Apparently the real reason Officer Rozay is so large is that he's completely full of shit. (And he EENOIT.) In this promotional video interview, he manages to speak lots of words without ever saying much of anything, which is probably why he's been successful in an industry built on bullshit. (Or more specifically, an industry built by bullshitters who shit all over hip hop culture by seeking out and exploiting the shittiest people and attitudes of said culture. Shit.)
Unless you want to hear him shamelessly plug albums by artists who may or may not have ruined their credibility by signing with MMG, skip ahead to around 4:30 and catch his clarification (not an actual apology) of his controversial lyric. Note that he specifically "would never use the word rape", although he also never used the words, "I became a CO to build a relationship with Manuel Noriega, thus cementing my position as a cocaine lord of Miami, which is how I became such a successful drug dealer that I had to take the name of a different, famous and still living drug dealer, and the fact that I began rapping under this name while he was imprisoned wasn't an idea I stole from the movie CB4", but he sure didn't stop anyone else from saying that stupid shit.
A couple things occurred to me while watching this. First, I'm certainly not against drug use per se, but I am adamant about responsible drug use. (Don't roll your eyes, I'm actually being serious.) I enjoy weed, but I fucking hate weed culture for that exact reason. I'm good at using weed. I don't act like people in movies who smoke weed. I don't forget what I'm saying in conversation, or talk like Jeff Spicoli, or wear white-guy dreads. I don't wear tie-dye or dance by flailing my arms and twirling. (Some of those may just be due to my dislike of modern hippie culture as well, as evidenced by the fact that I can't stand Dave Matthews, but the point remains.) When it comes to weed, I can handle my shit. The same thing goes for drinking or any other drug: I believe in taking personal responsibility for your buzz. That also includes not giving people drugs without their knowledge. I love everything about marijuana edibles, even the taste. Hell, especially the taste. But, I would never give somebody one unknowingly, even though it would probably be hilarious.
The other thing that came to mind while watching this is the fact that music interviewers who aren't Nardwuar are usually terrible. Many of them are worse than the artists they interview. I know that The Artist Legally Known As William Roberts is a literal cash cow, but these softball-ass questions are lobbed at him like a pitch in a co-ed beer league. To be fair, interviewers who ask actual follow-up questions are pretty rare these days, in any media, but nobody can suck an interviewee's dick quite as hard as music reporters. Pretty much the best you can hope for is that they stfu and let the artist speak. That is, if the artist actually has anything interesting to say, which unfortunately they often do not. Morning hip hop shows, of which there seem to be millions, are some of the worst offenders around. The basic model for most of those shows is to have three people, an idea I think they stole from Howard Stern. (Stern probably wasn't the first person to use this model, but he does seem to have popularized it.) Unlike Stern, these shows are rarely any good, and usually feature: 1) a fucking lame for a host 2) a loudmouth jackass for the "troublemaker" sidekick, and of course 3) a fucking lame who's a female. The host is usually someone who isn't there to be funny, or who thinks he's funny and isn't, while the sidekick is there to say "shocking" things that he may or may not actually believe, and the female is there to discuss celebrity gossip and reality shows. What none of them will tell you is that they're all cogs in the wheel of the corporate machine, and if they're interviewing somebody, the artist's label is probably a subsidiary of the media company that owns the radio station. When it comes down to it, they're all full of shit, but they're not as good at being full of shit as Rouse is.
Check back again next week, when I stretch this concept into an overextended metaphor for slavery and Roman gladiator games. For now, the video that inspired young William Roberts to rap in the first place.
Unless you want to hear him shamelessly plug albums by artists who may or may not have ruined their credibility by signing with MMG, skip ahead to around 4:30 and catch his clarification (not an actual apology) of his controversial lyric. Note that he specifically "would never use the word rape", although he also never used the words, "I became a CO to build a relationship with Manuel Noriega, thus cementing my position as a cocaine lord of Miami, which is how I became such a successful drug dealer that I had to take the name of a different, famous and still living drug dealer, and the fact that I began rapping under this name while he was imprisoned wasn't an idea I stole from the movie CB4", but he sure didn't stop anyone else from saying that stupid shit.
A couple things occurred to me while watching this. First, I'm certainly not against drug use per se, but I am adamant about responsible drug use. (Don't roll your eyes, I'm actually being serious.) I enjoy weed, but I fucking hate weed culture for that exact reason. I'm good at using weed. I don't act like people in movies who smoke weed. I don't forget what I'm saying in conversation, or talk like Jeff Spicoli, or wear white-guy dreads. I don't wear tie-dye or dance by flailing my arms and twirling. (Some of those may just be due to my dislike of modern hippie culture as well, as evidenced by the fact that I can't stand Dave Matthews, but the point remains.) When it comes to weed, I can handle my shit. The same thing goes for drinking or any other drug: I believe in taking personal responsibility for your buzz. That also includes not giving people drugs without their knowledge. I love everything about marijuana edibles, even the taste. Hell, especially the taste. But, I would never give somebody one unknowingly, even though it would probably be hilarious.
The other thing that came to mind while watching this is the fact that music interviewers who aren't Nardwuar are usually terrible. Many of them are worse than the artists they interview. I know that The Artist Legally Known As William Roberts is a literal cash cow, but these softball-ass questions are lobbed at him like a pitch in a co-ed beer league. To be fair, interviewers who ask actual follow-up questions are pretty rare these days, in any media, but nobody can suck an interviewee's dick quite as hard as music reporters. Pretty much the best you can hope for is that they stfu and let the artist speak. That is, if the artist actually has anything interesting to say, which unfortunately they often do not. Morning hip hop shows, of which there seem to be millions, are some of the worst offenders around. The basic model for most of those shows is to have three people, an idea I think they stole from Howard Stern. (Stern probably wasn't the first person to use this model, but he does seem to have popularized it.) Unlike Stern, these shows are rarely any good, and usually feature: 1) a fucking lame for a host 2) a loudmouth jackass for the "troublemaker" sidekick, and of course 3) a fucking lame who's a female. The host is usually someone who isn't there to be funny, or who thinks he's funny and isn't, while the sidekick is there to say "shocking" things that he may or may not actually believe, and the female is there to discuss celebrity gossip and reality shows. What none of them will tell you is that they're all cogs in the wheel of the corporate machine, and if they're interviewing somebody, the artist's label is probably a subsidiary of the media company that owns the radio station. When it comes down to it, they're all full of shit, but they're not as good at being full of shit as Rouse is.
Check back again next week, when I stretch this concept into an overextended metaphor for slavery and Roman gladiator games. For now, the video that inspired young William Roberts to rap in the first place.
