Dart's Rant Of The Day: Well, Isn't This Awkward?

Here's the story so far, Charles Hamilton has been M.I.A. following posting that his free album "This Perfect Life" would be released by Interscope Records on June 16th. He last posted on Twitter June 10th and his own blog on June 11th. If you tried to visit his blog after June 30th (the third consecutive Tuesday that his album didn't drop) it was now switched to private. A few days ago, someone claiming to be "Simone" stated that Charles Hamilton was fine and there was nothing to worry about...oh word? So Charles Hamilton hasn't made enough mistakes and dug enough holes over the past 100 days that Interscope would just drop him and his imprint/production house Demevolist Music Group altogether? Rumors are rampant and nothing exists but speculation and no confirmation or clarification on his status has come from himself or Interscope yet. Let's review, shall we?:


March 28th, 2009 (approximately 95 days ago) was when news of the whole incident involving Charles Hamilton stealing not only an entire beat, song title and vocals from his own hook from Black Spade off of his MySpace page occurred. It hit the internet and Charles Hamilton was under attack from all angles not solely because he was Charles Hamilton, Hip Hop's whipping boy/punching bag but because of his actions following the accusations of the theft. Had he just admitted to it (because Black Spade stepped to him like "I like what you did with the track"...he only wanted credit), but no. Instead, Charles insisted that the song/arrangment and vocals were all an original recording by himself years ago. That sounds EXACTLY like one the Black Spade made years ago. He was quickly and thoroughly clowned and it was obvious that he was, in fact, a thief and a liar.

The one thing that compounded the issue was that around this time Charles Hamilton had a major feature upcoming on the show "Last Call with Carson Daly". It was an interview and a showcase that would air on national television on a major network. By performing that stolen song at a venue during SXSW 2009 as Black Spade just happened to be there was astounding. All off the investigations, fact finding missions, lies and his rush to prove something that wasn't his was his (?) must've gave someone over at Interscope's legal offices (or maybe just his own handlers) a migraine headache. That show was going to be the first major promotion leading to his album dropping in digital form June 2009 but in physical form in August 2009..this incident completely put a black eye on Charles Hamilton and Interscope Records.

Charles had managed to go a month while staying relatively quiet. He still did things that raised the ire of those that were now beginning to despise him and his antics. It's a damn shame because I won't lie and say that Charles Hamilton isn't talented, the problem is that homie cripples himself at every turn. I joked on Twitter that if Charles Hamilton was actually a video game character his special move would be to shoot himself in the foot repeatedly. On May 22nd, a video of Charles Hamilton embarassing his friend/assistant handler/associate Briana Latrise and subsequently getting punched in the face for it surfaced. Those that by now hated Charles' guts laughed their asses off and rejoiced (myself included) but afterwards I thought to myself "This kid is committing career suicide!". The fallout resulted in Charles Hamilton trying to get attention in any way possible on the internet. This wasn't a promotional tool...was it? Not to Briana Latrise it wasn't.

Charles couldn't even sit still and keep quiet until his album was set to be released on June 16th (Sonic The Hedgehog's 18th birthday)! He released insert artwork for his upcoming album sometime between June 6th -7th (I heard about it sometime around then and I mentioned it on Twitter after someone else told me about it. I didn't get visual confirmation until about 2 AM the morning of June 7th). This set off a wave of ill feeling throughout the entire internet because inside Charles Hamilton's liner notes he listed himself and James "Jay Dee AKA J Dilla" Yancey as co-executive producers of "This Perfect Life". That act alone was a mistake, but the way Charles handled it turned it into a shitstorm of hatred and chaos that may have ultimately killed the project altogether when he not only antagonized most of Detroit's Hip Hop elite but outright lied about his relationship with the Yancey family.

That bring us to the present day. Charles Hamilton's "The Perfect Life" still has no release date as of the writing of this blog. His record label isn't making any comments or statements about him or the current status of his project. When the free album didn't drop on the 16th, the new release date was the 23rd. When June 23rd came and went there was no new release date mentioned anywhere. After June 30th came and went people started wondering exactly what the hell happened? Did the suits and the brass finally say "enough!" and cut their losses? Did they just decide to punish Sonic The Hamilton and put him on time out for an undisclosed amount of time? The moral of story is don't be your own worst enemy. Like Treach famously said "You can run but you can't hide, you can't go far/No matter where you go, there you are!",

One.