Mason Sports

Last night VH1′s Behind the Music series documented the career of the rapper Nas. Nas has been a successful rapper for about 20 years and his place in hip hop history has been cemented for just as long. The documentary showed us the high and lows of Nas’ career and personal life.

The thing that stood out the most to me was Nas’ lyrical genius compared to the music out now that gets air time and club play. Nas is on the verge of releasing a new album, Life is Good, and has some great singles on the radio right now. But I can’t help but compare classic albums like Illmatic, Stillmatic and God’s Son to some of the elementary school tunes that are popular. Nas’ music was the voice of his community and his experiences. A lot of popular rap now is simply boasting and bragging about fortunes that either do not exist or will be gone and fast as they came.

Nas’ Behind the Music also took us back to a time when rap was truly great. During the mid 90s mediocre rappers could not rise to fame through social media and there “swag” appeal. Before the advent of Twitter and Facebook you learned about a rapper by listening to his/her music. The hip hop on the radio during the 90s was produced by greats like Jay-Z, Nas, Biggie, Tupac, Redman, UGK and Method Man just to name a few. There was no way for a track with a little “buzz” to capture an audience (which is good and bad).

Although there are still great hip hop artists out now making great music, the Behind the Music put in perspective how big of prodigy Nas was when he released Illmatic in 1994. Nothing else really compares

Whenever a guy or girl is into someone, is that considered being “thirsty”? When a guy calls a girl instead of texting her, is that considered being “thirsty”? When a girl says good morning to a guy, is that considered being “thirsty”?

Being thirsty has transformed from a term used to indicate a lack of hydration to a measuring stick determining how much someone wants something or someone. The Urban Dictionary defines thirst as desperately wanting something or someone “really bad”. We all know that desperation is not an attractive quality, but where do we draw the line between thirst and simply trying to get to know someone?

A lot of younger women look at men who try really hard to get and keep their attention as thirsty. But isn’t that how the process is supposed to begin? Some ladies are so into this whole thirst thing that holding the door open for them or stopping your car when they are crossing the street is an indication of thirst. Also liking Facebook photos that they posted for everyone they accepted as a friend to see can also be considered a sign of thirst.

Men measure thirst by keeping track of how far a woman is willing to go for us while we sit back and enjoy the show. A thirsty woman might take two trains, a bus and ferry to come see a man every other day while the he never moves away from his XBOX. A man may detect thirst in a woman who goes out of her way to be where he hangs out. Places like the weight room in a gym while she’s never lifted anything that weighs more than a makeup case or outside of a journalism classroom while she’s a math major. The thirst men detect is a lot easier to explain  than the thirst a woman sees. In any instance of thirst, a man knows he is getting all this attention without reciprocating an ounce of it.

The rate at which a lot of younger women call out thirst is alarming. At times it seems as if they do not want a man to do anything to show they are interested. The worse part  is that a woman might display a glimmer of interest and force a man to have a Marvin’s Room moment.   The thirst should only apply if the woman expresses her disinterest in the thirsty young man. In that context the thirsty man becomes a stalker and borderline sex offender.

The moral of the story is to restrict your instant labeling of interest as thirst. And if you’ve got an admirer out there that wont take no for an answer, don’t go get him/her some water, call the police.