Beans Srikes Back

Beanie Sigel: Former  Rocafella member with Jay-Z, Damon Dash, Kareem Biggs, amongst others has released a "not a diss" song, "Average Cat". In it, Beans takes on rap mogul and multi-platinum artist Jay-Z. Beans releases frustrations that have built over the years from not being able to quite reach the success of his friend and lead MC of The R-O-C. At the heights of his career with Rocafella records, Beanie Sigel has two gold albums and starred in the underground cult classic "State Property". The State Property moniker also was a successful rap group and clothing line.  As Rocafella Records was bought by Jay-Z....Damon Dash and Kareem Biggs Burke would go on to form the Damon Dash Music Group. Beans would eventually side with Jay-Z resigning with The Roc after incarceration. However, after putting out a less than successful LP "The Solution" in 2007  that fell short of gold, Sigel would leave the rap scene and not be heard from again until recently. He subsequently released "Average Cat" after being summarily dismissed from a Jay-Z concert. Presumably, Jay called federal and local authorities to have Sigel removed.

The question now is can the Broad Street Bully recapture his glory or is he merely a product of the Rocafella machine: The Jay-Z name and JustBlaze/KanyeWest production?  Beans has been rumored to be in talks with 50 Cent's G-Unit, which in it's own right is seeking to reestablish itself in the eyes of the world of rap. Speaking of which, why does Nas not seem to be obsessed with trying to make The Bravehearts or The Firm into an international entity? It is because Nas hasn't wasted his breath using these "supergroups" as his hitmen sending shot after shot at various rap factions and individuals. Thus, Nas doesn't have the need to defend them as such. This could be why 50 is in negotiations with Beans to bring back some credibility to G-Unit. Should Segal do it? It's hard to leave the reported 800,000 dollars offered on the table, but one only need to look at the departure of one Oshea Jackson from The World's Most Dangerous Group: NWA to see that Beans could very well do it  on his own. Some say that rappers need to forget about the "Drakeness" of the thing: the trappings of success and focus on the craft and love of the genre itself. If that is the case, then it should be okay to produce mixtape after mixtape. It should be okay to be one's own distributor of his brand and music. It should be sufficient to push your own albums and not be a part of the machine (see AZ) .  If that indeed holds true, then Dwight Grant aka Beanie Segal should be proud to do his own thing and not worry about being in a clique or unit or crew as his myriad of talents leads itself it's own greatness.