Ox Rant: Now it's Hip Hop's turn to die

Word. That was a very hot post. My rant is in response to the Who sold the Soul and Is Hip hop dead post on ATF. I think the irony is that with Nas's Hip Hop is Dead album, Nas proved just that by putting together a poorly done hip hop album. Don't shoot me, but I listened to the whole album it's just okay. Weak beats and lack luster lyrics. For an album that is supposed to make a statement, he cemented the fact that hip hop is dead. There were some highlights, especially the song with all the heads from back in the day rhyming on the joint. Don't get me wrong, the content in many of the songs is good, but this should of been another ground breaking album for Nas. I really like the album before this one.

Maybe this is the evolution of every movement. Marxism, Rock (now known as Classic Rock), Civil Rights, Suffrage, etc. I think one of the biggest events that destroyed hip hop as we know it is the "com-modifying" of hip hop by corporations as if it were some widget being sold out of plant driven by assembly line . Please refer to these post:

Who sold the Soul?
http://allthangsfunky.blogspot.com/2007/02/who-sold-soul.html

Slave to Fashion Dominatrix to Prices
DominaTrix to Fashion

Can't Truss it
http://allthangsfunky.blogspot.com/2005_03_20_archive.html

I saw the PBS special and it was good, but many of the conditions that have turned hip hop in some type of corporate Frankenstein project are elements that have existed in this country for years. Now it's hip hop's turn to be exploited, abused, and run into the ground for profit. One thing that was mentioned throughout the documentary is this obsession and exploitation of black masculinity. Now Jadikiss stated, as many others in the past that "After 700,000 it's all white". In the context of his comment he basically saying non-black, Now you have to ask yourself, why would non-black suburban males and females or some kat in another country be interested in only hearing music where young black males talk about killing one another, treating other black women and other women of color like sluts, parading around with jewelry and cars they clearly can't afford, and injecting so much ultra-violence into their music that it would make Alex and his crew of goons from Clockwork Orange blush? I'm not talking about the goldern era of hip hop. I'm talking about the beginning of what I call the Puffy Era. aka Hip Pop era which has been going on since I graduated from highschool (1994).

So now we have moved from bboying, djing, emceeing, graffiti, and knowledge to the new platform of hip hop which has now become, gangsterism, materialism, drug and alcohol addiction, chauvinism, and hyper-sexuality I have to wonder how did it get to this point? Actually a very interesting interview on Wise Intelligent appeared on Black Electorate.com that clearly describes how the transformation of hip hop went from a diverse array of Afrikan and international inspired music to pop gangsterism hyper-sexualized synthesized nuevo funk.

Q & A With Wise Intelligent of Poor Righteous Teachers by Cedric Muhammed
http://www.blackelectorate.com/articles.asp?ID=1371

In order to widen the demographic of hip hop; the content, production and people who controlled the music had to change. For the corporation, the cultural fallout of black men and women degrading themselves and reinforcing negative stereotypes, not to mention brainwashing other young men and women is a small price to pay when they are raking in billions and billions of dollars. This whole myth that "Oh it's just music" is bullshit. If 50 Cent said he was running for Senate, every teen (as well as many adults) would be out there voting for him. And if anyone wants to deny the power of entertainment influencing the public and creating a proper political platform for individuals with no type of experience, not to mention ethics, I have two words for you. "The Governator".

J-zones article was perfect but I think those are 5 reactions to hip hop becoming a widget in a factory line. As the competitive space changes it's shape and form, artists had to find new ways to survive hence narrowing their creative expression (lack of fun) and creating posses and cliques (brand name). All bi-products of corporatizing of hip hop. The Internet has not only killed hip hop, it killed every other genre of music too. As in any product, the product with the brand name always wins out against a product that the public cannot identify or connect with. With corporations creating new barriers of entry the artists were forced to change their approach to the music. As much as I would like to executive Ying Yang Twins and D4L or Lloyd Stanks, I mean Banks, I can understand that they are just cogs in the corporate wheel trying to get a buck and feed their family. Those checks take family members out of the hood and offer a better opportunity for their homies. I just think the cultural fallout is now at a epidemic level. It's like the US sending a bomb that blows up half the planet to kill 2000 people. So the couple thousand folks (artists, producers, etc) are eating off of hip hop only to brainwash millions of other folks. How much sense does this make? So now what hip hop has become a plutocracy or oligarchy, what do the other 90% of hip hoppers do? This is not the direction that hip hop was intended to go. It was an element that was supposed to uplift the forgotten souls of the urban masses. A great book that goes into the cultural specifics of hip hop's origin is a book called Black Noise by Tricia Rose.

At this point, all I can do is support those artists that keep hip hop as a true artform and continue mentoring the youth. At this present moment we are really turning back the hands of time for young minority youth in this country with the chamber of hip hop that is being promoted today. Trust me, I'm out there everyday and this music is an intoxicant for their very young and impressionable minds. When I was in highschool I dressed the same way as the youth today. I had my hat on backwards, my tims (40 belows) unlaced, my jeans baggy as f*ck looking like a took a dump in my pants. I had designs cut into my eye brows and hair. I remember one day I had on my timberaland hat, with my timberland sweater, tims on, and the timberland logo carved into the back of my head. And I got so much props for it, you would have thought I just bought all my friend lexuses. The biggest difference it was just one of many chambers of my personal self-expression. The next day I would have a tie on with a white shirt on with jeans and my suede shoes and breifcase and all the time focused on my education which today's youth is not. At thiis present moment the youth are unable to detach fantasy and self-expression from reality. I know I'm now bleeding into another area which is parenting, values, and morals in this country but the music is adding fuel to the fire. Maybe not so much (I really don't know) for non-black and spanish youth, but straight up, it's just re-attaching the fetters for black and spanish youth. Now the fetters are mental.

I have yet to see the CNN special on Hip Hop: Is it Art or Poison, but I heard it was really good.

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/outintheopen/

I'm going to see if I can find a youtube or torrent for that joint.

Remember what De La said...Stakes is High. This song was done in 1996 and more than 10 years later these millenium Man Tan rap kats are still talking about the same shit!
Stakes is High

ox.out