Headz are talking about the lyrical feud brewing between KRS-One and Nelly. At first the pair seemed to flirting with the idea, but now its official. It's on like hot butter on popcorn. A couple of weeks ago KRS offered an olive branch when he reached out to Nelly's camp and attempted to clear the air.

According to KRS, Nelly's camp seemed to appreciate the gesture and as far as all parties were concerned it was water under the bridge. Unfortunately Nelly got on BET's '106 and Park' and began to say something different. The next thing you know he does a verse on the remix to Beanie Sigel's 'Roc The Mic' where he takes direct aim at KRS.

Now, KRS has long felt that Nelly was being manipulated by outside forces, but he's never one to shy away from an emcee battle. Hence KRS has responded with a record that he just finished recording called 'The Real Hip Hop Is Over Here'. In the song KRS tells Nelly that he isn't 'universal' and that his rap style sounds like an 'N-Sync commercial'. He also kicks a verse advising listeners not to buy Nelly's upcoming album Nellyville when it drops on June 25th.

I spoke with KRS yesterday [Wednesday may 8th] and he explained that there are some deeper issues at play. Among them is the notion that more than a few cats have gotten in their head about older headz [30+] being percieved as irrelevant in the game. In fact Nelly directly speaks to this in his verse on Roc the Mic when he implies that KRS is 'an old emcee trying to make a come back'. He also goes onto say something about KRS being the 'first old man to get a rapper's pension'.

While on the surface such comments can be seen as clever lines designed to strike a chord. But the conversation I had with KRS looked at this from a larger perspective. I'm not going to get into all of this right now because there's a lot to it and its way to complex to explain. But essentially what were looking at is a situation where those who are older ranging from parents to community leaders have been positioned so that they are unknown and essentially unimportant in the lives of a younger generation that’s coming up. In some communities this has reached epidemic proportions.

Those who wish to reach out are finding that their ability to reach out is being blocked on all sorts of levels. This trend is most glaring in mass media. In many instances the wisdom and experience of elders are being undermined and shortchanged by outside forces that are constantly at work trying to win the hearts and minds of younger cats in our community. Make no mistake, there are definitely some mistakes community elders have made, but at the same time there are some outside influences moving the agenda that can not be ignored. Look for an article addressing this issue in an upcoming FNV Newsletter.

On a side note: word has it that Eminem has a few choice words to say about Nelly on his new album…'The Eminem Show'. Now let me see if I had to battle between Eminem and KRS who would I pick and why? What a dilemma for Nelly.