Entertainment Wire Online

The History of Hip Hop History
By ETEditor

The past 20 years of hip hop have been quite eventful, from the unsolved murders to the ugly beefs. The authors of “Rap-Up: The Ultimate Guide To Hip Hop And R&B,” Cameron and Devin Lazerine, are highlighting the glory and drama in their 335 page encyclopedia of who’s who in popular music. Entertainment Wire asked them about the state of hip hop and the condition of these artists’ careers.

Entertainment Wire: When did you all become interested in hip-hop music?
Devin Laverine: I got into hip-hop when I was about 10 years-old. The first record I remember hearing was Cypress Hill. Just through the media-MTV, BET and the Internet-is how I got exposed to the music.

ETW: What drew you to hip hop?
DL: Being so young, I didn’t understand the lyrics at that time.
ETW: What do you think of the current state of hip-hop?

Cameron Laverine: I think it’s kinda in a state of revolution right now. People are criticizing it because the content is not as positive as some would like. I think it’s in the state of figuring out where it’s going and where it isn’t going, in regards to how pop or commercial it is.
DL: Record labels are focusing on artists that are just able to put out one huge hit but I think they need to go back to putting out career artists.

ETW: Is now a good time for past artists, like Salt-N-Pepa, to reemerge into the musical climate?
DL: I think you’re only as good as your last record. So, whatever material you’re putting out right now is how people are going to judge you. I just think that the young generation needs to learn about the past in order to understand the artists that are influenced by pioneers, like Salt-N-Pepa, MC Lyte, Run DMC. You have to understand the past to grasp the future.

ETW: Since you talk about them in your book, describe the following artists. DMX.

DL: Raw.
CL: Rather it’s his music or the stories you hear outside of his music, he always has been raw. He doesn’t try to appease everyone.

ETW: Ja Rule.
CL: I think the thing about Ja Rule is that he kinda ended up in a weird space in his career because he did become a huge pop star and he was known for rap songs with a hook and a melody. And once that went out of style, he went out of style with it. That’s a tricky thing.

ETW: Do you think his beefs, especially with 50 Cent, had anything to do with him going out of style or was he already on his way out?
CL: I think he was already out of style.

DL: I definitely think 50 had an impact on that. He (50) was at the height of his popularity.
CL: I also think that benefited Ja Rule because anytime you have a beef with 50, you’re going to be in all the headlines.

ETW: Missy Elliott.
DL: Creative. Her new CD is set for June.was just the energy.
CL: She’s one of the first artists to do a 3D music video. She always comes out with something new and different. Innovative.

ETW: Dr. Dre.
DL: Icon.

ETW: Do you think his icon status is largely due to his perfectionism? I’ve read that a lot of artists have left his label.
CL: He’s had an album in the works for…how long now? You know. So, he does take time to make sure it’s right.

DL: He’s also very reclusive. He doesn’t do interviews. It adds to the whole mysteriousness and makes him an icon.
ETW: TI.
DL: The King.
CL: With his last album, he just exploded and opened up the doors for a lot of southern artists. Soulja Boy-all of these artists are coming out with their own style, and I think you have to give some credit to TI for that.

ETW: R. Kelly.
DL: You know what I think of R. Kelly? Aside from whatever is going on in his personal life, he continues to produce hit music. That is why radio continues to play his records, even though he’s going through a tough time.
ETW: Is Kelly’s style temporarily getting old? I always say temporarily because whatever is old eventually becomes new again. But do you think his style will get old, as far his own recording career?
DL: Actually, I thought after the whole scandal broke that people would not buy his records but, after that, he sold enormously well. As much as it (his music) doesn’t change, it’s still unexpected. I don’t think it’s going to get old.

Visit www.rap-up.com for more information on Cameron and Devin Lazerine book.

Bumpy's Story
By ETEditor

Harlem Godfather Fancy cars. Expensive clothes. Popular celebrities. Kind of sounds like Hollywood . Actually, it’s Harlem in the 1940s and 1950s. And who better to talk about it than a woman who lived it – Mayme Johnson, the 93 year-old widow of Harlem hustler, Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson. In the biography, Harlem Godfather: The Rap on my Husband, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson, the widow (along with author, Karen E. Quinones Miller) seeks to set the record straight on topics like Bumpy’s famous gang war with mobster, Dutch Schultz, his ascension to the top of organized crime in Harlem and the real story behind his portrayal in the American Gangster.

"Most of the information that people think they know about Bumpy is wrong," says Mrs. Johnson. "That's because he never used to give interviews, so the newspapers and magazine back in the thirties and forties just made up stuff. And later on it got repeated so often people just took it for the truth. I never got upset because I knew that people just didn't know better."

Although Bumpy went to prison on drug charges, Johnson says her husband did not sell drugs. He did, however, profit from the drug trade, along with running numbers and providing protection for prostitutes. Yet, the drug association doesn’t bother Mrs. Johnson nearly as much as the recent major motion picture American Gangster. It wasn’t the first time that Bumpy had been portrayed in a film; He’s depicted in Cotton Club and Hoodlum by Bill Duke and Lawrence Fishburne, respectively. She mostly took offense to former drug dealer Frank Lucas -- depicted by Denzel Washington in Gangster -- portraying himself as Bumpy's personal confidant.

"There's a difference between being wrong and lying, and what Frank Lucas did was lie. Frank wasn't nowhere around when Bumpy died," says Johnson regarding the opening scene of the popular movie. Overall, Harlem Godfather: The Rap on my Husband, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson provides a first hand account of the world you’ve only seen in the movies.