Still on the Pulpit
What follows is a simple commentary about the current state of the Hip-Hop culture:
The Golden Age of the Hip-Hop culture (with its focal point on the music) spanned from about 1988 to 1997 (that's 10 years, not 9).
The era began at around the time EPMD began, Eric B & Rakim returned with Follow the Leader, KRS returned with By All Means Necessary, and Run-DMC had already realeased Walk This Way (2 years prior) to become the first Hip-Hop legends. Before that, Hip-Hop music had seen alot of acts come and go. The beginning of the Golden Age had seen artists tell the world that they were here to stay.
Countless classic albums had followed over the next 10 years. Until the end of the era, the culture had been underground. Then came the deaths of Tupac & Biggie. That event had done many things to the culture, and the music within, on many levels. What ended up happening as a consequence (among others) was the major commercialization of Hip-Hop. Before that we had many sub-genres of Hip-Hop music (or rap) to choose from - battle rap, gangsta rap, political/social rap, hardcore rap, funkadelic rap, et. al. Now no more. The music industry (in addition to trying to divide the elements of Hip-Hop) has saturated airwaves and retail with the ONE thing that sells. Since '98, we've been stuck with thug rap where they dominate their content half the time with "bling." Some of it's been good over the years... but has that proven to equal more than -- what?-- a single percentage of all releases since that year?
So the diversity of sub-genres that rap used to have has diminished along with the quality of the sub-genre that keeps getting pushed because we get force fed so much of it, NOT TO MENTION the sonic range of the music production. From the end of the Golden Age, producers have tried to sound like Swizz Beatz & Mannie Fresh. Recently, the trend has moved away from Swizz and more towards Lil Jon. Raggeaton hasn't done the culture much good either.
Indeed, one of the few boons that Rap music has been receiving now is Kanye West. This isn't about jumping on his dick... I just want to make a point. With Jay-Z (another boon to rap), you have an emcee who others can imitate, though not up to his level of talent. He'll rap about jewlery, champagne and luxury cars, but at least he does it exceptionally well. The problem starts when other people take on his subject matter and image, yet they fail in execution. Then you have Kanye - he's talented AND successful, like Hov. The question isn't can you imitate him. In a way, you can - vary your lyrical content (for rappers), learn an instrument(for producers), sample some music that he and Pete Rock haven't (ditto), and know something about the music you sample from (yep). The REAL question is "do people want to imitate him?" The answer I believe is "no."
It all returns to the fact that many rappers imitate other, more talented, emcees. We know the game's immersed with mediocrity imitating Jay-Z. But if we start witnessing mediocrity imitating Kanye, how much more apparent to us would their act of imitation be? Personally, I couldn't take the rap game dominated by Slum Village and Dilla (no disrespect, but I never had much love for the group & the late producer, may he RIP). For you, imagine De La Soul blowing up the way Kanye did on the strength of their first album (if only). The music industry now wants to sell all things "daisy." Before you know it, a bunch of PM Dawn crews have hold over mainstream rap.
Through all this, I don't place the blame entirely on rappers and the rap industry. I place the blame on us... US US US! The so-called Hip-Hop community.
More than the rest of us, I really don't know what happend to the generation that birthed the culture back in the 70s. They, more than me, should be more vocal in the points I make here. They, more than me, should be more in tuned with the true problem facing the culture, and it is this: we don't OWN the music.
How come our children don't REALLY know who KRS or Rakim is? Why aren't they listening to them? Take Rock music, for example: Elvis, the Beatles, Johnny Cash... up to the present with U2, Nirvana, 9 Inch Nails, Green Day. These artists are not just artists - they are INSTITUTIONS. They will NEVER have to worry about money because new generations will grow up and buy their shit (KRS, I think, makes more money from speaking than from royalties) .
Hip-Hop has the innate power to move people the same way Rock does. What Hip-Hop doesn't have that Rock does is OWNERSHIP. Parents endow their Rock legends to their children. We, in Hip-Hop, obviously don't. The next generation will always have less of an idea of this music's potential if we don't pass Doug & Rick up to them; if that generation doesnt pass the Boot Camp up to their next; Eminem up to theirs. As sure as we feel about Eminem's legendary status, even he isn't assured those multi-millions in royalties 25 years from now.
We may have had that ownership in the past; briefly, up until around MTV Raps and before Rap City: The Basement. Withholding it from our children as we continue to do makes certain that the culture will never belong to the PEOPLE. You know who owns it? The INDUSTRY, who I don't blame for anyting, because if WE don't own it, then it might as well belong to them. They took the scratching & breaking out of the music. THEY get rich from what's left that you see and hear instead of US while real talent and diversity moves into the underground.
But all you bumping Lil Jon and his clones and Reggaeton, don't get mad. You're probably not mad to begin with. It's not like you mind letting someone ELSE tell you what rap is anyway.
The Golden Age of the Hip-Hop culture (with its focal point on the music) spanned from about 1988 to 1997 (that's 10 years, not 9).
The era began at around the time EPMD began, Eric B & Rakim returned with Follow the Leader, KRS returned with By All Means Necessary, and Run-DMC had already realeased Walk This Way (2 years prior) to become the first Hip-Hop legends. Before that, Hip-Hop music had seen alot of acts come and go. The beginning of the Golden Age had seen artists tell the world that they were here to stay.
Countless classic albums had followed over the next 10 years. Until the end of the era, the culture had been underground. Then came the deaths of Tupac & Biggie. That event had done many things to the culture, and the music within, on many levels. What ended up happening as a consequence (among others) was the major commercialization of Hip-Hop. Before that we had many sub-genres of Hip-Hop music (or rap) to choose from - battle rap, gangsta rap, political/social rap, hardcore rap, funkadelic rap, et. al. Now no more. The music industry (in addition to trying to divide the elements of Hip-Hop) has saturated airwaves and retail with the ONE thing that sells. Since '98, we've been stuck with thug rap where they dominate their content half the time with "bling." Some of it's been good over the years... but has that proven to equal more than -- what?-- a single percentage of all releases since that year?
So the diversity of sub-genres that rap used to have has diminished along with the quality of the sub-genre that keeps getting pushed because we get force fed so much of it, NOT TO MENTION the sonic range of the music production. From the end of the Golden Age, producers have tried to sound like Swizz Beatz & Mannie Fresh. Recently, the trend has moved away from Swizz and more towards Lil Jon. Raggeaton hasn't done the culture much good either.
Indeed, one of the few boons that Rap music has been receiving now is Kanye West. This isn't about jumping on his dick... I just want to make a point. With Jay-Z (another boon to rap), you have an emcee who others can imitate, though not up to his level of talent. He'll rap about jewlery, champagne and luxury cars, but at least he does it exceptionally well. The problem starts when other people take on his subject matter and image, yet they fail in execution. Then you have Kanye - he's talented AND successful, like Hov. The question isn't can you imitate him. In a way, you can - vary your lyrical content (for rappers), learn an instrument(for producers), sample some music that he and Pete Rock haven't (ditto), and know something about the music you sample from (yep). The REAL question is "do people want to imitate him?" The answer I believe is "no."
It all returns to the fact that many rappers imitate other, more talented, emcees. We know the game's immersed with mediocrity imitating Jay-Z. But if we start witnessing mediocrity imitating Kanye, how much more apparent to us would their act of imitation be? Personally, I couldn't take the rap game dominated by Slum Village and Dilla (no disrespect, but I never had much love for the group & the late producer, may he RIP). For you, imagine De La Soul blowing up the way Kanye did on the strength of their first album (if only). The music industry now wants to sell all things "daisy." Before you know it, a bunch of PM Dawn crews have hold over mainstream rap.
Through all this, I don't place the blame entirely on rappers and the rap industry. I place the blame on us... US US US! The so-called Hip-Hop community.
More than the rest of us, I really don't know what happend to the generation that birthed the culture back in the 70s. They, more than me, should be more vocal in the points I make here. They, more than me, should be more in tuned with the true problem facing the culture, and it is this: we don't OWN the music.
How come our children don't REALLY know who KRS or Rakim is? Why aren't they listening to them? Take Rock music, for example: Elvis, the Beatles, Johnny Cash... up to the present with U2, Nirvana, 9 Inch Nails, Green Day. These artists are not just artists - they are INSTITUTIONS. They will NEVER have to worry about money because new generations will grow up and buy their shit (KRS, I think, makes more money from speaking than from royalties) .
Hip-Hop has the innate power to move people the same way Rock does. What Hip-Hop doesn't have that Rock does is OWNERSHIP. Parents endow their Rock legends to their children. We, in Hip-Hop, obviously don't. The next generation will always have less of an idea of this music's potential if we don't pass Doug & Rick up to them; if that generation doesnt pass the Boot Camp up to their next; Eminem up to theirs. As sure as we feel about Eminem's legendary status, even he isn't assured those multi-millions in royalties 25 years from now.
We may have had that ownership in the past; briefly, up until around MTV Raps and before Rap City: The Basement. Withholding it from our children as we continue to do makes certain that the culture will never belong to the PEOPLE. You know who owns it? The INDUSTRY, who I don't blame for anyting, because if WE don't own it, then it might as well belong to them. They took the scratching & breaking out of the music. THEY get rich from what's left that you see and hear instead of US while real talent and diversity moves into the underground.
But all you bumping Lil Jon and his clones and Reggaeton, don't get mad. You're probably not mad to begin with. It's not like you mind letting someone ELSE tell you what rap is anyway.
posted by Omar at 3:35 PM
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