By Odeisel
Young Money’s run has been marathon long and prodigious, moving units on levels that are no longer regularly available to Hip-Hop. Sure there have been scandals and regularly occurring radar blips: jail time for its biggest star, beefs with other artists, dropping albums without clearing samples, rumors of not paying producers, etc. Once these incidents start piling up you wonder when is it going to slow down the irresistable force.Last night, at Hot97’s Summer Jam, arguably the biggest Hip-Hop concert in the world, Young Money reacted to a slight by Hot97 DJ Peter Rosenberg by boycotting the show like it was Sal’s Famous Pizzeria. The whole crew, with the exception of Tyga (whose samples they couldn’t bother to clear) were ordered by his royal Weezyness, at least according to Nicki’s tweets, not to perform.
Think about that for a second. Minaj already has an issue maintaining her street cred with all the pop elements present on her follow-up album. She just got into a Twitter spat with her own fans over the release of her music, but they still rode with her. Now thousands of fans are in attendance with you as the headliner…and you flake? That’s dirty pool, doggie.
Let’s go beyond Nicki. What about Drake, who is starting to become Young money collateral damage at this point. “Amen” is one of the hottest joints in the streets right now and the fans were robbed of the opportunity to see it live for the first time. “Stay Scheming” was a similar lost opportunity, along with any of the many banging collabos between Drake and Rick Ross.
What did all of this accomplish? Not a bobdamn thing. The show didn’t skip a beat, with impromptu lengthened sets from Nas who brought out Lauryn Hill taking up the slack, Big Sean, T.I. and guest star of the moment 2 Chainz who came out during Young Jeezy’s set, the crowd didn’t miss anything. After a few years of lackluster shows, Summer Jam was talked about for much more than concert goers getting it on in the parking lot.
Besides screwing fans that paid their hard earned money, what did this accomplish? Rather than be a part of a show that could have restored some credibility to their artists, Lil Wayne’s decisionmaking may have cut off Young Money’s nose to spite their face. My man Juste J from the firing squad will get you hip to the mentality behind it in a few. My thing is, if Young Money was going to go out like that, with Pusha T on site, why couldn’t we get a Summer Jam moment for “Exodus 21:3?”
Follow Us on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/planetill
Become a citizen of Planet Ill. Join our Forums
Join Us on the Planet Ill Facebook Group for more discussion
Follow us on Networked Blogs
