crakking up...i couldn't help but think of Micheal Blackson when this african was dissing Jigga:

"Motherf*@^$# didn’t even take a picture with any of the artistes who opened for him.” -Rockstone

muddasuka!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He has a right to be mad though....

[grock2727]

Some of yall just can't seem to stop hatin on Jay long enough to see the big picture, you find this guys article to be a "good read", check these out:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/...-z-water_x.htm

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/bl...mp_projec.html

for those too lazy to click the links I'll quote some excerpts:

""If you bring awareness to other young people, they're gonna see [that] and want to be involved," Jay Z said at a U.N. press conference last month. "I'm not a politician -- I'm just a regular person with a heart. If you see a problem like that and do nothing about it, there's something wrong with you." The musician has pledged to pay for several PlayPumps and is encouraging other artists to show their support."

"Jay-Z said he wants to build 1,000 "play pumps" in Africa by the time the tour is over."

-I wonder how many water pumps Reggie paid for or even helped build?


The point I'm trying to make is that Jay is out there making money, and he's making it off the rich and elite in Africa, but what he's doing with the money is what you people are ignoring, it's almost like a modern day Robin Hood where he's taking from the rich to give to the poor. Someone here explain how seeing Jay in concert for $10 or free is going to help change their lives? How egotistical would it be to say "You're lives still suck because you have no water, but at least yall saw me". It amazes how focused some of you are on ticket prices and not the work thats being done and the awareness he's brought to the problem.

This seems to me like a disgruntled fan who really wanted to share a stage with Jay, the quotes that really stand out to me is "I was one of the first to start ‘bigging’ him up when I heard he was coming to Africa. I actually wanted to meet him." and "If I had gotten on that stage...". Do yall even remember a couple of months ago they criticized 50 for not even having any local artists open for him in Africa at all, now opening is not enough?

Bottom line is you can't make everyone happy and there will always be critics, but Jay can always say that he directly affected the lives of thousands of people through his water pumps, which is a hell of a lot more then any rapper can say.

[East st and ave]

^and there we have it. Jay can do no wrong

[RealTalkNY]

eh its more than Jay-z determining prices but he could of helped

[Noodles]

lol@Jay-Z stans..disgusting..

thugjr where u been at?

[Mister Discotheque]

Originally Posted by RealTalkNY

eh its more than Jay-z determining prices but he could of helped

You could easily flip it back and say Jay could have just put his own money up to make the wells. As long as Bleek's alive he's a millionaire...you couldn't throw some ducats up for some wells? On one hand it's better than nothing, but on the other hand not so much. But again it's Jay so anything he does is acceptable at the least.