Smart & Angry

In 1991 one of the best video games on the planet arrived to the NES system. To this day Tecmo Super Bowl stands the test of time as a game that had fun game play and and actual player attributes included into the game play. As a tribute I would like to borrow one of the ratings that was used to determine how well a player has been performing. The Physical Condition rating basically went like so Excellent(player was unstoppable basically),  Good(excelling ) Average(could go either way), Bad (play sucks on the field), Injured( player is out of commission). I thought it would be cool to use these ratings as a measure for some of the past and present freshmen class this rap season.

Excellent

Big Krit-
Return to 4 Eva gets better every listen. I don’t think this guy has dropped something that I would classify as un-listenable yet.

Jay Electronica
One verse is all that has emerged so far from the “Voodo-Man”. That verse was up to par with anything else that he has put out though and if his long awaited LP drops this year and remains on the same quality of everything he has delivered up to this point(aside from a Mountain Dew commercial and odd Paul Wall appearance) it could easily be considered a classic as well.  

Blu
Lot’s of solid music has been delivered from the Left Coast genius. A mixed version of Her Favorite Colur, J E S U S,  tracks from his major label debut NoYork! , and a few other random cameos, and jawns.

Good
Tyler The Creator
Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All ‘s leading man has really risen to the occasion. Instead of getting lost in the hype, it seemed like he didn’t even notice it.  Goblin is a good album, the Lykki Li remix was fresh, and let us not forget the killa collab with Pusha T that still has me screw faced.  His future looks good, and if he can continue to improve who knows the ceiling for this dude.


Asher Roth
Though it might appear my dude has been silent this year, you better think again. A few killer guest appearances here and there, a most likely hit single soon with Last Man Standing, and a summertime jam as well. Dude has had one of the fastest redemption's in music history . At this rate, Asleep In Bread Aisle might soon be a distant memory if dude stays the course.

Lil B

Base 4 Your Face was what made me finally take this guy seriously. The Illusisons of Granduer mixtape wasn’t bad either, I have yet to listen to I’m Gay yet, but I am sure I wont be too disappointed with the results.  I know @bobojojo hates this guy with a passion.  But, his current musical output is something to commend. One of the few artist now days that’s at least trying to do something different at least. The funny thing is the more experimental he becomes, the better the quality gets. A rare trait indeed.

::Bobojojo edit::

Um..

 Yeah he is different, making bojangle coon music

Big Sean
The overachiever on this list for sure. I  got to be honest here though, though I was  a fan of his two mixtapes installments, I initially didn’t expect too much from Sean this year with his major release of Finally Famous.  Yet, when My Last dropped it soon somehow became one of my favorite songs this year so far. His content may not be too enduring but, his album was good enough for me to continue to have it on replay. Much like the guy below I just have to give credit where credit is due. You did it.

Kendrick Lamar
I can’t deny that Section 80 was a good LP. Dude has proved his worth in the game and has carved out his own space for sure. It will be interesting to see where he goes from here.

The Cool Kids
You can’t deny the consistency of this duo. While most are still trying to score a major single, the Kids emerged this year with When Fish Ride Bicycles LP that gave their fan base another solid offering from Sir Mikey and Chuck English.

Theophilus London
Though his subject matter is rather limited(girls basically), I have to give credit where credit is due. He dropped a cool EP, and his major release Theze Are Strange Dayz(which was basically the EP+a few more new tracks) was cool as well. Guy has yet to disappoint.

XV
His Zero Heroes release this year might prove to be one of raps most slept on projects this year.

Average

J.Cole
Allegedly he is coming out with his album this year. I don’t buy everything about this guy yet. Especially with the output he has delivered so far this year. His single? The single he did with Wale? eeeeeeeee. That Like A Star jawn you released though a few weeks ago keeps you on the level side of the scale for sure.

Drake
Oh you hard(fancy) now, huh? What is this dude doing? Going to body someone now? “We don’t believe you, you need more people!”.  You had a few alright songs to start the year off with, and a hot summer single with Khaled(though it was anything but tough), and you release a generic single talking about how you going to have people snuff’d? Get the heck out of here with that talk. At this point, you need to get back to making them LL joints, stay in your lane maine!  

Yelawolf
Sad that I have to put this guy here, because dude can spit. But I don’t know of anything really that has made me check the rhyme of the Alabma native in awhile.  Will see if signing  with Slim Shadey  changes that, or puts the final bullet in a once promising career. Could go either way at this point.  


Bad

Chiddy Bang
Yeah he rapped his way into the Guinness Book of World Records, but did you hear that Peanut Butter & Swelly Mixtape??? Yeah I forgot about it too.

Diggy Simmons
The prince of a king has yet to score any buzz this year. When this year did you hear anyone recommend listening to a Diggy track?

Wale
The king of compromise himself has failed to regain any of his past acclaim, even with Officer Ricky behind him. His music is becoming less and less impressive with every release, and what he needs more than ever might be a shot of self-assurance. Find yourself my dude.


Injured

Chris Brown
There is something not right with this boy. I don’t get his behavior? Nor his music, he drops an OK mixtape last year and scores a (forgettable) hit with Dueces and then somehow gets people to buy that generic pop album F.A.M.E and instead of building on those blocks, he releases a mixtape with him rapping mostly? Not something anyone has been asking for Chris. This guy needs some help, and a trip to the hospital might be in order for sure. Or just some time away in general.

Charles Hamilton
Sonic The Hamilton has had an accelrated disappearance this year. I don’t know anyting going on with the whereabouts of this man, nor do I know if he has any more music going on. Last I heard he was in a hospital(seriously: good for him), I guess I can only wish him a speedy recovery if anything, and that he is able to pick up the pieces.

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.