Leave it to my people to take yet another negative word/phrase and transform it into a positive. I believe that we are truly the most creative and ingenious when it comes to this thing. Call it being kept down for so long that we create our own way of coming up in words and deed...

I don't have to draw comparisons or bring up old news. You know the sayings and how our hip hop generation has taken them, given it a new connotation, changed the spelling (or not) and bam!!! Now its the cool thing to be or say.

But this "Hate is the New Love" thing, is different. Two words on the opposite sides of the emotional spectrum...hate and love. The thin line between them has been erased and they have become synonymous with each other in the new phrase...

"Hate is the New Love". You can put it on a shirt, a bumper sticker, a balloon and it would get bought. Whoever coined this phrase stands to make a pretty penny if marketed correctly. If that's you contact me asap.

When my eyes first caught it...I realized it wouldn't take too much convincing and that this phrase could be the slogan for DC hip hop heads from the 2006 clear into 2010.

My city has long been known as D.C. "Da Crabbarrel", a place where you might get hated on for a minute if you're doing something of note. In a place where so many people are striving for recognition, power and fame.. you can become the object of hate just because there's nothing else for haters to do. You can get hated on for being good or just being there period. Ah I love this place.

But now that Hate is the New Love...that changes things!!! .

Now that this is the case I know that you truly do love me unconditionally, no matter how great my accomplishments. In fact, if you haven't hated on me yet I'd consider it a sign that you have no love for me at all. I could go so far as to say that if you haven't hated, you haven't loved.

If I blow up over night from my new song, you'll love me.... as supposed to you tellin' everyone that I'm just a studio artist with no street credibility.

If I roll up in that new Bentley coupe, you will give me my props....instead of reminding folks that I still owe you five dollars.

If I hit the lotto jackpot or if I graduate from college, get a great job and make a ton of money guess what, not only am I loving it you are too.

If I build the hottest website that ever showcased the talent of DC and created a media empire which spawned the careers of several models and entertainers, I now know that I will be loved

If I score a major recording contract and get play on every major radio station from here to China, I now know that my peers in the city are rooting for me, because Washington DC is the new capital for brotherly love. ....okay maybe we're taking

it a bit far.

For right now its just a slogan on a shirt....but maybe one day.