Emilio Sparks - The Charlie Rose of Hip Hop

Saigon wrote an editorial for the Huffington Post. Us hip hop heads should always welcome the thoughts of others.

Excerpt:

I decided I wanted to be a rapper in 1994. I was sitting in a prison cell in Upstate New York and made the decision that upon my release I would try my hand at it as a career. Not because I thought I was the best rapper at the time; but because I knew this was one thing where you could make a living and it didn’t require any qualifications. You didn’t have to be educated. You didn’t have to have a background check or be screened for your criminal history. Having a criminal history is not a good thing to have when applying for a job so I said ‘Hey, why not’ let’s go for it. While crafting my first few songs, I noticed everything that I was writing about were the exact same things that had gotten me in the ugly harsh realities I was facing in my life. It was my life, so I had every right to speak on it but I noticed I was glorifying something that wasn’t so glorious. I remember talking to a fellow inmate and close friend and he said to me, “Have you ever thought about rapping about something that might be beneficial to a young mind as well and entertaining?” I didn’t quite understand at the moment but he started to give me books and the more I read, the more of what I was reading would come out in my raps. I remember making the decision that if I ever got a chance to obtain a record deal, I would always make songs that would be beneficial to the growth and development of a young person. What I didn’t understand is this would be a decision that would severely stunt my growth as an artist in many ways.

Read the rest here.