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…

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 !!!!

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.