Hip-Hop, a Culture or
a Genre?
When I was young and I would think of Hip-Hop many different
things would come to mind such as rap, bass, and gangsta. The generation before
me probably associated Hip-Hop with other things such as poverty, Dj’s, and
slick rhymes. Even though the characters
and characteristics changed the messages were still the same. First, it’s about
hope, by having hope even the most poverty stricken individual could break the
barriers of his or her surroundings. The next message was unity. Unity amongst
friends, unity amongst races, unity amongst gangsters, dancers, taggers, and
anybody else that wanted to be heard. The third message is perseverance in
which all things where possible. This belief enabled one to be able to say “
How you gonna tell me what I can and can’t do. The final but probably the most
important message was equality. This message I hope would be self-explanatory. These
reasons were the cause of Hip-Hop being branded a culture instead of just another
music genre. This brings up an interesting question. Does Hip-Hop still have
the right to be called a culture?
Modern day Hip-Hop artists while being better compensated
and more quick witted than their predecessors seem to be lacking culture.
Artists like Drake and 2-Chains have amazing sounding music that consists of
memorizing dynamics and a thunderous bass pattern, and more so Drake has an
ability to put words together in a way that soothes the ear. However, with
lyrics that ranges from money, clothes, girls, cars and clubs, one cant help
but notice that there are no messages in any of their music. They may tell you
how pretty you are, or even to forget what people say about you, but they offer
nothing for the soul. They do not promote unity as they will frequently tell
you how much better they are than you. They offer no hope and inform you of how
you should not have hope as they will crush your dreams cause they be stunting
like that. The only perseverance that they promote is self-perseverance. Final, why would they promote equality when
telling you how much you suck seems to sells so many albums?
What used to be a machine of positivity and a guide to
strength as to find positivity in all your negativity is simply nothing more
than a music-producing monster. This leads me to the reason for this blog. This
blog is a place for all hip-hop fans to have their opinion heard on whether or
not Hip-Hop is true to its origins and culture or simply another business
market to sell music.
