The first time I heard about Kardinal Offishall was way back in the mid 1990’s

Back then he was an aspiring artist with a fresh feel about him, including his lyrical style. But he didn’t break through to the masses.

He has this half Jamaican chat, half American rap style which catches you slightly of guard on some of his tracks. Sometimes his Jamaican, sometimes his American. This inconsistency in his style was probably the reason why he didn’t break through earlier in his career.

But within the underground music scene he was deemed ahead of his time.

To date, he has featured on numerous singles with artists like Sean Paul, Clipse, Busta Rhymes, Bounty killer and many more.

The track that stands out for his inimitable style is the collaboration with the Clipse smash, Grindin.

When you listen to that track, you instantly want him to take over. His gritty style bleeds for space and shoves the other collaborators aside.

Teaming up now with Akon, the super producer, song writer, CEO etc, has taken him to the mainstream. At the moment the world needs an artist like him to stop the factory of pop idles filling the airwaves with that sticky bubblegum pop.

It also gives him the opportunity to work with the likes of, The Dream, T Pain, Glen Lewis and Rihanna.

His new album is called, Not 4 sale.

Best tracks in my opinion are, Burnt, Dangerous, Go home with you and Number 1.

Number 1 features Rihanna and is a cover of Blondie’s 80's hit, The tide is high. This track is a commercial winner and will certainly do well in the charts world wide.

Is Kardinal officially here?

I think so, and when you take a listen to his new album, I think you will think so too.

Peace.

Recently two articles were published featuring The Rock 1000 top rock songs of 2008 preview and the actual winners of the countdown and people commented on how this song should have been on the list and how this song shouldn't have etc. So I have decided to try and remedy the differences in opinion by creating a survey for the number 1 song of all time as judged by you, the reader.

This means that you can choose your pick for the number 1 song of all time whether it be Rage Against The Machine's "Killing in the Name", Lupe Fiasco's "Kick, Push" or Paris Hilton's…I can't recall the name of it, and not be offended when your choice of song is not on the list.

Here's how to vote. All you are required to do is place the name and artist of your number 1 song of all time in the comments box below, type the security code and click submit. After 1 month from date of publication of this article, the results will be collated and analyzed to bring you once and for all, the number 1 song of all time.

To get the ball rolling I will cast the first vote and say that "Under The Bridge" from the Red Hot Chili Peppers off their 1991 album Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic is the number 1 song of all time.

For inspiration and or help in choosing your number 1 song of all time, you might like to read the above mentioned articles:

• The Rock 1000: Top10
• The Rock 1000: The Actual Top 10
• Ultimate Music: Top 10 Rock Songstresses in Looks and Talent

The reason I found this so interesting is the fact that normally I don't even like Rap.

In a way it is ironic, but it is eerie to me hearing Jimmy's voice with Snoop. A voice from today next to a man who died more than three decades ago. To me this is a classic, Two men, both Poets, one living, one dead. Still both have talent that goes beyond the common, they are two unique individuals both trying to make statements.

As Jim once said "The Most Important kind of Freedom, Is to be who you truly are". The truth of those words, the haunting quality of his voice, and the tragedy of his demise are all compiled to do two things. Make you FEEL, and make you THINK I think it does the job quite effectively.

The song then starts talking about the peace guy, “hands in the air like it's good to be, ALIVE” and the difference from the corporate guy, “I can make money, open up a thrift store, I can make a living off a magazine.”

Finally, at the end of this song, the corporate man and his friends are overcome with power and are making the world a bad place to live.  So the peace guy and his friends start a riot.  During the battle, the two men lock eyes, and the corporate man sees the errors of his ways, just as peace man gets shot and dies.

But then again, who am I to tell you what this song means?  It is different for every person who listens to it.  But to understand the song completely, you need to watch the official music video.  To do this, go to this site.

There can't be an BluePrint with out one the first two both had disses on them in which helped add to the classic status it received, it would be foolish to believe that this album would not feature at least one diss track. The first single of the album "Jockin Jayz " already sets the scene as the first verse comes in "WHOSE HOUSE? HOV NO DOUBT" Jayz is refrencing something previously stated by Lil Wayne "It's not your house anymore, and I'm better than you," Lil Wayne stated this in complex magaizne.

This opening line states one thing: it's on and poppin!! Maybe not Lil wayne but someone will get it. Jayz in my opinion owns the house and let Lil wayne do a little house watching. The BluePrint III will indeed be like the others a album you can put into the player and let ride over and over and over. The only reason to touch anything is you might run six or seven tracks back a few times before letting the next one play.

That is hip hop now. Instead of trying to bring truth, enlightenment, and fresh creativity to the listeners, it seems we are just trying to be the baddest man so we can get all the club hoes. When did what the they think become so important? I thought we as a hip hop culture had an issue with the unfaithful money scheming type of female. Why all of a sudden do so many songs appeal to and congratulate this type of person now? I tell you why, cause hip hop has gone pop. Just like high school, that slut may have been a slut, but she certainly was popular. And that seems to be all that matters right now. I mean listen to the radio waves. Look at the videos. Why is everyone so preoccupied with being gangsters? Gangsters of what? You now even have rappers who really had a good life and upbringing, but hide it like its shameful or something. Even worse you have people who cant really rap or rock a crowd (or have any musical or artistic talent) who get booqoo publicity just because of their past life. What is really going on?

Yes I remember when "hard core street life" and "thuggin" and "gangsterism" entered the game. But I also remembered that even the hardest coldest pimp g brought some talent with him. NWA dropped some classical tracks and worthy lyrical content. 2Pac may have thugged us out, but he was a poet, so extremely passionate, and if you really remember, Pac was on a revolutionary type vybe. He wasnt thuggin just to thug. Or just to stunt and highside on everybody who wasnt a thug. As a matter of fact T.H.U.G.L.I.F.E. was an acronym for something deeper than being out in the streets. Nobody remembers that today though. It seems successful hip hop artist today seem to think the whole point is to be the most financially successful hip hop artist with the flyest material things. They seem to have forgotten that they are role models and they are some of the cultures leaders in raisng the youth and reforming the culture of its people. Im saddened when I see young suburban teens give up on sports and academics in hopes of living a street life. Its difficult to watch young ladies give away whats truly beautiful about themselves trying to be the "baddest hoe" in the club. But if our most succesful members of our culture are condoning and promoting this behavior for the simple fact that it makes money we will see the end of hip hop, cause it will pop. But sadly I feel hip hop has flip flopped and sold out. And the worst part is that it has sold out for so much money, that the real hip hoppers probrably will never get a chance to but it back.

While this is probably the most identifiable area of rap, it is by no means the only one. Like any other big group of music, rap has its own sub genres, all of which sound very different to one another. So, without further ado, let's take a butcher's hook at some of them.

Reggaeton

Just as gangsta rap is traditionally associated with the black community, Reggaeton is a form of Hip-hop that's traditionally associated with the Hispanic populace. Most reggaeton artists are Latino, and the preferred language of the genre is Spanish rather than English. Right off the bat this makes for an interesting sound as Spanish is so much more pleasant to listen to that English.

Unlike gangsta rap, reggaeton is mainly sung rather rapped, but rapping is not uncommon within the genre itself. Many songs combine the two, creating a counterpoint style of structure which is both pleasant and interesting to listen to. Many reggaeton artists do however keep the typical ‘gangsta' or ‘street' image, so often associated with rap and hip-hop.

Perhaps the biggest difference in style between reggaeton and gangsta rap lies in the lyrics. This is a shame, because I don't speak Spanish (English is hard enough), I don't get the full force of the art. Where gangsta rap focuses a lot on self promotion, the mean streets, drugs, guns and hookers, reggaeton explores a very different area. Common themes include love stories, and real life problems that many ordinary people, not just rich musicians, face in their day to day lives. That's not to say that there's none of the gangsta elements in reggaeton lyrics, there are plenty of songs which explore this area of life if that's what you're interested in. As Reggaeton is so heavily associated with, and performed by Hispanic and Latino artists, the genre has also become a flagship for the ideas of racism and cultural identity, much like gangsta rap in inner city areas.

If you are interested in reggaeton, here are some artists you can check out, the names are hyperlinked to an example youtube video:

• Don Omar (Closer to hip-hop than rap)
• Wisin & Yandel (blends rap and singing)
• Ivy Queen (Similar to Don Omar, a female artist)

Oh, and if you have GTA IV, tune into the radio station ‘San Juan Sounds', that's all Reggaeton!

Nerdcore

Also known as ‘geeksta rap'. A lot of people have heard nerdcore without realizing it, and many are actually fans. There's somewhat of a debate as to what constitutes nerdcore, some argue that any track which focuses primarily on traditionally geeky subjects (computers, D&D stuff like that) qualifies. Some people say that nerdcore is any music that gains popularity in the geek community. Still more people claim that only rap and DJ'ing that focus on geek culture count. Wherever you draw the line, there's one certain thing that pretty much everything that gets lumped into the geek core category has in common- it's all about the Pentiums baby.

Nerdcore's musical and lyrical style usually parody that of gansta rap, often to the point of parodying specific songs. Just take the lyrics of any gangsta rap you want and replace the guns with laptops, the drugs with videogames and the hoes with computer code. One big nerdcore artist is Weird Al Yankovich, who's made a career out of parodying everyone from Nirvana to Chamillionaire.

Nerdcore is about more than parody though (though it's probably how it started). Many artists create their own original tracks. Other artists focus on the musical side of the genre, creating techno and trance style tracks, often made up of parts from videogames.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that nerdcore is just remixes and rehashes of other people's work and styles, done by lonely geeks in their spare time. Artists like MC Lars and Optimus Rhyme, are big name artists in their own right.

The most common themes in Nerdcore are common aspects of geek life; office jobs, computers and whatever ‘geeky' hobbies the artist has. Obviously, these would make for pretty boring music so nerdcore is often satirical to entertain its listeners.

Artist who you can check out:

• MC Lars (Popular back in 2006, made it into the British charts)
• Optimus Rhyme (A more chilled out ‘cool' band. Think the Fugees)
• MC Frontalot (One of the flagship artists of the genre)

Metalcore/Rap Metal/Nu Metal

Probably the best known sub genre of hip hop, yet also the most hated, probably due to the fact fans of metal and fans of rap are supposed to hate each other. Metalcore blends the heavy, powerful sounds of metal with rap. The way this is done can vary wildly, Linkin Park for example used rap primarily as the verse structure with singing as the chorus in their first album, hybrid theory, but switched to mashing the two up in their next album Meteora (I'm not counting reanimation). By the third album the rap element had diminished considerably. But this isn't a review of them, just an example of how it can be done.

Slipknot have maintained a fairly consist style, the highly distorted heavy backing of instruments against lyrics delivered in the traditional rap style. They vary things, but not greatly. The formula works and produces some interesting listening.

With other artists, the influence is a lot more subtle. Nu metal is a genre that draws on a lot on hip hop, specifically rap for its sounds without actually copying for it. For example, Disturbed's lead singer David Draiman delivers extremely fast rhythmic lyrics, a lot like many rappers. Many of the rhythms and beats are also vaguely reminiscent of hip hop, just with a much faster tempo.

Metalcore lyrics tend to draw a lot more heavily on the metal side of the music rather than the rap side. Lyrics include the destruction of the world, sticking it to the man, teenage angst and all other things wholesome and rated for the family.

Notable artists:

• Papa Roach (Primarily focus on rap. Shame that's the clean version of the song, but it was that or am AMV)
• Slipknot (Heavy metal rap. Not for your grandparents to listen to. Unless one's a closet metal fan like my grandma)
• Lamb of God (A personal favorite. Like slipknot but more legible).

Well, I hope I've showed you rap and hip hop can be more than just bitches and ho's. If you're interested then just search youtube for various different languages within the genre. You'd be amazed how different it all is.

Bad poetry or perhaps a line from the #1 entry in the music charts around the world sung by lil miss what's his face and the kung foo rappers.

OK so it's not the best thing in the world but then even Wordsworth had his off days I am sure "I wandered lonely as a cloud" could well have started off with "I wonder where I am today and why the clouds look so Grey"

Not quite the thing you would expect really is it?

In fact there are some who believe it started life as "I wandered lonely as a cow!"

Let's face it there are no bad poems just bad perceptions.

If you don't like poetry per SE then you will never rate any of the modern day poetry, if on the other hand you are a perfectionist and prefer Wordsworth or Shakespeare then look away now.
In my opinion the poetry written today by the younger generation is as impact driven and worthwhile as all the old masters. When Wordsworth Keats and Shakespeare sat down to write I am sure their thoughts were far from pure at all times.

They managed however to compose eloquent ditty's to woo the ladies of the day.

More recently the likes of Dylan (not Thomas) and Dollie Parton produced musical poetry for the masses with messages strong to the corps about abuse and misuse of privilege. For me today's rap artistes are a welcome addition to the poetic society; I just wish they would slow down a bit so that we older folk could hear what it is that is so important.

Thank you for reading. I know there is a lot here, but if you are looking for good music, this is the place to start.