Hip Hop is Indeed Dead
So I’m in the club over break listening to a series of the most ignorant ish I’ve ever witnessed but also found myself bobbin my head and hoping that some "well rounded" young lady would come and make my night complete by showing me how these songs inspire her. The one song that got me was “Get it Bitch” by the Trap Squad Clik, yeah, that’s what they/it’s called (and how it’s spelled). Being a southerner myself, I’ve heard songs like this since I began listening to hip hop around the age of 9 or 10 when I can remember getting in trouble at school for bringing my Walkman containing the cassette single of Pac’s “I Get Around”. From “Back that Ass up” to “Get it Bitch” (the dominant part of the hook is simply “GET IT BIIIIIIITCH, GET IT BIIIIIITCH”) I’ve had great memories; but I also see how much the images that songs like these portray and entice have started to affect young people at an earlier age. We all grew up knowing songs we shouldn’t have and we knew kids that would say inappropriate stuff that was funny cause they were little, but I mean, there’s nothing to balance this stuff anymore. Talib said it best on one of his Smashtime Radio freestyles when he said that they make up with swagger what they lack in their lyrics. I don’t wanna get too preachy but it’s the truth. A rapper like Young Jeezy (I bought Thug Motivation 101 btw) threw some ad libs over great beats and a few one liners and I mean, he’s one of the “hottest” rappers in the game right now. Yet I can still talk to people who actually listen to hip hop who don’t know who/what Little Brother is. I don’t know if ya’ll heard Jeezy’s rant on Monie Luv’s radio show about a year ago, but he talked to her like she wasn’t a pioneer of the art form that he profits from. I’m not tryying hate on Jeezy because I don’t mind the guy, I’ve actually been saying “HEELLOOOO, ladies how you doooiiinnn” for the past 2 days cause that ignorant ass Shawty-Lo song has a banging ass beat. But at the same time, Nas was right, what hip hop used to be, is dead. It’s an image driven money machine now; I’m not saying cats can’t get paid, but can we just have some balance? Please?
4 Bars
11 comments:
Yeah you're right. We need more balance. There was a time where it was all mixed, you could get your Master P, DMX, Puffy, Wu-Tang and Boot Camp Clik records all on the same radio station. Now everywhere you look its the same stuff - the same ringtone music that makes you want to throw something through your stereo. While all forms of Hip-Hop deserve some shine, it can't be the sole representative. Despite all of that, there is still great music out there. We just have to be willing to find it and support it.
Maybe it will get back to where it was and maybe it won't, but either way, we're just going to have to create our own balance. We're gonna have to take it upon ourselves to promote artists who deserve recognition through our conversations and websites like this.
Even though Nas named his album "Hip-Hop is Dead" the last few lines of the album was "Hip-Hop will never, never die"... "Live, Hip-Hop live" And as long as we are alive, our culture can't die we'll just have to work harder to bring it back to a point of respectability.
I played an East Coast Hip Hop station online the other day (I'm not making this about East Coast vs. anywhere else the reality is that's just what the station was called). I fell in love. But after about an hour of De La Soul, Mic Geronimo, Leaders of the New School, Roxanne Shante, Illegal, MC Sham, etc I wondered why all the songs were from back in the day...until they played some Dick Set and it came to me. Aaaaah, right, hip hip today, hmmm--I'll stick with Positive K's "I Got A Man." And listening to that station I didn't hafta worry about Souljah Boy. It's at a point where you don't want to declare hip hip dead for the sake of the few great rappers still out there. But it's so hard to even identify what should be considered real hip hop anymore. And as for bobbin to some whack sh** at the club. Go head and do it. We ALL do it, and we can't help it. Acclaimed poet Saul Williams said that he caught himself bobbin to Ray-J at the club and he knew something was wrong. But the truth is, almost anything sounds good at the club. It has an atmosphere where even the whackest of songs will pull you in. And one day you're listening to the radio with your little cousin and have no idea why you know the words to "Lipgloss" better than she does. So I refuse to feel corny about that. When I put those songs on my IPOD under the genre hip hop, then I'll feel corny. But the artists on the PTM year in review brought it this year so I look to that and feel like they bring a much needed balance to the game. It's a shame they're outnumbered by whack folks just out to get paid, but at least they didn't have any songs called "Get It Bitch." So yeah, it is up to us to seek out and promote those artists still willing to give us real hip hop. But it's a task that bears the most beneficial results.
"GET IT BITCH" Wow. I agree with a lot thats been said about balance and the lack there of on the radio. The lack of balance does however force "some" people to search out for the good things in hip hop as jushh said. It was easier back in the day to just turn on the radio and get a balanced mix or all kinds of hip hop, and now, it just takes more effort to keep your interest.
Because of the lack of balance on the radio, I do find myself knowing most of the words to songs like "HELLO" and shuffling and jiving to SOULJA BOY in the club. SORRY MARTIN AND MALCOLM. I have been tricked with a great beat and well known features, and ITS SO DAMN CATCHY.
I have faith that the balance will return. Sites like this and the faithful believers of the art form won't let hip hop die.
However, it is going to take a lot to for the young hip hop generation to stop "SUPERMANING DAT HOE" and realize there is more to it.
lol... you guys are going to like what i have to write about this Monday, especially you KStorm. Some of these songs, you just want to hate but they are just so damn catchy (haha)
Looking forward to it.
You cats engage in your own form of censorship when you don't invite people with opposing views to join your posting group. What makes the folks who run this blog any better than those at MSNBC and FOX who only employ pundits that have the same views as its management? Your practices has relegated those who do not share your views to "leaving a comment" which, as you know, is a viewpoint purgatory. I will relent and leave such comment but note my protest that the administrators of this blog are no different that the aformentioned management folks. When bloggers do not so much as extend an invitation to a colleague primarily because his viewpoint does not coincide with theirs, you have to question the validity and bias of those persons. I sincerely hope that the overall success of such blog does not suffer.
"I am Hip Hop, I'm not dead, I'm alive." Instead of crying like T.O. about his quarterback, cats really need to stop being lazy. I find that cats do to much when listening to lyrics. Here's my plan for all those cats who think that hip hop is dead. When you're in your room listening to a really good rapper. Take off all the lights, lay down and don't do anything else. Then, and only then, will you hear what is really going on with hip hop. I submit that hip hop is getting better. Lyrics have become paramount in the game.
Take for instance, Lupe Fiasco, is someone going to tell me that Hip Hop is Dead after listening to his new album? Cats are letting the few cloud their judgment of the many. Just because some people are bad doesn't mean the whole lot is bad. Black men should definitely know that. Why make generalized statements (and jump on the Nas Bandwagon) that "Hip Hop is Dead" when there are rappers like Weezy, Jay-Z, Cassidy still bringing that hell-fire on the M.I.C.
I can't agree with you cats and will not walk down the road with you on this one.
The point: One bad apple does not spoil the bunch.
Where on this blog does it say, if you disagree don't leave a comment? What makes us different than Fox News is that anyone can leave a comment so if you have a difference of opinion post it, that starts a discussion.
To your point. No one is saying that there isn't great music still out there but to say that the landscape of hip-hop hasn't changed at least in part, for the worst is a bit ludicrous. When every song on the radio and every video on BET is the exact same cookie cutter formula, something is wrong.
And I'm not going to apologize for representing the Hip-Hop culture and wanting to see it remain on top. So yes, I will criticize the music when i see that there's a problem but i always see the bigger picture. Clearly, J. Carter, you're new to this blog because if you saw our Top 10 albums of 2007, you'll see that Lupe Fiasco is #3 on the list so you're not the only one who's heard of him.
Just because some bad apples may not ruin the entire batch, it doesn't mean that i want to include them in my apple cider.
Before you want to dismiss the credibility of an entire blog, do me a favor and read a few more articles first. But welcome to PTM, thanks for the support and keep commenting.
Peace
Enough said Jus, JCarter if you listen to Lupe I know you read between the lines. You couldn't just skim either one of his albums and understand it. Same thing here at PTM we welcome all views across the board. Thats why it is called Past The Margin, I can appreciate someone who thinks outside the lines. Thanks for comments bro.
"Leaving a comment" is wack, the power is in the posting and you know that. I'll resolve to lump the administrators of this blog in with those cats who run MSNBC and FOX. It's all good. "Leaving a comment" is like calling into the Bill O'Reilly show, at the end of the day, whose a** is sitting at the desk. Enough venting.
I just get tired of cats hearing a new catch phrase and then, all of a sudden, it's a hip-hop movement. Hip Hop is not even close to dead. I don't think dudes that truly dig deeper would even make a statement like that. I'm supposed to take intellectual cues from Nas? Why? Because he's a dope rapper?
(Cause the n*gga wear a coofie, it don't mean that he bright
Cause you don't understand him, it don't mean that he nice
It just means you don't understand all the bullsh*t that he write
Is it "Oochie Wally Wally" or is it "One Mic"?
Is it "Black Girl Lost" or shorty owe you for ice?)
I can make my own determination based on what I hear and what I hear is some really dope sh*t. Nas does not decide how I feel about the genre that I love. For every wack rapper that a cat can name, I can name a dope rapper. Since when does TV and radio dictate who we like? I could care less what MTV, BET or Hot 97 plays. If they dictated what real hip hop is, we would never hear a Dead Prez song, we would never hear a Black Moon song, we would never hear a Cocoa Brovaz/Smif 'n' Wessun song. They don't tell me what to like. They definitely don't tell me where the state of hip hop is. Since when was radio or TV the benchmark or touchstone for hip hop. If anyone is looking to Nas, TV, or radio for guidance then what's the point of original thought?
My position is that the blanket statement, in any context, is inappropriate. Your net is capturing every MC, that is an inaccurate position. I don't support a position which says that Lil Weezy, Cassidy, Jay-Z is dead.
The moral: Ain't no apple cider if there are no apples.
(This is much better than the emails though)
As an administrator of this blog, I must say that the growth of healthy discussion and conflict of ideas is what this blog was all about. Keep it coming...we do actually read these things...I think the MSNBC and FOX comparisons may be a tad baseless, however...
"I call a spade, a spade. It just is what it is"
(From the above quoted song)
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