Funny the things you can call up via the internet. I don’t concern myself with others opinions when it comes to creating my own too much. But every once in a while, I am so floored by what I read that I have to wonder why. Why does it shock me? That self-intervention normally makes me realize the cold hard truth. I sometimes rush to judgment based on group opinion.

I hate to think about that because I strive to be an individual. A lot of us do pride ourselves on being uber independent thinkers and forget that some of our thoughts just kinda sneak in there via the group sync feed. Once it’s there, it’s adopted as ours and we forget we usurped it from someone, somewhere…. sometime.

Anyway. What am I talking about? I was on a site that’s run by a writer I really respect checking out what he thinks is the really good new new. Shit you would be listening to if it weren’t for what these artists did in the past. Shit you would be listening to if it weren’t for group think. My rap writer idol then goes on to give a “ridiculously solid” co-sign to the sophomore offering from a young rapper who will remain nameless because I’ve cut him up enough recently at the other gig.

Ha Haaaaaa…. This has to be a joke.

I re-read and re-read. I tried to pull the bottom of my screen down hoping that the punch-line was hidden somewhere. But alas, it was not. This dude was serious (no jones). But what shocked me more than anything after I really thought about it was…..

I haven’t heard the album.

I’m like what the fuck is this dude talking about? This kid sucks. I’m going to delete this cat from my favorites and get rid of his RSS feed! But how can I disagree if I’ve never listened to the music?

Damn.

First and foremost, this took some heavy duty balls. It is not often that the respected Hip Hop critic gives the bubble-gum, “I’m just here for the ice and tats” crew the time of day on their sites. Not these Hip Hop encyclopedia thumping historians. No way. But he did and he explained the album cut so wonderfully that I actually took the time to listen to it. It didn’t change my opinion of this young man **cough** Soulja Boy**cough**. But it did open my eyes to the fact that we don’t allow for the development of artists anymore. And once the group think ushers in the Hip Hop Nation’s opinion, it’s hard as hell to wipe that slate clean.

Why? C’mon that’s any easy one. You submerge yourself in that underground funk because its soooo passé to give a shit about mainstream. You listen to a couple of MF Doom or Brother Ali jawns and then proclaim your status as the “real” Hip Hop know-it-all. Which, of course, comes with a steady diet of baby bashing and giving straight hell to the younger cats who aren’t there to entertain your bitter old ass anyway. It would be know-it-all suicide to admit you listen to what’s not “real.” Been there. Done that.

So yeah, not only did I call up what appeared at the time to be an almost miraculous post by one of the finest to ever do it **cough **Brandon Soderberg**cough**; I also called up my inner uber-independent thought. I still can’t bring myself to vibe off that silliness, but at least now I can say that’s because I gave it a fair shot and created my own opinion. So I guess I will re-install the RSS feed and me and my writer idol will just have to agree to disagree. Not that he gives a shit what I think. That is what made that post so awesome in the first place

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