Originally posted on Madetoorderphilly.com on Sept. 21,2010
Hip hop and their motherfuckin trends! Every year it seems like there is a new flow or style of rhyming that’s really really dope when it first hits and then really really annoying when it gets to the end of its useful life. 08 to early 09 it was AUTOTUNE! Yeah, that guy! Pain started it, Ye borrowed it, and Wayne perfected it then everybody under the sun abused the shit. Think about it, they used autotune in a Wendys commercial and a motherfuckin Sham-Wow ad…Jigga was right it had to go!
Towards the end of 09 we started to hear more and more of a flow that could only be referred to as “the short cut.” The shortcut flow was invented by Big Sean then popularized and used best by Drake and Wayne. The shortcut flow involves cutting words out of your metaphors and making one grand statement at the end of a bar. Most often the word “like” is removed so that people get rid of the stigma of being a “punchline rapper” ala Cassidy or Conceited while still appearing equally douchey when used wrong!
Almost everyone has tried their hand at it with some working better than others. When Drake said “I can bring her thru and shut em down ONYX” everybody knew what he meant and it was a clever/crafty way to deliver a metaphor. And for u slow minded fucks, Onyx was a rap group in the 90s prior to Fredro Starr dating Brandy and they had an album called Shut Em Down. Get it? Good! Similarly when we Wayne says “Life is a muthafuckin gamble PETER ROSE” it is equally effective.
Other incarnations of the shortcut flow have been lazy and others downright embarassing! Drake openly dissed Luda in an AllHipHop.com interview when asked about the short cut flow and rapper abuse. Luda’s line was “Comin down the street like a parade MACYS” rotfl and Drakes reponse was “you know people just abused that flow to the point where I hate it and never wanna hear it again. I’m mad I have it on my album. Like, rappers say shit that doesn’t even make sense its like “comin down the street like a parade MACYS” that’s so not hot! I died on the spot!
The undisputed worst shortcut line ever in rap history has to be Fab when on “Lights Out” he said “Rub this money in ya face FACE CREAM.” Really son? A gun in ya face and that’s all u could come up with? I’m embarassed to 1. Like u after that bullshit and 2. Like the song that u spit that bullshit on! I understand that sometimes niggas get writers block but gahhhhhh leeeeeeee that shit was bad! I guess the streets sayin grind Los, niggas rappin so bad I musta thought he found Vanilla Ice rhyme notes!
The rappers who continue to use this shit are cheating themselves and cheating us as well. If u weren’t an early adapter then yo ass is late so don’t be tryna get hot off some old shit u just discovered! Live and let die or face the same fate! I know sales are down but if the livest shit yall can come up with is taking “like” out of ya bars then u got more trouble than u can already imagine! In closing, respect the architects and stop being a dicksucker…gettin ya stomach pumped is such a bad look!
-The Win
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