I was talking to my friend, Lucky Luce the other day about this trend that’s been dominating your favorite videos on MTV and BET. It’s something that is so ludicrously stupid, it should make you really want to go Def Jam: Icon on an emcee.
It’s irritating to see these cornball rappers throwing fake duckets around as if we’re back in the self-centered eighties. Reaganomics is dead and so is hip-hop, according to Nas and the SoHo critics. Face it, the art has always been dominated by making something out of nothing. Hell, during Biggie Week, who better but the “Greatest of All Time” but to use as an example of this phenomenon within hip-hop.
As Andres Tardio pointed out in his piece over at DX Style (Click Here for article), BIG went from rocking a Nike, “Just Do It,” shirt to getting everyone hip on Coogi and Versace. So, there is nothing wrong with doing something lavish with the talent that God gave you. But the lack of intelligence is starting to corrupt the minds of those who only have a short stop in the streets:
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Either you slingin’ crack rock or you got a wicked jump shot…
– Notorious B.I.G., Things Done Changed
With hip-hop under attack from within the culture and outside its gates, it’s interesting to see how these young Black and Brown entrepreneurs are, literally, throwing their worth away in videos and during shows. It is not just the point that a rich man does not become wealthy by giving all his dinero away. It’s the embarrassing nature of what this implies to those who aspire to be what they see on television, as much as it does to the ones who know they’ll never have the millions that these yokels rap about in their rap tunes.
If the cash flows so well within the rap community, why aren’t the people doing as well as the celebrities they look up to? Sure, this is not to imply that rappers do not have community services set up or charities to recycle funds within their own (old) neighborhoods. But ultimately, what does setting up a $5000 scholarship for a few well-deserving kids do, while Fat Joe is off being a walking ATM in Miami Beach? For hundreds of years, stereotypes have existed to limit and label individuals based on strengths and weaknesses.
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Over the course of the last two years, we’ve seen our world implode with domineering stereotypes that, not only have become increasingly popular, they generate revenue undeservedly. From Flava Flav to Ms. Peachez, our culture is being raped by the powers that be, while the rest of the world watches and laughs. In a piece that ran on a neighboring website, rocker Gene Simmons, offered his opinion on what hip-hop needed to do. Although, I don’t stand behind the KISS lead singer’s commentary wholly, I agree that things in hip-hop are set to steadily degrade into madness if something refreshing doesn’t invigorate the culture.
We should stop being buffoonish with our dollars and work to uplift the community as that was one of the principle founding blocks that constituted hip-hop’s creation. Cultivate more programs where hip-hop is not the end all, be all of one’s life. Millions bank their lyrical gift at a shot of glitter and gold… just look at any street corner in New York and it justifies my point. The examples of making major cake as portrayed in “Where Da Cash At?!”, “We Fly High (Remix)” and the “Make It Rain (Remix)” is not creative in any regards. But when you have nothing, something always looks better.
That’s why I get it how I live, boy… Cause you took me from a young, broke n—- to a rich boy!
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– Rich Boy, And I Love You
For those who once lived in squalor, it takes minimum effort to rap about the things that you copped once you got your advance. Few made the transition from “ashy to classy” just that… classy. When BIG went from sticking up kids with the gritty tale “Gimme The Loot” to making heads throw their “rollies” in the sky with “Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems”, the underlining point may have been missed by everyone. The struggle doesn’t stop just because you rock an Audemars Piquet watch with the cost of a luxury house around your neck. It becomes worst. The spectacle that has become the hip-hop video gives further ammunition to those looking to pin the tail of irresponsibility on your favorite rapper.
If ignorance is bliss, then hip-hop has bestowed the rest of the world with its blessings. The story is simple. The moral is very poignant. But the reasoning is still baffling. During the 2007 NBA All-Star Game weekend in Las Vegas (Feb. 16-18, 2007), Tennessee Titan, Adam “Pacman” Jones was involved in an altercation with an exotic dancer at a local strip club. Jones approached the stage with a garbage bag (yes, the dude makes stupid gwap) filled with approximately $81,000.
I understand the All-Star Game is the time where everyone comes out to shine brightly. But fueling a situation based upon what you see in a music video (whether it’s 106 & Park or UnCut) is asinine. Jones proceeded to throw the money into the air over the exotic dancers, therefore “making it rain” on them hoes (using the term loosely). Now, in some of your favorite videos, the money isn’t always real. But I think that point gets lost on some of the patrons who decide to re-enact a scene. Pacman gave his own type of fever that night after slamming the exotic dancer on her head, biting a security guard and threatening the lives of half a dozen people.
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Jones allegedly returns with a firearm and hits three people in the process. I know 50 Cent said, “Get Rich or Die Tryin’,” but dying just for the sake of dying is ridiculous, as well. Is that one negative exploited to make a point? Or can a music video negatively impact someone’s social habits? Some would say no, but if you look at how “making it rain” has become a phenomenon. With Adam Jones set to appear in court, the effects of his actions are creating new limitations in the NFL. But should there be limitations in music videos? Is there a way to curb this lazy way of being creative with musical expression?
God knows there are plenty of ways, but with insane excess being thrown in the faces of millions, there has to be a curb. Hell, in simpler terms, how is everyone living the hood life is everyone is pushing a Rolls-Royce Phantom? But for now, it’d be better to just hear the imagery in the words craft a poignant picture… keep the money in the bank.
