“Hip hop and rap are officially dead!” We’d cite our sources, but we think that it would be easier for you to go on and Young Thug YouTube video, and we’re sure you will see a parade of people reminiscing on the “old days.” This has been something frequently lamented by both “old-heads” and middle schoolers alike. You know. The ones that have just discovered the Slim Shady LP and probably also by DMX after he takes off his cape and mask and shakes off the dust of 2015 rap in the morning. Yeah, we think DMX is a superhero. So what? He wrote “Lord Give Me A Sign,” and we’d sit there and belt that out with him for ten minutes until our next hit (of whatever), but let’s save that for a different article. Don’t do drugs, kids.
Did Hip Hop really die when Tupac and Biggie were murdered? No, it didn’t. Hip hop and rap are all around us. We are, arguably, right now in another golden era of it. Not only is there a wide swath of art to choose from, but much of it is of a high quality. We’re not just talking about the mainstream stuff like Kendrick Lamar, Drake, and J Cole, either. The underground is also vibrating at a high frequency these days. Search out artists like Sincerely Collins, Rich Po Slim, and Richard Raw, as well. Because, in order to make our point valid, we needed to reach out and do some direct research from three artists with completely different styles.
Sincerely Collins’ album Destroyer took us to a place, strapped us in, and told us a story, not only through lyrics but through sounds. I would absolutely classify Sincerely Collins’ work as conscious, and it hits you as though it were a physical object. His music is not for the faint of heart, and although we don’t believe for a second that this is him at his full potential, it’s an album completely worth listening to. At least 19 times. Our personal favorite song is “Soul.”
What We’re Supposed To Do
Elijah Amant: What do you think of the current state of Hip Hop, and artists like Kendrick Lamar, Mick Jenkins, and how they are bringing back conscious Hip Hop as well as really shining a light on it publicly?
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Sincerely Collins: The funny thing about the Kendrick situation, and not to discredit him in anyway, what Kendrick Lamar is doing, what J.Cole is doing a little bit, and even what I am doing…they are getting a little bit more credit than they deserve, because everyone is freaking out about what should already be expected of us. Does that make sense to you?
Elijah Amant: Absolutely, of course. I think it should be expected, but the fact is Hip Hop, actually music as a whole is subjective, and you can’t necessarily compare each style with one another.
Sincerely Collins: There is no right or wrong, there is no left or right, it just is what it is. Even though we would like to put some sort of boundary, or some sort of skill level or a factor of what is “good Hip Hop” and what is “bad Hip Hop,” what it comes down to is that there are no rules.
Elijah Amant: Your song “Soul” is awesome. It stood out to me as one of my favorite songs on the album. How much of the record do you feel is authentic?
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Sincerely Collins: That’s a great question, it’s something that I struggle with. In the moment when you are just trying to deliver, when you are making a song, or an album or a body of work, even a visual, you are just trying to make it happen and get it done, and hope that it all comes to fruition the way it’s supposed to happen. But there are times when you go back and think to yourself, “Ah, that was kind of unnecessary.”
Rich Po Slim
This brings us to our next rapper. Rich Po Slim does not rap about history lessons, or to try to better society per se´. Rich Po Slim was kind enough to do an interview during a hard time for him, as he mentioned health issues going on in his family that he was still coping with, and even called in from a strip club in Atlanta. Apparently he was “fucked up” on “xan and coke,” but spoke in a more well-composed manner than a seventeen-year-old kid giving a high school graduation speech (to be fair, many have been on xan and coco during their high school graduation speeches). It was as if he was calling from a library in DC.
Elijah Amant: So since Awful Media Group popped up have you been doing anything differently or is this just your lifestyle?
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Rich Po Slim: Nah, this just how we do everything. We have been doing more of everything, and doing it better, know what I’m saying? Like at a more intensive rate. Ain’t shit change.
Elijah Amant: Do you get inspiration from old Hip Hop at all?
Rich Po Slim: I can’t speak for everybody, but for myself it’s more so the competitive aspect and shit. Like Tyler, the Creator is as much an inspiration as he is competition. It’s more about the competitive inspiration. You don’t see goddamn Michael Jordan drop 60 points and you go play for the Hornets or something.
Going to pause here to tell you about the awesomeness, fuckedupness and weirdness that is Awful Media Group. Unless you have been living under a rock, then you have heard of ILoveMakonnen, who before Drake signed him, had some great songs with this and other fellas that are a part of their group. The roster includes Father, Slug Christ, but out of all of them Rich Po Slim is undefinable as a character, intriguing, mysterious, and disappears within minutes of speaking to him. You can check out his promo track here for “HUBRisep.”
There is a genius in their simplicity. The songs have generally similar instrumentals, but always hit hard, and the lyrics tend to get stuck in your head for days on end. Not to mention that this video is tight and shot beautifully.
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“Everything Is Fake As Fuck”
Rich Po Slim: What pisses me off with the current state of rap is that everything is fake as fuck. There’s some yellow brick road, wizard of oz shit going on. And everybody thinks they gotta go one way and follow this yellow brick road, so you can get to the end of that bitch, and you and Toto and the goddamn tin man get all y’all dreams fulfilled, and you find out that it’s a little white man behind the curtain. And you had the talent and gift this whole time, and you wasted half your life doing a bunch of stupid shit.
Elijah Amant: That’s the best comparison I have heard in a very long time.
Rich Po Slim: That’s what the rap game is bruh, it’s the Wizard of Oz.
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Elijah Amant: This is the real underground, you don’t have management…
Rich Po Slim: The music industry is older than my black ass. That shit’s at least 100 years old. That shit is old as fuck. It’s going to take time for them to die. They are dying, but they aren’t dead. If some old dude has money invested into something, they gonna cling on to it as long as they can. But everything is going out: books, magazines, they ain’t ready for what’s next. What they don’t want is peer-to-peer bruh. If I find one million people in America who wants to give me a dollar, then I am a millionaire (*laughs*). I don’t think that’s very hard.
Elijah Amant: I have a friend who has been involved in hip hop and he is older as well. He was once with Lost Children of Babylon. I wanted to ask, where you rap about sex, drugs and whatever else, he talks about serious and more political issues. Can you explain to me and the readers, why one team will rap about pussy and beer, and another about issues with racism and political agendas, but you both claim Hip Hop?
Rich Po Slim: That’s where the grand disconnect is. The old fucks won’t stop being old fucks. Hip hop is a very political movement. The old guys don’t like the way the message is being translated nowadays, and they got this glass over their eye that they won’t take off, where they could see that there is a lot of genius in this ignorance. Hip Hop started with parties in the Bronx and people with shitty lives saying, “Fuck it, let’s party and have fun and forget our shitty life.” And if I can make something that gives a kid with a shitty life four hours of fun and escape his shitty life, then that to me is what it’s about!
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Those were two different views from modern artists on Hip Hop and that left one more place that needed to be digged into. Time to speak with an older member of the hip hop community, Richard Raw. You can’t see tell or see that he is old at all. Maybe the fountain of youth is Hip Hop, after all. He puts on one of the strongest and eclectic live shows in the Philadelphia/Delaware/NJ area, which may not seem like a big deal, but it is.
Was Hip Hop Always Political
Elijah Amant: I wanted to get your opinion on some of the quotes from artists I had spoke with earlier, and get your opinion. You being one of the most “Hip Hop” influenced human beings I have had the pleasure of meeting
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Richard Raw: First of all that’s a generalization, because we can recognize talent wherever it is, if you are talking about things that we don’t like. Like if you are talking about materialistic things, it’s no different than when Biggie and Nas talked about materialistic things back in the early 90’s. But they were witty about it, they were creative with it. The problem now is that people aren’t being witty and they aren’t being creative. Nothing wrong with talking about money, you know? We need money. Like “Juicy,” Biggie did a great job talking about money. He grew up seeing his mom struggle and he wanted those things.
Elijah Amant: Well there is a modern conscious movement as well as a superficial movement. If you were to give advice to a struggling modern day Hip Hop artist who is anti-label, what would it be?
Richard Raw: I used to be against labels, I used to think I could do it all by myself. But the best thing to do is to check your options. Especially if you get yourself hot. The best thing to do is to build a partnership with a label. There is a way to work with labels. Put up money and invest in yourself. If you made money in the independent market, take that money and then you can get with a label and both of you can invest and split those profit margins. I understand the label stigma.
Elijah Amant: The last quote, which is the second portion of the first quote I wanted you to speak on, “Hip hop started with parties in the Bronx and people with shitty lives saying, “Fuck it, let’s party and have fun and forget our shitty life.” And if I can make something that gives a kid with a shitty life four hours of fun and escape his shitty life, then that to me is what it’s about!” Was Hip Hop always political?
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Richard Raw: Hip Hop was ALWAYS a political movement. The younger generations don’t want to take the time to look up the founding fathers. We spoke about the conditions we were in. But that was the reason we were in those conditions. We were impoverished. Our voices were our instruments because we couldn’t afford other instruments. We created graffiti art because we didn’t have the necessary tools to create standard artwork. From the very start it was political, go listen to some Run DMC.
Elijah Amant of Drull, WAVS & Thrift Soul: @MstrMantis, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Elijah-Amant/334928853376441?ref=hl & https://soundcloud.com/thrift-soul & https://soundcloud.com/drullmusic
