(A little something I thought the heads might enjoy...)
So many people are upset right now. I understand. I mean Hip-Hop isn’t exactly in a state of musical bliss at the moment. Upon doing a three-minute litmus test of any rhythmic radio station these days, many a rap head become quickly disenfranchised with what they hear. The Chingy, the blingy, the ignorance, the hate, the divide, the simpleton nature of lyrics, the corny hooks sung by some chick who truly can‘t sing a lick outside of the studio‘s booth--all these things add up to a frustrated fan and an even more disgusted Hip-Hop scholar.
I suppose I feel somewhat torn, as I walk the line very closely between Hip-Hop Fan and Pusher-of-All-That-is-Wrong with the format these days. I had a conversation earlier this morning with a complete stranger about what you might call “The State of Hip-Hop”. Oh you know the dialogue. It always seems to commence when a blunt is sparked among a group of musical aficionados.
The discussion usually starts with something like: “Back in (insert favorite year here), man, that was when Hip-Hop was in it’s prime! What the hell happened? Remember when (insert Hip-Hop memory here)? That shit was dope! Man, Hip-Hop is so wack now, I mean how does (insert wack MC‘s name here) manage to get on the radio when you have ill MC‘s like (insert ill MC‘s name here) out there still making music? It’s a travesty!”.
The banter continues over how commercial the genre has become, it’s lack of purity, it’s lack of solidarity, and it’s lack of a positive message for the youth. We complain about how a dope MC like Mos Def will never get his proper dues, or about how if only the local radio get-up would hit the latest Nas single in rotation, the auditory world would be a better place.
While I agree with a lot of what is said during these sessions, I tend to see things from two sides of the game: as an industry person and as a Hip-Hop fan. As an industry person, I know the truth about little Malcolm from the Southside who hits me up every day to “keep it real” and run the latest Talib single every hour on the hour. He will most likely revoke said love of his favorite MC if Talib happens to hit huge mainstream success in two years. The same people who beg the radio and TV stations to support their favorite artist, become quickly upset by that same artist’s success down the line. All of a sudden Talib is a sell-out because you hear him on the radio every hour. So which is it? Should an artist like Talib be broke forever making music, or shall we allow him the right to eat making music? This is the ultimate battle taking place in the mind of a Hip-Hop purist.
I think we all concur that Hip-Hop has changed in a major way. A lot has happened even in the past 10 years alone. Me, I’m not upset. While I do like to argue and complain about it for the sake of arguing and complaining, I realize that I reserve the right to remain the same fan I always was, even if it has morphed into something even more intimate than ever before. To remind myself of why I got into this business, all I have to do is hit up a live show or pick up a classic record off the CD rack, or be one of the 250,000 people to go out and buy a dope new Hip-Hop record and relish in it’s exquisite rarity. All of these things give me sanity in a crazy world of Hip-Hop nonsense. Instead of being disgruntled about what we’ve really all been pushing for this whole time--for the world to recognize Hip-Hop as a viable art form--I am happy for people that can now put food on their tables and get chipped out if that is their mission in the game.
To me, “real Hip-Hop” is something dear to my heart. I don’t tend to hear it on the radio, and maybe only a handful of other people in the grand scheme of things really know the excellence of certain artists or projects. While it’s hard for an artist financially to only move 250,000 units on a major, I feel somewhat privileged to be one of the chosen few to know of that MC’s message. I feel like that MC and I--along with the other few hundred thousand individuals up on game--had our own dialogue, our own little session, in a language only we can understand.
Of course I have to wonder, maybe it’s selfish to want to horde that enlightenment. Maybe I should remain outraged about Hip-Pop and just be irritated all the time over the lack of this or the surplus of that in the game. Or maybe instead, the next time the heads and I sit down for another weed-induced conversation, I’ll remember what I wrote here, and just feel fortunate that we share the “in” on many of Hip-Hop’s best kept secrets. Yeah. I like that idea better.
So many people are upset right now. I understand. I mean Hip-Hop isn’t exactly in a state of musical bliss at the moment. Upon doing a three-minute litmus test of any rhythmic radio station these days, many a rap head become quickly disenfranchised with what they hear. The Chingy, the blingy, the ignorance, the hate, the divide, the simpleton nature of lyrics, the corny hooks sung by some chick who truly can‘t sing a lick outside of the studio‘s booth--all these things add up to a frustrated fan and an even more disgusted Hip-Hop scholar.
I suppose I feel somewhat torn, as I walk the line very closely between Hip-Hop Fan and Pusher-of-All-That-is-Wrong with the format these days. I had a conversation earlier this morning with a complete stranger about what you might call “The State of Hip-Hop”. Oh you know the dialogue. It always seems to commence when a blunt is sparked among a group of musical aficionados.
The discussion usually starts with something like: “Back in (insert favorite year here), man, that was when Hip-Hop was in it’s prime! What the hell happened? Remember when (insert Hip-Hop memory here)? That shit was dope! Man, Hip-Hop is so wack now, I mean how does (insert wack MC‘s name here) manage to get on the radio when you have ill MC‘s like (insert ill MC‘s name here) out there still making music? It’s a travesty!”.
The banter continues over how commercial the genre has become, it’s lack of purity, it’s lack of solidarity, and it’s lack of a positive message for the youth. We complain about how a dope MC like Mos Def will never get his proper dues, or about how if only the local radio get-up would hit the latest Nas single in rotation, the auditory world would be a better place.
While I agree with a lot of what is said during these sessions, I tend to see things from two sides of the game: as an industry person and as a Hip-Hop fan. As an industry person, I know the truth about little Malcolm from the Southside who hits me up every day to “keep it real” and run the latest Talib single every hour on the hour. He will most likely revoke said love of his favorite MC if Talib happens to hit huge mainstream success in two years. The same people who beg the radio and TV stations to support their favorite artist, become quickly upset by that same artist’s success down the line. All of a sudden Talib is a sell-out because you hear him on the radio every hour. So which is it? Should an artist like Talib be broke forever making music, or shall we allow him the right to eat making music? This is the ultimate battle taking place in the mind of a Hip-Hop purist.
I think we all concur that Hip-Hop has changed in a major way. A lot has happened even in the past 10 years alone. Me, I’m not upset. While I do like to argue and complain about it for the sake of arguing and complaining, I realize that I reserve the right to remain the same fan I always was, even if it has morphed into something even more intimate than ever before. To remind myself of why I got into this business, all I have to do is hit up a live show or pick up a classic record off the CD rack, or be one of the 250,000 people to go out and buy a dope new Hip-Hop record and relish in it’s exquisite rarity. All of these things give me sanity in a crazy world of Hip-Hop nonsense. Instead of being disgruntled about what we’ve really all been pushing for this whole time--for the world to recognize Hip-Hop as a viable art form--I am happy for people that can now put food on their tables and get chipped out if that is their mission in the game.
To me, “real Hip-Hop” is something dear to my heart. I don’t tend to hear it on the radio, and maybe only a handful of other people in the grand scheme of things really know the excellence of certain artists or projects. While it’s hard for an artist financially to only move 250,000 units on a major, I feel somewhat privileged to be one of the chosen few to know of that MC’s message. I feel like that MC and I--along with the other few hundred thousand individuals up on game--had our own dialogue, our own little session, in a language only we can understand.
Of course I have to wonder, maybe it’s selfish to want to horde that enlightenment. Maybe I should remain outraged about Hip-Pop and just be irritated all the time over the lack of this or the surplus of that in the game. Or maybe instead, the next time the heads and I sit down for another weed-induced conversation, I’ll remember what I wrote here, and just feel fortunate that we share the “in” on many of Hip-Hop’s best kept secrets. Yeah. I like that idea better.
