THE OLDER GODS SHOULD KNOW BETTER: THE RAEKWON EDITION by L’Daialogue [OVAGROUND EXCLUSIVE]

(above picture: Raekwon confronting Joe Buddens with emcee Mickey Factz looking on)

FOREWORD: I absolutely BLAME Raekwon for any and all the drama that was started up because he is a "G" in the game. His actions are just as wrong as Joey's. And as for Rae having a camera??? What is that??? I hope Rae know that it could have went a TOTALLY different but he STILL chose to do it in lieu that he has an album (Only Built For A Cuban Linx 2) coming out. This is crazy. Respect to the legends but this needs to change for Hip-Hop sakes. And they have the nerve to talk about the South. -L'Daialogue

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Age is a very funny thing.

When kids are younger they want to be older to experience more things. As people finally get older and evolve into adulthood, they tend to revert into more youthful things to grasp that youthful element of their past.

It is human nature and it also clearly moves through all elements of life especially in the arts.

But out of all of the varying musical genres in the world Hip-Hop is one musical genre that age does matter.

Also being that it is a culture invented by the youth it tends to have a shorter memory span with many of its founders and other contributors to the culture.

This leads me to the incident at hand.

The “battle” within Hip-Hop I feel in the last few years have become more and more skewed as more new artists come into the fray. As many of our Hip-Hop forefathers creep upwards toward there 40’s, the word “respect” and the nature of Hip-Hop are clashing more and more.

The nature of this art form is not only beauty in the cultural aspects of breaking, deejaying, graffiti but also the poetic clashes of conflict that comes by way of emceeing that is not age-exclusive.

Hip-Hop isn’t like your average sport where people can only wish to see some of their dream battles. Imagine Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson in the ring. Kobe and Mike. That would be crazy. But, sadly age is the determinant that blocks any mentions of the matchups other that stats and legend.

Good for rappers sans the legendary D.O.C: your voice doesn’t get old or get blown out. Therefore, it is an even ground for emcees.

And amidst respect (and the case of Biggie and Pac, death) are constants that don’t pull a lot of emcees out of there respective eras.

But, an incident between Raekwon (of the Wu-Tang Clan) and Joe Buddens was the last straw.




Hip-Hop artists make music, right?

You only have one job: make dope music. That’s it.

So with that the assumption is that most “respect” (or these case “disrespect” problems) should be handled within the music, right?

If you have a beef it needs to be handled lyrically, right?

I can see this is where the crickets, pregnant pauses and deafening silence come into play.

I wouldn’t blame anybody for being weary to answer these questions just because of where the game is. You probably wouldn’t feel that you could give a true answer that could encompass where the game is right now.

I figure with the climate of the game now a lot of the newer rappers would have a certain amount of respect and admiration for the forefathers but in the back of their minds think that they could lyrically rip them to shreds.

Do you think that the early basketball players could defend the rookie-year Allen Iverson crossover dribble? No, way. But, you probably would not say that knowing that if it wasn’t for their successes that the game probably would not be where it is now.

This is where the Buddens/Raekwon beef starts and ends.

If Joey never opened his mouth he probably wouldn’t have gotten punched in his mouth.

Raekwon is a legend, no question. But, when you run into a mans dressing room with your goons with the intention of swinging on a man riding solo…where does that leave you? Or, your legacy?

As a fan, I was appalled but then I thought about if this would have happened in Memphis. Somebody would have gotten shot and this story would read very differently.

Rae should have not gotten into a conflict that never really had anything to do with him in the first place because the whole thing has a soap opera vibe to it.

Were you that upset that he talked about Method Man not needing to be on Vibe’s Top Emcees list? Come on.

When that happens, do you really want your legend to be associated with this wack, classless lapse in judgment?

Hey, age is a funny thing.

Maybe, age clouds your judgment in lieu of some emcees reaching to regain some sort of respect that they had when they were younger.

But with that being said: the older gods need to do better in this respect.

-L’Daialogue