Thought For The Day

This past week I've heard a lot of MCs take their turn on the beats for "Exhibit C" by Jay Electronica and "I Wanna Rock" By Snoop Dogg.

After a few of these verses go up (or even right after the original, lately) a lot of the sites I go to for music start getting bothered that everyone has to go in on the same beat, and the track gets old really fast. I guess that can be true. That was definitely the case with the beat that seemed to start this negativeness for a lot of people, "A Milli" - I personally didn't like the beat much in the first place.

All in all, I kind of like the beat-jacking practice though. It keeps things interesting. It keeps the competition going. Competition doesn't have to be in the form of a diss track. It can just be taking the same beat and trying your best to outdo everyone before you (and set the bar too high for anyone to come after).

My favorite collaboration tracks usually come in this form too. Unless there's a deeper concept that the artists are exploring together, I'd just prefer every one of them be a "Brooklyn's Finest" where each is trying to prove that they're the best MC. Friendly competition. Nothing wrong with that. It keeps MCs on their toes. It's why you hear so much talk about people getting "murdered on their own shit". Some take their guest appearances seriously, and make sure they bring their 'A' game. If the host doesn't rise to the occasion they can end up getting embarrassed on their record. Competition's a big part of hip hop. It's one of the things that makes it great. So, for me at least, I hope MCs keep blacking out over each other's beats.