Jimster
Jimster
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Cruffiton.etsy.com
Joined
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TAKE THAT SHIT TO THE-BRITS.COM
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Black Sabbath 'Embryo'... WHERE DO I KNOW THIS FROM
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Article: the message; why should hip-hop have to teach us anything?
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what r u listen'n 2
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Article: the message; why should hip-hop have to teach us anything?
(Dons old white man hat)
Not sure if the article is distinguishing between hip-hop and rap like I do. I guess it's the music of an entire people, and therefore, as diverse as such. Some folks use the platform to preach, some just want to dance. It has no obligation to be one or the other. People get tired of being preached at. But they also get tired of being under the heel of a jackboot. What labels do you want to give these sentiments?
I personally see hip-hop and rap as two different things - now. They used to be the same, but now to me hip-hop is old-skool and has more of that og culture to it, and rap can be anything that isn't that. But I think both genres can be both conscious and vapid, and like the label "Rock and Roll", the "Rap" label has morphed into something way different than what the original label was applied to.
So... Wayyyy back... Wasn't rap around before hip-hop? I mean, Last Poets and Gil Scott-Heron were rap, before there was any hip-hop. Literally, in the sense of rapping as talking. That was rap when it was conscious and of the times. Which were times of profound political upheaval in the U.S. There was no hip-hop before rap. Then this was integrated with the grimy inner-city struggles of the 70s and evolved into the defacto music of the hip-hop scene. So now it was referred to as rap and hip-hop interchangeably. That was for me the only time when it was the same thing.
I think in The Golden Age there was a deliberate artistic distinction starting to be made between hip-hop and rap. Hip-hop wanted to stay more musical, serious and conscious whereas rap was about making money. Once the money was dangled, Puffy and Death Row lifestyles and such - that was when rap went pop and never came back. A lot of rap came from people with a background in hustling but no background in hip-hop. And so now hip-hop was a subset of rap.
And I don't think hip-hop will ever be as mainstream as rap, because there is so much money in rap. Pop people want to do business with rap. Jazz people want to do business with rap. Rap can be the pimping of butterflies or simply pop-with-face-tattoos. Both can't be called hip-hop though, right?
Kanye lost all credibility when he donned the red cap. The end, for my money. It's not like he was negotiating a better place for brown people. He seems to have forgotten what life is like for anyone not as rich as him and #45. Regardless of whether you are preachy or party, you can't sit down with the devil and join his fucking club. NEVER THAT, SON - Whether you are hip-hop or rap, let it teach you that one thing.
(Hah! I guess I need to keep the hat on all the time).







