Hip-Hop: My Retrospect
Posted on 07. Oct, 2009 by Sam in Music, Musings, Reviews
If you don't know who this man is, get the fuck off my blog.
I was born in 1979. The same year that Sugar Hill Gang recorded “Rapper’s Delight”. I turned 30 this year. In hip-hop terms, I’m an “old head”. According to Soulja Boy & his ilk, I should probably hang it up and listen to Mel Torme. Truth be told, I’d rather listen to The Velvet Fog than most of what permeates today’s “urban radio”.
Not long ago, I was asked by the homie Mikey McFly why I had so much love for hip-hop music. The reason for the love is that hip-hop & I grew up together, and it taught me a lot about myself . Growing up, my Dad listened to a lot of 70s dirt rock (the term with which I affectionately refer to acts such as Meatloaf & Lynyrd Skynyrd), while my Mom was pumping a steady diet of 1960s soul & folk music into my head, including just about anything that Motown & Stax put out, combined with a little Janis Joplin & the Soundtrack to “Hair”. I have an appreciation for almost all types of music, but hip-hop is my true love.
It had to have been around 1985 that my Brother introduced me to hip-hop music with a compilation album (a for-real ALBUM, made of wax & everything) that included songs like Doug E. Fresh’s “The Show”, “A Fly Girl” by Boogie Boys, and Roxanne Shante’s “Bite This”. It didn’t take very long for me to fall in love with hip-hop, and while the relationship has been rocky from time to time, it only takes a step back to the golden era to renew my adoration.
I let this tape rock til the tape popped...
In 1988, at the ripe old age of 9, I went to Warehouse Music and bought the first cassette tape with money I had earned from doing chores… NWA’s classic Straight Outta Compton. The cashier was kind enough to overlook the parental advisory warning and sell it to the tow-headed kid with the bowl haircut, and for that I am eternally grateful. NWA was my first foray into so-called “gangsta rap”, which in ‘88 still had a “the ghetto’s fucked up, you don’t want to be here” feel to it… far from the ‘hood glamorization that it morphed into. Maybe I was just more open-minded back then, but I seem to remember it being perfectly OK to simultaneously appreciate both gangsta rap and the more conscious, Afrocentric hip-hop that was coming out around the same time. Acts like Public Enemy, Brand Nubian, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Paris & X-Clan were all extremely influential to me in my formative years, guiding me to research African & African-American history.
That was one of the things about hip-hop music that I loved during my childhood that has almost completely been eradicated… a sense of pride in the music. Not even necessarily pride in one’s race or nationality, but in the worth of the personal being. In 2009, the “pride” that we see in hip-hop music is centered around cars, medallions, women… all the things KRS-One warned us about in “Love’s Gonna Get’cha”. There’s no longer a sense of self-worth unless that worth is derived from material possessions. Allow this mentality to thrive and soon you’re left with…
This kid standing so close to anything with the words "hip-hop" on it is a travesty.
Although I’m a proud Cali native, I place the blame for hip-hop’s demise squarely on the West Coast. The beginning of the end of the golden era even has a date: December 15th, 1992, the day Dr. Dre’s The Chronic dropped. The incredible amount of attention that the album received, combined with the commercial success, all but did away with the positive & progressive-thinking hip-hop that had been so prevalent. Gone were the African medallions and thought-provoking lyrics, and in were the stories of drive-by shootings, promiscuous sex, misogyny & illicit drug use and/or selling. In the interest of full disclosure, I seriously LOVE this album… but I saw it as the Yang to A Tribe Called Quest’s Yin, not a dominant force that would take over the game, nor was I rooting for it to do so. The East Coast’s response was not only to match the violence and misogyny of the West, but to do it in a flashier, even more marketable manner. After the East Coast dominated the scene for nearly decade with sample-heavy & complex production schemes, the South surged into the scene in the late 90s with simple lyrics & even simpler beats. The only things that remained the same were the materialism, violence, and negativity towards women.
If this is the definition of "real", point me to where "fake" is. Thanks!
The “golden era” of hip-hop is called that for a reason… the music was raw, the lyrics were honest, the performers were hungry… some metaphorically, some literally, some both. Despite some of the subject matter, there was a sort of innocence to hip-hop in the 1980s that was a direct result of its infancy. We talk about mainstream vs. underground hip-hop these days… In the 80s, nearly ALL hip-hop was underground because it had nowhere else to be. Now that hip-hop IS the mainstream, the “old head” is quickly becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. The hip-hop fan of days past looks at the successful hip-hop of 2009 with both appreciation & disdain. We don’t dislike the new music simply because it’s new, we dislike it because it has strayed so far from what hip-hop was & in my opinion, is meant to be. Yes, I’m thrilled that hip-hop, as a genre has succeeded beyond anything I thought was possible when I was younger. But as a fan of not just the music, but the culture behind it, I lament that the success comes at the price of hip-hop’s soul.
“But Sam,” you say, “you run a hip-hop related blog… and it covers current artists!”… And you’re right. There is plenty of good hip-hop music in 2009, if you do your research and dig for it. Just to name a few, Tanya Morgan, Blu, TiRon, Brother Ali, Writtenhouse, Hustle Simmons are all among my favorites. But the culture of hip-hop, the culture that at one point was focused on uplifting entire communities of people, won’t improve until one of two things happens: either these kinds of artists achieve some sort of commercial success that doesn’t involve them blending entirely into the mainstream, or hip-hop dies out of the mainstream altogether and goes back to being a purely underground form of entertainment. Would the death of hip-hop as a commodity save its soul as a culture? Once you take the prospect of wealth out of the game, you’ll get rid of the players for whom wealth is the only goal.
…so what say you, o readers of bluntedonreality.com? What’s your personal experience with hip-hop? What do you think of the current state & the potential outcomes of the music & culture? Let’s build!
Hip-Hop: My Retrospect | blunted on reality « CelebrityTwitterGossip.com
Oct 7th, 2009
[...] Hip-Hop: My Retrospect [...]
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
DANJ!
Oct 7th, 2009
Aight… so you knew I was gonna weigh in on this here. We were both born in ‘79, and like you, I’ve also linked my birth to the birth of recorded hip-hop music, haha.
On one side, I def. agree with you. On some other points, I don’t. Lemme explain- I agree with just about all you said. I was the same way, being brought up listening to all kinds of music and even liking the oldies- my mother is a Motown stan for real. I enjoyed the Native Tongue side of hip-hop, as well as the gangsta side, and the braggadocio side, and even some of what was the “commercial” side. I pretty much was a fan of every part of the spectrum for a long time- so I tend not to agree w/ the part about ‘The Chronic’. I mean yeah, it definitely did its part to change the tone and direction of the music. And it def. got to a point where materialism and all that comes with it dominated.
But I didn’t really have a problem with it. For me, it was OK to listen to Puffy AND The Roots. It was cool to listen to Jay-Z AND Mos Def. I liked them both for different reasons. I know there’s a lot of people on both sides of that coin who may not feel that way, but I’ve always been like that. I appreciated that hip-hop can go allll the way in one direction, and go allll the way in another.
It only becomes a problem to me when it’s like it is NOW. Back in the late-90s everybody thought it was the end of the world… but I think they failed to realize that even then, we were still able to cut on Rap City and see a KRS video just as easily as we could see Lil’ Kim. Even if that wasn’t the most popular shit, they still had that outlet to be played along with the popular shit, and we could make our choices as to what we liked. Now it’s to a point where a lot of listeners (and artists) don’t give a shit about diversity, or lyrics, or originality, or… any damn thing, it seems like. I just had a dude tell me Gucci Mane was ‘killin’ it’ right now. Really? As someone who grew up seeing Snoop’s popularity growing, then Biggie’s, then Jay’s, even DMX’s, anticipating their albums on the strength of their guest appearances… and now someone’s telling me it’s all about Gucci Mane?
It’s just really hard to dedicate myself to the music as a whole. I like certain artists and certain songs- but it’s def. not the same feeling I had back when I loved the WHOLE genre/culture that respected itself and its history. But like you said, I remain committed anyway- because when it comes down to it, it’s always gonna be my favorite music ever. What am I gonna do, decide at age 29 that I wanna start listening to the Jonas Brothers? Of course not. If hip-hop ever gets so bad I wanna totally leave it alone, I got a GANG of music from the last 25 years that says I won’t.
-D! (my bad, I wrote a whole blog inside your blog. It’s the God in me.)
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
4 
0
Tweets that mention Hip-Hop: My Retrospect | blunted on reality -- Topsy.com
Oct 7th, 2009
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Sam. Sam said: New Post! – Hip-Hop: My Retrospect – http://cli.gs/9NHDL [...]
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Knowledge
Oct 7th, 2009
First off, I was born 7 years after you guys. My introduction to hip-hop was Midnight Marauders and Enter The 36 Chambers. I loved all hip-hop until around 2000, when things went downhill. Now I listen to more underground and “old” music than anything else. I’m discovering old classics like The Art Of Storytelling, but still trying(mostly in vain) to find things that I like in the mainstream.
I’ve been saying for a minute that popular hip-hop is gonna collapse and then music will go back to the way it should be. That the only outcome I see happening. Sales are gonna plummet further, and the people only in hip-hop for money are gonna have to find another get-rich quick scheme. I await that day with fear and hope
Btw: I thought that people like Lupe and (early) Kanye could replace Tribe in that yin-yang situation you spoke of, but that won’t be possible if people don’t accept what that position means. I’m tired of people complaining that alternative artists don’t have the sales of Wayne. They’re not supposed to! So they need to get over it.
Like or Dislike:
3 
0
Sam
Oct 7th, 2009
Danj, I feel you. I had a conversation the other day about Jadakiss. I’m pretty neutral about ‘kiss. I think he’s ok, but certainly not one of the best MCs of our day. Someone said how they thought Jada was this tremendous lyricist, and it struck a nerve with me. Simply because he’s one of the best worst MCs out, that doesn’t make him GOOD. Just because he can form a couple of lines in a rhythmic pattern with words that sort of make sense, he’s no poet laureate.
…and that’s the problem with where we’re at right now. Once the quality of the overall product is degraded to a certain level, the best of the bad are considered the good. It’s complacency at its finest. If people actually gave a damn about lyrics, we wouldn’t have to hear about Gucci, because he’d still be selling CDs out of his trunk.
Listening to hip-hop music in 2009 is like having a brainiac child who you love dearly, but who keeps bringing home failing grades. You love them, you know what they’re capable of, but you get frustrated that they’re not taking advantage of their talents.
Like or Dislike:
3 
0
Nova Sarjent
Mar 15th, 2010
[...]
Hip-Hop: My Retrospect | blunted on reality – http://www.bluntedonreality.com/2009/10/07/hip-hop-my-retrospect/ – http://www.GetShawty.com [...]
Like or Dislike:
0 
0