Heltah Skeltah - Operation Lockdown (Duck Down, 1996)

I liked you a lot more when you weren’t bitter and ignorant, P.

First and foremost, I’m not defending Cudi here, despite being a fan of his, which is sometimes frustrating when most of my blogosphere-peers despise him (oh, you too Aubrey! How’s it going DeAndre?). I’m still a supporter of this drunken lunatic’s music, specifically A Kid Named Cudi/Man On The Moon, and I’d rather listen to that than the tyranical, self-loathing affair that was the Master P mixtape. Monkey Barz was a great fucking album, and Jesus Price Superstar was a fantastic follow-up; Nocturnal’s easily one of my favorite Duck Down releases, and that album still gets the dust blown off of it at least yearly (hey, that’s better than most of my old favorite rap albums; I don’t even remember the last time I listened to Capital Punishment or Return To The 36 Chambers thoroughly).

This isn’t about him, it’s about the people that keep his fat-ass fed; his fanbase. Now, I know Sean’s very confrontational, and forward in his approach to dismissing other rappers, but how ignorant can one man be? It’s not like this dude is eating (and he’s clearly eating) off of album sales, it’s that tour money that keeps him afloat. Now, who’s willing to bet that the majority of people that’re going to that upcoming Duck Down 15th Anniversary Tour are Okayplayers who listen to Kid Cudi and Big Sean when they’re not jerking off to Buckshot and wishing Da Beatminerz were still relevant? It’s not like most of your original fanbase is riding with you, P - they’ve got families and jobs (or they’re locked up/dead, this is Duck Down we’re discussing here), they’re not checking for an over the hill rapper who used to be part of the less popular duo act on Duck Down Records. Those hipsters/”real hip-hop heads” that still keep your electric on are the same people you just told to go kill themselves. How much further can you let your hatred of the new generation alienate yourself? This is one of the biggest reasons that New York rap (especially that of the veterans, like Sean, Meth, KRS-1, virtually any rapper over 40 who mildly knows how to use a camera and lives above the Mason Dixon line) is so damn irrelevant. You’re distancing yourself from the majority of the people that support you, and making yourself look like a giant douchebag in the process.

Maybe you don’t want those people to be your fans - then who’s left? The five or six bloggers who still cover your music? I’m not saying that Sean Price dissing his fans will be the downfall of the remnants of his career (although ethically it should be) - I’m just saying that this tunnel-vision is responsible for those same feelings he’s letting loose now.

And no, I doubt there’s any looming “beef” here, as both of these dudes are pretty much grade-A assholes in real life, Cudi probably has no idea what the fuck a Heltah Skeltah is, Sean Price doesn’t do “beef” unless it’s in the streets, and Cudi’s too busy getting drunk and assaulting random people to get on the internet in 2010. Sean Price on the other hand is probably trying to figure out how he can cover All The Way Turnt Up and turn it into a Southern rappers are stupid but I are real smart and dope! type track that lacks any real personality, and only makes the thousand or so listeners he has left in New York chuckle because they’d feel unpatriotic otherwise.