Smart & Angry

When rap started to get popular across the country around 1991, it faced a lot of backlash from politicians, parents, and mainly conservatives (aka white people & Tyler Perry moviegoers). It was considered hateful and violent music that didn’t have singing.

Despite the backlash acts pushed hard to perfect their craft. Every year hip-hop would evolve with the times and outlive go on to outlive other once popular  genres such as Disco. Meanwhile as hip-hop gaining more traction into the mainstream. Artists such as (The Pre-Diva era) Lauryn Hill, and Outkast were just a few of the artist to have their art be nominated for Grammy Album of the Year. While not having to compromise to their projects.

They were fighting the haters.

“Big ups...to all My Haterz!”
    -Shawty Lo “Dey Know”

The hip-hop lexicon adopted the word hater and it became a very common subject to rap about, such as:

• disses directed towards other rappers calling them “haters,”
• battle-rapping to the vague idea of "haters"
• bragging about how fly they are even though the haters are detest their lifestyles.

As a result, the main bulk of bad-rap came into existence during this period.

Urban Dictionary defined hater as:

A person that simply cannot be happy for another person's success. So rather than be happy they make a point of exposing a flaw in that person.

Hating, the result of being a hater, is not exactly jealousy. The hater doesn’t really want to be the person he or she hates, rather the hater wants to knock someone else down a notch.
Susan: You know, Kevin from accounting is doing very well. He just bought a house in a very nice part of town.

Jane (hater): If he is doing so well why does he drive that '89 Taurus?


However, slowly the term “Hater” became too popular and missed used. Suburban teens and moms were using the term hater and the over-saturation of the word commenced.

 The term hater was evolving to:

Thus people started becoming scared to be labeled as a --hater. Before rap was fighting the ignorance of people’s opinions cause of lack of understanding--as to why the art has equal as importance
as rock music has. Haters were setting the bar high for rap artists to make music great. But
the repercussions of this caused people to withhold their honest critique on someone’s work. People were forgetting the natural fact that constructive criticism helps mold ideas. Some people would remain silent, others however started--DICKRIDING

Dickriding

“We was told to hop on no ones dick by Prince Paul, stay original ever since y'all”

-Posdnuos of De La Soul-Rock Co. Cane Flow

The term dickrider was popularized in the late 90's by the popular group out of Queens, NY The Infamous Mobb Deep. The term was used to describe a person who was a fraud in a crew or movement in which that person pretended rep for. Another recently popular usage of the term was in the cartoon series Boondocks last year. The song Dickriding Obama was a parody of Black Eyed Peas artist/producer Will I. Am's post-election song New Day. The spoof was aired in on the first episode for season three of the series and showcased the character Thug-A-Licious (fictional studio gangsta-rapper) and Will(cartoon fictional version as well) working together for the Obama campaign and showcasing the twos lack of experience of his actual politics as well as their play for popularity by joining up with the movement. 

That's what made dickridng so terrible. It was the teacher’s pet, suck-up, corporate lackey, or kiss-ass who was now infiltrating the art of rap.

It's something some a person so desperate, that has no self-respect would try. People who do this usually are found in rap circles, or urban radio stations around the world. You know those morning show DJ's that “know hip-hop” yet to the extent of it is whatever music playlist their bosses handed them, watching Flava of Love, or owning a Jay-Z CD.  

The remaining sum of these type lay in those that hear about--hyped artist x. They don't really know much about their music nor or willing to investigate any further. But swear up in down that they are the next big thing for some reason. For example Diggy Simmons last year after signing his deal put out that Made You Look freestyle.  Everybody was on his tip, had his name in twitter trends and blogs everywhere. Yet a year later and I don't hear anybody talking about him or his last or current mix-tapes at all.

Artist Cam'ron tried to dickride the Stop Snitch'n movement a few years ago. Thinking that it would further his fame he went on Bill O' Reily and basically made a complete fool of himself because he was-- dickriding.  The thing was a snitch wasn't someone who goes to the police to help the community, out or save their family’s life. A snitch is a person who rats out someone to better their own situation. Much like the attributes of a --dickrider.

Yet the outcry should be the same none the less. These people need to be weeded out of rap. We have stood silent for too long. Dickriding must come to a end people. The rodeo of dicks had its run and now its time for it to go away. Let's help those recovering from this virus in need grow a backbone.  And help lead them to find something they never had, courage.