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Mail
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We want you to tell us
what you think about our reviews, ideas, or any thing else that
is on your mind. Just write us and we will be sure to get back to
you.
If your message doesn't
make into this page, it is probably because what you have written
isn't enough for us to post here. Writing in with just "Your
stupid, [insert CD here] is a great CD, you're such a dumb fuck."
isn't enough for us to justify posting it here. Put something into
your message and it should make it in. Whether you write a 5 page
essay or a few sentences we should respond to everyone who writes
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We also reserve the write
to refuse to publish submitted content that we deem inappropriate,
please see out Disclaimer for further
information. But don't worry if you slam on us or don't agree with
us that isn't grounds for not posting, just take a look below at
the many message from people who don't agree with some things that
we have stated.
To find out where you
can reach us see our contact list.
Try and send you message
to the right person, check the bottom of the review or editorial
that you are reading and send your message to them. We have got
many message that were sent to the wrong person, or blame one person
for what someone else said.
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From Anthony
Ok...
this goes out to
all of you "critics" on this 10 commandments site. first
off....your opinions and statements are clearly from ignorant
and biased views. None of you have a decent sense of good music.
Its obvious that you all think alikeand were picked out simply
cause you have the same tastes in music..
if you want to have a good review site you must have critics with
different view points...
thats number 1.....
number 2...your reviews...are extremely laughable..
The elitests in the hip hop community would roll head over heels
reading these reviews..its absolutely laughable..
i couldnt help but literally choke on my food reading EACH AND
EVERY REVIEW...
from the lines that you quote...to your rating system..
first off.
you dont even review good albums on your site.
its all mainstream trash..with the exception of illmatic and the
wu cd's...
How can you have the nerve...to give DMX a perfect 10 for lyrics??
thats rediculous....hes probably one of the most simplisitic rappers
around.
keep in mind that no one on your site that you reviewed is even
ill enough to be considered...an MC so i wont use that word here...
everyone will be called a RAPPER..cause thats what they are...
...what struck me as even more comical value...
was the 10 commandments you put your site up on..
number 9)....is rediculous..
ever heard of bahamadia?
no....cause you arent real hip hop heads...
your mainstream rap heads...big difference..
i bet you are the guys that argue rap music is better then hip
hop..
lol...
meanwhile..you dont even know that rap is an element of hip hop..
and hip hop isnt music..its a culture..
tsk...
brainwashed...like the rest of the masses...
lol @ you guys giving DMX a higher lyric rating then big pun ,canibus,
and
eminem..
and i dont even like big pun, canibus or eminem..
lol
you guys...are the perfect example of hip hops deteriorating state....peace...
oh yea...and start reviewing some good music too...
By its' nature being a critic (I would certainly not claim to be
one, but probably am acting as so) lends its' self to giving personal
judgments. One can't evaluate content and not have some personal
opinions influence ones' reviews especially in the music business.
I am not sure that one could define good or bad music without it
being a statement of personal opinion. Reviews are just personal
opinions based on personal likes and dislike. I am not sure that
we could get everyone to agree on what is good and what is bad,
that is the nature of music. I am not sure that we can say that
one person is wrong or right for what the like or dislike. I can't
say that some one is wrong for liking a certain type of music I
can only disagree with their opinions. Much as you seem to disagree
with my/our musical tastes, I would say that neither of us is right
or wrong in their opinion, we just have different tastes in music.
While that being said, I am assuming some responsibility for my
statements because they are available for others to read. I believe
you are making some incorrect assumptions about what the site is
designed to do. Our site is called 10 Rap Commandments not 10 Hip-Hop
Commandments. Our site is primarily designed to provided rap music
reviews specifically focused in this area. We are not designed to
be a site that covers the entire hip-hop genre. Our site is designed
to give our visitors our opinions of music that we listen to. We
do not claim to be or ever intend to become a one-stop source for
all of your musical review needs. The site is not intended to represent
all of the best MC's and/or the entire rap or hip-hop genre. But
again things come down to personal preferences; while you may be
more interested in MC's, I/we are much more interested in rappers.
Again difference of opinion based on personal preferences. As we
have stated in our mission statement that we are not going to give
all mainstream rappers good review, by that same token we are not
going to not like something just because it is in the mainstream.
I not going to say that something is bad just because something
is popular, that would be a bias.
Using your terms to differentiate
between the two, I would state that yes I do enjoy rap music more
than hip-hop. I wouldn't say that one is better than the other is.
Rather as you have differentiated we have also differentiated between
the two. They are two very distinct categories of music, culture
and society. I would agree with your statement that rap is an element
of hip-hop, but again rap music is our focus not necessarily the
broader hip hop genera/culture.
While we may only represent
a piece of the rap and/or hip-hop genre we do not like all of the
same thing. While we fit fairly closely together in our musical
tastes this is because we are all friends. We still disagree with
each other much like you do with us. I am not claiming to be nor
never will claim to be an expert in this field. Ignorant in my views,
possibly, I would like to think that is more naïveté
than biased. I lack the resources and the time to full cover the
wide birth of rap and hip hop music and that I hope is the only
source of my ignorance and bias. I would wholeheartedly support
your statement that we can not become a "good review site"
with out having different points of view. While we have not branched
out into other areas our site is more geared towards differentiating
between the mainstream rap and/or hip hop musical selections.
Our site was never intended
to cater to the "elitists in the hip hop community". We
are what we are a simple rap review site. We actually intended to
go in the opposite direction from the "elitists in the hip
hop community", especially in terms of the set up and review
methods. We wanted to provide an alternative to the traditional
critical works. The Great Hart has written an editorial that I have
neglected to get up on the site because of timing conflicts but
he gets into the fact that the elitists in the hip-hop community
has not provided what he was looking for in a review. I will try
and get that up as soon as possible, so it will hopefully explain
a little more about what we are trying to do. I thank you for taking
the time to read as many reviews as you did and hope they provided
entertainment rather than physical pain. It is very refreshing to
have someone who seems to listen to what we are saying even if they
don't agree with it. At least we were consistently wrong in your
eyes.
Our site is still in
its infancy and at this point is only on its way to becoming a "good
review site". I do believe though that we are a) headed in
the right directions and b) are moving in this direction into a
developing a site that hopefully become a "good review site".
If you would like to
help us rectify our transgressions you are welcome to do any number
of things. 1) Send us albums that you want us to review 2) send
us money and a list of albums to buy for us to review or 3) submit
some reviews and possible become part of the 10rc staff.
We here at 10rc are all
about different ideas and thanks for writing in with yours. Your
commitments, suggestions and criticisms are sure to help the site
progress along so thank you for helping us make the site a better
one. Thanks for your interest in www.10rapcommandments.com
The Abbot
Again From Anthony
I respect how you
took the time to respond back in a very mature manner...i was
just heated at the information displayed on your site...you made
some valid points...however.
i must stress again how hip hop music...is rap..since this statement
made my head shake..
"I would state that yes I do enjoy rap music more than hip-hop"
kinda like when you go to tower records...and you see one CD section
labeled rap...and another labeled hip hop...
hip hop is the combination of the 4 elements..including turntablism,
graffiti, rap, and breakdancing...so i respect what you say when
you claim your site to be a "rap review site"
however...in that aspect....you must also understand that whether
you like it or not. your representing a mass of people...a culture...since
culture is the definition of hip hop...you are representing an
element of hip hop...
now...as far as your reviews go...
it would be dope if you guys started representing the underground
rap artists out there...im sure you kats would like artists such
as ..
Virtuso...
Jedi mind tricks...
Non-phixion...
Chino XL...
Copywrite...
Necro...
Thirtin howl III
and if you wanna get even deeper in your rap review site..encourage
your visitors that do thier own music thing to send in copies
of
thier demos and CD's and you can review those also....and provide
real audio clips to thier music..
??? what you think ???
Of
all the point that you originally made to me the issue of rap vs.
hip-hop bothered me the most because it did strike a cord with me.
My one statement about rap over hip-hop, was based on your statement
that "rap is an element of hip hop", which I would agree
with, it being a type of music within the culture of hip-hop. Maybe
I should have said that of all the pieces of the hip-hop culture
I enjoy rap music the most. I think it is more an issue of definition
of the terms. Rap and hip-hop are in cases used for very different
things and in some cases used interchangeable. As you distinguished
that we were only reviewing mainstream rap, verses covering the
entire genre of hip hop. I took the words to mean to different forms
of music rather than one being a part of the other.
I know that we are shirking
the big picture for the sake of the small picture, but again it
is out of naïveté rather than a purposeful exclusion
of other facts. We are only representing a small part of the big
picture just because that is all we have been able to do so far.
Of course in the long term, it would be great if we could branch
out into other areas and encompass the entire hip-hop culture within
the site. Being that our site is going on five months old, we figured
that we should do one thing right and try and do that one thing
to the best of our ability. For me so many web sites try to do more
than they have the content to pull from, that is why we only went
with the more focused on one area. I know that the excuses are flowing
like wine here but I hope you believe me when I say that we fully
intend to develop the site to the best of our abilities (even if
it is only sub par).
As far as the reviews
go, the non-mainstream and smaller market artist/groups are an area
that we are severely lacking in. Originally it had been our intent
to make the site as universal as possible, that means more mainstream
stuff and which is more universally accessible. It is not that we
do not want to branch out into new areas, more we making sure that
we make what we have so far is as high quality as possible
We have discussed the
idea of having people send us their stuff, and we had decided to
put something up on the site, but I just never got around to doing
it. That is something that I will get up and is a great idea on
your part. We have actually received a few requests from promoters
for us to review their albums, some smaller artist, some middle
sized. We ask them to send them to us and every so often, we do
get albums. At this very moment I am listening to I.G.T, who before
I had received their album I had never head of the group, so we
may be started in the direction that you seem to hope that we will.
As far as having RA clips we might not be able to do that because
of our limited budget and some web related technical restraints,
but maybe down the road it might become possible
Thanks for your recommendations
hopefully this will help broaden the 10rc perspective and help improve
the site in terms of new content and our existing content.
The Abbot
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From Ryan
After visiting your
website, I'm quite positive that you are the worst reviewers in
hip-hop history, most likely due to the fact that you've been
listening to rap for 6 months, I bet. In addition to trashing
2 of the top 5 albums of all time (Illmatic [Ed. Note: Sloppy
Joe slammed Illmatic not The Great Hart] and It takes a nation....),
your page is filled with laughable quotations which resemble those
of a 13-year old white girl. You want something "intelligent"
from Xzibit? Why don't you listen to his FIRST TWO ALBUMS, dumbfuck?
Oh that's right, you have no clue that he already put out two
near-classic albums. Cuban Linx is an "underground"
album???? What the fuck are you talking about? You don't know
shit.
I have already addressed the question
of Xzibit's previous album. Maybe you might want to read more
of the site. I didn't review his first two, I reviewed the third.
I will not take previous records into account when reviewing later
or earlier efforts. That's like saying "I didn't really like
'Da Game' but Doggystyle was so hot that 'Game'
at leats warrants an 8. Also of note, I've heard the previous Xzibit
albums and 'near classic' might have been a bit too high on the
Xzibit rhetoric scale.
Congratulations on your
ability to take snippets directly out of context. Cuban Linx is
not platinum album [Ed. note: It did go gold]. Many, many,
rap fans have never heard it. I'm sorry we don't agree on a lot
of albums, but I won't call you a dumbfuck for it. Although, you
don't know how much I'd like to.
One last thing: when
other people consider albums classic, this gives thealbum no points
for me. I make the decision for myself, whether it's popular or
not. I don't use rap music to create an image for myself; if I like
some widely criticized stuff, I say
it. Unfortunately that means I have to read emails like this one
every once and a while.
Have a good day.
Great H.
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From Shonda
Yo Sloppy,
I have to disagree with your critique of Nas' album Illmatic.
After reading your review it seem that you are more of a beathead
than anything. If you were an honest critic you would chill out
and listen to this album because you are really missing out on
some great Hip-hop.
The second track "N.Y. State of Mind" paints a perfect
picture of ghetto trife life. You were very mistaken about him
not mentioning his hood. This song is a perfect painting for any
neighborhood in a poor environment. I guess you could not make
it you the beat that was done by one of the greatest producers
in the game DJ Premier. Listen to this song then go and update
your review on this section.
Also, this album is considered a Hip-hop classic and a very well
respected album to this date. This album alone set the East Coast
back on the map and open doors for artist such as Notorious B.I.G.
and Jay-z. Nas has been in the game since his as 15 years old
and he has maintain. There are many artist in the game that have
patternized their lyrical style like this artist. Notice I said
"artist" because yes he does put time into lyrics and
doesn't come simple mined like most of these wack MC's in the
game.
I advise that you sit down and listen to the album actually open
your mind and ears for the real. Illmatic is the pinnacle of lyrical
perfection. If you want so pop R&B Hip-hop you need to listen
to some Bad Boy hits to satisfy your thirst. If you want some
real Hip-hop you need to really listen to this album.
It like Nas told your ass in the beginning of "N.Y. State
of Mind" that "This is the dungeon of rap, where fake
ass niggas don't make it back.
Become honest with your self; then become a critic.
Much Love,
1Life1Love
 Thank
you Shonda for coming at me with some wit and intelligence. Your
point of view sounds more like a devoted fan rather than a mindless
fanatic, which I run into all the time. You make some good points
about the album; in fact I have been called out on this review before,
so I paid it another visit to see if I missed anything.
After
listening to the CD throughout I can only say that I have to stick
to my guns on this one. I may have been a little harsh on Nas in
my review but only because I like his other albums so much more.
And as far as Nas in regard to his rapping and lyrical skills I
must admit that I judge each rapper against his peers, and even
though Nas is VERY eloquent in his raps there are better lyricists
out there, or I should say were out there, Biggie, Tupac, and also
guys like Eminem, DMX, and especially Method Man. All these rappers
are in my opinion better lyricists that nas. That's just my opinion.
And as far as Rapping as a musical instrument, I would rather hear
someone like Juvenile or DMX because they have a much more unique
delivery than Nas, regardless of how flashy they are or how "pop"
their raps sound to you. Overall I just thought that Illmatic
was not as interesting as his other efforts, it lacks that one track
that you can look forward too (and I don't think "N.Y. State
of Mind" is that track). I will concede the fact that this
album was of high importance and influence on rap music, as we know
it today, or the fact that DJ premier was on the album, neither
of these facts however automatically qualifies this for great music.
You actually shouldn't
pay what I say any attention because I am actually not a "critic"
I'm a teller of my opinions. Critics actually get paid. We are not
trying to perpetrate as being rap gurus, or anything mildly close
to that. So with that I thank you again, and suggest that we just
agree to disagree.
Sloppy Joe
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From Matthew
Hey, Great Hart
(If that is your real name [ed: no it isn't] )...
Your site is pretty
good, brings back memories of childhood, times of innocence..........but
it also brings back the hard times.
I guess true rap,
true poetry, true art (entertainment ----- I hate that word) is
all about sharing one's experience by giving the world your own
thoughts, true, real, and uncensored. And that's what you guys
have brought to me with your reviews.
I guess I just want
to thank you for bringing me the info I need to expand my collection.
I needed some words to give me something to think about. You have
enhanced my knowledge of this new, everchanging music (poetry)
much, and I hope you shall into the near future ----- can't wait
for you to review that madass doped-up group called Outkast..and
you guys are so damn down to earth, it scares me..... that's why
I keep returning, as well as the fancy wordplay you thow in.....
So, HART..... you
rule........ I wish could write like you... and from one wannabe
wordsmith to a real wordsmith: much respect, peeps, and keep it
real forever! So, thanks.........(and could you tell me anything
about constructing a good review.)
It's nice to receive a emails from people who like what you're doing.
I couldn't appreciate your kind words more.
Since you asked here
are few basic things I do when writing anything:
Read it when you're
done, if something sounds off or stupid it probably is.
Make sure it's spell-checked
and the grammar is kosher. Nothing looks worse than crazy grammar
or misspelled words. (And yes, we have our share here at 10rc.)
Get a basic layout
of where you want to go before you write it. It may be romantic
to think about composing a long piece of writing while just hammering
away at the keyboard, but it just doesn't happen that way.
Thanks for checking out
the site.
Great H.
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