April 06, 2005

Hip-Hop and Pro Wrestling: The Other Side of the Story

Everybody's going on about how hip-hop has turned into pro wrestling, but have y'all noticed how pro wrestling has turned into hip-hop? For years now WWE all-star John Cena has been kicking freestyles in the ring every week, mostly ghostwritten by his Boston brethren Esoteric, as I understand it.

Check this in-depth interview with John Cena, on his daily struggle to keep it real as a hip-hop wrestler:

John Cena: From the Ring to the Microphone, He's All Real!

...So what do you say to people who are overly critical about hip-hops advancement into markets and outlets where it wasnt originally accepted or available?

Cena Thats where this comes from [Points to his baseball cap.] It says F**k Rules. There are two sides to that coin. There are mainstream people who are not ready to accept hip-hop, and then there are the hip-hop people claiming sell-out! Either way, their thought process is wrong. The hip-hop people claiming sell-out I can understand when its just someone trying to make a buck off the music. Ive got an album thats gonna drop on May 10th thats been in the works for three years. I put forth my own money; I signed all my rights over to WWE. Im not making a penny off of this. Im doing this because I love hip-hop. For someone to scream sell-out is the wrong way to go. They need to be proud that, f**k man, hip-hop has finally got to wrestling. So if Im a hip-hop head and Im watching wrestling but I cant tell my boys about it because its a rockn roll sport, now you can get out of the closet. You can f**king say, yo, were repping hiphop on WWE. My boy Cena is kicking ass for all of us. Hopefully, itll open the door for more people. My boy [Rey] Mysterio is rocking the Gucci baggy pants its getting there...

...for certain people to say hip-hop is growing too fast or selling out, those people should be happy that their monster has grown into this u n s t o p p a b l e Frankenstein. That is the utmost form of flattery to those true, true hiphop heads that bleed underground hip-hop and hate on c o m m e r c i a l . They need to embrace the fact that hiphop, their art form, the art form that they love so much that theyve gotta hate it on the other side, has gone everywhere. True fans of the music will be able to tell okay, that mutha f**ka is trying to make a quick buck, hes real, hes not, hes just going off somebody else. So there is a little decision making process to determine who is repping hip-hop and who is ripping off the culture...

How does all that make you feel?

Cena I love the fact that its spreading, man. The fact that a kid from West Newberry, like me, can go out and breathe hip-hop life into a culture that doesnt have any is fantastic. And I can still go in the hood and get rep! I walk in Jamaica Queens where I buy my jewelry and cats is like, yo thats Cena, man! Thats the kid! Thats hip-hop, man. Its not about your color; its about the culture. And thats a wonderful thing...

Posted by jsmooth995 at April 6, 2005 01:31 AM | TrackBack
Comments

in every interview Cena has done I'm always surprised how well spoken dude is about hip-hop. It makes me take him more seriously.

Posted by: Hashim at April 6, 2005 07:21 AM

I think it's cool that there are people like him that help bridge the gap. He's right about the polarization of hip hop. Everyone focuses on the ends of the spectrum but they don't spotlight those in the middle. Much props to those like Cena who have the ability to add a new dimension.

Posted by: fubabee at April 6, 2005 03:47 PM

I actually watch wrestling and I am not ashamed to admit it. The one thing I look for is Cena when watching, and after reading countless interviews and seeing him outside the wrestling element repping the culture, knowing the history and being an active part of the music movement, I give him his respect. Cena won the WWE championship at thier annual Wrestlemainia event this past Sunday, and now we will really see how much he can hold it down, seeing as the "champion" is selected due to being popular with the fans. The champion also reps the company on the talk show circuit and and at public and charitable events. How much does John Cena love Hip Hop and can he continue to represent - or is it all a sham? Will he cave under pressure and be the strightlaced kid from Newberry that got his shot at TV stardom protraying a Hip Hop character on WWE programming, or is he embedded in this culture, repping like a true soldier with love and respect, and willing to stand as ambassador? As the current face of the WWE, time will tell.

Posted by: blackfist at April 7, 2005 10:58 AM

btw, there's a little bit about this in my Jake One piece (Jake produced some stuff for Cena): http://www.seattleweekly.com/features/0445/041110_music_jakeone.php

Posted by: Matos W.K. at April 9, 2005 09:30 PM

i love john cena he is so real so true and so cute its like every week he suprises me and i like that i would do anything to get to know him

Posted by: janette at April 9, 2005 11:00 PM

props to cena!

Posted by: word life at April 14, 2005 01:41 PM

i've been watching wrestling and doin my rappin thing since i was a little boy, and they didn't have people like this dude on the come up for me. i got in to it startin with Hammer, so i would know about phonies.this cat is a special case.do i think the WWE is tryin to cash in on his skills, Yes; but do i think it matters much to him, No. to be completely honest, half the people das hittin it big rite now, aren't shit.i think that this guy has nothin to gain from a decent album but a few emcee's respect and from the looks of what he's puttin out, he's got mine.

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