If I agree with you I am “logical” “rational” and I have a generally credible opinion. If I disagree with you on a topic that you feel differently about, I am now “less credible” “illogical” and generally have an untrustworthy opinion. We all have biases that cause us to be partial to certain people, places, and things, but when does it border on the ridiculous and completely irrational? I am an avid Hip-Hop head and plan to go on to get advanced degrees and do research around Hip-Hop so naturally I see how biased fans of the music and artists can be. I am all for supporting artist you jibe with and whose music you enjoy, but some shit is just outta hand!

The more the lines get blurred between a rap artist’s artistic persona and who they are proclaiming to be in real life, the more biases get exposed. For example, let us take Troy Ave and his so-called gangsta persona and his corny antics. Some people like his music and therefore condone and will argue his authenticity based off how they feel about him artistically. 2Pac is undoubtedly in the pantheon of legendary rap artists who transcend time, space, life, and death. There will never be another 2Pac and many have syphoned off bits and pieces of his savoir-faire with some subtlety and not so subtlety grafting it to bolster their own aura’s to varying degrees of success. Any semblance of these artists claiming to be “the second coming” or any other blatant statement of comparison that sounds even remotely like there could be an eclipsing of who Pac was to the game at one point would be shot down.

Imagine is Lil’ Yachty or Trinidad James would have called themselves “NuPac” they would be decimated if you aren’t a staunch supporter of their music and rightfully so. The aforementioned artists have done nothing musically to put them in the same vein of a 2Pac so one can justify their bias with facts. Often in rap authenticity is the thing that used to be treasured in Hip-Hop with so many of our revered artists claiming the lyrics in their songs are derived from lived experiences of the artist themselves or people close to them. In the 90’s the term “studio gangster” floated around and spread like a vicious plague and vengeful God swooping down on so-called “real” MC’s who didn’t paint their studio doors with the blood of those whose murders they rapped about.

When rapper 50 Cent exposed rapper Rick Ross for rhyming about criminal activity when in actuality he was a Correctional Officer, which is equivalent to a Police Officer in his real life, he was met with biased resistance. People’s biases against 50 Cent allowed them to contradict themselves and take the position of “it’s just about the music,” but then dislike 50 because he doesn’t do what he says in his rhymes? This makes absolutely no sense and if you think along those lines your cognitive dissonance is morphing you into a pure HATER! Either it’s all about the music with ALL artists or everybody should be exactly who they say they are on record. There is no straddling the fence, pick a side and stay there, but whatever you do please don’t allow you biases to border on the illogical!