Here you go…Part 2 of the collab convo with The MisanthropikOne, sorry for the wait. We had to address the XXL List last week. Enjoy!
Oh…and Ms. Battle is back with an all new Ask DEHH question!
@kbinge, @mykectown, @beezy430, @feefo247, @iammodestmedia, @peaches2584, @deadendhiphop
When Nas originally said that hip-hop is dead he was saying that it’s no longer what it was born to be. When hip-hop was born, it was a movement. It was about a people –black, white, latino: artists, DJ’s, dancers, even punks coming together to overcome their struggles and make names for themselves through different forms of expression: graffiti, break dancing, DJ-ing, and MC-ing. It wasn’t just about rap.
When it all started, the DJ’s ruled; it was their world. People went to block parties, house parties, and clubs to hear what records the DJ’s were spinning. Dancers waited for the moment in the records when the break would come in so they could showcase their latest moves. It was a DJ, Kool Herc, who brought the MC’s into the game. MC’s accompanied DJ’s as part of their shows.
Lyricism is one of the fundamentals of hip-hop but without the DJ’s, the dancers, and the visual artists, it’s not hip-hop, it’s just rap. What is hip-hop today? It’s all about rappers. Of course there are still plenty of DJ’s, dancers, and taggers – but who gets the attention? Not Taki.
Once record companies started to realize that the rapping aspect of hip-hop could be exploited for profit, that’s all it’s ever been about. Tracks were produced one 13 minute hit after another. DJ’s still ran neck-in-neck with the MC’s into the 90’s, but around the end of that decade we started seeing less real DJ’s and more producers chopping beats.
Thank God there are still producers who haven’t forsaken the art of sampling. Otherwise today there’d be no break in the monotonous synthed-out, autotuned-out, crybaby marathon. The production techniques we have today are far superior from those of the 1970’s, which is good, but it all just sounds the same. But then again, every generation has had a lot of artists that sounded all too similar.
In the 1990’s we experienced the most diverse rap scene in hip-hop history. I won’t try to develop some false statistic on this like “96%,”but rap music in the late 80’s to early 2000’s was called the “golden age of hip-hop” for a reason. Rap was welcomed as being as being almost solely synonymous with hip-hop and hip-hop was great. Not just the 8-mile battle rappers: Anything produced by Prince Paul, J Dilla, Pete Rock or Automator was gold; De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, Leaders of the New School, Mobb Deep, Hieroglyphics, Pharcyde, Cypress Hill, Gang Starr, Public Enemy, EPMD, NWA, BPD, Dr. Dre, Snoop Doggy Dogg, E-40, Tupac, Jay-Z, Biggie, Das EFX, Big L, Outkast, The Juice Crew, LL Cool J, The Fresh Prince, Wu-Tang, Black Star, Eminem, Beastie Boys, DJ Shadow, UGK, Schooly D, Slick Rick, 3 6 Mafia, RATM, The Fugees, The Roots, Ultramagnetic MC’s, Main Source, Eric B & Rakim… I could go on but you get the point. More subgenres and styles were born out of this era than any other.
After the 90’s something happened. Rap music was more mainstream than ever and the record companies again tried to cash in on the golden age’s success. Unfortunately, the focus was mostly on gangsta rap than any other style. Slowly, it became more about the money than artistic integrity and musical variety. To quote two of the more notable acts of the early 2000’s – one more notable than the other: “They said they wanted a feeling of A Tribe Called Quest, but all they got left is this guy called West” and now, as Dead Prez said, “All your records sound the same.” That’s truer today than it ever was. Everyone on Young Money sounds like Lil Wayne – or at least tries to, except Nicki Minaj.
Hip-hop was on the verge of death a few years ago. I think that we’re beginning to see a lot more diversity again through the nation of hip-hop. Hip-hop is being renewed but it’s not all about lyrics, which is good and bad. A lot of the rappers that used to be the kings have stayed in the game too long and their words aren’t as valuable. Dudes like Nas and Jay-Z reached their peak years ago but they’re staying in the game like overprotective parents to make sure that hip-hop makes it out of the depression that it’s been in. Don’t get me wrong, Nas is doing a lot to bring it back; if he thought it was dead he’d better do something, right? Hip-hop can experience a comeback, but in order to ensure its longevity artists and listeners need to learn and respect the history so that we can continue to build and innovate and, with all due respect, some of the old heads need to hang up their mics. Go raise your real kid already, Shawn. You can still have an influence without making music.
If you listen to hip-hop in its formative years and you study the artists that were sampled and spit over back then, you’ll begin to realize that these are the same artists that have been used as the basis for tracks throughout hip-hop history: George Clinton, James Brown, Kraftwerk, Bob James, etc. If we keep going back to the roots and realize that hip-hop was not founded on the abilities and talents of the pioneers alone but on the ideals, visions, and sounds of those that went before them, hip-hop as a whole will be alright; Reggae, electronic, jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, and funk music made hip-hop what it would eventually become and the resurgence and rebuilding of hip-hop that we see a glimpse of today is no different. Some artists today are influenced by those who went before them, whether other hip-hop artists or musical genres, visual artists, and dancers – and not by what keeps the registers ringin’ because let’s face it, no one pays for music anyway. The ones who are in it for the money – you can tell. They’re not trying to make quality music, they just want to make hits for the radio and the club. Point is, there is still hope but not if we keep looking to who’s on the radio to save us. Learn from the past and build upon it for the future.
On that note, if we are to gain anything from history upon studying it, it would seem necessary that we have that same mentality as the hip-hop pioneers did – taking our life experiences, backgrounds, and various talents and coming together as one unified and yet diverse people and move forward to get over the struggles that we’re all facing today.
We might not all live in the slums, but how many of us are out of work or underemployed? Single parents, or parentless? Thousands of dollars in debt and nothing to show for it? How many of us are glad that winter wasn’t too harsh because we couldn’t afford new tires? Right now for our generation, why is it that the artists that get the most attention are the ones name-dropping clothing designers you’ve never heard of and will never wear? I actually never looked hard enough to see if the jacket was Margiela or not.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it’s wrong for someone to rap about these things, as long as they’re being real. Like RZA said, “Come from your own heart with this.” Whatever you’re going through or been through or desire should be expressed through whatever medium you choose. That’s what art is all about. “If you wanna just get high then just say it” – Dead Prez. If you can get paid by being true to yourself, that’s great. The problem is that there is too much incentive to sell out. I’ve always liked the Clipse. I cannot relate to a lot of what they talk about because I never sold crack. However, I’m a fan because I can tell that they’re real. Compare them with someone like Rick Ross, he’s getting paper but at what cost? He was a corrections officer. He got paid to exercise authority over people that were locked up for selling drugs. Now he’s getting paid to rap about selling drugs? That’s selling out. I can’t feel him. I wonder what it would be like for the real Ricky Ross to take a time machine into the present and find out there’s someone using his name on some CB4 tip.
The forms of art that have always stood the test time of have been those which transcend cultural barriers and evoke true human emotions because they come from people with the same struggles and feelings. The kind of art that you know is real because the person that made it, even if you never met them, knows where you’re at because they’ve lived it and even if you haven’t lived it, they make you feel like you have.
Hip-hop lives through the artists who can identify with our struggle and navigate through our soul to give us the motivation to succeed. Take for example the Roots album, “How I Got Over.” They take you through the entire spectrum of human emotion, from seemingly dead ends of life to getting the fire and motivation to make it. If you at least check the album cover out, it’s silhouettes of all shapes and sizes running together. I think that’s important for us to realize.
When hip-hop started, it was a bunch of teenagers who wanted a way out of the life that they felt trapped in. We’re older, wiser, and have more resources for success than kids that think Justin Bieber is cool. We should be able to work together for some positive solutions using our collective talents and abilities.
What’s been the key to Wu-Tang’s success and longevity? They did it together. Whether it was producing, rapping, designing clothes or the logo, or acting, each member put forth their best effort for the common good of the whole. Of course they all had their own solo careers but each one of their achievements was deposited back into the group.
Read the Wu-Manual. RZA didn’t just decide to make a rap group. Wu’s foundation is based on history, and not just in general, but time-tested principals, philosophies, and art forms. The concepts of religion, martial arts, chess, mathematics, and music theory permeate throughout everything that has the W stamp on it. The ideals that Wu-Tang is based on are ones that speak of unity and cohesion. Not to mention that they teach the next generation and continue to enroll new artists under the W. A group mentality of having one goal and purpose and working together for the good of the whole is what has made them so influential and given them the ability to endure rapid cultural changes for two decades. I always liked RZA’s take on this: “How could hip-hop be dead is Wu-Tang is forever?”
Hip-hop is about a collective people overcoming life’s obstacles against all odds. Hip-hop should be the most alive in our generation as a movement as much as it is an art form.
First off i gotta say i fucking love that C-Town refrenced New York Dolls because I am also a huge punk rock fan. Second, i have had this discussion with people many times because any time i am listening to hip hop, which is all the time, i get the same “i dont wanna hear this bullshit” or “lets listen to some REAL music”. I even had a discussion with my moms a few weeks back, because hip hops all i talk about, she actually respects hip hop and loves it, and i think it boils down to the rawness and grit and how things are talked about so explicitly. People see it as just these grimey, nasty, foul mouthed, woman hating motherfuckers. But they never want to take the time to actually see what it is they are trying to say or anything like that. Theyll listen to all these other forms of music and somehow feel as if its ok that they are talking about something nasty, or drugs, or whatever, but as long as its not thrown at them so directly its ok. Thats why i feel as if its not respected as an art form, regardless of the people like us that feel otherwise.