The opinions expressed by Ant-One are not necessarily those which tha-real.com wishes to convey as its own. His thoughts and words belong to him, and although they are placed here, those responsible for creating and running the site do not always agree with them.

All good things come to an end. It would appear that Tha-Real.Com is nearing its final breath. The best website dedicated to hip hop in the history of the internet will close its doors next week. No one is to blame, the fact is that things like this don't last forever. I'd like to thank all the fans for supporting my words, when things began, it was pretty funny, people didn't believe I was an actual person. Everyone thought, "how could someone be this much of an asshole!" Eventually, after absorbing my rhetoric week after week, it started to set in that maybe I do make sense! I thank you for all the emails I've received over the past 6-7 months or so, the criticism and respect was gladly appreciated. I've made many connections in the past several months with many of you, I hope to maintain these relatioships as 2001 continues. As of right this second, Ant One is a free agent. I have someone who may be creating a site for me, which will include reviews, news, and commentary. Keep in touch, trust me, my columns are not dead. Unfortunately, I will admit, I digress in my intense attack on HipHopSite.Com, I won't apologize for what I did, I burned a bridge which I may have wanted to cross. Imagine the marriage of my column and that site? It would be like Shaq getting traded from the Lakers to the Trailblazers. Oh well, I still maintain my disappointment in their entire approach. Stranger things have happened though, stay tuned.

I'm not even going to get into hip hop yet, something is really bothering me this week, and I need to break it down. There is a craze that swept America in the late 1990's, it's called weightlifting. I think it has become quite detrimental to our society. Follow me on this one, my logic may be slightly clouded. Think back to the late 80's, early 90's, was EVERYONE ripped? Not really, there were a few muscleheads, but for the most part, everyone's physique was pretty average. Somewhere along the line this changed. Everyone started hitting the gym to beef themselves up, why? It makes you feel better about yourself. Unfortunately this can be a problem in some situations. I've noticed more than a dozen examples in the past couple months of kids using their pumped up arms to mask a lack of self-confidence. These kids use the gym to hide the fact they really don't have any personality. Sure, everyone thinks they're REAL cool on the outside, and they are finally noticed. This became apparent to me after a kid I went to high school with completely lost his damn mind. I saw in his buddy info things like, "i'm so hot" "i had to fight girls off with a stick at the club" "i look like Mark Wahlberg." Come on, you and I both FULL well know you have no game, and you were 5'5 100 lbs in high school and never talked to girls. Let's be honest with ourselves. It's 2001, what are we all trying to prove?

January is a notoriously slow month for hip hop, I really can't find that much to discuss. I will however give you some food for thought. Who do you think will be this decade's superstars? Who will be the Nas or Jay-Z figure who brings hip hop to its next phase? If you would have asked me this a year ago, I would have easily said Mos Def. Now my judgement is slightly clouded. I've seen Mos dip away from that pure hip hop sound, into - rock & roll? I am not ready to codemn him just yet, there is a Blackstar LP on tap at MCA, and his next solo album is slated to come out on Rawkus by the summertime. This will be a telling period for hip hop. Suspected epic albums from Jay-Z and Nas may change the entire face of hip hop, but maybe they WON'T. With the movement of such bullshit such as Nelly and Ludacris, maybe not only independant artists will be overlooked for garbage, maybe ever Jay-Z and Nas will be passed over? The word is that these two will return to their hip hop roots for their next albums, what if that's not what hip hop fans want to hear? What if they want the mindless drooling that can be found in St. Louis, or Atlanta? It's a sad time.

What are the hot 12"s right now? To be honest, I'd really have to reach to find worthwhile hip hop joints to talk about. As I stated above, January is a truly dull month as far as hip hop goes. The year ends with a FLURRY of releases, but yet, for some reason, no one ever capitalizes on the first month of the year. Makes no sense to me, but on the other hand, what do I know? Regardless, I always owe you a glance into my crate, what I've been hitting lately. I've been paying attention to older 12"s mostly, spinning old Group Home records, and Mic Geronimo. I've dipped into some old Masta Ace wax, as well as classics from Natural Resource, and The Illy Funkstas. I simply can't be on the radio for 2 hours a week, and bring you a full show of new music. I will be popping up somewhere or another soon enough, you won't hear the end of what's in my crate.

Last time, I stated how I'd finally made my way out of the music industry, well, a week changes everything doesn't it? I'm heading back into the world of record promotion. I'll be working for a Independant promotion company that handles all of Rawkus' promotion, as well as MANY other independants. The situation works for me, I'll actually be able to pay my bills, and I can now try to clear the mud of the name Ant One. I definitely burned enough bridges and turned enough people off my game in 2000, so I plan to do it a bit differently this year. Give it some time, I'm sure my disgust for the industry will return, I don't see myself lasting ages on this go-around, my plan to move into the sports information industry still outweighs all other options.

I hate to cut this short, but I'm on a solid deadline. If you see me on IM, please hit me up, i'll keep you updated with where everything stands. I want my voice to continue to be heard, and I hope you do as well. Please reach out and say what's up.

I'd especially like to thank Hugo for giving me a chance, I bugged him for MONTHS after he finally gave me a shot at doing reviews, then finally writing this column. He is a true friend, and I wish him the best in whatever he may choose to do.

Buddah Mac - DJ Ghost - DJ Heat - MC Hitman - Hugz - Phil - Anthony Pukalo - Evil Pun - Q - Justice