Gang sings or show business?

I have been always wondering the meaning behind the hand signs Lil Wayne, Drake or Birdman are throwing in pictures and videos. There is a huge variety of gang signs in the US associated to each particular gang. I did a lil research and before explaining or giving any theories, I would like to give a quick summary of famous hand signs used in the hip hop community, apart from the middle finger, the Okay sign or the thumbs up which are pretty much known worldwide.

- The West Coast sign: Middle and ring finger crossed with the index and the pinky finger spread forming a "W"

- The "Pitchfork" hand sign: Ring finger and the thumb touching each other while the other fingers are facing down forming a "N" as In New York or an "E" if facing left referring to the east coast.

- The "Shocker" or "Hang Loose" hand sign : Also known as "two in the pink, one in the stink" or "two in the goo, one in the poo". Same as the pitchfork hand sign but with the index and middle fingers touching, The sign refers to the act of inserting the index and middle fingers into the pussy and the little finger up the ass.

- The "Corna", or "Devil Horns" hand sign: Extending the index and pinky finger while the thumb holds down the middle fingers. The gesture symbolizes rock and roll. It was originally created in the Mediterranean and used as protection against curses or bad luck.

- The ''Shaka" hand sign: Extending the thumb and the pinky finger while keeping the three middle ones curled. It's a gesture of friendship having several meanings such as "all right", "cool", "take care"...(created by locals in Hawaii).

- "V" hand sign: Thumb holding the ring and the pinky finger down while keeping the index and the middle finger up and spread. The face of the hand must face the receiver. The gesture symbolizes victory or peace.

- "ILY" hand sign: Same as Devil Horns hand sign but with the thumb spread, the face of the hand must face the receiver. The gesture is to say "I Love You" (created by a deaf school). This sign is generally used by pop rock artist such as Pink.

Birdman’s picture here looks a lot like the pitchfork but instead of the ring finger, the middle finger is down, some people say that the sign is gang affiliated but I personally think it’s an exclusive hand sign for the label "Young money" in order to advertise it and make it look fashionable exactly like the famous Jay-Z's diamond hand sign representing his label "Roc-A-Fella"

But what I think can be interpreted as a gang sign and precisely "bloods" is Drake’s hand sign. The three partners like to show this sign which looks like an Okay sign but with the three upper fingers touching forming a "B".

The Okay sign itself is interpreted by some people as an Illuminati symbol representing the "occult 666" specially when an eye is shown trough the Okay circle like in the picture, many artist are suspected of being part of this sect including Lady Gaga and Beyonce. Jay-Z's Diamond sign also has this interpretation...

The theory of Drake’s affiliation to the bloods is heavily supported by Lil Wayne wearing red bandannas... In one of his songs, Lil Wayne even said "I keep a red flag….. fucking with them bloods now". I am not sure Lil Wayne, Drake or Birdman are associated in any gang activity at least not anymore; I think it has more to do with street credibility…

Rappers signature sounds

Today I wanna to talk about rappers signature sound, y’all know that almost every rapper has a special word, sentence or sound that makes him authentic and distinguish him from the others, so I made a list of my favorite sounds of rappers, I checked on the net before doing so and I realized that there isn't really a clear list summarizing these sounds + u can't hear them which is not interesting, so I think I’m gonna be the first to do this (click on each link to hear the sound)

Snoop Dogg: ouhhh weee !!!

snoop sometimes speaks in a high level tone to impersonate pimps and macs, I think the voice is inspired from bootsy callins, an old school funk artist who always speaks like that and which snoop usually collaborates with especially when it comes to instruments, snoop likes to rap on old school funk melodies mixed with hip hop beats, he also likes to spell out words like D.O.G.G, L.B.C (long beach city), D.P.G (dog pound gang. He is also famous for creating his own slang by adding "izzle" or "ezy" in the end of each sentence like ''for shizzle my nizzle'' (for sure my nigga). He also uses the word sticky yicki icki for weed

http://www10.zippyshare.com/v/16054753/file.html

Xzibit: shsh…shsh..shsh / ahaaa ahaaa (this particular sound is used in the beginning of the song ''ghetto bird'' by ice cube, apparently it is frequently used by gangs in the west coast area to signal the arrival of police)

http://www24.zippyshare.com/v/47998285/file.html

Lil Wayne – Ah ummm / young mullah baaaby / wizzy F baby:
http://www11.zippyshare.com/v/42034853/file.html

Lil Jon – Yeahhhh / What / Let’s go / BME click / Okay:
http://www10.zippyshare.com/v/10695091/file.html

E40 – uuuuuuh:

http://www10.zippyshare.com/v/9550118/file.html

Master P – uhhhhh:

http://www10.zippyshare.com/v/57001799/file.html

DMX: grrrrr / ough ough :

http://www10.zippyshare.com/v/12115122/file.html

Ice Cube: yiyeahi yiyeahi / brrrrrrr / west siiide

http://www24.zippyshare.com/v/1256173/file.html

50 cent : GGGG unit

http://www24.zippyshare.com/v/18135698/file.html

Method man: Meth likes to say the work ''TICAL'' a lot which means marijuana from the Native American tribe

http://www24.zippyshare.com/v/2745879/file.html

Busta Rhymes: woo hahhhh

http://www24.zippyshare.com/v/24063648/file.html

Timbaland: fikkki fikkki (imitating a scratching sound)

http://www21.zippyshare.com/v/48406934/file.html

Hip Hop & Money

Today I wanna talk about MOOOOONEY in Hip Hop!!!! Who are the real pioneers???? Who is the biggest money makers? Who has the biggest empire?... I'm sure some of y'all saw MTV cribs at least once or twice, these rappers are really living their life to the fullest with all the money they have... So since Hip Hop nowadays is all about that (money, fame, show off, who's better...) how about we let you know who really is the baller and who's the big mouth XD

Of course the more you sell records the more you get money (logic) but there are those you don't really hear about!!! They are not famous as rappers but mostly as business man because the secret is not in the music, no matter how talented you are... It's in the label baby.

I made a quick research on Hip Hop record labels and was shocked to find sooo many!! But of course some make much more money than others so I'm gonna give you the two biggest influence in the Hip Hop world that I know, they are not only in the music industry but in many other fields, they are the pride of the Afro-American community, the reason behind success, the real deals, the hot shots (if you decided to be a rapper, you should definitely be in touch with these ghosts XD):

Damon Dash with Roc-A-Fella Records, Dash’s businesses include America Magazine, Armadale Vodka, Dash Management, PRO-KEDS, Team Roc, Tiret Watches, the Rachel Roy Clothing Line, the New York nightclub The Plumm... Dash's fortune is estimated at 200 Million $.

Russell Simmons with Def Jam Records, his fortune is estimated at 325 Million $ Simmons is in numerous projects including, Def Poetry Jam, Def Comedy Jam, Phat Farm clothing company, a movie production house, a magazine, and an advertising agency.

I must say that these numbers are quite old (2006), I'm sure it's much more by now BUT I didn't mention those rappers who has it all XD, successful as rappers AND producers, managers, actors, models.... so I'm about to give you the richest rappers of 2010 PLUS their labels (haters you can start hating XD):

10 - Kanye West and GOOD Music

9 - Pharrell Williams and star trek

8 - Timbaland and Mosley Music Group

7 - Snoop Dogg and Doggy Style Records

6 - Ludacris and Disturbing tha Peace

5 - Dr. Dre and Aftermath Entertainment

4 - Lil Wayne and young money Entertainment

3 - Akon and Konvict Muzik

2 - Diddy and Bad Boy Records

1 - Jay-Z and Roc Nation

I wonder why 50 cent is not in that list with his g g g g uuuuunit lool I guess the competition was too hard this time, next time 50 XD

So who's gonna be number 1 this year??? I personally would say Lil Wayne, because I have a feeling that all the new rappers are more and more young thus they have a tendency to go and sign under Young Money Entertainment XD, young mulah baaaaaby !!!!

Rappers names

I'm sure a lot of people asked before why is it that every rapper has a nickname and sometimes really weird ones??? I personally never knew, I always said that the names come from the streets and it's generally what are you known for so it kind of makes it cool I guess, but what happens if they just called you by your real name? XD... so I think there is another reason behind it "MARKETING" XD.

What would you think if 50 Cent showed up in the beginning with his real name "Curtis James" XD? Would he be as successful as he is now? Probably, but the name "50 Cent" looks like it has a deep story behind it (I heard a lot of versions of that story but I’m not gonna talk about it :p), it's a "cool" name for a rapper, so I guess it help at least a little bit.

How would you sell records if you had a real fag name? Like... Calvin Broadus XD guess who's that?...... Snoop puahaha the gangsta dogg's name is Calvin, get out of here!! Or Christopher Wallace, guess who this guy is? He can be everything but a Christopher XD, guess his mama wanted him to be a lawyer or a doctor XD: Notorious Big!!! Thank god he was known as Biggy or else he wouldn’t make it even if he is a great rapper.

I'm gonna give u a short list of the most unexpected names of famous rappers in my POV:

Hakeem Seriki..................Chamillionaire

Alvin Joyner......................Xzibit

Faheem Najm...................T-Pain

Kaseem Dean...................Swizz Beatz

Tramar Dillard..................Fol rida

There are of course some rappers carrying their real name, and I do respect that a lot, it makes them real and authentic like Tupas Shakur, Kanye West.....

Some have a diminutive of their name, like Lil Jon from Johnathan, Nas form Nasir, Lil Wayne from Dwayne....

And what if you are famous for a real bad thing? XD like what if they called you “fat ass”? Or “dick head”? XD I guess you just have to carry that with you in the Hip Hop game XD or else you gonna have to fake it till you make it XD, let me give you some I know:

Ol' Dirty Basterd

Too Short

Dirt Bag

Ice Cube

Method Man

Ghostface Killah

I'm sure there are more, I really would like to know the story behind each weird name XD.

I will finish by giving you this cool website to create your own rap name for fun, enjoy!!! myrapname.com XD

Mixtape

Ok, I'm going iiiiiiin (You know who says that, right? XD)

I know I ain't no Hip Hop specialist or something so somebody please explain to me what is about these "MIXTAPES" in Hip Hop today???? We never heard about them 10 years ago!!! Yet eeeevery rapper today is doing mixtapes, even the old ones started although I don’t know why they would, they don’t really need to!!!

So what's a mixtape? For those who don’t know, I checked my favorite online raw and real dictionary "urbandictionary.com" XD to give you the best definition: my favorite one was this one (pretty funny but very true lol): A mixtape is an underground CD that has instrumentals already used by some artists, so the MC in the mixtape raps over these beats to show that they can rap better than the original artists. In these mixtapes there´s also annoying DJs yelling all over the tracks XD

Ok so this may be fun, it is actually interesting to hear for example 50 Cent rapping on Kanye song but what's the real point of all this? Is it because labels don’t want to release two albums from the same rapper per year due to his thirstiness to rap and make money? Is it a new promotional technique to get the fame before success? Is it to give a chance for those who don’t have the means to make it? I personally still don’t know and would love to hear an answer if someone does...

Ok, now we all know that Lil Wayne has tones of mixtapes, he became mostly famous from them since everybody started to listen to his FREE Wizzy online albums. For those who don’t know this (ironically I heard it in a mixtape lool where you hear an interview of Wizzy, it's called "the rebirth of the Carter"): after finishing Tha Carter III album, Wizzy wanted to add a last song, freestyle type with no chorus, like in his mixtapes since his known for that, so the DJ came up with "a milli", and it became an absolute hit...

Ok now despite of Wizzy, my real question is what's the legal aspect of all this??? I mean isn't there a law that regulates this way of doing business??? If I was a rapper and had an album on sale, then I find another rapper on the net using my own instrumentals to rap on them and making a buzz or making money, I'll definitely sue the guy!!!

The funny thing about all this, is when you Wiki a new rapper (example: Drake, Young Jezzy, Ya Boy...) You'll find that he or she has like 10 mixtapes but 1 or 2 official albums XD and it's even confusing sometimes because they will first release a mixtape then an album with the same title, like Drake did, "So Far So Gone" was first a mixtape, then he released an album with the same name. Before it used to be only ''albums'', now it's mixtape, independent album, collaboration album, EP, LP, official album -_-

I remember I used to download these mixtapes, till I realized that this shit is infinite, you'll never be able to hear them all, so I deleted them all and kept the rest XD

Speaking about DJs previously in the definition, who are they??? I mean in these mixtapes, I always hear ''DJ ROCKSTAAAA", "ILL WILL", "CUFF UR CHIIIIIICK", "GREEN LANTERN" every two minutes in the whole mixtape album with the same voice for all the new mixtapes, WTF!!!!!!

OK I must first say much respect to these DJs, because without them there will be no Wizzy nor other rappers, they're the secret behind the glory, they work very hard but the thing is you'll never see their faces anywhere, no Wiki no video clip, you rarely see them in a mixtape cover, they are like ghosts XD

Another funny thing about mixtape albums, is the "COVER", they all look alike XD, as if they have being designed by one man WTF!!! They remind me of Marvel magazines, but instead of super heroes, you see rappers XD, the picture is like a mixture of a real photograph, hand drawing and 3D effects XD I don’t know how to explain it, I guess the best way is to check it yourself, just type in Google image "Lil Wayne mixtape" for example... I guess there is like an exclusive special industry that produces them all lol

To finish, I would hip hop is gonna be whatever rappers want it to be... Mos Def said before: "we are all hip hop: me, you, everybody..."

BET Cypher

A while ago while checking some videos on Youtube, I found this cool shit called BET Cypher, so there is this annual BET (Black Entertainment Television) music awards (for Hip Hop and R&B only), and I guess the Cypher is like a freestyle session with a whole bunch of new underground rappers from everywhere taking turns in rapping. I saw this one that blew my mind, I saw it once before by chance but every time I hear it I go wow. It's the one with Nicki Minaj (before she became famous), actually I used to always hear her part in her first mixtape album, it's so raw, old shool and gangsta. You know what I'll just post the link for y'all to see... Nicki is really a well respected artist in the Hip Hop game. Between, referring to Youtube videos, it's Nicki who started the Lil Kim shit, she indirectly attacked her in her songs, her Foxy Brown, Remy ma.... She really is the baddest bitch !!!!

Diddy is really a sucka!!!! He used to always work with Kim, now that his working with Nicki, he said in an interview that “Yeaah Kim is the queen... And Nicki is a queen too... I mean no disrespect.... It is what it is bla bla bla....” Shut the hell up!!!!

Once again, it proves that Hip Hop is just a business now, every rapper is chasing the paypa by any means necessary!!! This reminded me of Snoop dissing Soulja boy in a radio live interview, saying that there are a lot of new rappers doing bullshit music and what motivates people to like it, is that it comes generally with a dance, than he said youuuuuuuuh (referring to Souldja's first single), couple of months later, what do you see? Snoop and Souldja together in a video clip!!!

I guess artists are no longer artists, I consider them as business man or woman, they'll give you what you want and not what they are, they'll stick with anything that rhymes with success, look at Lil Wayne! Everybody wants a piece of him since his the shit right now, so if he appears in a video clip, there will definitely be a large audience....

Hip Hop Today

Man, I have been watching some Hip Hop videos on Youtube during break time and I'm kind of shocked at what I’m seeing, rappers are getting younger and younger (Lil Twist, Lil Chuckee, Tyga, Kid Ink, Dolla....), they are like 17 covered with tattoos and diamonds and talking about money and bitches, WTF MAN!!! Is everybody trying to be the next Lil Wayne??? Ok so some of them are under the Young Money label so it's predictable, they have to follow, I guess, a certain image. But why does everybody have to be and do the same shit, what happened to "art" "style", "unique", "original" and "authentic"??? Don't get me wrong, I love Lil Wayne, I like the music, the flow, the voice, the lyrics, the swag but having 6 or 7 of him kind of make me sick. Plus, it decreases considerably Lil Wayne's value. I guess he was so successful that all rappers are trying to follow his path and forgot to put their own touch. Another thing: When do rappers gonna get enough from bragging??????? OK I got it: you’re super fucking rich, bitches are sucking your dick for free 24/7 and I'm just a poor piece of shit to you, now can you move on??? And are they really rich as they pretend to be??? I mean do they really own the fancy cars and huge luxurious houses they show on their music video clips? I doubt that, because that's what the people want, they want to be ENTERTAINED!!! Lyrics don’t really count anymore as long as you show me some nice titties with a good bass and some occasional cars and rhymes. I guess Chris Rock was right when he said: "I'm tired of defending rap... We all should be ashamed of loving this shit" lol.

According to history, hip hop has changed a LOT since the early 90s not only in beats and melody but also in lyrics, take a little look at Tribe Called Quest, Public Enemy, Grand Master Flash, Run Dmc, Eric B & Rakim... (East Coast rappers where Hip Hop was born) music then was more about life in society as a black man, of course drugs and sex are included but it was "poetic", like mom said: “good art comes out from misery”. I started listening to Hip Hop when I discovered 2Pac, and there started my fascination about West Coast Hip Hop: violence, gang and the ghetto lol. I stopped listening to it during year 2000, it became more about the fame and money since the black artist kind of made it through and became rich. They couldn’t talk about the same shit anymore and the music became like crappy to me! So I was more into R&B back then, but what made me go back to Hip Hop even more than before was the sudden success of the Dirty South with Lil Jon and later Lil Wayne. The Dirty South was more about being CRAZY! Just like the Hyphy movement in the bay area. Between, I’m not the only one who thinks that Lil Wayne is some kind of a legend, he’s considered as the best rapper alive, a documentary was released on his life story, Barack Obama mentioned his name in a TV conference lool and he’s the rapper with the largest mixtape collection at his age... So that's why I'm picking on all these new rappers trying to look like him, I may be wrong, maybe it's just today's fashion, maybe it's just the new Hip Hop culture..... I also like New Boyz, thanks to them, the baggy jeans are dead lool, rappers are starting to wear tight jeans loool.

Finally I guess this is what teenagers nowadays wanna hear about ....They don’t wanna hear about a song with message. And that scary because the world seems to be given what we want instead of what we need. A world ruled by pleasure and consumption rather than morals and responsibility.