What’s good, people? This is your boy’s first blog on our new and improved Web site, so bear with me.
Let me start by introducing myself. My name is Brandon Dunlap, and I am The State News general assignment features reporter. I am a journalism senior here at MSU (Go Spartans!), and I bleed green and white.
But before I fell in love with the beautifully green campus, cool people and the fun of living in a wild college town, my first love has been – and always will be – hip-hop music.
I mean, I am such a rap music junkie that I annoy every friend, roommate and girlfriend I have ever had with my excessive music playing. Unfortunately, I am not stopping for anyone – I’d rather be alone with this music than almost anything else. I love it so much that it just seeps into everything I do. For me, it is so much more than the gold chains, microphones and head-busting beats, but it stems from the core of who I am.
To say the least, hip-hop and I have had our ups and downs like a dysfunctional relationship, but one thing I am proud of is its progression.
Do not mistake me for one those little teeny boppers “crankin’ it” out to Soulja Boy Tell Em’s new hit. Even though I support anything that is about upward movement, don’t forget the little detail of never forgetting your roots. If hip-hop just stayed in the same place it was 20 years ago, it would be irrelevant.
But hip-hop is relevant. Take the perfect example of MTV’s new television show, “Celebrity Rap Superstar.” To have “celebrities” getting coached by hip-hop legends to seriously learn the art of mastering the mic may sound like a wack rap version of “Dancing with the Stars,” but I call it progressive.
I know this leaves questions like, “Who told Jason Wahler from ‘Laguna Beach’ and ‘The Hills’ and Efren Ramirez (whoever he is) they were celebrities?,” but it lets you laugh your ass off.
This show really gives props to the art of rhyming, proving that it is harder than it looks, and that every average Joe cannot rap. Hip-hop is always honest, rude and sometimes vulgar, but it is also fun, therapeutic and challenging. Oh yeah, Sebastian Bach belting out in true rocker style, LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out” is classic.