Mickey Factz & the Pitfalls of Unearned Ego

I stayed in tonight – the object was to get work done; of course nothing got done. Go Packers though?

This week I am here to discuss the famous three letter word attached to 95% of Hip Hop artists – Ego. For anyone that does not know, ego is defined as “an inflated sense of pride in your superiority to others”. You’ve seen this before – none of you can see me in 2k11 (even with Jordan on your team) – it is a part of human nature.

Unfortunately it is part of human nature – as common as pregnancies – something we all have to deal with. In the genre of music we love the same rules apply too.

Hip Hop music is one of clashing ego’s – Nas and Jay both wanted to be King of New York – that’s cool however, no one likes when it is unfounded. It’s the same as one person claiming he is the greatest yet he is not that nice. It’s easy to talk to the talk but even harder to walk the walk.

For instance – Kanye West has been an arrogant douche for a long time however he backs it up by dropping gems of music. Jay Z calls himself the King of New York – he is and even Warren Buffet respects his gangster.

Mickey Factz released his long awaited tape entitled "I’m Better Than You" yesterday. From the title of the tape we already know what is expected from it – classic music. With a title like that, Mickey is throwing himself in a really tight circle here. Now a Junior in the game, he is well weathered. He was punched in the face…did a commercial with Honda…disappeared for a while – and even made a comeback.

What’s the verdict on "I’m Better Than You"? Well after a listen through I’ll say that is very progressive. The beats are futuristic and the rhymes are there. Factz has bars. Can he proclaim that he is better than every other rapper? No. It’s an unfounded statement. If he can’t talk to rappers like that, is he talking to us? The fan? It feels like it.

Part of me feels like certain things are best unsaid – "I’m Better Than You" – only makes me cringe when reading the title. I feel it is almost insulting to us – personally, it made me listen to the entire tape with the mindset of trying to prove him wrong. Anytime a rapper forces me to do that puts them in a much harder bracket. Instead of enjoying the tape, I was trying to be impressed my Mickey – just because he said that he is better than me. It’s different than Kanye and Jay making a collaboration called Watch The Throne – because they own the throne. Mickey hasn’t built it yet.

On “Melodic Nightmares” he explains that by 'I’m Better Than You" he means he is talking to himself…that he is trying to better himself. If it was not for that one track…I’d find it very hard to believe that. It’s good music though.

That’s hip-hop though – the tape is dope, don’t get me wrong – but we must roll with the punches. Sometimes it’s hard to dodge the low blows though.

Download "I'm Better Than You" Directly