Hip Hop is NOT Dead. Never Truly Was.
Putting an age-old argument to rest
Some of you may have read that title and thought 'are we honestly still arguing about this in 2012? I thought that was over.'
I thought the same thing until I saw comments on youtube about it.
On numerous occasions, I have YouTube'd old rap videos from the 90's, and many comments posted are pretty similar.
To those who YouTube old school hip-hop vids from time to time, tell me if this sounds familiar:
Man, I miss the 90's. M.C.'s were real back then. Not like today's artists. They're garbage! "R.I.P. to the real shiznit."
I'm sick and tired of people telling each other that hip-hop is dead. I believe that when people say a culture is dead, what they mean is, it's not popular anymore; it's old.
Here's a question: When a culture or trend becomes "old," is it safe to assume that it's dead?
Fact is, people have been saying that hip-hop is dead for years, even BEFORE the 1990's(!!!)
That's right. Hip-hop journalist Jeff Chang cites the late 1970's as "The First Death of Hip-Hop." During this time in the Bronx, NY (the birthplace of hip-hop), kids who had grown up on hip-hop of the early 70's had become tired of it. These kids were finishing high-school, saying that they had out grown hip-hop, and that they didn't need it anymore...it was a kids' game.
Despite this, hip hop was just getting started, and lived on throughout the 70's and 80's. 1988 is still considered one of the BEST years in hip hop, and marked as the beginning of hip-hop's 'Golden Age.'
Fast forward to 1994 and, once again, people are skeptical about hip-hop truly being alive. Common's 'I Used to Love Her' is a prime example of this. In the song, he personifies hip-hop as a girl he used to know and love. This girl changed throughout the years, and eventually became unrecognizable and undesirable, due to her cross-over into the commercial world. While Common doesn't literally say that hip-hop is dead, he DOES suggest that the hip-hop he had once loved had been lost; that it's as GOOD as dead.
In other words, the time period in hip hop that so many of us hip-hop heads seem to be craving today was being forsaken by people DURING that period. A common complaint I have heard about hip-hop throughout my life is that rap has become too gangsta, too negative, or just isn't well thought out in terms of lyricism. Others say hip hop is dead because people are only in it now for money, and not for the sake of making something new, creative, and thought-provoking...and I am certainly NOT the first blogger to mention the lack-of-creativity argument.
Remember this, folks: Hip-hop is an open door; an open door to creative instrumentalism, creative poetry, creative dance, creative art. People are going to do with hip-hop what they please. Some will do it for the fun of it, some will do it for commercial success. Every one of us has a choice of how we use hip-hop, if at all. No matter how many people claim that it's dead, there is enough evidence to prove that there are people who still approach hip-hop with a certain ethic: be honest, be yourself, and push for what you believe in. That's hip-hop's original philosophy; THAT'S what keeps it alive There are many rappers today who still push for those ethics. Perhaps not so much on the radio, but all you have to do is do some digging on the internet. (I'll be coming at you with some examples of that in future posts).
Those who are passionate enough about hip hop, will find a way to keep it alive. There's always gonna be some posers, sucka mc's, wack d.j.'s, etc. As long as there is at least one person with the fervor to do right in hip hop and by hip hop, it's alive.
Bottom line: STOP LYING ABOUT HIP HOP BEING DEAD!
Peace.
Bottom line: STOP LYING ABOUT HIP HOP BEING DEAD!
Peace.
