Hip hop started out in the park, two turn tables and a microphone. Who would’ve thought that in three decades that we’d go from the hood to Hollywood? Nonetheless, hip hop is at it’s best right now in terms of the almighty dollar but we’re seeing the worst of times artistically.
*pause for the cause*
I know that most of you think I’m about to get on my editorial soap box and fire away at three fifths of the Billboard charts, but ladies and gents, B-boys and B-girls, it’s a new day. And as one rapper said, “this is food for thought, get a plate.” Gather round, dinner is served.
*and action*
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Let’s put the music in perspective for a moment. As much as some of y’all hate Mike Jones (who?) we need him in the game. I said, as much as some of y’all hate Mike “you all know my name” Jones we need him in the game just as much as we need Common and Mos Def.
Which leads me to my next point. Hip hop purists will shake their heads, but, there’s room at the top for everybody. We need Dem Franchize Boyz, we need Dip Set and as much as it pains me to say this (until I actually decide to hit the clubs), we men need to watch some thicky Nicky shake her Laffy Taffy.
The problem is not the fact that we can lean wit it and rock wit it… the problem is that unless you know better, the ONLY thing we can do is lean and rock (how long will snap music be relevant anyway? Anybody remember the Tootsie Roll? Hell, I’ll take it a step further and shout you out in the next column if you can name the group that made the song.).
Said artists, dare I say are the game’s new school version of your Biz Markie’s, Will Smith’s and other rappers who just wanted to have fun.
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Before you all fix your fingers to fill my inbox with blasphemous comments, suspend the fact that Will and Biz have made some classic records. Under the conditions of today, if we were subjected to ”you say he’s just a friend” 35 times a day, 7 days a week, 50 some odd weeks out of the year, we’d hate Biz Markie’s ass too.
If there was no Public Enemy to balance out N.W.A., we’d be boycotting Eazy E and friends for being a detriment to the black community. (For those of you who argue that N.W.A. has a catalog of “classic shit”, remember that there were those in the community who thought the music was an abomination and bastardized all hip hop had worked for up to that point.)
And finally, if Luke and the 2 Live Crew were played in regular rotation, most of y’all would’ve led the charge to burn down your local radio station.
The point, hip hop heads, is that even though D4L may be lyrically handicapped, most men (that like women) aren’t turning their heads when Thicktoria is showing off her secrets while Laffy Taffy blasts through the speakers at Club Shake Dat Azz.
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The folks we need to be mad at aren’t the artists (and I use that term loosely), the people we need to be tar and feather are the individuals responsible for making sure that the face of hip hop looks more like DFB and less like BDP. If Will Smith can rock the same stage as Public Enemy, there isn’t a radio program director alive that can tell me that Mike Jones and Mos Def can’t either.
Anybody who says otherwise is a got damn lie and you tell them I said so.
At this point, I don’t expect corporate America to do right by the culture and you shouldn’t either. You want to see change in the culture? Here’s what you do.
Underground heads: share your got damn music. As a fan of that “pure shit”, I (as I’m sure many of y’all are as well) are guilty of hoarding all the good stuff. It’s fine and dandy that we think Immortal Technique is better than MC Top 40, but if we don’t share the music, nobody else will know. Don’t be afraid to drop your back packs and lean wit it every now and then too. Fake it if you have to, we can’t expect folks to like our stuff when we shit on everything else.
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Collar poppers, tip drillers, and wannabe trap stars (read: people who didn’t embrace the term “trap” til TI and Jeezy made it cool): Turn off the got damn radio sometimes. Hip hop didn’t start out being the commercial giant it is now (*if you believed otherwise, log off and go pick up a book on hip hop history… and anything with Eminem on the cover does not qualify.) and I’ll be damned if we’re remembered as being a one sided, self degrading, violent and niggerish as it is now. Pick up an independent CD and give it a listen. Don’t know where to start? Talk to the loner kid you see everyday who always has headphones on, he/she has probably got some fire coming from the iPod (do people still have portable CD players?)
Super militant, fuck the world fans: Continue to speak out against this one sided representation of OUR music. School the kids in your community and continue to write and call your local music outlets and demand that they do better. On second thought, HARASS THEIR ASSES (just stay out of jail, nobody will ever believe a hip hop journalist on the net put you up to this anyway). Most execs are scared of black folks anyway, might as well put that fear to good use.
The moral of the story: Hip hop is what WE make it. Our forefather’s didn’t wait on anybody to do it for them and we need to follow suit. The game doesn’t need anything but balance, and if the mass media isn’t going to lead the charge, fuck em… it’s on us.
The next time you’re making your mix CD, remember that even Jesus Walks with those that are In Love With a Stripper and Ms. New Booty might make you see The Light. The Industrial Revolution is coming, but when I’m not fighting for change, I need a Tip Drill.
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*Shout outs to Phonte of Little Brother and Davey D for being the inspiration behind this one*
Peace
All love and hate mail can be directed Here!
-or
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