As you probably already know, last night LeBron James left the state of Ohio forever. A boy who has called Ohio home for all 25 years of his life whether it be in Akron for the first 18 years and Cleveland for the last 7. All James has known is Northeast Ohio. Last night, James decided to end his career in Cleveland and go play for the Miami Heat. Now your probably asking why this is relevant to our blog? People are calling James a traitor for leaving, a disgrace to a city and state that has not seen one of their sports franchises win a championship in over 3 decades. After thoroughly thinking the situation over, it dawned on me that the stunt that James pulled last night would never occur in hip-hop. Not in a million years would an artist randomly decide to rep a different city or state because it “was a better fit for them”. You would never see an artist wear the colors of a city that he didn’t call home. I can think of over 100 examples of ways in which hip-hop artists put everything they have into the city they came from.

Unlike LeBron James, these artists understand that loyalty is the most important thing in life. Artists such as Jay-Z, a brooklyn born legend, has bought the New Jersey Nets and is in the process of moving them to Brooklyn. He also shouts out Brooklyn in almost every song, and is even putting on a concert at Yankee Stadium in the fall. What about Kansas City born rapper Tech N9ne? Nina reps KC, MO in all of his songs and would do anything and everything for his city.

Bottom line, rappers are appreciate to have an easy life. They attribute all of their success to where they came from and never hesitate to give back to their community and show some love. If you put any rapper big time or small in the shoes of LeBron James last night, I will guarantee you they would NEVER have left their home.

Check back on Sunday for some interesting pieces. We are headed to the BK Bodega hip-hop festival tomorrow featuring the likes of Dilated Peoples, Masta Ace, Fashawn, Curren$y, Pete Rock and De La Soul.