That was hip hop. No, that is hip hop. And that's
what so many of us fell in love with. Real hip hop. Lines and phrases that made us shake our heads and wonder how they came up with that stuff. And when other MC's heard a rhyme like the one above from Rakim they didn't load up ther guns and go looking for him. No they sat down and tried to come up with something just as or more creative.I'm forced to reminisce about when the "hardest" rapper was L.L. Cool J talking about pushing a muscle bound man's face in the sand. And you know what? That was fine with me. I don't care to hear your tales of shooting your fellow drug dealers, people hating on you, or the innocent bystanders. Especially when you base your life experiences on movies.
A rapper by the name of Big Hawk was killed in Houston this weekend as well as a member of T.I.'s entourage. Simply put, it's stupid. You characters are making Bill O'reilly look like he has a valid point in saying that hip hop should be banned from the Earth.
Hip hop and I have evolved together overtime. In the eighties I was just a youngster and hip hop was for the most part all about fun just like me. In the early nineties I began to become more introspective right before I hit my wild streak and sold drugs and carried guns. My musical taste back then went from Arrested Development to Outkast to Pac to Biggie and back to Pac with a few others in between. After getting shot at a few times wasn't as cool as it sounded on my favorite songs I started focusing more on making money the legal way and became a Jay-Z fan.
But now hip hop and I are at an impass. It seems to be digressing as I keep progressing. It's starting to sound like a bunch of noise to me. Isn't Lean wit it, Rock wit it and Bethca Can't do it Like Me the same song? I am embarrassed mand disgusted when I'm with my nieces and nephews and Shawnna's Gettin' Some Head come on the radio...and they know the words! I feel like pulling hip hop to the side and say "I love you but I'm not in love with you." "We still have a shot but you gotta work on some things."
I don't know. Maybe I'm just getting old. Maybe I'll be that dude yelling at my neighbors to turn the racket off. And throwing things at the neighborhood children while yelling "Hey you kids! Get off my lawn!
Or maybe, just maybe it's time for hip hop to grow up.
51 comments:
i agree, though i don't dabble hard into hip hop, i can so understand what you are saying the message and reasoning for hip hop has died and reincarnated into a plain flat out shame...well thought out and expressed post D!
it's time for it to grow up.. occasional "lean wit it, rock wit it"'s are ok.. cause sometimes.. you need something to wile out to.. but i'm in love w/ jay-z.. not like beyonce is.. but he's GREAT!
LIfe is imitating art way too much.........
When will the madness stop....
GOod afternoon Fam
hey girl how are you..
Good afternoon Missy.
I like the notion of battling it out with lyrics instead of guns, although some lyrics I've heard are about as deep as elementary school limericks. I remember seeing a video wherein one guy bragged about how great he was by saying "I am real talent-ed, yeah, you know I'm gif-ted." That got a lot of us to laughing and launched several amateur impressions. "My dishes got dir-ty; I bought some cas-cade."
Thank Lucifer that punk rock and death metal are above reproach. They're going to be popular forever.
i absolutely love this post, d.
i agree with you on your points, but i'll say this...good hip-hop, the kind that grows with the listener, is still out there. as a fan, you just gonna have to buckle down and start looking, cuz it won't be on popular radio.
check out asheru and the unspoken heard. check out little brother. both are da bomb.
so maybe it's not that you've outgrown hip-hop overall, cuz hip-hop is a family. you've outgrown one branch of it. unfortunately, it just so happens to be the most popular branch.
Shawnna's Gettin Some Head...is that a for real song!? wow... never was really into hip hop but if they makin crap like that, wow!!! i like old school R&B better than the mess the play now though... i guess its the same with hip hop.
Grant a lot of the hip hop thats popular now do have those nursery rhyme lyrics and it's boring and pitiful. Punk rock and death metal still exist??? News to me.
Yeah Nikki I love Little Brother and Talib Kweli and a few others. I just wish I could hear that on the radio ya know?
Kool unfortunately that is a real song
it's all about your niche man -- music as a whole is probably BETTER off then it was back then, considering the number of artists has probably tripled.
However, just like with anything society tends to highlight the bad and not appreciate the good.
I feel confident that I can name a tight hip-hop artist (tight meaning good lyrics, good music etc)for every 2 bad ones.
And in pop music (that's what hip-hop on the radio is, pop music) that's not a bad ratio at all.
And good music really has NEVER been played on the radio, I'm sure, at the time, people back in the 70's were complaining about hearing the stylistics because they were just like everything else.
Now we like die to try and get that kind of music.
I think it's all about perspective...
d - you ain't gonna hear it on the radio so get over it. LOL
for real though...the radio says it plays what the public wants to hear. meanwhile, the public starts craving a song after first hearing it on the radio, so it's a cop out by the radio. they know they could do a better job of exposing the masses to various kinds of hip-hop. they choose not to.
in the meanwhile, you're gonna just have to keep digging through the crates, luv. now go get asheru RIGHT NOW. lol
oh, and another source for finding some great unknown hip-hop is through checking out the independent hip-hop fests making their way through your town.
I grew up on hip hop and have to admit that I just can't get with shaking my Laffy Taffy or some of the other dumb songs that are out now. Although that song 'Getting Some' by Shawnna is kind of stupid, the hook is a sample from a Too $hort song, but I don't know how old it is.
That's an idea for you D, start a REAL hip hop radio station.
D getting all Brownsugar on us!!!
Whoa I jetted for a second and yall hit me hard.
Rell- I agree with you to a certian extint.
Nik- I'm looking for the Asheru stuff right now!
SistaGirl- I know Jay could talk about more relevant stuff but...Ok you're right.
Laa- Great idea! I'm glad I thought of it!
likewise King...i was like...dang it's moving slow over here...so I went back to check up on my comments and came back periodically and was like double dang, people are showing up left and right...lol
HI Y'ALL
d...hit me up reg style. got ?
I wanna see everybody
Lean with it, rock with it
No Missy, NO!
lol at Missy...
Make em fingers POP........Is this the only case where its okay for a grown assed man to SNAP and POP his fingers?
Snapping and popping to rap music is wack.
D can you dance?
I can dance but I stopped sure dancing about 5 years ago.
D does the 2 step..
D does the 2 step..
lol u r right missy
I'm way too cool to dance.
you gotta be buzzed to dance D?
way too cool...i.e. can't dance
I gotta be DRUNK to dance. I'm still in cool mode when I'm buzzing.
well i was gonna say drunk...
I guess it's easier for women to dance, cause all we gotta do is look cute. But I do have to have something to drink before I can dance too.
i love to dance...i'm a dance dance dancing machine watch me get down
Yeah I usually just have a drink in my hand and I might sway back and forth while deciding who's going to be the lucky girl for the evening.
oh lord!
Ooooh, pick me...pick me!!!!!
SIKE!!!!!!!!!
You ain't funny Laa!!!
haha that was a good one Laa!!!
Thanks Walter!!! Everybody call right now!!!
shoot lemme holla at the PhD in two weeks...WTF...i can see it now errbody in the hood is going to be a doctor of something
Is everyone dialing??? Come on guys, you owe it to your future!!!
rrrrriiigggghhhhtttt!!! and the first job interview you go on and whip that out at will having everybody in the office cracking up and laughing at you...
see.. i knew that blog spammers still exist!
lol @ TTD
Great post!
The death of "Scott La Roc" set the stage for what was to come. "Scott La Roc had um all!!! He was that supa hoe"...and that was when life was good...great rhymes over tight beats.
Yup it WAS Brown Suga!!!
D - it's ok.. I need to be drunk to dance too.. but i dont need anyone to dance w/.. i can "do it all by myself" you can deny that song dont have you wanting to lean wit it, rock wit it!
i haven't danced at a club in years!!!! but i would have to be drunk too. i can caount on 2 hands how many times i've been to a club my whole life. but we used to kick it at college parties!!!
i just thought of something... the parties is the only thing i miss about college...sad huh?
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