TheMeaningOfDope

Hey superfan, where were you when the man was still alive?

This flyer here is for what was said to be the first show that the late legend J-Dilla ever played in Toronto at a venue called Roxy Blu, (which I don’t think even exists anymore). The series entitled, “Doin’ It” put on by R.E.M.G., brought every hip-hop fans favorite producers to the spot to rock the crowd on some dj’ing shit. Everyone from ?uestLove to Ali Shaheed Muhammed rocked Doin’ It, but this was the first one that I remember attending.

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There were 3 segments on RapCity that I’d say were very important in my taking b-boying seriously in the early to mid 90’s and through to 2000 before I realized I was probably better suited to pursue a career as a designer as opposed to a professional dancer - this clip right here, another one of Ghettoriginals at Harbourfront, and Bag o’ Trix when they had them green tracksuit joints on.

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The other day I was rapping to some kids about this MeaningOfDope shit, and my boy T-rexXx started going off on how a lot of these younger Wu fans weren’t able to take in the impact of 36 Chambers when it dropped. That sound of Bring The Ruckus and Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthin Ta F Wit, was mind boggling and grimey beyond anything we had heard before. He talked about rocking the fronts with the fangs, letting his hair out, and roaming the blocks with bats, and a look of amazement and near confusion seemed to glaze the faces of these younger cats like we were whilin’ just speaking on it.

There’s a definite disconnect when it comes to the Wu era and who the majority of their fanbase is represented by these days, and while we love that the kids are realizing that Wu-Tang is for them, there’s not much we can do to help them re-live the experience of waiting to see Ghost without the mask, Meth dropping Tical, ODB on some solo shit, and the release of the highly anticipated “Purple Tape”, other than continue to share our stories and tell them like it was.

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There’s always a lot of talk concerning older folks bragging about the Golden Era of Hip-Hop. The 93, 94, 95, 96 time period being the equivalent of the Jordan III, IV, V, VI, releases, (this is gonna start some problems). If there has ever been a single piece of evidence that them times were in fact the prime moments for Hip-Hop as a culture, it’s the January 95 Issue of The Source, reviewing what 1994 brought to us as fans and supporters of this shit.

HERE ARE SOME GEMS TO PROVE US OLD FOLKS RIGHT

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In November of 1994, The Source Magazine released 2 separate covers for their Redman issue. What made this issue unique and highly discussed was that one cover had Reggie sporting a wadded up tissue in his nostril, and the other, more snot friendly pic, just had him peering over his locs, looking like he didn’t want the shot used for anything, let alone the cover of the then highly respected Source Magazine.

There was a lot of talk amongst me and my 13 year old friends concerning why he had the tissue in his nose, and the most popular reason was that “Redman has A.I.D.S.”.
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