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…

Purple drank

Whether being interviewed or performing in a video clip, Lil Wayne never leaves his white cup. So I’m quite sure a lot of people wondered: what is Lil Wayne drinking?

Lately I saw this movie called "No Strings Attached" with Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman. I was surprised by a particular scene where Ashton rushes to a hospital to see his father who had a heart case and finds his X who’s now sleeping with his father, he asks her what happened and she said that his father drank too much purple drank because he became a Lil Wayne fan loool.

This made me think a while…. Lil Wayne made it really big, he got white people imitating him like when MJ was at his peak, I guess soon they’ll be covered with tattoos and wearing grills lool.

For those who didn’t hear about the purple drank, it’s a famous drink used in the Dirty South. It’s basically a cough syrup mixed with Sprite or Mountain Dew and pieces of Jolly Rancher candy. The drink has other nicknames such as sizzurp, lean or Texas tea.

The syrup contains promethazine and codeine which apparently when drinking a certain dose makes u see and hear in a slower mode. DJ Screw used this effect in his music and popularized the drink by inventing the famous "chopped and screwed" style which consists of lowering the pitch sound giving a deep voice effect in music, (example the back voice in Lil Wayne’s song a milli).

In 2000, Three 6 Mafia's single "Sippin' on Some Syrup," , brought the term "purple drank" to a nationwide audience, After that many rappers started mentioning the drink in their song including Far East Movement lately (sippin sizzurp in my ride, like Three 6).

However the syrup is under prescription and the drink is considered a drug and dangerous for the health thus illegal. In doses higher than recommended, it produces extreme somnolence, weakness and may cause fatal respiratory failure. Ironically DJ Screw himself died from an overdose.

skinny jeans VS saggy jeans

Today I wanna talk about skinny jeans in the hip hop fashion today!!! It looks like hip hop is going back to the old school when it comes to fashion… what happened to baggy pants? It’s all about wearing skinny ones now !!!…

its kinda ironic when I think about it cuz I remember myself laughing at Grandmaster Flash’s style in his video “the message” I must first say that  I really do respect this guy, cuz he’s like one of the earliest rappers and his songs are still a reference in the HH game but seriously the clothes in that vid are hilarious!!!! I mean I understand that it was the fashion back then but if someone wore the same now, people would definitely think he’s some kind of masochist fagot or sthg….

Since the new boyz’s success giving rise to the jerk movement, it seems that hip hop is going back to its old image, no more XXX t-shirt with a baggy pants and a pair of timbo, all you need right now to look hot and hip hop fashioned is a pair of tight pants, tight t-shirt and a pair of supra…

Although it may look kinda gay for some, at least the good thing about it in my POV is that it spares us the underwear view… cuz I really don’t like saggy pants, I find it disgusting and veeeery uncomfortable and it can fall very easily, I don’t mind the underwear exceeding the pants by a inch or two showing the brand name especially if it is a fancy one, I personally do it sometimes in the summer at the beach…

But what I don’t get, is how can people walk around with their waist of their pants at their knees and still find it appealing!!!

For those who don’t know, sagging originates from jail; prisoners were not allowed to have belts due to the possibility of suicide or violence. Thus, their pants were always sagged so people started to wear saggy pants out of prison to impersonate out laws and give them this thug look (same thing for shoe laces), why on earth would I wanna make people think I am a felon? And even if I was actually a felon, I think I can afford buying a belt out of prison -_-

Anyways, hallelujah!!! Saggy pants are over, adopt the skinny ones ;)

Johnny Dang

Lately I have been watching some new HH videos and I kinda noticed a familiar funny face appearing in a Diddy video, there is this short skinny Asian guy who pops up from nowhere lol… I remember seeing him in the Gucci bandana video of soulja boy… I said to myself this guy must be a big shot since he keeps showing up in rappers videos, I did my lil research and I was quite surprised by the results… Check this out:

From Lil Jon’s famous crunk cup to Nelly’s mad grillz to Rick Ross’s black diamond ring, this man is behind all that bling bling, he’s the Pablo Escobar of jewelry and he goes by the name of Johnny Dang… This guy customizes almost all the jewelry for rappers. I didn’t know much about jewelry for man till now and it’s a biiiig world especially when it comes to hip hop in the US…

Although he has nothing to do with hip hop music, JD has a big contribution to making these rappers looking supa fly… He speaks English with a heavy accent but he earned respect from the hip hop community and I’m sure he is making a lot of paypa…

If you wanna see more, check out his website www.tvjohnny.net he even has a documentary called Grillz showing all his shinny toys and explaining how he started his business with the rapper Paul wall.

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

Street Dance

Today's HH news is about DANCING!!! When I say hip hop dance, y'all automatically think of break dancing: the popping and locking, the spins, the freezes...I remember watching these incredible international battles, these "b boys" were like stars, my favorite dancer was mr wiggles from the legendary Electric Boogaloos and way after salah (a french champ) but ever since hip hop has changed a lot... so as dancing XD

I remember right After break dancing, I discovered the C walk (Crip walk) and I said to myself this is definitely me XD, it's cool, easy and very rhythmic, unlike break dancing where the song is by itself and the dancers is trying to do extremes moves that has nothing to do with the beat XD but still c-walking was not really easy to do, u need a lot of practice and a very good pair of sneakers XD

So recently, this past few years, there is this wave of new street moves...finally some easy stuff for us XD I mean frankly who can break dance nowadays??? It's certainly entertaining but that shit is hard to learn -_- u need to be strong, flexible and in good shape in order to do just the basics, actually is more sports than a simple dance to me -_-

But anyway, I'm happy we got some new stuff XD for me, personally, I kinda grew out of break dancing, I mean I'm not into it anymore like before, common! even if I knew some moves right now, I don't see my self swapping the dance floor with my shirt and standing on my head in a club hahaha...Of course I respect bboys, Break dance is one of the oldest dance and still remains, all the new dances r derived from it, when u dance to a HH beat, u def would use one or two tricks from the old school times XD whether it's waving, tutting or gliding...

So from where these new moves came from?? n who created them?? I don't really got the answers to all but I have some ideas ;)...most of these moves r related to a precise song, the more u love the song, the more u get hooked to the dance XD So let me give you a list of the latest dance I know:

I'm gonna start with my favorite one, easy and super catchy XD

- "The snap dance" or the "lean wit it rock wit it" : I dono if there is a difference between both, I hope i'm not saying non sense XD but they look pretty much the same to me, so these two dances appeared respectively from the song "snap your fingers" by lil jon and Lean Wit It Rock Wit It by Dem Franchise Boyz

- ''Harlem shake'' this one is quite old actually

- ''2step'' by Unk

- "Chiken noodle soop" by Dj webstar

- The "wu tang" still dono who did it but not the wu tang clan XD (this one sux btw)

- "Pop lock n drop it" by huey, actually this one is for them girls with big booties XD

- "Crank that soulja boy", that dance was really a hit for a big time XD

- "Stanky legg" buy GS Boyz

- "Thizzle dance" by mac dre (RIP)

- "Doogie" by cali swag district

- Krump (this one when also very big, there is a nice documentary on it calledRize )

- Clow dance (inspired form c walk but without all the gang thing envolved)

- Shuffling (more for electro music)

- Turf dance

- Flexing

And last but not least, this one I definitely got to learn it, I think it's the newest: "the jerk dance" or "jerkin" by new boyz, the bangz, the rej3ctz, audio push...dono who started it but I got a feeling that its becoming a movement if not already like the hyphy movement with their thizzle dance...

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 !!!!