Thug Life Army

On the surface the rap and hip-hop culture seems quiet lately. After all everyone is waiting for the LIl ’Kim verdict; she could get 30 years. After the performance of the witnesses in her case, the female hip-hop artist is most likely playing rap icon Tupac Shakur’s ‘Hit Em Up’ in the car on her way to court.

Ja Rule stood as a man in a Toronto courtroom and admitted he was guilty of assault. Ja apologized and tool his punishment; now that is something kids should notice. Everyone messes up once in awhile. But you don’t have to lie or blame others for your mistakes. If you are a man (or woman) about it and admit that you messed up, people understand – because we all do it.

People have been falling all over themselves to support Interscopes new breed of ‘loose cannons'', rappers 50 Cent and The Game for their performance of ‘Peace’. When are we going to hear that the police can not determine who the shooter in the Hot 97 incident between Games posse and 50’s posse? We all know that is coming.

When are we going to hear what is going on with the case against Young Buck for the stabbing at the Vibe awards? What about the shooting in New Jersey where 50 was purposively shot at?

Things are quiet in Hip-Hop and rap because it seems either they are waiting for the hammer to drop, or they are playing the ‘ignore it and it will go away’ routine.

Reverend Al Sharpton had an interesting point that seems to have just passed by everyone. "Jimmy Iovine, the President of Interscope Records, has been the central figure and common thread through over 10 years of manipulation of violence and death in and around the Hip-Hop community, and yet his name is hardly ever mentioned and he has never been held accountable," said Reverend Al Sharpton.

Love him or hate him but out of all this lately, Ja Rule has been only one of a few to stand up and be a man about his mistake. Now that’s real ‘Gangsta’.