·:[ The (vast) Right Wing Conspiracy ]:·
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With each new issue arriving in my mail box, I question more and more why I still subscribe to Time magazine. Usually there is a good piece by Charles Krauthammer, but when there isn’t and either Joe Klein or Andrew Sullivan takes his spot, Time usually ends up right in the trash. The following, found on the last page of this week’s issue, is just another in a long line of editorials that prove Time is so far out of the mainstream it isn’t even funny anymore:

Shoot First, Regret Legislation Later
Why Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law is a bad ideaand one that could spread
By MICHELLE COTTLE

Monday, May. 09, 2005
Despite my liberal credentials as a Volvo-driving, pro-choice, gay-marriage-supporting urban dweller, I admit to an inner conflict when it comes to guns. I grew up surrounded by firearms and the boys who loved them. My father is a bona fide hunting nut who threatened to buy my son a lifetime membership to the National Rifle Association for his first birthday. I myself have mowed down a variety of defenseless woodland creatures. I used to be a decent shot with a pistol, and once during the Clinton years, I spearheaded an outing of lefty political scribes for a round of skeet shooting.

But while I appreciate guns, I also appreciate the need for gun laws. Without them, Dad’s quip–”A well-armed society is a polite society”–holds true only if your idea of “polite” is something akin to HBO’s Deadwood or the Sunni triangle. Which is why I’m perturbed by the Florida legislature’s decision to pass a bill, signed into law by Governor Jeb Bush last week, allowing virtually anyone who feels threatened at any time and in any place to whip out a gun and open fire. The law decrees that a person under attack “has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.”

“Stand his or her ground”? “Meet force with force”? Wow. It’s as if the text of a real bill somehow got transposed with dialogue from a 1970s Dirty Harry paean to vigilantism. I can picture a stressed-out Tampa soccer mom drawing a bead on an approaching panhandler and shrieking, “Go ahead, make my day!”

And the piece goes on from there, turning into the typical anti-NRA piece that most lefty attempts at discussing “gun-control” do. You can read the rest right here.

Now, I don’t have time to go off on a major rant here, so let me be concise: I love this law. I hope this law gets passed in New York - knowing that it is next to impossible to get a concealed carry license in NYC though, makes this law a stretch. I believe that people have a right to defend themselves, a right that is protected by the Constitution, and a right to not be penalized if they do so. Going to school in Harlem I wish I could have some kind of protection (other then running away..err..walking quickly in my case) against would-be criminals. At least on Long Island I could obtain a pistol permit (in a few months when I turn 21) and be slightly safer, though chances are if the time came for me to ever have to defend myself, I would probably be brought up on assault charges for hurting my would-be attacker.

This is New York, after all.

Sorry, but after a long night of music, term papers, and lack of sleep, I had to do it. Here are my lists of the greatest rappers of all time, and the greatest living rappers. Some of these guys I can’t stand (and yes, they are all guys except in categories of Honorable Mention), but I gotta respect ‘em.

Greatest Rappers of All Time

5. Big Punisher: Yes he is the greatest Latin rapper of all time. But don’t qualify it. Big Punisher had the illest flow hip-hop will ever be graced with. Countless lines packed with multi-syllabic internals that just melted together in one graceful outpouring of sickness. C’mon, don’t front. You can’t tell me that you didn’t try to memorize “dead in the middle of Little Italy, little did we know we riddled some middle-man who didn’t do diddley.” An life cut down entirely too short, as the majority of those on this list, robbed us of more of his gems. But if you have to be convinced still, just look to his debut album: Capital Punishment.

4. Tupac: Okay, so admittedly, I’m not a big fan of ‘Pac. Maybe it’s the hypocrisy (how do you spit “Keep Ya Head Up” and then get convicted of rape?), maybe its the fact that he is a traitor (how do you grow up a product of New York, get famous, and turn around and despise all that you come from?). Either way, I’m not biased enough to deny that Tupac is probably the most revered emcee EVER. Just look to his enormous song library for a taste of his legendary output and contribution to the art.

3. Notorious B.I.G.: The number of rappers that wish to emulate Biggie is second only to ‘Pac. Just think of people who made it big just because the sounded like Big (*cough* Shyne, Guerilla Black *cough*). Easily one of the most devestating freestylers, street favorite, and diverse-flow holding emcees ever. Ready to Die defines the essence of East Coast hip-hop to this day. And unfortunately, Life After Death is rarely treated as the ultimate masterpiece of rap that it is.

2. Nas: Certainly the voice of the streets if ever any emcee could claim that name. This rapper revolutionized the rap game forever with his debut, Illmatic. Underrated sleeper It Was Written continued on to engrain Nas’s prominence as one of the most socially-conscious/political rappers of his time. Failures such as The Firm and God’s Son (just think “You Owe Me” with Ginuwine - eh.) doom Nas when it comes to the battle for greatest emcee ever.

1. Jay-Z: I know, I know, many people will forever cease to read this blog because I dared to put Jay-Hova over Nas and Pac. But just think about it - what album can match the sheer elegance of Reasonable Doubt? The street tales of In My Lifetime Vol. 1? What albums better signposted the future direction of hip-hop as far as production, lyrics, and substance than The Life and Times of Sean Carter, Vol. 3 and Roc La Familia: The Dynasty? Say what you will about his arrogance in his later work, the absolute timeless genius of earlier work such as “Who Ya Wit?” and “Can’t Knock the Hustle” when matched with new millenium gems that made the Neptunes millionaires make Mr. Carter number one.

Honorable Mention: Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest, ?uestlove, KRS-One, Rakim, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Scarface.

Greatest Rappers Out Now (Excluding Jay and Nas)

10. Mos Def: Talented in so many ways, Mighty Mos was the brilliant hope of Brooklyn with his and Kweli’s debut album Black Star. Consistently loyal to the roots of hip-hop, Mos also has a rock band, does blues, acts, sings, and targets the system (I am disappointed, however, that he allowed “The Rape-Over” to be removed from his newest album, still a gem).

9. Ludacris: Lova Lova is another cat sick with the flow, and one of the few emcees that is just straight-up hilarious. I recently had a discussion with my girlfriend Debbie about who the funniest rappers ever were. I said Pun was up there, she noted Luda. Yep. She’s right. Just think: “…wanna get me out my Pelle Pelle/they rip of my clothes and say GET IN MY BELLY!”

8. T.I.: T.I. says he is the King of the South. I have to concur. Having seen the enormous respect T.I. has down South of the Mason-Dixon, and having familiarized myself with his underground classic albums I’m Serious and Trap Muzik, I’ve been converted. I never like T.I. until I forced myself to listen to his second album. Surprise! T.I. is quite the conscious rapper (active in the Black community), is diverse with his concepts, and has strong traces of early Jay-Z and old school classic emcees in his joints. Add to that sick production (from everybody - Jazzy Pha, Neptunes, Just Blaze, Kanye West) and you have a star rising.

7. Common: Common Sense has always been ahead of the curve. Just think of his work with Erykah Badu, the Neptunes, and Kanye West before those three artists really hit it big. Common is ridiculous with his knowledge, sick with his lyrics and concepts, and can battle (someone should’ve told Ice Cube before Common tore him to pieces). Consistently drops hot albums. Hot song out now: “The Corner.”
6. Eminem: I’m thinking more along the lines of pre-Slim Shady LP and that album when I think of Eminem as a historic rapper. Honestly, when it comes to battling, freestyling, or just straight flow, nobody out there can touch Em. Yes, his recent stuff is getting annoyingly repetitive (how many songs can you make about killing your baby mama or having problems in your life? You’re rich, get over it). Even still, next to Canibus, Eminem is the last rapper I’d ever want to battle.

5. Andre 3000: The most creative emcee out there. Most would agree, so I’ll leave it at that.

4. Method Man: Meth here is really a representative of the entire Wu-Tang Clan. The greatest group ever in hip-hop, Meth led this collection of killer emcees (I had to fight with myself in order to keep Ghostface and Raekwon off this list) to hip-hop dominance in the early nineties. Nuff said.

3. Prodigy: “Don’t make me have to call your name out/Your crew is featherweight/My gunshots will make you levitate.” Prodigy was dropping gems like this at 19!!! At that tender age (lol) he and Havoc (Mobb Deep) dropped Shook Ones Pt. II, probably one of the most well-known rap songs in New York. Just think about what this song did for the “Dun-language” of Queensbridge. One of those emcees that you can’t provide any examples of weak verses. There are very few in the game, and Prodigy is one of them.
2. ?uestlove: The Roots have consistently done three things: represented real hip-hop, kept an amazingly diverse fan base, and blessed the world with new talent. Evidence? Just look at Illadelph Half-life and compare it to Things Fall Apart or Phrenology…notice a difference? Not really. Straight fire always. I’m a bit scared after the commercially-produced sound of their latest joint (think “Don’t Say Nuthin”…blah) but I still have faith in them. Be sure to thank them for Jill Scott and Jean Grae next time you listen to them, too!

1. Talib Kweli: Reflection Eternal, his debut album, is Kweli at his finest. Although subsequent releases Quality and The Beautiful Struggle featured lack-luster (read: more commercial) production (but then, who can match the genius of Hi-Tek?) and Kweli has shunned his “socially-conscious rapper” tag in an attempt to return to some unknown roots as a battle-rapping thug (wasn’t there in Black Star), Kweli still spits the sickest lines today. His influence can be seen in later Jay-Z and the sub-culture capitalized upon by one Dave Chappelle.