OCTOBER 2007 - VOLUME 1 ISSUE 7
REAL TALK Believe me, I was just as surprised as you to find out that Atlanta rap
FEATURE STORY It seems like the most controversial thing you can do in hip hop is try to rank artists. Hip Hop is art, and just like any other art form the quality of it is totally relative to the personal tastes of the person judging it. Every time a magazine, TV show, or website ranks the top ten, twenty, or whatever number of hip hop artists, there are always a ton of people complaining. There is always someone who’s mad because they don’t like the people who made the list. They feel somebody was left out or they just disagree with the order of the artists appear. So who’s the best rapper alive? Is it Jay-z…? Is it Lil www.MakinItMag.com
T.I. LAUNCHES DAYBYCARE K. CANNICK
mogul, T.I., was opening his first of a string of daycare facilities. It’s been a hell of a year for the rapper who has been an undeniable force on both the charts and in the box office. Grand Hu$tle Child Care promises to stand apart from other child care providers by being a 24 hour program catering to low income families. T.I. has made it very clear that he will not be a passive investor in the facility, but will participate in the day to day care of the children (feeding, changing diapers and all). In fact, the entire Grand Hu$tle roster including Young Dro, Big Kuntry, and Super producer
Khao will be on staff teaching and caring for the children. This move by the self proclaimed King of the South has prompted other rappers to follow suit. Young Jeezy has also decided to give back to the community by teaching an after school tutoring program at Martin Luther King Jr. High School… Ok… by now you should have guessed this is a bunch of B--- S----, but if you caught BET’s three part special, “Hip Hop vs. America”, you might be led to believe this story is true. Apparently it is now the responsibility of rappers, not parents, to raise our children. Now I Continued on page 8
15 BEST RAPPERS ALIVE! BY K. CANNICK
Wayne…? Who’s to say the best rapper is even signed to a major label. Who’s to say the best rapper alive isn’t some kid sitting in at a breakfast table in Indianapolis, Indiana reading the side of a cereal box freestyling. Well that’s exactly what we were thinking when we decided to compose a list of the hottest 15 rappers alive. Almost one year ago we came up with an idea to find the hottest independent artists that the game has to offer. We held a national rap competition that started all contestants on a level playing field. No excuses! No bull sh**! 15 beats were given out to the contestants with one rule:
Make a hit record. Rappers from across the country participated. As the contest grew it began to receive international attention with contestants entering from Germany, France, Ecuador, and even Japan. Now that the first phase of the contest is completed and the judges have sifted through all the entries separating the “Hits” from the “Shit” we have our top 15 artists. It was a long and grueling judging period but it is finally completed. There were a lot of great songs submitted from a ton of talented artists but in the end there could only be one winner per track. Continued on Page 13 1