A minute ago one of my peoples asked me what did I think was one of the biggest misconceptions about hip hop. And my answer immediately was that hip hop has an age limit on it. I can't tell you how many times I hear things like "why does such a such still rap? He's married with kids now" or here's one that I always get, "you STILL make beats?" Now the reason why that's a problem is because it's not like that with any other genre of music except hip hop. No one comes to my mom's house (who is a jazz musician) asking "wow...you STILL play the saxophone?" Nobody was asking why was Gladys Knight was in that Soul Train cypher? She's too old to still be singing?" In fact, with any other genre of music, it's a badge of honor to still be pursuing your art...except with hip hop. Which leads me to ask that famous Blastmaster KRS One question, why is that? It's probably because so many people believe hip hop is a young man's game but I beg to differ. I believe hip hop has it's arms open wide for anyone who has a passion to make the music regardless of race, color, creed or age. In fact, that would bring hip hop back to the very place it was when I first fell in love with this culture. The problem is there isn't enough music for folk who are my age, married with kids, bills, student loans, medical issues, etc. etc. but that's where Jay Bishop's new project "All That To Get To This" comes into play. Here you've got an album dealing with the lack of money, depression, suicidal thoughts, the struggles of love, political issues, etc. you know...the issues that us grown folk have.
"Economics 101" touches on the real life situations so many folk are dealing when it comes to the all mighty dollar bill, "my wife got a college degree that means we're in debt indefinitely", "Let's Find Out" asks the question "what you gonna do when it all falls down and it's time for you to pick a side?", "False Love" is cut from the cloth of BDP's "Love's Gonna Get'cha" and the album's 1st single "Minority Report" touches on the political climate of what's going on in the game for black folk. "What It Feels Like To Be Me" gives you a glance into Jay Bishop's daily struggles, "wake up in the morning wishing that I didn't wake up in the morning, to face another day", "Grown Folk Flows" has Jay Bishop & Blacmav trading verses back in forth on their grown man ish, "Broke Ballin" uses the O'Donel Levy's "We Only Just Begun" sample made famous by Pete Rock for "Mecca & the Soul Brother", "The Wackness" deals with how wack those folk are "who spit it but don't live it", "Project Groove" is the lone instrumental of the album and the album ends with the album's title cut which gives you some of Jay Bishop's life story, "as an adult I've become more self aware, realizing that God don't care about my self worth/still not sure why I was put on this earth, everyone I love has suffered from my negative curse/my marriage on shaky grounds I'm drinking a bit too much, the razor blade at my wrist I'm not giving a fuck."
So if you're tired of the trap, gangsta, money cash hoes rap music that plagues our airwaves 24/7 then give Jay Bishop's "All That To Get To This" a spin in your rotation and get that much needed break that your ears need. You can cop "All That To Get To This" at Jay Bishop's Bandcamp Site.
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