Monday, December 18, 2006

Controversial MC NYOIL Vents, "Anybody That Rhymes About [Selling Drugs] Is A Dummy"

We chopped it up with controversial New York rapper NYOIL, who has been heating up the Internet recently with his homemade videos, to talk about his song "Y'all Should All Get Lynched" and his thoughts on crack music.
The Shaolin MC's
video for "Y'all Should All Get Lynched," which was posted on YouTube, features images of rappers like The Game, Jim Jones, 50 Cent and Three 6 Mafia interspersed with images of lynching and slavery. The song repeatedly calls for "fake thug rappers" and "coon ass rappers" to "get lynched," lyrics that NYOIL drew from his frustration at the current state of hip-hop.
"The attention I'm getting right now is due to the fact that I'm saying what the people want to hear, in a way they can digest it. There is nothing unique about 'Y'all Should All Get Lynched' except that it's being said in a brazen, unapologetic manner," NYOIL told SOHH exclusively. "I'm saying what I said. I said it and I mean it and if anybody got a problem with it, that's just they tough luck."
"Bad boy imagery is so prevalent, the artistry is abandoned," NYOIL continued. "Hip-Hop now means you hustled on the streets, got locked or got shot and that makes you the toughest nigga, so that gives you the right to rhyme whatever it is you rhyming because this is how you lived. My problem is it's some bullshit. It's a bullshit conversation being held by a bunch of bullshit people. Being out on the corner trying to work a package, that shit is pressure. That shit ain't fly. I know what it is to have cuffs on- that shit hurts. It's not what's up. There is nothing about that worth rhyming about. Anybody that rhymes about that is a dummy."
Since its release, NYOIL has faced criticism disparaging his use of lynching in the song and video; however, he feels his opponents fail to see the bigger picture.
"Not as many people have been lynched as have been affected by drug trafficking in our community. Which one is really the transgression against our people?" NYOIL reasoned to SOHH. "There is a rapper who named himself after the dude that originally sold crack in Compton and LA. How are you going to call yourself after this man? Do you know how many lives are ruined behind him? I've seen people on this drug, I've seen murders, death, theft, robbery, communities ravaged, beautiful families turned inside out behind money and this drug - and dude is biggin' this shit up! There is a section of rap called "crack music." Are you fucking kidding me, yo? And people have nerve to take issue with me saying 'Y'all should all get lynched?'
Meanwhile NYOIL has been spending his time and money giving back to the community. The rapper has been donating proceeds from the sale of his "Y'all Should All Get Lynched" ringtone to a mentor program at Plainfield, New Jersey's South Second Youth Street Center, where he recently delivered a music workshop to at-risk kids.
"Get the ringtone so I can keep going to these places and kick in for the kids," he said. "All they really need is time."