BLING IS NOT THEIR THING
Led by Kanye West and Black Eyed Peas, hip-hop takes a relentlessly positive turn
By Fred Shuster

Watching the Grammy Awards' rap album of the year winner Kanye West arrive for a Hollywood club date the other week, you could clearly see the dramatic change that's overtaken rap/hip-hop in the past months.

Instead of the intimidating, gun-toting crews surrounding older rap stars, with their familiar sour looks, baggy track suits, bulletproof Hummers and threatening poses, West and his preppy new-generation pals strolled in as if they were showing up a few minutes early at a business-fraternity mixer. Polo shirts, khakis, sports jackets, friendly smiles, relaxed handshakes - could this spell the end of the expletive-deleted world Snoop Dogg, Nas, DMX and 50 Cent once knew?

FOR THE REST OF THIS STORY VISIT:
http://u.redlandsdailyfacts.com/Stories/0,1413,217~24270~2728362,00.html