Hip Hop Special Education
Alright, this is a rough draft and I will either edit this entry or combine it with a future entry. This is also really sloppy right now and I've gotta clean it up, but don't wait for me... read it anyway.
Who's the best? Hip Hop has an obsession with objective ranking of its members. Sure, rock bands have battles too sometimes. But how many rock bands have you heard of building their career off of competitions? Hip Hop heads are constantly arguing the merits of their favorite emcees, against the favorite emcees of others. "Yo, Canibus could rip anyone in a battle!" "Whatever, I heard Last Emperor served him in front of this club once." Etc, etc.
Rap music is constantly progressing. If you've followed radio shows like the former Stretch & Bobbito show, or the Wake Up Show, or Friday Night Flavas, or any other dope show that plays exclusive joints... then I don't have to explain this. You already know how everyone has their ear fixed and waiting for the latest Gang Starr joints (fresh, right?)... or the latest Planet Asia and Baby Blak (been awhile for Baby Blak)... or whatever you're checkin for. And it's not like they could just drop anything by your favorite artist and you'd be stoked. You know it's gotta be the hot... or you're gonna be disappointed.
Hip Hop is materialistic. Whereas rock is primarily concerned with angst and personal relationships, hip hop seems primarily concerned with materialism and social status. This isn't just true on the radio, even independent hip hop artists are usually preoccupied with a) their status as an MC b) their financial situation c)sex outside of relationships d)smoking and drinking e) etc. I don't know... maybe I don't listen to enough current rock to make the judgement, but it seems like rock band talk more about relationships and society in general and they've gotta be more poetic (singing about clothing brands and weed just isn't all that appealing).
Rap continues to desensitize the public toward violence, sex, and drugs. There is no comparable figure in rock to Eminem. Eminem's claim to fame is that he says all the things other people are afraid to say. Em drags out the skeletons in the collective closet. But Em isn't the only rapper loosening up our culture. From N.W.A. and Cypress Hill, to 50 Cent and Joe Budden... prominent emcees have made a point to boldly challenge the moral status quo (especially when it comes to stupid Puritan attitudes on sex and drugs).
Rap music is dope. Let's face it... hip hop has a lot of room to grow. You can rap over a very wide range of musical styles. The production possibilities are endless. The beats can be stretched out and combined with latin grooves, drum and bass grooves, and anything that has the foundational boom-bap, or at least implies a boom-bap. Oh, and rock sucks.
You can deliver a speech as a rap. Think about it... politicians of the future could deliver all of their speeches over a DJ spinning. Instead of a Speaker of the House, you'd have the "DJ of the House". Sessions of Congress could be run as battles. People would actually watch State of the Union Rap Sessions. And foreign countries would never mess with us, for all our talk about about gats 'n' stuff.
Rap is religious. No, I'm not talking about the dedication of rap fans... I'm talking about the large percentage of hip hop artists who give respect to the one above: God Almighty aka Allah Supreme. In rock, God is not cool. But in rap, people know who sets the clocks and tells you what time it is. Everybody knows Christian rockers are wack. But Muslim hip hoppers straight represent! And basically most emcees are Christians, or at least wear gold crosses and give shout outs to God in their liner notes.
Hip Hop is multiracial. You can talk all you want about how progressive you are and how the world has changed... but we still live in a country where white people still don't understand black people, and black people think everyone is out to get them. Things are slowly getting better, but it's still a somewhat tense situation. With that in mind, we can all be proud of the fact that hip hop makes both black people AND all other races of people look lazy, violent, sex-crazed, and drug addled. Now people have to accept the fact that it's not just Black people who act like this... it's everybody.
Hip Hop is illiterate. Because white people are such voracious readers, just about every rocker has had a best-selling biography. But take a look at the hip hop section of your local bookstore -- mostly picture books of Biggie and Tupac -- and its plain to see that hip hop heads don't read shit. It took over 20 years for ONE decent book to come out -- Ego Trip's Book Of Rap Lists -- and it's basically just that... a bunch of lists. Sure, Tricia Rose came out with an intellectual book that even hip hop's most prolific renegade philosopher (me) couldn't get through because it was waaay overly analytical, and there was basically nothing about hip hop in the book. It's an amazing book that speaks the truth, but there's no juicy tidbits. And the message of the book is that you can't generalize about hip hop as a whole. What fun is that?!
Hip Hop takes itself seriously. You don't just dis hip hop... well, at least not without the risk of getting your ass kicked. Dis rock and roll to an indie rockers face and they will probably just give you a funny look and recommend some therapy. When pressed to it, every true hip hop head will defend the artform against attacks. It seems as if there is something at stake here, like we are working on some project together. It's as if we would like to think of ourselves as some sort of mass media tribe.
Anyway, these are just some of my very late night, unedited thoughts and I'll get back to them later and do the proper editing. Hope you enjoy. Post comments if want to defend yo bad culture. Bada-booyaka!!!
Posted by Eric on June 30, 2003 05:31 AM
I'd like to know what is the difinition of "hip hop?" I am fifty years old, and, I enjoy music greatly. I listen to all types of music including classical if I need to raise the vibrations in my atmosphere. Suddenly, there was hip hop. Please enlighten me.
Sincerely,
Joy
hahaha!!!!
You have outlined 10 myths about hip-hop and here you have just created a number of other ones...
Hip-Hop Battles are a bad thing (or at least u seem to state so):
I can't see that it is... Sure, the battles in their current state are nothing more than ego tripping, but I was greatly interested when I found out that jazz basically starte the same way. They had Jazz battles back in the day! that's how the artform progressed, everyone was out to out do everyone and take it one step further and that just adds to the fact that this is a continually reforming and experimentational art form.
Hip-Hop takes itself seriously:
I would like to question that, hip-hop is only here because we can build on other styles of music and if it was not for other styles from which to take bits and pieces it would not exist. I think only people with very closed minds are likely to feel it to be an attack on themselves if someone dislikes or argues that hip-hop is nonsense... Others would take the way of suggesting some interesting listenings to the person and explaining what it really is and who at that current stage actually stands for what hip-hop is.
Hip Hop is materialistic:
Sure the ego is a big part of hip-hop... but have you heard any ego in DoseOne's lyrics or CLOUDDEAD's stuff? seriously it is an over generalisation to say the least. As for hip-hop not addressing any pertinent society wide issues? I would say that first of all already just dealing with the problems of living in ghettos is society relevant (so even Vik Vaughn and Kool G Rap are reflections on what their environment is like and requires thought) and then there are people like El-P, Zach De La Rocha, Dj Shadow just to name a few who actually put political and world wide problems as main themes for their songs.
Also just a suggestion, but please do not make any comparisons to rock bands! There is enough dirt to throw around that field just as well, and you obviously don't listen to enough of it to make these kinds of generalisations... The Egos and Materialism are just as prominent there especially in the mainstream...
I agree. Hey, i used to know a guy named vasili. did we go to camp together?
i wrote this entry about 8 months ago and now I don't believe in any of it anymore. it's all bullshit i made up to get a rise out of people.
what sort of camp? I lived in Geneva for the last 8 years and now I've been in London for 2...
oh, prolly not... the camp was in southern california. i'm always on the lookout for a coincidence. the vasili i knew wasn't exactly "psycho", but he did punch through the wall of our dorm room.
Ill ask again. What is hip hop. Who put the words hip hop together to start this culture? From what I've observed money seems to be the reason to call yourself a "hip hop" artist. I think some white men were sitting in a think tank and came up with a way to make money, and, call it hip hop. And, people of color believe they gave birth to this idea. What is the consciousness of hip hop? And, how is it different from rap? Or, is it the white mans version of cleaned up rap, that his kids can listen to. According to the figures it is the white kids buying the rap, and hip hop, whatever that is.
Yeah sure... a think tank of white men came up with the definition of "hip hop". Yeah, and they also invented the Black Power movement and wrote the autobiography of Malcolm X, which I heard is being read by more people outside of the Black community than within it. Oh wait... I forgot... EVERYTHING is more popular outside the Black community for one stoopid reason: black people only make up 10% of the U.S. Anything that sells is gonna sell more outside the Black community.
Just for curiosity sake, can I ask to what race you classify yourself.
My question to you is... Whoever said it is all white people versus Black people? I thought people of ALL colors were capable of selling out Black culture, including Black people. Right?
The definition of rap is relatively clear and well defined: rap is a vocal delivery in between talking and singing. It's not quite singing, yet it's a notch above talking. Some spoken word may qualify as rap, but only some.
My question was, and, still is what is "hip hop?" I'm a woman all the colors in the spectrum commonly known as the Sun. I know what rap is because it's been defined. Actually it's intense story telling, and, experiences lived in this, their lifetimes. I just heard tonight eighty percent of "hip hop" is purchased by white kids. You seemed suprised by my think tank statement. I also learned tonight that Donald Trump is the mentor of Russell Simmons. Is it impossible to think that "hip hop" may have been the creation of some white man causing division between rapper's and "hip hop" artist? Do you believe that white kids are buying more of "hip hop" than young kids of color? And, if this is the case, what are we learning about making money? You must have a product that apeals to white people in order to make a profit, or live like Russell Simmons. Now, what is "hip hop?" Music that all people can bond to?
One more thing, Black men killed Malcom X because white men told them too. And, desire for money, success, sex, the right woman, or, man doesn't mean you're selling out. Especially if you're being true to yourself. However, on the other hand people of color are thirsty for success, their desire has out grown their principles. And, to many people of color don't read.
peace
Listen Joy...
Your views might have held true in the 1960s. But that's just not how it is these days.
Again, I think it is helpful to realize it's not a Black vs. White issue. I'm not saying racism doesn't exist... I'm saying the era of targeting Black political leaders is over, for one simple reason: there ain't no more Black political leaders except Farrakhan (who clearly poses NO threat to the establishment).
Whether the term "hip hop" means this or that is not very important. What is important is our people's standard of living. The reasons why people are poor and neglected and abused... is not a mystery or a conspiracy. Corporations have the government in a stranglehold. This is plain as day, for everyone to see. No conspiracy is required to pay off politicians and mislead the public.
Again, the pre-1970s paradigm of Black vs. Whites is no longer relevant. If anything, the government has shifted its efforts from the Black power movement to environmentalists and muslims.
=+=+=+=+
Yes, 80% of hip hop is purchased by white people. This has several reasons. First, white people comprise about 60% of the U.S. population. Second, Blacks generally have a lot more in common culturally with White, than latinos and asians. People like to think of Blacks and Whites as opposites (understandable), but they are actually a lot closer culturally than people give credit. I'm not saying there aren't racial tensions, I'm simply saying there are obviously a lot of White kids who can relate to the music (albeit often in a voyeuristic manner). Blacks and Whites have also been living side-by-side since the founding of the country, whereas latinos and asians are relatively new to the pop culture landscape.
But the bottom line is: what is wrong with 80% of the hip hop audience being White?!?! Should Black people make music only for Black people??? Whould White people feel guilty listening to Black artists??
In spite of all the negative images and stereotypes, I think hip hop has done a lot to help people of different races to come together in the name of art and culture. And I think we should actively encourage all people to make hip hop for all different types of people.
You know, it used to be that Blacks complained that that their music wasn't getting played on White radio. How ironic that now you seem to be complaining that the White audience has too much influence on the music.
Joy if you want to know about hip hop for real and how it started look at this web site: www.zulunation.com
Basically everything you people said above is ignorant and wrong.
Hip hop music of today (in the mainstream) is incredibly commercial and terrible. The rappers (such as nelly, g unit, nick cannon, lil jon etc) have no skill at all. They cant rhyme. There messages are retarded and there lyrics are pointless. But they are getting a lot of money and becoming famous cuz little white kids in the suburbs who think its kool listen to it. Thats not hip hop. Hip hop is a culture. There is very little hip hop in the mainstream today. It's all pop now .
YOU MUST BE ONE OF THE BIGGEST IGNORANT DUMBASSES WHEN YOU SAID, "ROCK SUCKS." FOR YOUR INFORMATION, JAMES BROWN (THE MOST SAMPLED ARTIST IN HIP HOP HISTORY WITH "FUNKY DRUMMER" AS THE #2 MOST SAMPLED RECORD IN HIP HOP)AND ARETHA CROSSED OVER TO THE R&B, POP, A.C., AND ROCK CHARTS AS HAVE SO MANY OTHER LEGENDS, WAY BEFORE RAP EXISTED. WITHOUT PEOPLE LIKE THESE, THE GENRE WOULD NOT EVEN BE BORN, AND TO THIS DAY IT IS THE MOST SAMPLING GENRE OF MUSIC! FOR YOUR INFO, A LOT OF THESE RAPPERS SAMPLE SO MUCH FROM ROCK ARTISTS (ROCK ALSO HAS BLACK ARTISTS AND IS REALLY HEAVILY INFLUENCED BY AF MUSICAL STYLES DUMBASS.)RAP IS REALLY PART OF THE BREAKBEAT GENRE, PART OF ELECTRONICA (SYNTH-DRIVEN DANCE MUSIC, ESP. IN THE 80S). WITHOUT THE KRAUT ROCK BAND KRAFTWERK'S BIRTHING OF ELECTRONICA, IT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN SO BRILLIANT. FOR INSTANCE, BAM'S "PLANET ROCK" RIPPED OFF THE SAME SONG AND BECAME THE MOST SAMPLED HIP HOP RECORD OF ALL TIME. BEFORE U WRITE SOMETHING, KNOW YOUR DAMN HISTORY. ITS PEOPLE LIKE YOU WHO DESTROY HIP HOP.
Wait a second just there partner. You are accusing me of being ignorant. I know everything there is to know about rock music. Go ahead... ask me a question! I know what I'm talking about. Let's see what YOU know.
All this stuff about Bam and Kraftwerk you could pick up from a one hour documentary. I am willing to guess I have slightly more than your measely one hour's worth of music knowledge, my friend.
Go ahead... ask me a question.
Quote from Jeff: RAP IS REALLY PART OF THE BREAKBEAT GENRE.
I hope you don't confuse Rap with HipHop... there's a difference between a subculture and a music genre.
The education of the hip-hop culture is growing. The "Basketball and Hip-Hop" culture fusion of the past 22 years is being defined as The "Dunkadelic Era" In America, 1984-Present. Its the first 'Sports and Music' defined era in modern American history. The 5 following events in 1984 led to the birth of The "Dunkadelic Era" In America.
1. David Stern was announced as the 4th NBA Commissioner on February 1, 1984.
2. The NBA first introduced the Slam Dunk contest to the 1984 All-Star weekend gala.
3. Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin form Def Jam Records. Kurtis Blow the hip-hop pioneer releases the hit rap song "Basketball."
4. The "Fresh Fest" 27 stop tour featuring RUN-DMC, Whodini, Kurtis Blow, and the Fat Boys was the first major hip-hop concert tour in America.
5. Michael Jordan is selected by the Chicago Bulls with the 3rd pick during the 1984 NBA Draft. Jordan signs with Nike to produce the "Air Jordan" sneakers that became a fashion symbol within the hip-hop culture.
LeBron James (December 30) and Carmelo Anthony (May 29) were both born in 1984.
The "Dunkadelic Era" In America, 1984-Present
RAPEROS DE MIL UNO / DE CIEN NINGUNO / ES EL HUMO EN MIS PULMONES QE ME SUBE HASTA NEPTUNO / ALUMBRO CON MI LETRA OSCURO ESTILO TUYO / ORGULLO EN MI DESTREZA PUES LA ESCUPO CONTRA GRUPOS / ILUSOS FALSOS ESCRITORES / EL RAP ES INFINITO NO SE ESTANCA CON MATONES / MENTES DISKE SON POTENTES SON SUS TONTAS CREACIONES / SUS CANCIONES NO LAS COMO NO CAUSAN ADMIRACIONES / ATINO A FINOS FELINOS LOS DOMINO CON MI ESTILO / PUES NO SE BASA EN INSULTAR NI TENGO Q HABLAR DE TIROS / CONSPIRO CON RAPEROS Q NO NESECITAN DE ESO / FILOSOFO HAY POCOS AUNQE MUERA SALE ILESO MYSPACE.COM/EFENAR3DIGITOS
Wow. Some people actually think they know every thing about hiphop. From the comments Ive seen, all the hiphop bashers think hiphop is all about being fly, money, female prostitution, and cars. no it IS NOT! thats only certain type of rappers such as 50 Cent and his crew. except for lloyd banks, he's respectable. the rest of g-unit raps about hoods that they cant even roll through anymore or else they'd be shot cause of the BS songs they made about robbin people and hood stories. if you want some character from hiphop rappers, go listen to Kayne West (AND ITS NOT STEALING, ITS SAMPLING! SAMPLING KEEPS OLD MUSIC GREAT TO LISTEN TO, kayne also refers to past music so people dont forget where music started). also Common, Nas, Quan, Mos Def, Pappoose (go listen to his track "Gotta Make A Change" it talks about how he REALLY grew up in the ghetto and how he wants to change his hood character to a progressed artist WITHOUT forgetting where he came from)
yo I think hip hop is the best music ever I'm rapping about a month now and I want to get real good at it do you got any tips
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