We Care Too Much

By this time everyone in the hip hop community is aware of an altercation that took place this weekend between Joe Budden and Wu-Tang’s Raekwon. This history of this situation, in short is as follows: Joe says Method Man ain’t as good as Vibe ranked him, the Wu-Tang gets pissed and rallies around Meth, Deck releases a diss track, Joe says “no comment”, then proceeds to comment all over the situation, deads it with a video apologizing to Meth but leaves open the idea that he will retaliate to anyone else who wants to talk shit. Enter Saturday afternoon.

Now as one of the few hundred people who was watching Budden’s live stream I’ll be the first to say that it was clear that Raekwon meant business when he walked up in that room. It was also clear that Joe was straight up shook when Rae sat down and starting asking questions and making accusations. What happened after that is all speculation since the feed cut out but when Joe came back it was clear he had taken a shot to the eye. Joe then proceeded to call the incident a “faggot move” and has since been absent from his usual daily video blogging.

In the hip hop world, beef is as essential as beats and rhymes it seems. However what used to be lyrical beefs, two MCs battling for control of the microphone at a block party, has become two egos battling for control of the public perception and fighting to maintain their status as being “real”. And while hip hop has certainly seen its share of physical beatdowns (KRS-One catapulting PM Dawn the fuck off stage), the internet age has allowed us to see, with our own eyes, while in the confines of our safe homes, the confrontations and subsequent beat downs of these artists. There are some lessons to be learned from this incident.

1. When you talk some shit, you better be able to back it up. Joe Budden has consistently throughout his career defined himself as the anti-rapper, the MC who is “real” simply by not subscribing to the “gangsta” image of rappers so prevalent and necessary to maintaining stability. The results of this are 3,000 records sold instead of 30,000 or 300,000. You can’t blame the guy for not faking, but at the same time dude has spoken some pretty harsh words regarding many subjects and artists in the game. In fact if people reacted to “Who Killed Hip Hop” the way they reacted to “How To Rob” then every single MC, past and present, would be calling for Budden’s head. At the end of the day though most rappers have realized that what is spoken on record stays on record, although most rappers aren’t talking as much shit as Joe Budden. This guy consistently gets on his live stream and discusses his opinions of other rappers, of rap in general, and of all the bullshit surrounding the entire genre, and has openly challenged any and all rappers to come at him if they wanna battle. The problem is that his bark is much worse than his bite, and this incident proves just that.

2. Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthin’ Ta Fuck Wit. This isn’t the first time in which a Wu-Tang member has been involved in an altercation, remember years back when a journalist had his ass beat for writing a bad article? You got a group of 9 (R.I.P. Dirt) mafuckas who came in the game swingin’ and haven’t forgotten who they are. While Joe Budden is a rapper’s rapper, an aspiring MC since youth, a writer and an artist, and a huge fan in general. The Wu-Tang Clan is a collective group of mafuckas who put in their work and just happened to be sick with the mic as well. The backgrounds of Wu members differ immensely from the background of Joe Budden. Hip Hop helped Wu-Tang escape the street life, for Joe Budden hip hop is a life he chose simply because of his love for it. That means, at the end of the day, that Wu-Tang will handle shit the way they been handling it and the way they grew up handling it, which is to say they will smack a mafucka upside the head if he’s talking shit. Joe Budden will also handle shit the way he been handling shit, by making a diss track and talking all types of shit. The lesson here is “know your competition”, something Joe Budden clearly failed to do before going at an entire group of serious mafuckas.

3. We as fans have need to check ourselves. I’ll be the first to admit that watching the pot boil was exciting. Between Rae’s demeanor and Joe’s shookness, I could tell we were in for something good, but what exactly is good about one rapper smacking up another rapper? Aren’t rappers a minority anyway? Aren’t rappers always being hated on by everyone else including media, parents groups, politicians, and just about anyone who isn’t a diehard fan of the genre? Why make it worse by a)infighting when our image is already bad and b)giving those groups more fire to rage against us. Battles are the lifeblood of hip hop but it’s LYRICAL battles we are supposed to be excited about, not physical altercations that further the stereotype of “violent gangsta rap” that Bill O’Reilly gets off on reporting. This shit ain’t a reality show, it’s fucking reality, and at the end of the day the fans are too excited about seeing a mafucka get his dome split (myself included) when we should be saying “hey, chill the fuck out”.

Now as more and more facts come out (and hopefully the IceWaterTV video of the whole incident) I’m sure we will get more information regarding while this whole incident took place but between the hip hop sites and the online buzz, this altercation is getting some serious attention and many of the people involved in the discussion are placing far too much emphasis on the hilariousness of Joe Budden getting punched in the eye (@mousebuddenseye on twitter says it all). Instead of laughing at how a rapper best known for being angry and bitter while having one hit 5 years ago, let’s take two things from the situation.

1. We don’t know these mafuckas like we think we do. It’s one thing to be a fan but to these people it’s real life. If someone talks some shit about Wu-Tang, the Wu-Tang members gonna take issue and they WILL back up their words with actions. They’ve never been a “words-only” type of group and this incident proved once and for all that they are as “real” as it gets (I hate when people use that word but it fits here). We can headphone it up all day getting lost in the street tales and imagery we’re fed by the Wu but we gotta remember that a lot of what they spit is taken directly from their eyes and ears, and if we actually think about that while listening, we’ll realize that these dudes have seen some shit that none of us would ever wanna be around.

2. Shameless discussion of these incidents will only further the problem. Yes it’s funny to laugh at Joey’s eye or the authority with which Raekwon stormed up in the room and ran shit, but this is not a good look for hip hop and it isn’t good for anyone involved. Even though the Wu proved once again that they ain’t to be fucked with, and even though Joe proved once and for all that he is all talk, this could have escalated past the point of an ice water banada and a black eye and we should all be happy it ended when it did. Violence is inevitable when dealing with people who have had to resort to it in their lives, but as outsiders we shouldn’t be voyeurs to this kind of behavior and celebrate it, because none of us would want to be in that situation.

My prediction is that Joe Budden’s career is essentially over. It was bad enough when he was “that Pump It Up guy”, then he became that “angry bitter pissed off Pump It Up guy” but now he’s in the same boat as Yung Berg and Drake and The Game as nothing more than a joke, a novelty, “that rapper who got punched in the eye”. He hasn’t had a single since Pump It Up, has sold maybe 10 copies of his last 14 albums combined and recently has been known as the “Internet Blog Rapper best known for showing off his wife’s ass”. The list of labels for dude has gotten worse and worse over time. This is most likely the nail in the coffin, and we’re the ones putting it there by subscribing to the idea that rap beefs are supposed to escalate to this. Keep it real.