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I’ve been listening to a lot of Marvin Gaye lately. Since Christmas when I treated myself to “What’s Going On” while shopping for Christmas presents for my wife. When I think about what exactly was going on in 1971 and how there’s no big difference from what’s going on today, it’s sad that greatest album of all time could stand to be blasted on street corners around the world.

And it’s not just with Marvin. Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, many artists who were singing songs and producing music that matched the feelings of the time have their art regarded as classics today, but the ideals that birthed them are foreign to us. People are still returning home from wars without hope for a job, people are still Flying High in the Friendly Sky, and let’s not get started on the Ecology.

We often talk about what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would think if he were alive today, and rightfully so. But we usually don’t regard the soundtrack to the struggle as an important part of our culture. Stevie released an album a couple of years ago, and he still wants everyone to love each other as much as he did in the 70’s. But would Marvin be proud of us today? Despite the fact that his music is timeless, would he be sad that no one truly heard him?

So now Amy’s been caught smoking a crack pipe. I just don’t get it. If the chick made a song telling everybody she wasn’t going to rehab, we make it a hit and try to give her awards for it, then we get mad because she won’t go to rehab.

Anyway, 2008 has been the year of crazy starlets so far, with Britney Spears picking up in 08′ right where she left off in 07′, and now Winehouse trying to work her way into a Chris Rock monologue. At this point, the best we can do as fans, critics and haters is to compare Amy Winehouse with another famous alleged crackhead, Whitney Houston.

Now, we haven’t heard from Whitney in a while, and I’m not downing any attempts she has made and is making to get her life and career back on track. But let’s be serious. Whitney once said on national television that crack is wack. She could’ve said there’s no hope in dope, no go on the blow, or any other slick statement on the issue. But a real crack head will refer to crack as wack in a heartbeat; you and I both know it.

Winehouse is allegedly on tape smoking the stuff. Far more serious than just wild behavior caught on TMZ. She doesn’t have the longevity and following the Whit had to be wilding on crack just yet. Weed, maybe. But not blow.

I feel for Amy Winehouse like I felt for Whitney, that help is the best thing for her. But we’ve seen that airing their coke-sprinkled laundry in the media does nothing but exacerbate the problem. In fact, it might help you get a reality show income as it did for Whitney. So let’s leave her and her family alone to manage this crisis. Amy Winehouse would have nothing to run from if we stopped following her and her problems around.

Anabolic steroids and human growth hormone have become the bane of Major League Baseball’s existence in the last five years. But will they mean asterisks next to the chart topping success of some of music’s biggest names?

Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, and Wyclef Jean are just a few names recently linked to a steroid scandal growing out of Albany, NY. They, along with rapper Timbaland and writer/actor/director Tyler Perry are purported to have received shipments of steroids from Dr. Gary Brandwein, the same doctor who is alleged to have prescribed steroids to deceased wrestler Chris Benoit.

A couple of things about these charges:

1. Fiddy? I can see. Tyler Perry? What, does Madea need bigger boobs? And doesn’t she carry a gun? Why does she need to get swole?

2. I know Mary J. has really trimmed up, but steroids? I seriously doubt it. If anything, she used HGH to regenerate stressed vocal cords.

3. Wyclef? I didn’t know roids’ came in a smokable form.

So I just recently finished listening to Lupe Fiasco’s latest offering, The Cool and to say that it is a dark album is an understatement. Aside from getting the vibe from the cover art, the themes are definitely a far departure from Food and Liquor, which itself was one of the more politically and socially conscious albums to hit the mainstream in the last ten years.

But it’s better than his first, and that’s all that really matters.

There are glimmers of partying and chilling on the record, as Paris/Tokyo gives you lounge while Hi-Definition and Go Baby give you more of a “just walked in the club and I might actually have a good time” feel. Everything in between is a biting commentary of failures throughout society, depicted in multi-leveled rhymes and metaphors, a style that vaults Lupe’s style out of the underground realm and swims cleverly in the mainstream.

To name specific songs would do the album injustice, as it almost is structured as a hip-hop edition of Time Magazine. Each song goes into the failures of black people, society as a whole, and how we would prefer to ignore it all. It’s like watching ‘Heroes,’ you could catch up to it, but the true effect and enjoyment are in living it out with the characters. It’s the same with The Cool, as you have to ingest the whole project to appreciate it’s candor, and genius.

On that note, Lupe also shouts out a great blog towards the end of the album, LupeTheFiasco.Blogspot.com. I checked it out, and it’s a great resource if you are trying to keep up with tour scheduling, interviews, and analysis of everything Lupe. I’ve added it to my sidebar, although that’s not nearly as dope as being shouted out on a hot hip-hop album.

Lupe has said that his next offering, L.U.P.End will be his last, and if he keeps progressing as he has with The Cool, we will be mourning the loss of a truly great talent.

Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter has officially announced that he will step down as president of historic hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings. Amidst rumors concerning lackluster artist development and promotion, coupled with an inability for Carter and Def Jam to reach an agreement on contract extension, Carter is moving on to “new challenges.”

Personally, I don’t know what new challenges one of rap’s most important historical figures can embark on, but I’m sure they involve the two albums that he reportedly is still under contract to record for the label under his Roc-A-Fella records imprint. Socially, I don’t think it means much for the king of cool in the hip-hop world. His ‘American Gangster’ offering was warmly received and as sold well in rap relativity, and he can be credited with the popularity of acts like Rihanna and Young Jeezy. Actually, It’s Def Jam that stands to lose more on the deal than Jay-Z.

I’ve got more commentary on the marketing and public relations aspect of this move over at PRBlogGuy.com, but for hip-hop, this departure means little to nothing for Jay’s professional and personal pursuits moving forward.

Shocking news in the world of hip-hop, as Chad “Pimp C” Butler was found dead in a hotel room this morning in Los Angeles. Causes of death are unknown, but homicide authorities are investigating the situation.

On second thought, shocking might not be the word. Not strong enough. For a man only 33 years of age, with the breadth of influence he had in rap music, we probably won’t be able to appreciate how much of a loss this is.

Pimp-C will probably be a best-seller in the coming weeks. I’ve always thought their standing as Underground Kings in the marketplace was a crime, as they were among the pioneers of southern rap music. But for he and Bun-B to gain recognition this way is not the way it is supposed to go. C’s family, personal and musical, have experienced the greatest loss, and they can’t get a piece of it back by running out and getting the UGK collection.

But we can. And it wouldn’t be so bad if we did to deal with this shock in the coming days and weeks.