RHH: Do the "Hip Hop is dead" brigade have it twisted?
Simply because...(and correct me on this, I'm no hip hop historian).
Hip hop was initially turntablism and breaking...But people make out like the first and second waves of MC's were super lyrical and had nothing but socially and politically charged lyrics.
To me..That's like saying Rock and Roll started with Progressive Rock or that Jazz started with Free Jazz..
Lastly...Is it me or do the majority of the "Bring Back The 90's!" brigade seem like they weren't even alive in hip hop's "Golden Age".?
Where do hip hop's roots stem from (TO YOU)? and what type of hip hop best represents the genre?
Let’s look at in simple terms…Take Special Ed at the height of his career…The Youngest in Charge was created when he was just 16 years old and that album catapulted him in on to TV and heavy radio play back in the day…His message wasn’t one of anything we haven’t heard before (i.e. Lil Wayne) and what I seem to find most interesting is the only real difference between the Special Ed’s or our world and every lil’ Wayne type has more to do with money…I’m almost certain Mr. Ed (and not the horse of course) didn’t make nearly the amount of money Wayne has so far and Wayne is by far a bigger and maybe even household name than Edward would have ever been… All in all hip-hop begins were you began with it…like any good relationship…mines just happens to be at almost the beginning of it all (at least state side) What best represents hip-hop is anything that is progressively moving forward just like with any other art form
Yes. When hip hop first started, it was turntable-ism and breaking. It was a whole new form of creative expression, a totally new and undiscovered branch of music. Everyone knows that. I think that once people grew more familiar with it and more comfortable with it, it evolved into something different. That’s where the politically charged lyrics came from. Once people knew EXACTLY what hip hop was, that’s when they decided to change the game up.
Now, I miss 80s and 90s hip hop because, to me, that really spoke to my soul. I got it, I understood it, and I embraced it. I miss that. I appreciate all of the hip hop pioneers like Nas and A Tribe Called Quest, Digable Planets, Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth…I could go on and on, but I really love what they’ve done. It’s amazing.
I hate this crap they’ve got now with hip hop. It’s totally gone downhill and I hate it. No one knows how to rhyme anymore, there’s no feeling, no real message, no true significance. I’ll only lend my ear to a select few, like Common and Lupe Fiasco, because their music is the only music that makes sense and works for me.
I miss when hip hop wasn’t all about the business. I want that to come back. So for the time being, hip hop is dead. I’m just waiting for the resurrection.
You know I agree. So many people talk about how they only like "lyrical" hip hop, but they listen to rappers who really aren’t all that lyrical. That’s not a diss to those rappers - artists like Run DMC and KRS-One are some of the all time greats and they deserve the love they get, but the truth is, they use pretty basic rhyme schemes and aren’t really big on wordplay.
Hip hop was never originally about lyricism. It was about the break beat, the b-boy and partying at its inception. So actually, club bangers with a great beat to dance to and turntablism are the two types that best reflect the roots of hip hop as music.
People seem to have selective memories about the old school or seem to think that hip hop started when Sugar Hill Gang dropped Rappers Delight or Grandmaster Flash dropped The Message (btw, neither of these songs were written by the artists who performed them. Watch a "I hate everything new in hip hop" type tear a track released now to shreds for doing the same thing).
Hip hop has elements. It’s not just about rapping. And "lyrical" rap seems to basically cover everything that isn’t Lil Wayne or Soulja Boy in some people’s eyes.
Hip hop at its inception was about partying and having fun. Of course it evolved into different things, all art does. But that was what it was about at the start.
I agree. There was nothing impressive about 70’s- early 80’s hip hop lyrics, but they’ll always make it out that way… and they always use "The Message" as their number one argument.– I don’t see a problem with it at all, but I honestly don’t understand why there’s such a big stress put on being "Socially Conscious and Political"… people wantin education from entertainment, but education from entertainment lol, don’t understand
EDIT: I fell away from the actual question, yeah alot of the people weren’t even born, and i take hip hop for all it brings… so i can’t say one type best represents it cuz that infers that it all should be that way.
and im gonna put it out there like this, i dont think the old stuff was really all that good. it was new, they led the way for other rappers, ya ya ya, but you’re right, early hip hop wasnt exactly anything to write home about.
i say, specifically about rapping, its about fun and dissing each other and being aggressive. people want rappers to rap about rainbows and sunshine. i like rappers with great voices, funny lyrics, good beats, and i think that’s good hip hop. it doesnt have to be introspective and deep to be good, but it can be that too.
well its like talking about human evolution according to Darwin.
Think of it like this ( I over simplified and exaggerated everything )
monkeys ( 70’s 80’s hiphop )
Current humans ( 90’s hiphop )
BETTER humans ( underground hip hop right now )
monkeys ( 00’s hip hop… Lil wayne…soulja boy , florida and such )
Your suppose to go forward not backwards
hell yea good question… cause its 100% true. the rap of today is just different. but there are still alot of rappers that are very good and creative about what they say and feel. old people dont like it cause its different…. if pac was still alive no one would be sayin anything about it.
hip hop isn’t dead, but the living part is underground. it’s not that early rappers were lyrically inventive, that didn’t come until the 90s, but they did begin hip hop by being original, something that mainstream mc’s today are not…with the advances in technology and the ability to study precedents that we have today, there’s no reason that current mc’s shouldn’t be able to make something original and intelligent…i think lupe fiasco is the manifestation of the genre’s potential today…original beats, ill flow, lyrics that make you think, or paint a picture in your mind…you can save shit to dance to to the mainstream, but hip hop is its most vital in lyricists
To an extent I agree. I dont think soically aware rap defines Hip Hop, cuz that form of hip hop didnt get big until later in the 80’s.
But….
I think it is mostly old heads that miss the EPMD, RAkim & Eric B, NaS, Gernimo, BiG, etc that say that "Hip Hop is dead" & want a movement back to the late 80’s & 90’s type of Rap.
During hip hop golden era I was listening and buying CDs & havin debates on whos better etc. I now hear the young heads mostly in my neck of da woods, ride wit Wayne or even Rich Boi when he was hot. (Sad state of events)
I think hip-hop roots stem from the community with heavy emphasis on competion. Competition cuz everyone wanted to be the best/most respected. Hip hop wasnt based on who could tell the biggest lie (Ex Rick Ross being a Big Time dope guy gettin dope of the docks) Everyone lied to a degree, but it wasn’t as rampant as today. What happening to realistic hood tales.
Ex -
Pac never claim to be the biggest killa in the world.
Big whole swag wasn’t some legnedary dope dealer.
Now everyone is biggest dope dealer since Norega got locked up or the hardest guy walking with 10 toes on the streets. It’s absurd….
As Joe budden said "If everybody Thug, where are all the punks"… Everyone today is "Hard" or a dope dealer. Even the guys makin dance music try to be thugs.
The Last Poets were one of the major influences on hip hop and they had TONS of meaning to their work…it depends if you call them hip hop tho