GQ IS SO WRONG FOR THIS! CALLS DRAKE, WALE & KID CUDI THE GANGSTA KILLERS! SINCE WHEN GQ STARTED FEATURING RAPPERS & HOW COME IT'S ONLY THE ONE'S THAT MAKE THAT WEIRD MUSIC THEY LIKE!

This month hip-hop once again scored a victory as Drake, Kid Cudi and Wale made GQ Magazine’s Men of the Year issue. Quite a considerable feat considering that all three are freshmen in the game. Referred to as the “Gangsta Killers”, the short blurb credits the Fab Three for killing the gangster persona in rap.
All three are very deserving of this accomplishment. And all three do avoid street-driven, crime-related raps. However make no mistake the label of “gangsta killers” is yet just another instance of the mainstream media’s misrepresentation of Hip-Hop.

For these MCs to be unfairly cast the ‘slayers of gangsta rap’ is a mere over-simplification; a discredit that pigeon-holes the genre as a whole. You can’t tell me that Young Jeezy, Clipse and Lil Wayne are less relevant in today’s game than say a Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco or Mos Def.

This may be a surprise to many, especially those in the media, but hip-hop is as versatile an art form as any other. Rap music is comprised of many styles and subgenres, all of which can and do complement one another very nicely. Unfortunately, it’s also a statement that still evades the minds of mainstream America, much to the dismay of hip-hop heads everywhere.

Those who refuse to acknowledge this fact must be reminded. Take a look at Common and Ice Cube: though lyrically different, both men coexisted in the same era. While the impact and contributions of groups like A Tribe Called Quest and NWA were both significant and necessary for moving the culture forward.

The media has never done this for Rock n’ Roll, so why have they done this for Hip-Hop? Maybe a better question would be, why have they already gotten away with it so much?

The quality of music released in 2009 has been good… for the most part. Cudi’s Man on the Moon and Wale’s Attention Deficit were both great albums. Both received warm receptions from the public and both were deserving of their critical acclaim.

But in the same breath, Raekwon’s sequel Only Built 4 Cuban Links… Pt II could easily be considered one of the best rap albums of the year. In my humble opinion, its harsh content and crime-driven story-telling catapulted the LP to an instant classic.

There are a lot of big projects on the horizon set for 2010. From the re-surfacing of Kanye, to the anticipation of Drake’s debut LP Thank Me Later -- the most highly anticipated album in all of music. And with last week’s news of a potential collaborative effort between Raekwon and “the godfather of gangsta rap”, Kool G Rap, fans are frothing in anticipation.

Catching my drift here...? Good!

Hip-hop heads are not one dimensional. Gangsta or Conscious, East or West, North or South, Black or White, Thug or College Degree -- we don’t discriminate. It’s all hip-hop; no pun intended.

Where GQ failed, I hope to prevail. I do believe that Drake, Cudi and Wale have helped usher in a new day. And it starts and ends with the music.

In this era of internet thuggin’ and ‘WWE-like beefs’, more and more rappers have shifted their focus from rapping to online buffoonery. All in the hopes of rescuing and diverting attention away from their slumping records sales. A definite cry of desperation.

From the ever-popular YouTube rant to the shenanigans displayed in the Rick Ross/50 Cent fiasco, many rappers seemed to have lost their ways.