The Life and Death of Hip-Hop......Word?

How many of you are really Hip Hop? Can you trace significant points in your life to a song, a movie, or an special outfit that you wore only on Fridays? Do you remember the first time you saw New Jack City or you saw someone wear Hammer Pants to school? Remember when you told your mother what NWA stood for and that look in her face? Have you ever cleaned your sneakers with a toothbrush, or better yet have you played a TAPE till it popped, or have you played a tape at all? How about this one have you tagged your name on a desk, or can you still do the Michael Jackson? Hip Hop cannot be defined because it is and had always been much more than just music. Hip Hop is energy and the basic fundamentals of physics dictate that energy cannot be destroyed only transferred in different forms.

I was listening to the Moni Love and Young Jeezy interview that took place several weeks ago and it followed an interview with Lil Wayne that appeared in Complex Magazine. Wayne’s comments were and I will paraphrase “How is Jay Z saying he needs to come back and save hip-hop, you had your run now your time is over.” These words have started or at least vocalized the opinions of many of the Southern artist. At the same time those comments outraged many artists from the East Coast. I think what people don’t understand and where Moni, Jeezy, and anyone else buying into this must realize; Hip Hop is more than songs. Hip Hop was here before rap music, that’s where a lot of so called purist are having problems. Billie Holiday singing Strange Fruit is Hip-Hop, Richard Pryor's album Bicentennial Nigger is Hip-Hop, and Dolemite calling cats Jive Ass Turkeys is Hip-Hop as well. It is taking the sounds of your world and transforming them into rhythm and meter that reaches far beyond the scope of its maker. It is an announcement to the world of your conditions and the ability to showcase your artistic creativity. Hip-Hop is as much J-Prince as it is Berry Gordy. To try and put it into a box goes against every argument that validated as an art thirty years ago.

I grew up in Mississippi and the first time I heard someone acknowledge the spelling of my home was a southern artist. Big Boi saying it’s the M-I-Crooked letter, hearing him and hearing groups like The Geto Boys and UGK sounding like people that were in my hometown gave me something that can only be compared to KRS-1 saying the Bridge is over. Or the electricity that is produced when someone says is Brooklyn in the House. I will admit that I have a preference, and my preference is going to be those songs that I have an emotional attachment. But I cannot discredit any new or young artist because that would mean that my mind is closed. To say that so the average reader can understand how can I not like music that is for the kids when my mother who grew up on The Jackson Five would always turn up the radio for me when Candy Girl came on.

To reference what I said before Hip-Hop can never die because it is and will always be more than just the music. It is a social commentary on where we are at this point in the world. It is a look at the artist condition, their history and where they see themselves in the world. Say It Loud I’m Black and I’m Proud is Hip-Hop, Nina Simone singing To Be Young Gifted and Black is Hip-Hop. From The Windows to the Walls is no more or no less Hip Hop than It Takes Two to Make a Thing Go Right. I feel that if Lil John had come out the same year as Two Live Crew he would be considered a legend. We and when I say we I include everyone that found something in the music that was not present in our lives, from words of an experienced ladies man, or the strength of a sister yelling Who You Calling a Bitch. It taught you what kind of person you had to be to make it. It gave a nation the ability to see that so many of our conditions are the same. From this nation to all over the word the belief that there are social injustices but if you have a beat and a recorder you can tell your world your story. That is Hip Hop to take almost nothing and turn it into a rhythmic account of who you are.

As far the other elements of Hip-Hop not being represented you have to understand that in the south we didn’t grow up with subways and graffiti. We grew up with backyard cookouts listening to our uncle’s Rick James and the Isley Brothers records. Having said that we grew up with our grandparents playing gospel, and blues. These genres are made with very minimal equipment but the elements that make it important are the soul that is captured between the lines. I think it is good to see people like UGK and Big Daddy Kane doing songs together. Because they understand that it is not about egos it is about pushing the music to another level. That shows a mutual respect and a breaking of barriers. We should want more artists like Chuck D, and Ice Cube who are approaching many of the same issues but from different perspectives. Today the radio still plays what ever the radio plays but that has never been the medium of choice for real Hip Hop. In the interview both had valid points but for Moni Love not o say that Hip-Hop is dead is a slap in the face of the people that made this an art. Blues isn’t dead but we are not supporting the artists that create it, the same can be said for Jazz. There is enough diversity in the art to find what ever you are looking for but the discipline to dig in the crates must still exist. Don’t wait for Clear Channel to tell you what’s hot. If that was the case would you ever have heard I Got A Story to Tell, or Ambitionz of a Rhydah. Or would you have felt the chills I felt the first time I heard Retrospect For Life.

Anytime that there is a notable amount of money being made you will have outside influences trying to get there hands on it. There is a scene in the movie Dreamgirls that shows a local label that made a popular song. As soon as it became too popular a major ripped it off and re-released it. Hip-Hop started making money that’s when it not only hood cats that were artistic started making it, but people who will do anything for money also started. If you want to change that you should invest in groups and people who you feel make quality music. If you don’t like it the first several hundred times you hear it your opinion should not change when you are in a club on your third drink. And finally, if you don’t like the music that is being made, the simple solution is don’t listen to it. That is what I told my mom when she said she didn’t like Big Daddy Kane.
The East Coast is the birthplace of Rap music no one disputes that, but the south is adding its flavor to the sound. That should be appreciated and celebrated and it should push artist to make from not only the East but all over the world to add their flavor to the music, the culture, and the experience. Long Live Basquiat; long live 9th Wonder, long live the DJ K-Slay, Long live swagger and baseball caps, and God bless Hip-Hop. The rumors of it’s death have been greatly exaggerated….Breezy