On Sunday, December 2, 2012 hip hop legends UGK were be inducted into to the Music Hall of Fame at the Museum of the Gulf Coast in Port Arthur, Texas.
The induction includes a permanent exhibit which will be open to the public. The Museum of the Gulf Coast, Music Hall of Fame has over 60 inductees who represent the various music genres found along and within the Gulf Coast area of the United States. Other inductees include country music legend George Jones, rock and roll empress Janis Joplin and r&b legend Archie Bell.
Urban legends in their own lifetime, Bernard “Bun B” Freeman and Chad “Pimp C” Butler, formed UGK in Port Arthur in 1987. It was in 1992 while signed to Jive Records that the duo first gained success with the release of their national debut album Too Hard to Swallow.
They solidified their place on the urban music scene with the release of “Pocket Full of Stones,” an intoxicating single which appeared on the Menace II Society motion picture soundtrack in 1993.
UGK broke into the Billboard Top 200 with their 1994 album Super Tight. 1996 and 2001 saw the release of albums Ridin Dirty and Dirty Money. Both charted at Number 2 on the Billboard US R&B Charts and Number 15 and Number 18 respectively on the Billboard Top 200.
Today it seems like every rapper was a Big Meech, Frank Lucas or Al Capone in their former lives before getting signed. In fact, hip-hop has become so centered on being gangsta that if a rapper is on the wrong side of street activity, he loses his creditability as an MC. This may be because rappers make themselves bigger than life with unbelievable lyrics.
Twenty-nine-year-old Young Money/Po Boy Entertainment artist British Alexander Mitchell, mostly known as Brisco, isn’t bigger than life nor does he want to seem that way. It is well publicized that Brisco’s Opa Locka, Miami breeding grounds turns out its fair share of roughnecks. But the neighborhood also yields regular street guys too.
Occasionally, a couple hood guys reach a dope boy’s pinnacle to moving chickens. But for the most part, average street guys are hand-to-mouth hustlers selling dime rocks, quarter bags, halves and ounces. Or, in some cases, they rob for as little as 200 bucks.
Brisco is one of the masses. In fact, he is so hood that after being awarded $500,000 for the death of his mother (who succumbed to doctors giving her too much anesthesia during surgery), he was broke after two years and right back in the hood where he started.
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Blood, sweat and tears have become their reflection. Artistically motivated, intelligently prepared and physically capable to achieve the star level of success so many others have deemed impossible. Excelling in their talents, gifts or skills becomes a crusade becomes an obsession.
A star chaser, as they are often defined, doesn’t describe their desire to dwell above and beyond the rest of the mediocre world. Just as the stars in the heavens are observed, admired and even worshipped from a distance, there are those who consider themselves worthy of the same admiration and praise.
As in every other challenge, the entertainment industry has rules. And unlike the stars in the sky, which can only be scrutinized at certain times, human stars (entertainers) are under the microscope constantly and must continuously radiate star-like qualities both day and night. Being under the microscope allows people to look beyond the natural surface and delve deep into the interior core. Unfortunately, microscopic observations allow for people to detect hidden flaws.
Realistically speaking, we know it’s impossible to ever reach out and actually dwell amongst an actual star, we are not equipped to handle the heat and light in which the star gives off in order to accomplish its mission to bring light unto the world. This explains why so-called stars are always seeking a higher position but can only stand so much limelight. Yet stars do as they were created to do and that is bring light and joy into a dark, dull world.
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Help Is On the Way
“They think I’m some millionaire but I ain’t nowhere near it/ Niggas out here starvin, though, and they ain’t even tryin’a hear it/ He at home with his baby momma and all five of they chil’ren/ The rent due, the Pampers low and she just missed her period/ He flat broke and he sick of it; tryin’na find something to cure it/ And here I go with this ballin’ shit; spend 40 thousand on jewelry/ When yo’ pockets low, you get desperate. Your judgment gets blurry/ And every time you can’t feed your kids, your eyes get a bit teary/ Now, he talkin’ bout robbin’ me and if I don’t take the nigga serious/ When he run up on me and draw down, I can’t do shit but look silly/ Then, it’s going on World Star about how I let a nigga get me/ And if I am strapped and they catch me with it, y’all say a nigga just ig’nant.”
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IIentities Entertainment
Group Music Video Reel
