- by Yayo
Skate culture has always been intertwined with rap in some way. It’s hard to even pick a place to begin with, and while I’m no expert in the skate field, as a lifelong fan of rap, I’ve always been aware of the connection existing. From Supreme’s ad campaign which featured prominent New York rappers (Prodigy, Raekwon, and Ghostface among them), the Hieroglyphics’ stickers plastered on any LA native’s deck in the 90s, half of the Tony Hawk/Skate soundtracks consisting of hip-hop records, all the home videos skate crews used to release they were almost entire soundtracked by Nas and Wu-Tang records, and that’s just on one side of the case; that’s just skating embracing their fellow urban contemporaries. That’s not even touching hip-hop’s mutual appreciation (and at times, obsession) with skate culture; Lil Wayne wears almost nothing but DC clothing, “Vans” was a hit song that started The Pack’s (and perhaps more importantly, Lil B’s) career, Pharrell took the moniker of Skateboard P, Lupe Fiasco’s initial single was called “Kick, Push” and was loosely based around a metaphor for skating, and let’s not forget LA skate-brats Odd Future’s rise to prominence which has dominated every blog from here to the furthest regions of the world with an Internet connection. And you know what? It’s usually a perfect marriage.
Skating’s fast-paced, high-risk, high-return, aggressive, stunting nature easily mirrors hip-hop’s; the bravado, the desire to be the best. Both start on the streets before making it to the big leagues after years of honing their craft, and both are scoffed at by outsiders because they don’t understand the commitment and God-given talents that make a good skater or a rapper. Much like the parallels between hip-hop and basketball though, unless it comes to apparel or soundtrack choices, skaters (or any athlete of any stature or background) and rappers should never try to cross-over from one medium to the next. Unless a rapper is already familiar with a deck, they should never attempt to hop on, as foolishness has been proven to follow. It’s cool to admire it from afar, but trying to replicate what they’re doing is another story. That’s what brings us to today’s piece.
Jereme Rogers is a 26 year old skater from Boston, Massachusetts; he’s highly decorated in his profession. He was named Transworld’s 2005 Rookie of the Year, he appeared in a Tony Hawk game (Proving Ground – long after Tony Hawk games mattered, but an honor still, I’m sure), and he’s made a damn good living off the sport he loves. Unfortunately, when people make too much money and do virtually everything they can in their field, they get a little cocky, and think they’re capable of anything; that’s how J. Casanova was born. What the fuck is a J. Casanova, you may ask? Well kids, let me introduce you to one of the most painfully bad (and unintentionally hilarious) songs you’ll most likely hear all day (unless you’re a regular listener of Mac Miller.. at which point, what the fuck are you doing here anyway?).
There are so many things wrong with this. It honestly frustrates me watching this as the devoted Soulja Boy/Lil B fan I am; the posturing alone makes me cringe. Imitating your favorite rappers amongst a group of friends is dope and all, but when you’re watching the original fucking video off screen and stealing essentially all of their body language, you seriously need to reconsider this fucking rap shit (there are obviously more glaring problems we’re building up to). Also, man, could you try any more to look like the scum of the earth? In this video, J looks like the type of guy who cheats on his girlfriend with fifteen year olds in his spare time, while still getting his cheeks grabbed by his aunts at family reunions. That maybe a broad generalization, but you know the type of person I’m talking about; the type of inconsiderate, silver-spoon kids who layer their bodies in tattoos, prey on younger females, and talk about wearing Magnums as a means to compensate for only being able to please the aforementioned teenagers. I’m not one to judge someone’s appearance (although I’m clearly contradicting that point now), but to be a even semi-respectable rapper, image is key.
Do I sound a bit harsh? If you answer that question with “yes, you do, you envious fucking faggot!”, you clearly haven’t hit “Play” on the link provided above yet. As much as Dre and B get criticized for lyrical content, especially on songs like this where they specifically tone down their rhymes to cater directly to the beat and atmosphere, dear old J. Casanova makes the Pretty Boy Millionaires sound like the second coming of the brothers Thornton on this obviously written freestyle. Maybe I wouldn’t be so bitter if J didn’t have the audacity to start this track off with the award-winnng couplet of “word around town… magnums what I fit/word around town … often they still rip”It’s not even so much that his writtens are clearly embarrassing, but it’s the delivery in which he executes them. For someone whose words are so arrogant, his delivery is a silent, whispy mess, awkwardly paced and never finding confidence in itself. It’s like J knows he’s a terrible rapper, and stage-fright has gotten the best of him, but his conceited attitude keeps him faux-swaggering along with a wide-eyed gaze and a whimper. Remember the look on Bambi’s face after his mother was killed? That look defines J. Casanova’s rap career.
Even when Mr. Rogers attempts to create an actual song, such as here on Wine & Water, he fairs no better. It’s not nearly as obnoxious, as the diet-40 quiet storm instrumental is more subdued than all the Young Money and Soulja Boy songs he’s been desecrating (and that’s quite the accomplishment making a Young Money song any worsethan it originally was), but even on a more traditional beat, J. Casanova trips off the gate, stumbles for a few steps forward, and then falls flat on his face down an impending decline. He tries to compare himself to a Rubix Cube, Apax, and pay-cap (why?), while recycling the same Chris Brown punchline that was no better when it first reared its ugly head on the freestyle above.
The worst part of all? Jereme isn’t fucking off (at least not intentionally). He’s serious about this shit; he retired from skateboarding (for approximately 10 months before) to focus on his music career, before returning with the idea that he’ll be able to balance both. Seriously man, I know your only friends are probably your agents and some random groupies, but who in the fuck told you that was a good idea?
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“Remember the look on Bambi’s face after his mother was killed? That look defines J. Casanova’s rap career.”
That is all sorts of win. He should probably never, EVER try to become a professional in this field. Ever.
Nice article, some of these icing on the cake of this tale is that from what i gather, he basically destroyed his career as a skateboarder when left. Through assuming he wouldn’t return and thus destroyed most of his industry relationships.
Also this day in the life video of him is one of the most depressing videos ever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cROlGN3Qw5I.
Damn, this dude is garbage.
Great article!
It’s absolutely brilliant that this vile individual claims to be a Christian yet he’s quite happy to advertise his promiscuous nature as well as being extremely derogative to women.
A classic example of somebody who’s thinking has been clouded by the dollar.
Yet, despite all my rage after watching this junk I can’t help but feel a little sorry for the guy…
Osama Bin Laden is Jesus’ great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grand-nephew.
Maybe.
…sorry about the grammatical flaw.
Made it 34 seconds into the first video. Eugchhhhhhh
I hope this is an April Fools.
Ha this dudes the 2011 debbie harry. Craig Mack librarians assistant introduce himself to the neighbours runtish lookin gobsheen.
That voice is something else
wow…what a piece of shit…i knew this guy was a douche the second i saw him on the x-games a couple of years ago….this just goes to show you, that white dudes that act black, are absolute pieces of shit…his shit is disgusting, and ive heard 8 year old kids rap, and flow better than this wigger….strait up embarrassing.
I mean dont get me wrong this dude is trash…but idk..i dont understand how you are going to dog this guy for making a freestyle when you are a lil b fan. dont get me wrong i like lil b and think hes miles ahead of this guy, but whats wrong with releasing a freestyle? isnt the whole based idea to do what you like and not care what people think? “He tries to compare himself to a Rubix Cube, Apax, and pay-cap (why?), while recycling the same Chris Brown punchline that was no better when it first reared its ugly head on the freestyle above.” – Lil B has compared himself to certain things such as jk rowling and being white like asher roth which dont make much sense, and he does does go back to the whole bitches suck my dck cuz….line. I understand this dude isnt very talented, but i dont see how what hes doing is so horrible.
Believe me when I say I know what you’re getting at, but there’s a very wide-margin between being based and whatever this is that Jereme is doing. There’s no confidence to be found in his words, so he clearly cares what the audience he’s attempting to entertain is going to think; just his mannerisms on this video and things he’s done in his career path show Jereme cares very much what people think, and the entire positivity of the based lifestyle is absent from anything I’ve seen.
Admittedly, Lil B did pave the lane for what this guy is doing, that’s true. It’s evidenced by the asinine amount of times he’ll mutter “swag” in his conversational videos (where he, no shit, sits in front of a camera.. and has conversations with himself. About NOTHING). However, what Lil B does actually entertains; there is a reassuring quality that whatever Lil B decided to release will have some type of positive impact on his fans, whether it be them gathering some insight from the Based God or laughing along with him as he compares himself to the latest headline making celebrity. There’s nothing here; Jereme is abysmal. You can’t take anything away from this but the feeling of being kicked in the teeth, because some rich little white boy decided he wanted to embarrass the culture that so many of us live for.
and also lil b and waka flocka have embarrassed themselves to a certain degree. lil b with the infamous punch video and flocka making himself look like a dumbass when asked about voting. I understand image means a lot to any rapper, but lil b is a tiny pants wearing goon who calls himself a bitch. why are we making so many assuptions over a guys image when these same people are so open minded towards other rappers questionable styles. ive heard so many people call lil b a fag, so why are we assuming that this guy is some dirtbag who fucks underage girls?
Lil B didn’t embarass himself; some dumb kid with a camera cheapshotted him and then apologized after uploading the video. If anything, the kid embarrassed himself. Waka Flocka? It’s a well known fact that boy isn’t very bright, even if his act in public is nothing more than a charade (him portraying some type of caricature) as some have suggested. Both B and Flocka have faced countless amounts of scrutiny and ridicule, and took it in stride; they only left it feul their ambition to succeed. J. Casanova? He wasted all his money, got made fun of, and ran back to skateboarding like it was his mother’s apron.
People have every reason to question Lil B’s methods; if they want to assume he’s a homosexual because he wears skinny jeans and calls himself a pretty bitch, it’s fine, no one’s really complaining, not even B himself (he’s called himself a fag on record, so I doubt that really phases him anymore). Why’re we so open minded towards these other rappers? Simply put, because they ENTERTAIN us. That’s what it’s all about; we’re they’re fans, we stand by them, because they provide us entertainment. No one (at least not on record) has ever said anything but terrible things about J. Casanova’s rap career because he does NOT provide that same pleasure. It’s fine to be a fan of rap, none of us care that he is, but if you can’t rap, just don’t fucking do it. Do not embarrass yourself and the culture you supposedly love by making a mockery of it, and then posting it to the internet for the world to see.
You can say Lil B does this too, but he does not. Lil B is a rapper, no matter how much anyone wants to dispute that, it’s his life, what he wakes up each morning to do. Jereme Rogers is not. He is a skateboarder, a damn great one, who made the biggest mistake of his life, which he now pays for daily, and he opened the door for all the criticism that has followed. This may seem like it’s unfair, but he wanted the attention of a rapper; now we’re giving it to him.
i say :
50% of rap= EMINEM
40% of rap= stupid niggers/whiteboys/pikes rambling about useless uneducated shit
10% of rap= rappers that actually care about the worlds situation.
Yayo you raise a good point. I had no idea that j cassanova quit rapping when people made fun of his ass. Makes me realize that he is kind of an idiot.
this some bullshit
is boston land of douches or what? seems like only reason to visit would be to be served a tall one by Sam Malone… (yeah its the middle of the night here and Cheers is on)
good article and as a skater myself i am aware of how much of a fool jereme rogers is
but what is your problem with mac miller?
mac isnt awful to me..but he isnt original what so ever.White wiz white wiz white wiz white wiz. Some girl in my class today tried to argue that mac miller is ten times better than eminem’s whole career. lol…you are kidding right?
yeah i suppose he is just white wiz, but he has real cool old school style beats and are more upbeat than wiz’s in general.
and that girl must be freekin stupid, as much as it pains me to say being that i dont like eminem, there are hardly any rappers that can even get close to eminem’s career
spot on with this article man. i only get my feet a little wet with rap, but skateboarding is what i breathe. used to love this guy when he was 15 and a little boston lurker. now he’s a full grown faggot. so bummed on this kid.
Dude lost his mind on meth by the looks of it!
Gonna buy this album fo sho
a dedicated lil b/soulja fan?
Rofl…
lil b is an amateur troll
soulja disses the US army
i think youre hating on this guy because his financial situation is far superior to yours