OLIVER WANG (AKA O-DUB) RESPONDS TO HIS HIP-HOP CRITICS

I alluded in my past blogs to the fact that I've been dissed on record by a few folks, namely the People Under the Stairs, Louis Logic and most recently, Jean Grae. People have constantly asked me what the back story is and if I planned to respond in some fashion. In this month's new issue of URB Magazine (with Adam Freeland on the cover), where I've been an editor and writer for over eight years, I wrote an editorial ("Diatribe" as they call them in the mag) that deals with these issues.

There's a problem - the magazine printed the wrong editorial. Sort of.

What happened was that I wrote an initial editorial that was a tad bit angrier but later decided that I needed to shed more light than heat and try to look at the big picture rather than get caught up in some tit-for-tat beef. So, I revised the editorial and sent it again but somewhere along the way, a miscommunication must have developed and URB ended up printing the original "O-Dub is kind of pissy" version and not the "O-Dub, Elder Statesmen" edition. About 70% of the same content appears in both versions and it's not like the original editorial says anything I don't truly feel but as a matter of public record, I much rather have the revised version run because I think it's more meaningful and forward-looking.

Therefore: HERE IS MY EDITORIAL as it was meant to be seen.

Tell a friend.

--Oliver

As an addendum, Jean Grae recently wrote an open letter to Allhiphop.com. It is, to say the least, a little despairing as Grae gives voice to the frustrations that independent artists have the world over. Shit is tough out there and the human cost - like in any endeavour where the chips are stacked against you - can be heavy. Notice, I say all this with no judgment, certainly no sarcasm, and absolutely no residual bitterness. I'm genuinely sorry Grae is having a tough time with it, particularly because I think - as I always have - that she's talented. And as my editorial makes clear, I think she acted way out of line in attacking me but that does not mean I don't understand some of the frustrations she deals with. (originally seen at hiphopmusic.com)