An article that I most definitely agree with [via Negro Please]. Much of rap right now is a farce. I don't even take seriously what I'm hearing most of the time -- and I suppose that's part of the problem. I dance around to "Get Low" or quote "Get Down (Like A Pimp)" on my away messages, maybe even watch the videos if I catch them. But is enjoying it as mindless entertainment implicating myself? The last rap albums I bought were God's Son and a Source mag compiliation from 2001, both discounted. Truthfully, I can't stand listening to most of what's all over my radio. If I think about the lyrics too much, I get annoyed. Like everyone's favorite "nice" song, Fabolous's "Can't Let You Go." That shit pissed me off. But, I've been annoyed with those "sensitive thug" songs since "Let's Get Married" of the "We ain't get no younger, so we might as well do it" line. Then again, what does my opinion matter really? I'm a black woman. It's not exactly speaking to me anyways. Who is the music really speaking to is the question indeed. He thinks that it's speaking to those who want the excitement of ghetto warzone imagery for various reasons -- the corporations strengthening their bottom line, white kids playacting at "thug life," disenfranchised urban youth who hear their stories in the music (a view he shares). I get annoyed with articles like this one that are so essentialist, especially since his conclusionary line is such a crock. It's knee-jerk generational gap garbage. I'm sure he would've protested to the death if someone said that about the soul music of Motown and Stax at the time.
But, rap and hip-hop is a multifaceted thing. It may have begun in the ghettos as a party soundtrack that developed into a voice, but it's an international movement. I'm never going to forget being in Senegal and having the kids ask me if I had any Biggie or Tupac or bonding crossculturally with French kids that barely spoke English over Nas. I don't know what to do about what's out now as a creative person or a consumer. I've made a conscious decision to have this music in a way represent me, but I totally invoke the right to be critical. A lot of the lyrical content doesn't move me because it tells me that I don't matter. Black women stand in the space of the exploited and the accused too much in the music for me to be comfortable, but that's a reflection of the fucked up mindset that is being taught in a lot of communities. Is it too much to ask for something crunk yet progressive in hip-hop for a change?
A song that I still love to this day is "Fear Not of Man" because of this lyric:
Listen.. people be askin me all the time,Posted by Candicissima at September 11, 2003 12:05 AM
"Yo Mos, what's gettin ready to happen with Hip-Hop?"
(Where do you think Hip-Hop is goin?)
I tell em, "You know what's gonna happen with Hip-Hop?
Whatever's happening with us"
If we smoked out, Hip-Hop is gonna be smoked out
If we doin alright, Hip-Hop is gonna be doin alright
People talk about Hip-Hop like it's some giant livin in the hillside
comin down to visit the townspeople
We +are+ Hip-Hop
Me, you, everybody, we are Hip-Hop
So Hip-Hop is goin where we goin
So the next time you ask yourself where Hip-Hop is goin
ask yourself.. where am I goin? How am I doin?
Til you get a clear idea
So.. if Hip-Hop is about the people
and the.. Hip-Hop won't get better until the people get better
then how do people get better? (Hmmmm...)
Well, from my understanding people get better
when they start to understand that, they are valuable
And they not valuable because they got a whole lot of money
or cause somebody, think they sexy
but they valuable caause they been created by God
And God, makes you valuable
And whether or not you, recognize that value is one thing