Rakim for President. One of the best MCs tells it like it is. I wouldn't say hip hop overall is monotonous, but I would say that outside of a few artists, the hip hop message certainly is. How many songs can we hear about dropping bodies, fronts and watches that make every room temperature drop, candy paint, and selling drugs? Boring. Been there done that. Let's move on people. Don't get me wrong - I'll listen to Paul Wall and I own every Mobb Deep CD there is, but that different shit is what interests me the most. The shit that makes you think, or makes you want to do some research on the internet, to see what the artist meant. Message music is always the best.

With that said, Rakim is one of the greatest MCs of all time, and his lyrics always make you think. Follow the leader.

Kanye is always right. Call him braggadocious (did I spell that right?), arrogant, conceited, narcissistic (did I spell that right?) etc. but call him right because he calls it like it is. He tells us that he is the best rapper around - he is. He tells us GW doesn't care about black people - he doesn't. He tells us that the sound problems made him look bad - they did. Hey, if you are the boss and people at your job are fucking up your shit, ruining your product or the service you provide what do you do? You threaten their fucking job, and you tell them that they are embarrassing you and themselves. Question the Pope, question GW, hell, even question your moms, but please don't question Kanye. He's always right - just ask him.

Is it me, or does DMX get dumber and dumber with each passing day? Wait, maybe he actually is getting progressively dumber. His records have gotten progressively worse. Between the crack and the alcohol it's definitely possible. That's the only way to explain why he is fighting the tickets. Hey X, I'm going to give you some free legal advice - PAY THE FUCKING TICKETS MAN! People do you know what 25 grand is to DMX? One show. DMX can make 25 large from one appearance. One performance. He just has to bark on stage for an hour and a half, two hours tops, and POOF! The tickets go away.

So A Tribe Called Quest is Back. We all knew it would happen eventually, but it took a few years for them to figure it out on their own. But why are they reuniting, after so many years? Tribe is back together because the vibe, energy, talent, and lyrics that each respective member posseses are important pieces of a beautiful mosaic that we have all come to know and love, and yearn for. Also because them niggas need the money.

Why do rappers keep getting arrested in London? Those people over there are pretty relaxed, so you really got to be fucking up to get arrested over there. Before a long trip - meditate or take a sleeping pill to chill the fuck out, or smoke some weed, or all of the above. That way, you sleep on the plane. There's nothing else to do on a plane anyway, unless you're writing lyrics, or joing the mile high club. Let me be clear. There is no reason to get arrested in London...unless you killed Professor Plum with a lead pipe in the study.

It saddens me to see that the once great...er um good rapper MC Breed has fallen upon hard times. I remember meeting Breed one fine day in Chicago at a west side record store, where he smoked a joint while Mason Storm and I interviewed him. Later he bummed a Newport off of me. Maybe that was an omen of things to come - with as much debt as he is in, he'll be bumming a lot more Newports.

Kanye got ripped off again at the Grammys. He should've won album of the year this year, just as he should've won best new artist last year. Maroon 5's front man gets a lot of pub for all the ladies he gets, but their second album didn't do much. And has anyone even heard U2's album? I can't say that I've heard even one song. Not a good night for me.