If it wasn’t Jay and Sigel, I wouldn’t be thinking about it. It’s probably because I was a kid when they first dropped. Rappers weren’t regular people, they were larger than life figures driving cars I’d never heard of, rapping about experiences I’d never been in, with precision and sincerity.
I remember the day Jay brought State Property to Hot 97. Napster (fucking napster ya’ll) had just popped up and everybody in Mr. K’s homeroom had the Mp3 on their CD player of the freestyle the next day. Absolute classic hip hop moment.
But you know the story after that. The Blueprint drops, State Property builds, Sigel goes to jail, the Roc crumbles and the rest is history. Dame spoke his piece in a few interviews but sounded bitter; Jay sidestepped and dodged questions like a seasoned politician and over the years, the rest of SP grumbled their grievances except their General, the Broad Street Bully himself.
So in the 30 or so seconds, while Beanie’s diss track, Average Cat and the subsequent interviews were downloading, I convinced myself that I wasn’t engaging in gossip girl bullshit by giving a fuck. This was the Roc. This was a major part of my growth as an emcee (the Rawkus movement included of course) and part of the soundtrack to my high school experience.
Then 50 jumped in. Cue Vince McMahon. Light the fireworks. Please tell the audience its time for applause.
*Takes a Deep Breath*
I care what happens but considerably less now. Lemme not say that. Maybe I care what happens but I think I know what’s going to happen, so I’m a little less intrigued? 50′s been trying to position himself to battle Jay because that’s what 50 does. Jay has dodged because that’s what Jay does, unless he:
A. Incites the beef (Nas) or
B. Is backed into a corner and can’t sick someone on his foe (Beans).
Seeing the rift and the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone (album promo and Jay), 50 pulls Sigel in. Sigel, having gotten screwed over (screwing himself over?) during the Roc breakup, is looking for some closure and if he’s smart, a way to pull State Property back together with a little help from G-Unit. He’s proven too grimy to really sell the way Jay has or even 50 for that matter but the Philly collective with him at the helm is a formidable force.
*Exhales*
All that being said, as a fan, this sucks. And as an artist in the music business, its eye opening. Dame embezzling money, Jay creating a family atmosphere with the Roc and SP on the surface, only to outgrow or betray it as his business grew and Sigel making the classic artistic blunder of mistaking business for friendship.
It’s the Roc?
Great article. I feel the same way, I grew up on the Roc, they were the dream team. It kinda hurts to see Jay & Beans in this situation. But as soon as 50 popped his head it, it was kinda like “okay this is another one of THOSE situations”
50 poppin up in the situation just made it comical to me, typical 50 shit so he can promote his album by juggling Beans in front of Jay. He’s been trying to do his “beef for hype” routine with Jay for a long time and now he has a better entry way to gettin that accomplished.
Sigel is a damn fool IMO. Siegal had every opportunity given to him to succeed and get rich, he claims its not about money but the more he talks the more thats what its sounding like its about. Dude had gold albums, owned 50% of State Property, 20% of the clothing line but was too dumb to keep his nose clean and stay out of trouble. Thats the problem with rappers, they wanna keep this hood nigga/real street dude persona even after they’ve made millions. Why was Siegal still in the hood gettin arrested over bullshit missin opportunities to get tour money because he wants to be a reckless nigga. This story is one of friends growin apart. We all have boys that we got love for but they’re heads arent on str8 and they become a burden, thats Sieg. You cant say Jay didnt try to get this dude established. “Beans I aint tryna change you, just give you some game, to make the transition, from the streets to the fame” – Blueprint. Beans could make the transition, he couldnt stand on his own as an artist as Kanye did when givin the same situation, and he obviously couldnt manage his money.
Furthermore when the Roc broke up, Siegal went with Dame, Dame shitted on him with the State Property clothing then he ran back to Jay. On top of that dude is just not marketable in todays market, from a business sense its not profitable to have an artist who couldnt go platinum in the 90s when people actually bought albums put out albums in this market with alot of promo. He would be in the red as would the label. Jay gave him his chance to make his cake by not over promoting something that wasnt going to sell, and allowing him to still get music out to his fanbase and make tour money. He bitched about that too.
All in all Jay is always gonna be the scape goat to niggas who dont know the music biz or think he owes them something. Siegal just added himself to the list, and if he thinks shit is gonna pop for him at G-unit he’s dumber than I though, see:Spider Loc, MOP, Mase, etc… he will be used as a pon by 50 until he’s no longer needed and be dissing 50 a year from now. SMH
if i remember correctly, the first major tour 50 went on headlined him and jay. i remember going to the ny show and they even did a lil reebok commercial collabo together. i know 50 first got big by using the beef game but c’mon man.
as for sigel, i remember when i read somewhere that he was getting pinched for being a “druglord.” lol i dunno about u but that shit just sounds OD.