First i want to thank B-town on mine for an excellent Thread, I read sicness from time to time but due to the lack of thought put into most discussions i feel adding in my “two cents” would be a waste of time.
But He/she brought up some valid points on why Mistah Fab’s image is misconceived. If anyone has been following his career for the last 4-5 years (and let me say this is one of the hardest working artist around) then you know that you can not just label him as one type of artist. He does not neatly fit in any box and to try to do so is impossible. This is why he can do songs with the likes of artists such as planet Asia, Rass Kass, kool keith, ect. and turn around and work with 40, turf talk, and other typical bay rappers. The Hyphy movement for Fab, and for many other artists, is a vehicle in which to gain recognition throughout the industry and that is definitely happening ( i.e. His articles in XXL, this months thrasher, My block the bay on mtv and the new hyphy special on MTV). The record labels love him because he is the complete package- the man is marketable ( he has lyrics, charisma, great performer, and the ladies love him). As much as people like me wish music didn't have to be as much as a big business that it is, that is the reality of the game. He understands that, if riding a yellow bus is going to get him added recognition and make the fans go crazy, why not? If anything it speaks to his ingenious character to Come up with such catch phrases and symbols which his fans instantaneously incorporate into their vocabulary and lifestyle.
If you really doubt his versatility, go back and listen to some old tapes of The wake-up show, shit pick up his first album(Niglatin) he did when he was a teenager and listen to songs like “worries”, and if anything BORROW someone's copy of The Son of a Pimp, i mean rasputians named it the number one rap album for 2005 , and it wasn’t because it was hyphy.
And P.S. why do we have to prove a artist’s worth by comparing them to each other? Let a man stand up by his own merit, and Fab has a lot to stand up about- check the resume.