The New York Times Magazine popped open its most recent Fall issue on the topic of identity. There was Wesley Morris’s brilliant analysis of the role meandering identities are playing in regards to race in America. That slice of genius served as the inspiration for this piece as Hip Hop is also struggling with its own new, fluid identity. There was Nicki Minaj gracing the cover lithely cradling a red, leather couch suspended in the air in one of her many guises. The first Hip Hop star since Tupac. Was that Onika she was channelling? The name is often mistaken for Japanese. It’s not. It’s West African, and a quick Google search will reveal several meanings. One says it’s “Who is greater than God?” The second says it means “warrior.” We can’t even agree on that.
In that piece, Nicki’s precise usage of the different lenses through which we see her are profiled. Is she the sultry temptress, the Harajuku Barbie (of her early days), or the hard-nosed lyricist with punchlines like ice picks? Who’s to say she isn’t all three? And her high-wire act of both policing the perceptions of folks like Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift, and tightly controlling how Hip Hop sees her places her in an interesting position. She is at the forefront of the tumult of shifting personas that Hip Hop must now deal with. I mean, Nicki Minaj is now the best New York emcee in the game. And, she may just be, already, the best female emcee of all-time. She is the top of a mountain that was once an exclusively all-male club. But she is not the only one, or the only narrative for that matter on the front lines. Several stories cropped up this week that show Hip Hop has an identity crisis on its hands, and how it deals with it will lock down what the rest of this decade will look like, and what type of fans it will carry into the 20s.
Will the “real” Hip Hop please stand up? Last week, I spoke to Talib Kweli about the dilemma of “conscious” Hip Hop. It’s an identity that some in Hip Hop seek to shed. An identity that used to be a badge of honor, but is now very easily shamed. It feels dismissive to label something as “conscious.” It means that it is boring and bourgeois. Similarly, Hopsin nipped at the throat of the same premise with his video for “No Words.” In it, he’s seen doing all the cliche´things that have come to represent “trap.” The auto-tune and reverb as well as the tattoos, naked women and guns. It worked. Everyone got the jist at the same time. The message was that we’re losing our collective Hip Hop identities to the lure of materialism, to stupidity, to capitalism. The same capitalism that cut music programs all over the country, ensuring there wouldn’t be any more John Coltrane’s. The same capitalism that led to parties in the Bronx and DJ Kool Herc realizing everyone was just waiting for the break beat.
So there is that identity, too. The “trap” one. The one Hopsin proved can be very easily copied. Jabbari Weekes at Noisey joked that “Trap-Hopsin is the rapper we need in the world.” Though, to do it, Hop would have to become his newly created alter-ego, Hash Brown. The rules of alchemy still exist, then. You must give up yourself if you want to attain a more profitable identity. But Hopsin’s stance isn’t a new one, it’s just that it slaps with slightly more punch than, say, looking at the world Common was talking about on “I Used To Love H.E.R.” in ’94. In that song, Common runs through Hip Hop’s many cultural shifts and laments the loss of her. If only she’d stop switching it up for the money and the fame. If only he could have predicted that Hip Hop would not only undergo cultural changes over the years but a categorical one. Now, everything is Hip Hop, and everyone is everything. But does that mean that, now, everyone is also nothing? Has Hip Hop lost itself as it has expanded to include those who may not have been granted access in the past?
There are so many warring personas in Hip Hop right now. There’s the deeply emotional rap of Angel Haze, the quirky absurdism of RiFF RAff, the familiar duality of Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole and Drake. Then there’s the aspirational bars of Meek Mill, the stream-of-consciousness rap of A$AP Rocky, and the herky-jerky beats and rhymes of Tyler, The Creator. The list can go on and on. And what all of these emcees, and the industry as a whole, have in common is that they aren’t revelling in single narratives about tough guys or drug dealers or G-Funked playboys or off-the-hook creatives or straight spitters anymore. All exist in this gray space, encroaching on what some see as the foundations of Hip Hop itself. Why else do we deride some Hip Hop as fodder? Why else can Travi$ Scott say he “doesn’t consider himself Hip Hop.” Yet, only have a platform because of the genre he’s come to reject. Could Travi$ Scott even have existed prior to a roving idea of what a rapper was? Of what genre was?
And the water is coming in from all sides. Ural Garrett just wrote a great piece about white rappers like Slim Jesus and Stitches encroaching on the more extreme, violent aspects of Hip Hop, stepping into a territory chock full of contradiction, history and real anger based on real pain. Noah Callahan-Bever wrote a piece last month speaking specifically to how sales of Kanye West’s Graduation destroyed 50 Cent’s Curtis and thus gangsta rap in the process. Drake’s surgical take-down of Meek Mill means the self-proclaimed “singin’ nigga” is at least in your 2015 top 5. If he’s not, he should be just on account of sheer domination. Spencer Stein at The Rukkus has the multi-racial, multi-national Hip Hop outsider turned insider charting a whopping 31 songs this year. Not to mention, Rick Ross of all people is imploring 50 Cent to keep it a hunnid about his financial situation.
So which identity will Hip Hop pick? The truth is it doesn’t have to pick one at all. In fact, it may be imperative to its survival that it looks down at that scantron and chooses “(e) All of the above.”
Andre Grant is an NYC native turned L.A. transplant that has contributed to a few different properties on the web and is now the Features Editor for HipHopDX. He’s also trying to live it to the limit and love it a lot. Follow him on Twitter @drejones.
yeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaa
Truth is Hip-hop, rap, or whatever you want to call this kind of music is evolving. With carefully or carelessly placed words such as the ones employed by you you can mark this as “warring personas” or you can admit it is changing. There is no real proof of the amount of friction you pretend exists you are trying to stir that idea in to the mind of the consumers. It’s a tactic, a rather disgusting and loathsome one, that a journalist would use to grow there brand, kudos for the ambition.
Yes we here many of these “conscious” rappers shifted off to the corner but the idea that is boring and bourgeois. For one mans trash is another mans treasure. That kind of music doesn’t belong in clubs. Where music gets most of its spins so its unreasonable to presume that it will have the same kind of market share as less cognitive music. That’s what you should be saying instead of “Accidentally” or slyly kicking dust up on conscious music.
We all know the trap seen has become streamlined and yes, Hopsin’s piece was a brilliant provoking off that particular genre to move from its current stagnant pace. Listing all the rest as warring is a far over statement. The attitude needs to shift to this idiotic there is not enough room for everyone attitude. It is bullshit journalist and the staff around these fields that set the stage for this nonsense. We can have one genre that consists of Angel Haze, Chance The Rapper, Vic Mensa, Raven Felix, King Los, Ti, Young Thugg, Drake, Future, Lil wayne, Hova, Nas, Kanye, Lupe, Mos, Kid Ink, Dej Lof, Big Sean, J Cole, Kendrick, Ab-soul, Groovy, Jay-rock, Isiah Rashad, Hopsin, Dizzy Wright, Nikki, Snow the Product, Stitches, Riff-Raff, Slim Jesus, Souljha Boi, Lil B, Mickey Factz, Action Bronson, Ghostface, 50 cent, Joe Budden, Game, Travis Scott, or whoever else is in or wants in. The competition is a good thing. We need to kill this crab in a barrel mentality.
These are not “warring” personas, these are individuals making art, coexisting pieces of a symbiotic and hypothetical existence.
Thanks for reading. By “warring personas” I meant a group of people who maybe couldn’t have been a part of Hip Hop in the 90s or even the 2000s. I’m not claiming that the friction is between artists, but between fans, artists and how artists view themselves. I guess I mean that Hip Hop’s growing pains are due to the stretching of what it means to be an “emcee.” As far as “conscious” Hip Hop, if you read the Kweli piece, he echoes’s that statement. “Conscious” Hip Hop is dope. No ones throwing dust on it, but part of the argument with Complex is that it’s a persona some corners of Hip Hop want to shed. And that persona has shifted into meaning something different than its originally meaning.
Did u seriously just label ASAP Rocky conscious rap? LOLOLOLOL this site is run by idiots. Suprised Ural Garrett or Soren Baker didnt write this one.
Thanks for reading, boss. “stream-of-consciousness” isn’t “conscious rap.” It’s more like a style of rapping where you spit or write in an unorthodox, whatever comes to mind kind of way.
To be honest, Hip Hop never had any defined boundaries. That lack of a defined set of principles has allowed any and everyone to dawn the moniker. 15 years ago a personality like drakes wouldn’t have survived the cultural climate of Hip Hop at that time. The harsh reality is this, the only identity hip hop has persistently maintained is “Get Money”. If you pay they’ll play. Anything goes when you put a dollar amount on it. While, (fortunately) the talent has increased, the social consciousness of the artist has been diminished by the perpetuation of ignorance and debauchery. When the custodians of the Art form can be bought, the potential of the culture suffers, though it remains.
While I don’t agree that “Get Money” is the main focus, I’ll say that the music is a business. I’m not even sure social consciousness is slipping, either. Rather, the environment isn’t ripe for that kind of social critique to reach a wide mainstream audience. Great points, a great comment and thanks for reading.
Depends when you are inferring the talent has increased from? Has the talent increased from the time of 07-11, yes possibly. Not from prior though because many people are not focused on being dope lyricists anymore. They more are worried about the formula. I agree that it was bought out from culture though. A major part of this was the death of the mom and pop stores, do to meijer/walmart/FYE pricing. The guy at walmart doesn’t know whether the petey pablo album is better than Kweli’s. Also the death of the source magazine played a large part in erasing balance, artists don’t strive for that 5 mic respect when they can get a 4 or 4.5 on here 😉 and the fan is not given the alternative as much.
“Kanye West’s Graduation destroyed 50 Cent’s The Massacre and thus gangsta rap in the process.”
Ummm, no!!!!!!! That was dirt is curtis that Kanye’s album did better than, dirt is curtis was trash. Dirt is curtis came out in the fall of 07, the massacre was winter 05.
Ural Garrett just wrote a great piece about white rappers like Slim Jesus and Stitches encroaching on the more extreme, violent aspects of Hip Hop, stepping into a territory chock full of contradiction, history and real anger based on real pain
Self promotion much??
the stream-of-consciousness rap of A$AP Rocky? Come on guys this is a lame editorial
Thanks for catching that 50 mistake. I appreciate it. And, thanks for reading.
true dat culture vultures i can give hiphopdx a real rap and hip hop history lesson!
I remember when hip hop music/culture used to be cool, but it ain’t so cool anymore. It’s become a gong show. Absolutely embarrassing now.
Shits trash. Someone can say it’s new or innovative or the older stuff is outdated but look how many albums people like the writers for this site or the journalists have even tried to give a perfect score to in the last 5 years and these guys make a little money off hype. 1 x kanye (MBDTF-the source), 2 x Kendrick (gkmc-XXL and this site for TPAB), 1 x bun b (source- trill OG) , Nas (XXL). All are up for debate except bun b, that is not near classic.
Is it time for hip-hop to start having multiple personalities? Much in the way that rock, punk, mod, acid house, house, jungle, drum and bass etc have done? Also in terms of hip-hop – in my somewhat limited knowledge of the subject so forgive me if I’m wrong – what about the 5 elements? As far as I can tell, they were the founding principals of hip-hop. Therefore does it not make sense that anything that is similar but different is just that: Similar but different? That’s not to say not worthy, or not worth while, just different…
Its hilarious. People have always bitched about hiphop changing. People bitched about Beastie Boys, NWA and Biggie Smalls saying hiphop has changed. nothing new…
After reading this site’s content every day for a few years, I was disappointed earlier this year watching the quality of the features/reviews plummet. I still came on for music but not for the reading. Well I decided to start reading again a little while ago and I gotta say that Andre Grant’s recent work has been what you would expect from DX. Gotta give credit where credit’s due.
“Nicki Minaj is now the best New York emcee in the game. And, she may just be, already, the best female emcee of all-time.”
HAHAHAHAHA thanks for the laugh homie gtfo with that shit
Nothing about hiphop has changed, Eric B and Rakim rapped about money all the while guys like Cormega and Big L were more on the conscious and streetwise tip. Been going on for decades. Hiphop is a multi-faceted movement. It shouldn’t take 5 paragraphs to explain the concept
word
If you’re concerned about real hip hop stop dickriding Drake. You can’t whine about wanting real hip hop when you promote some of the wackest non hip hop acts claiming to be hip hop.
“Nicki Minaj is now the best New York emcee in the game.”
Sorry. I stopped at this quote and stopped reading.
hiphopdx should get some hip hop fans to write their editorials. nicki minaj, best female emcee of all time? this guy has probably never even heard of jean grae or psalm one.
Hip-Hop’s first superstar since 2Pac? Outkast, Jay-Z, DMX, Eminem, etc.
And I love Talib Kweli but he is part of the problem. Conscious artist from back in the day (KRS, PE, Chuck D) weren’t afraid to draw clear boundaries between themselves and commercial music. Now everything is so PC, Drake has to be everyone favorite rapper, and everyone starts sounding alike.
Nicki Minaj > Immortal Technique
Smh! Where do you find your writers HHDX? Fail!
Oh, you talking back now Andre Grant?
What is your obsession with Drake? Ok, its super emotional pop rap, catchy, overplayed, chart topping (but never #1 on Billboard–not yet anyway) that is pop or should we say a sub-genre of Hip Hop, Pop Hip Hop.
I digress, Hip Hop is a genre of music influenced by its culture and as most art it is also affected by the consumer. Identity of the genre can change with time and with other influences, its morphs and does NOT have to be confined or defined by a strict set of qualifiers.
And don’t come back at me with your condescending, highfalutin rebuttals!
Hip Hop changes along with the environment that changes around it. So, it’s gotta keep up or it’ll get left behind. It’s doing a good job, I think, but it needs to stretch a bit further. Shout out to the word highfalutin. Haven’t heard that in a minute.