I'll say right up front that I am probably the least 'qualified' person on this board to discuss hip hop - but I am interested in people and what they have to say. For that reason, my choice in music is usually lyrics-driven. So that's where I'm 'coming from'. Hip hop has lots to say... some of it profound, some of it crap.... like most music and most people, conscious or otherwise.
Apologies in advance if this becomes a rant, but I wanted keep this thread going and respond to what has been excellent reading so far. I've paraphrased dipped into Patrick Neate's book (author of Where You're At...) because he raises some interesting concepts and questions. I've also thrown in my own questions and concerns along the way. I guess I should also fess up that I'm in the 40+ age group. Not sure if that qualifies me as a granny or a great granny, lol?
Has hip hop been hijacked by the mainstream "culture"? Undoubtedly!
Should hip hop be held accountable?
Does hip hop currently honour it's tradition (or legacy) as a conscious political voice? Why should it?
It hip hop local or global or 'glocal'?
The only absolute is that it's a hip hop planet!
Hip hop is undoubtedly African American in origin. However, if a group of kids thousands of miles from each other geographically, mentally and ethnically have nothing in common, except hip hop... is that such a bad thing?
To some people hip hop is just about adopting a sense of 'cool'. While that may smack of style without substance, in a country such as Japan - a society built on qualifications and conformity - choosing to dress a certain way might not be a form of social debate, but it's a start.
Hip hop has enormous "cultural capital". It this cultural capital that has been hijacked by companies and needs to be reclaimed. I quote: "Companies send 'cool hunters' to the basketball courts of Brooklyn and the Bronx in search of the latest 'black cool'." As Patrick N poignantly points out, "..the players on those courts have more cultural capital than anybody on earth... and less power than anybody on earth".
While some argue that the triumphs of the civil rights movement have actually seen a slip back to the negative stereotypes of an earlier era. Some people argue that hip hop plays a lead role in the promotion of these caricatures. But what is hip hop?
What is good music?
Is hip hop about representing yourself - keeping it real?
Art... or social commentary?
The global reach and form of hip hop does lead people to seek out more information.
Undeniably hip hop has become a brand signifier, but it also is/has a living, breathing underground culture, producing obscure records from one-man/woman independent labels and give a local voice and identity to countless 'conscious' hip hop heads. And unlike other music forms of the past technology has given hip hop the tools to create and transform music and identity and to travel around the globe via the internet. Independent artists are now empowered to have their own website and distribute their music and their voice via audio downloads. To think that hip hop has reached it's full potential is naive to say the least.
A person's musical and cultural 'diet' is only ever diverse IF they choose to seek it out. And now that is easier than it ever was.
Interestingly, in his travels to seek out hip hop around the globe, Neate notes..."In New York (he found) mainstream and hip hop culture frequently indistinguishable" and "depressing"... "as hip hop seemed only to further alienate the very people who once used the form to express their alienation". But in Africa he found the opposite, rhetoric about the potential of hip hop and "the scent of possibility".
It's interesting also to read in Neate's dialog with local youth in South Africa's Cape Town Flats that, in the last hard days of apartheid... "to be honest, we couldn't understand what these American rappers were talking about, being black and conscious and African. They were over there so what did they know about Africa?"
But the upside was it made them curious enough to find out what was happening. "When NWA put of the track 'F--k the police' we could immediately identify with that because we were going through the same thing..."
There is discussion of positive vs. negative hip hop and how to build a hip hop culture in Africa. Similarly to African Americans, they are asking "Are record labels in the USA destroying the diversity, ideals and objectives of hi hop?"
That says to me that globally, as well as locally, there is serious dialog about hip hop as positive or negative.
What about any form of music as positive or negative, socially responsible or manufactured pop?
Perhaps the main difference of true hip hop as a musical style (whatever the message) is it is driven by the DOING rather than just the consumption. In any art form the 'authenticity' of the message is ultimately driven by the individual performing it. Any artist's 'identity' that relies solely of the credentials of a "Fuck you, I'm king' mentality is hollow whatever form of artistic expression it is. And hip hop certainly doesn't have a monopoly on that!
I believe today's hip hop should have some knowledge and understanding of 'what went before' but only on level.
Hip hop is about flexibility (not always a quality found in the over 40's) which is why it is such a successful medium. Not everyone will listen to the lyrics whether they are conscious or meaningless. People digest music on different levels. It has always been the case that the most popular and commercially successful holds little in the way of social consciousness... but there are always the minority of consumers who do 'get it' and will take the time to track down and appreciate music that has both musical integrity and/or a message of value or identity.
I also firmly believe that this generation has the right to say what they have to say the way they want to say it.
Today's music belongs to the generation creating it - nobody else. To me it's more important to concentrate on the possibilities of hip hop (and quality music in general) - the potential to use existing and build new networks than can support political and social 'struggles' and to tell 'local' stories globally.
I haven't yet touched on personal responses in this thread - I think I'll give you a break and save that for the my next post.
I'll close by paraphrasing Patrick Neate.. "we are coming to these things (issues) from very different angles. At least though, hip hop has given us the context in which to have the conversations".
