[Music: 50 Cent ?I Got Money? low under Ise Lyfe for :05]

ISE LYFE: And so there?s this thing in hip-hop ? you have to be shot a certain amount of times, or who did you kill, or how much money do you have to have. [:05]

NARRATION: Ise Lyfe is a rapper from East Oakland, California. [:02]

ISE LYFE: How can someone like an artist on top of hip hop right now get where he got if seriously you know he has sex ten times a week, pops an ecstasy pill and drinks three bottles of champagne. A day. How does that happen? You need a story ? it?s more important than the music. [:13]

[Music fades under narration]

NARRATION: Rappers creating stories for themselves has been front and center in hip-hop news these days, especially when Senagalese-American rapper Akon got caught lying.

[Clip of Akon?s ?Gangsta Bop? ?for :03 and then fades under narration]

NARRATION: In a muckraking report, The Smoki...
Read the full transcript

HOST INTRO: IN RAP MUSIC, BEING TOUGH IS OFTEN A PRE-REQUISITE FOR SUCCESS. LONG JAIL TIME, STOLEN GUNS AND CARS, AND OTHER OUTLAW ANTICS BEEF UP THE THUG IMAGE.

IN

[Music: 50 Cent ?I Got Money? low under Ise Lyfe for :05]

ISE LYFE: And so there?s this thing in hip-hop ? you have to be shot a certain amount of times, or who did you kill, or how much money do you have to have. [:05]

OUT

NARRATION: For North Gate Radio, I?m Abbie Swanson. [:02]

TRT: 4:27

Announcer OUTRO: Look out too for Ise Lyfe's new album, Prince Cometh, and book, Pistols and Prayers, coming out this summer.

OTHER MULTIMEDIA:
Veteran hip-hop journalist Eric Arnold is a freelance writer for the
San Francisco Chronicle, SF Weekly and East Bay Express, among others.
Check out some recent stories below.

Articles by veteran hip-hop journalist Eric Arnold:

The Demise of Hyphy: http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-02-20/news/the-demise-of-hyphy/full

Too $hort, Career Counselor: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/news/too__hort__career_counselor/Content?oid=491578

The African Pulse in S.F.: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/28/DDG9SQM57D1.DTL&hw=eric+arnold&sn=031&sc=436

An article about the lable Kate Wolfson works for, SMC Recordings. http://news.sfweekly.com/2007-10-17/news/mobbin-thru-the-industry/full

And, to learn more about Messy Marv, who put his new album together from jail, visit the SMC Recordings website. Marv was recently nominated for Best Rap Act of 2007 for the San Francisco Weekly Music Awards, taking place October 18th. His next project, Draped Up and Chipped Out 2 is slated for release November 20th on Scalen LLC/SMC Recordings/Fontana.