If you want your opinion to be featured on this part of the site, simply e-mail your thoughts to
Hugz@Tha-Real.com and it will be added soon after the mail is received.

First of all i wanna give extrememly madd props to phil for keeping this shit locked down while HUGZ is down in australia, keep it up man.. then i wanna say that this site is almost my life. it keeps me updated with this fast moving game of hiphop, gives me other peoples opions on the subject matter, and really makes me think in depth about where i am in the hiphop nation. so.. after saying all that i would like to ask anyone that reads this to just take a couple seconds and click the banners down below to help out the site. from what i read in phils latest 'our say' article.. it kinda scares me to think that the site could possibly be shut down if the server costs become a problem. Well im gonna keep this short cos i really dont have much to say.. i really just wanted to help the site. But on to hiphop. i know that almost everyone that reads this already has BIG L's 'The Big Picture' but if you dont i am almost telling you to go get it. even if your a music lover just visiting this site for the first time and your thinking about a new hiphop album to go pick up.. GET IT! RIP BIG L as your legacy continues. peace J. Asdourian (jfroggy9@hotmail.com)

TheSource needs to get its head out of it's ass and realize that it is the year 2000. All the pro-black articles and ads in their magazine need to stop. Am I the only one who realizes that the word "black" is ALWAYS capitalized in TheSource but when the word "white" appears, it's always lower case. That may sound picky to some but that's not the rest of my case. I know the world is sick of hearing the whole "Eminem is white" BS but I must bring back a point. I believe it was TheSource that gave Marshall's first album a very low mic rating and disregarded him as any type of MC. Basically giving Em the middle finger and saying "You're white, we don't want it!" TheSource needs to get over the fact that black people are no longer the only ones who can rap. They need to realize that hiphop is a form of music, not a type of racism or a way to promote racism. Understand music is about ALL cultures and ALL parts of the world, not just to be focused on NYC and blacks. Music is intended to UNITE the people on this already troubled earth. The last thing we need is a highly publicized magazine such as TheSource to tell everyone what race can rap and what race cannot. Sure, they are entitled to their own opinion, but now look, they are dick loving Eminem because they knew they made a mistake by judging him by his color the first time he came around. Now he is on the cover, did I miss something? Maybe trying to change their image? Let's hope TheSource can be pro both races and realize it's the talent inside of the person that makes a rapper, not the color on the outside. OZ (TOzgood@aol.com)

Okay, this is the part where I let everyone know what's on my mind. Tha Real is, in my opinion, the dopest hip-hop site on the net.. There's other sites that probably get more props and recognition but I'll be damned if I know why because I seriously doubt any of them put in the sort of work that Hugz and Phil do. So the least I can do is contribute a few paragraphs of shit for you guys to read intently like your lives depended on it... For those that don't know me, I'm from Australia so I may have a slightly different perspective of hip-hop to some of you in the US but nonetheless, thanks to the wonders of the world wide web, I'm pretty much up to date with most of what's going on in the American hip-hop scene. But shit, no one ever said this is an American hip-hop site anyway, did they? It may be hard for some people to fathom, but there are undoubtedly some extremely talented hip-hop artists outside the US. We're gradually seeing more Canadian artists getting recognition and the same can be said of many European artists (mainly due to collaborations with US artists but still..). I've certainly heard some tight emcees out of the UK and, speaking first hand, I know for a fact that Australia has some very dope artists that deserve to be recognized on a global scale. Unfortunately, I'm fairly certain that the fact is most artists will never get widespread acclaim throughout the US if they are not from the US. Hey, maybe I'm wrong.. I hope so but I doubt it. I know that the true hip-hop heads in America are very open-minded when it comes to foreign hip-hop but if you ask me they are far out-numbered by narrow-minded, dick- riding, know it all, non-rapping retards who wouldn't know real hip-hop if it slapped them in their pathetic faces. Having said this, I can understand why they think along these lines.. I mean, most international hip-hop, regardless of where it's from, definitely has a different flavor and it can be hard to get into stuff you're not used to. I guess it depends what you look for when you listen to rap. Some people want shit they can dance to, some people want shit they can smoke weed to, some people want shit they can play in the background while doing drive-bys on unsuspecting pedestrians and some people (such as myself) want stuff they can listen to and learn from. Unfortunately, this style of hip-hop appears to be at all too rare these days. As far as my own personal listening habits go, they are a little strange (I think so at least). I've noticed that what I tend to do is, rather than mixing it up and listening to various stuff, I listen to one particular artist for a period time. It might be a couple of days, it might even be like a week but what I do is listen to practically nothing but this one particular artist for that time. Weird huh? Last week it was Mobb Deep (which sorta contradicts what I was said earlier, about stuff I listen to and learn from..), before that it was Heiroglyphics and before that it was probably Ras Kass. The last few days however, I've been on an all out Nas trip. When I first heard Nas' last album, I was honestly disappointed. I still maintain that he could have done far better but I do feel that many people harshly criticize 'I Am' unfairly. I don't think this LP is anywhere near as bad as a lot of people make it out to be. Of course on the other hand I don't think it's anywhere near as good as some people make it out to be either. The reason why I don't feel Nas should be harshly criticized, or accused of totally selling out, is because I feel that he actually makes songs that have meaning. Although a lot of people constantly whine about how he should go back his 'Nasty Nas' style of rapping, I feel that Nas has gradually improved as a lyricist from album to album. This is very refreshing when you look at a group like Mobb Deep who have barely varied their subject matter whatsoever from album to album. Yet few people seem to accuse Mobb Deep of falling off, simply because they have maintained the same style of music and not elevated. Although their beats has progressed, for better or worse depending on your taste, their overall style is very much the same.. (I am of course dis-regarding their first LP which may fuck up my entire argument). From my own perspective, I am more inclined to be more critical of artists who stagnate as far as their subject matter, and make the same old shit, than artists who progress and become more mature in terms of what that rap about, even if their beats aren't exactly to my liking. In the ideal world, what I'd like to do is take the beats off 'Murda Muzik' and give them to Nas so he could have dope beats and dope lyrics, then take the beats off 'I Am' and give them to Mobb Deep so they could have average beats and average lyrics. But basically my point is that everyone who says Nas is not as dope an emcee as what he used to be, should actually spend a bit more time listening to what he's rapping about. Personally, I feel he's improved. That's about all that I can think of to write about right now, no doubt it stimulated your intellect immensely, for those of you that can read, that is. I bet I've got you all keenly waiting for my next installment already. Yeah, whatever.. Outbreak

From time to time, decent albums are released, and more often than not, less than mediocre albums are released. My question to the reader is this, why are so many of you crying and begging for "real hip-hop music" but instead buying a Gerber's-like subsitute such as DMX or Jay-Z or Juvenile that large record companies are trying to spoon-feed to you? As I look through the record collections of my brethren I am forced to question the sincerity of your complaints, because you are simply not supporting the type of music you claim to clamor for. Excellent albums like "Superrappin," "Soundbombing2," "Lyricist Lounge," and many others are being released, but are being ignored by the very audiences they target. There are advertisements for these in every hip-hop mag, just as there are for big-name arists such as Method Man, Jay-Z, Puffy, Lauryn Hill and the rest. Yet these creative and talented artists are not being rewarded, while rappers with simple-minded lyrics and weak hooks are financially set because their album is owned by every supposed "hip-hop" fan. Now I will admit that I am a strong fan of the Wu, and I think the hardest emcee out right now is Canibus. Upon reflection, however, I would argue that from beginning to end, the tightest album of '98 was "Moment of Truth" by Gangstarr. Almost every cut on the album has a dope beat and equally raw lyrics, yet it struggled on the store racks and barely went gold. DMX released two albums in '98 that failed to add anything of lyrical importance to listeners, yet both of those went multi-platinum. As did Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, Noreaga, Big Pun--and the list goes on. Please don't be offended if I don't agree with your musical tastes, but for the love of hip-hop, please practice what you preach and support some real artists for a change. peace 360 aka KNOWLEDGE

Sup all you hip-hop heads? I'll start off by sayin my piece about things that have been pissing me off lately. Recently I've been hearing all these bullshit cuts by female R & B artists about how the fellas should be paying their bills and shit. Now come on, I understand they're trying to make a name for themselves by getting the women on their side, but if they're going to try that approach, do it with a little bit of humor like Sporty Theivz or Badu did a few years ago. Second of all, what the hell was Lil Cease thinkin when he released his new album??? Alright it was cool of him to dedicate it to Biggie and I liked the outro with all his cuts where he mentioned Cease (Which was similar to Nas's intro), and the song "Everything"...the R & B background went nice with his rappin, but if he's gonna make a shit LP like that, don't disrespect Biggie by attaching him to it. He deserves better than that. And my final piece of beef is with Snoop and the White Boyz Soundtrack. A diss towards white boys was plain old stupid. I guess he didn't know this, but most of hip-hop's sales are by white suburban kids, the people he dissed in the soundtrack. If he plans on selling any albums, I suggest he thinks about his listening audience, not what will make his boys laugh. Now onto the positive things on my mind. First off, props to Gangstarr and RZA for releasing two real nice greatest hits albums. Gangstarr's new hits matched the quality of his old classics and all in all it was a nice double-cd. He probably should have cut down the number of tracks (33 is A LOT to handle) but I guess when you have so many quality cuts you need to show em all off. As for RZA, a 10 would have fit the album nicely. I understand that there are no new tracks but damn, there is not a flaw on this piece. Pick it up asap. I also like GZA's new one...good work by him and from what I've heard of Razhel's new shit, it's pretty tight too. Of course I gotta say thanks for keepin it real to Tha Real squad because the new server and site is HOT and they're always bringin me the new shit daily. Keep up the good work. One last shout to my boys Father, Schuh, and Ween. DAMN! NORE's new cut "Half Baked." How old is he, 14? The song reminds me of when I was that age braggin to my friends about how high I got and how crazy the weed was. Is he tryin to make an attempt at bein popular or somethin?? NORE, High School is over, stop tryin to earn a rep. I knew he wasn't exactly a lyrical genius, but this is pathetic. One love in 99. I'm out. J $

WHITE BOYS Okay before I get started I would like to mention that this is not a racist article, I'm white myself and has nothing against other white hip-hop heads. Now some of you may look at this article as an un-necessary one, but I would like to make a statement to white people who makes us real heads look bad, and leads to songs like 'White Boyz’ by Snoop Dogg. The worst thing I know is white people who wear Fubu and Wu-Wear and walks around saggin, yet they don’t know jack shit about hip-hop unless artists like Wu-Tang Clan, Puff Daddy and DMX. Even worse, white boys using the word ’nigga’ to each other. The boy showed in Offspring’s 'Pretty Fly For A White Guy,' is a good example of what I’m on about. Now they say 70% of the hip-hop records are bought by white people, but a lot of these are wannabees who think gang-banging looks fun after watching movies like ’Menace II Society’ and ’Boyz N’ The Hood.’ I’m not going to begin blabbering about Eminem, cause he has went through enough of that after The Source and XXL’s stories on him. These magazines are frightened over the fact that whites may take over hip-hop, but that’s bullshit. I bet out of the 70% of whites that buy hip-hop, only about 35% are real hip-hop heads who actually know something about this form of music. I overheard two people in my class one time and I heard them going: "what are you listening to?" and the other went "that A+ song, ’Enjoy Yourself." The answer he got was: "that song is so old, I got the new Vengaboys in my Disc Man." I’m not saying that people who likes hip-hop can’t like anything else, but it’s obvious to see that these two haven’t got a clue what their talking about. They actually laughed of me when they saw names like Ras Kass, Kurupt and Def Squad written in my schoolbook. And when I was wearing a Wu-Wear sweather a guy who passed by and started to act as a rapper: "Fuck, fuck, fuck, nigger, nigger,nigger (you know how people get when their doing their stupid immitations of rappers)," and he was wearing a DMX t-shirt. The worst of those guys was this idiot who went on talkin about how rappers thought they were so damned cool, then why the hell was he dressed like one? Another guy at my school noticed that I liked Def Squad, and said he loved them too. But I noticed that he was nothing but a fool when he called me ’nigga’ everytime he saw me afterwards, and he still does. Now white boys using the term ’nigga’ is one of the worst things ever, real head or not. I would like to give a shout to my true hip-hop heads, either it’s Common or Master P you like, as long as you’re a real head, and not like those explained in my article. Peace to my brother Ribbjawz, DB, Tific, Fredrico and all my other true, white heads. As I said, this is not a racist article, so please don’t send e-mails complaining about this article, cause I’m only telling the truth, the truth hurts. And the next time you see a 13-year old white boy walking around with so big pants he can barely walk, while he’s talking about how Aqua, Will Smith, Ricky Martin and (sadly enough) Wu-Tang are really 'hot' nowadays, tell him I said 'FUCK YOU!' Peace. Killa Kid

The Topic I'm Speaking on is The Master P public service announcment, first off there is no point to it, he speaks about the rap on rap violence but there never has been rap on rap violence, just beefs between the east & west which has now died. Also he say's "Stop The Killing" refering to the deaths of Biggie and 2Pac but rap didn't have anything to with thier murders, in the case of Tupac where he beat a guy down in A Las Vegas Hotel The Night of A Mike Tyson Fight and the Guy Retalited on him at a red light, now how the hell does that have to do with Rap???, thanks for letting me get that off my chest. Maximizer

Nore's new album Melvin Flynt: The Hustler has been delayed until August 24th. What a disaster, we now have to wait 2 more months for this "Hustler" to drop his follow up to N.O.R.E. Personally, I can't stand this cat. With lyrics like "Ayo I light a candle, run laps around the English Channel, Neptune's got a cockerspaniel." combined with his annoying flow make him one the shittiest rappers out. His latest song "Half Baked" is one of the worst songs (yet funniest) I've ever heard. Onto a little more exciting news--Primo's compilation album will be released this winter. A full Primo-produced album is sure to be tight, I'll probably cop it. Memphis Bleek's debut is coming out soon, but I'm not real hyped, I'm anticipating fellow Roc-a-Fella affiliate Sauce Money more. Roc-a-Fella distributor Def Jam is making a new label called "Def Jam South" headed by Scarface. They're planning on releasing Five Families, with featured artists Nas and Kool G. Rap. This album could be tight as fuck, if Nas is on more than half the songs on this, I'll pick it up. No Smoking Grooves Tour this summer? Shit! That pisses me off, I was looking real forward to it this summer. Last year's lineup had Busta, Gangstarr, Canibus, Fugees, Public Enemy, and more. Speaking of PE, I'm waiting to see how their new album will work out with those Zip Disks. I think 16.98 is expensive though, and I don't see much of a benefit for the consumer. Who wants to only play their music on the computer? I don't know how well this will work, but at least it prevents bootlegging(supposedly). It's supposed to drop in July. In September(tentatively), Goodie Mob's new shits supposed to drop, I can't wait for that...they need to make a detour to my town on their tour though. I'm really impressed with fellow Dirty South artist, Mia X, if she actually does what she claims she's going to. MANY artists could benefit from guidance about what they should do with their money. Precision

At the risk of sounding stereotypical and making the day for thousands of wannabe tourists, G'day(I'm Australian). What can I talk about! First of all lately wutang = utter garbage. I’ll give GZA and Inspectah Deck get out of whackness free cards though, because I liked their stuff. I got the inspectah deck sample tape not too long ago and the side that is all his golden oldie verses hasn’t left my tape player at all, it’s a true work of art! Now I’m gonna bring this article a little closer to home. Another work of art 'Terror Within the Elements' EP from Mass MC. After a long delay the co-creator of Sydney’s dopest crew ‘Dominion’ has put out something. You will not be let down either. Mass has an emotion on tracks that is unmatch. On stage even more (he has been known to chainsaw manacains and is known for other onstage antics). Go to http://www.upws.net/austhiphop.com/ and check some audio by him. Don’t miss the audio by hilltop hoods either! They are dope! I don’t know how long this is meant to be but I'll end right now on the note that you should ALL check out the international hiphop scene. Too much is being slept of from the likes of Australia, UK, Germany, and France and the list continues anyways, peace for now New-Sense