Thursday, July 20, 2006

Yeah I said it, some Hip Hop fans are stupid.

Unfortunately, as spontaneous a person as I like to think I am, my Internet surfing habits are as monotonous as Bill Murray's existence in the film "Groundhog Day". I log on, check my email, check myspace messages, then the next few minutes I go through an internal battle akin to an unemployed recovering alcoholic being offered a high paying gig driving a beer truck. Despite the fact that I have a lot of writing to do, a chance to put my time to good use and be productive, I find myself wasting valuable minutes perusing Internet smut sites trying to find some lovely young lady who doesn't mind getting filled out like an application in every hole imaginable as I "rub one out" to one of her latest video classics. It's sad, I know, but when I'm not practicing celibacy accidentally, I'm putting a bunch of women that I consider "B-Teamers" on the business end of my chubby pre-ejaculatory habits. So, I justify the hair on my palms and my extremely strong grip to the fact that I haven't fucked an "All Star" since the final days of the Clinton Administration. Yesterday was different though, I mean, I still inappropriately touched myself to a particular woman's small intestines being treated like a fucking pinata, but afterwards I stumbled on something pretty intesting that inspired this very post.

After I read a post from Phonte of Little Brother, one where despite knowing that the crowd he was playing for eagerly awaited other artist's who's CD covers I personally wouldn't wipe my ass with if I was stuck in the wilderness fecally losing weight and they just happened to be there for my disposal, he still was kind of taken aback by the crowd's non response to his groups brand of music. The piece didn't particularly read like an angry diatribe, just a guy openly wondering why people wouldn't broaden their minds to something that he put his heart and soul into. Shit, even if I somehow found myself in front of a few Klan members giving a speech on Reparations, I'd still expect them to at least recognize my biting wit, exemplary word play, and the playful alliteration I used in paragraph two. Anyway, that post on Little Brother's myspace page prompted this gentleman at XXL to give his rebuttal, one where he took umbrage to Phonte, feeling that his words were a frontal assault on the intellectual capacity of certain Hip Hop fans. Regardless if this was Phonte's stance or not, I have to say while holding my nuts in my best B-Boy stance, that some Hip Hop fans are fucking idiots.


Sorry, but the ignorance in said art-form comes from all of us grading on a curve when it comes to every facet of our culture. Only in Hip Hop is the artist allowed to be ignorant, allowed to have the collective I.Q of a bag of rice, and if you attempt to speak out on it other fans and Hip Hop journalists alike will band together like some inbred version of the Justice League, join forces and say that you are "hating". If you fancied yourself a classical musician and you didn't know your Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, or Shubert, I'm sure that someone with a funny looking white wig would come out of nowhere and beat you to death with a Stradivarius. If you fancied yourself a soul singer and was unaware of the sheer brilliance that was Sam Cook or Marvin Gaye, that particular display of ignorance would not only be frowned upon, it would possibly be capped off with an angry Aretha Franklin profanity laced email where she threatens to sit on you whenever she sees you. But in Hip Hop, when an artist abandons that toothy platinum smile for that deer in headlights look when you mention Kool G Rap or Slick Rick, people deem that "irrelevant", an accepted ignorance that trickles down to that particular artists' fan base.

Listen, some people might feel my view of modern day Hip Hop as just the ramblings of some old guy that's pissed off that Hip Hop culture left him behind, based on the fact that I feel the groups that were on the same bill as Little Brother that night(Three Six Mafia, Rick Ross, Young Dro, Young Joc, Dem Franchize Boyz) are the proverbial shit-stain on the culture. Some people might even try the condescending approach, put their arm on my shoulder, talk to me in subdued tones and say things like "Did your parents like your music? Did your grandparents like your parents music? It's a trend, just sit back and let it happen..." Let me say this delicately because I know I can be a bit abrasive, here we go: "That has to be, seriously, some of the STUPIDEST SHIT I'VE EVER HEARD IN MY LIFE!!"(Ok, a journalist said that the Clipse was "one of the best groups out". So that is up there like a motherfucker)

Hip Hop is not the pet rock, bell-bottom jeans, or some fucking Barbie Easy Bake oven that some of you ladies might have made vomit-inducing treats with as a kid. The reason that Hip Hop doesn't fall into the "changing times" argument is because Hip Hop is like basketball, because the foundation of both has always been "skill". No matter how long the players shorts get, the overall uniform changes, the varying offensive and defensive schemes, even how new dunks are invented with each passing year, one thing that hasn't changed from 1946-2006 is the skill that is needed to be a top tier NBA player. You can see Magic Johnson, Bill Russell, Earl Monroe, or Walt Frazier at a current NBA game because they respect the skill of the modern day player. Unfortunately I don't think you will ever see Rakim or KRS at a "Young Joc" show, even though our culture was based on the foundation of skill the same way Basketball was.

But you wouldn't know it by the way that artists have abandoned any resemblance of lyrical skill, just to make millions of hapless jackasses "Lean" and "Rock" to it like gepetto was your personal puppet master. You wouldn't know it based on half of these so-called "Hip Hop" journalists, incompetent scribes that might call MF DOOM "Nerd Rap", but turn around and collectively act like they are on their period and call you a "hater" when you criticize Lil John. The other half, souls I wouldn't trust like playing basketball with flip flops on(get it), do the Hip Hop equivalent to sero fiddling while Rome is burning, scoffing and disregarding what many feel is the deterioration of Hip Hop as us simply "overreacting".(Plus, many of these motherfuckers will never criticize anyone, not wanting to ruin their chance of one day interviewing Lil Flip)

We also have to abandon this "Condoleeza" way of thinking when it comes to Hip Hop, and I mean immediately. What I mean by that is, you know how you might go up to someone with a razor sharp case specifically breaking down Ms. Rice's blatant incompetence at her job, and the person ridiculously apologizes for her with that "But she is a black woman in a high position!!" nonsense like that erased what a fucking embarrassment she is. People do that with Hip Hop as well, say someone is wack and they say "But they are getting paid though!!"(So are crack dealers..), criticize another tune as being modern day black-face and people say "It's a club song so it's OK!", or the people who act like modern day Hippies, minus the birkenstocks and the tie-dye, and want to give hip hop a giant hug and accept all of it blindly like a mother would embrace all of her children despite how wack one of her kids was . Well Fuck that, if it's wack it's wack, if you don't like it I'm not hard to find.(The house on the corner with the blue trim)

Listen, if one of the groups that I named is one of your guilty pleasures, I'm definitely not trying to say that you have some sort of intellectual deficiency. Hell, I have Wham's "Careless Whisper" in my IPOD, so I have more guilty pleasures than necrophiliacs for Christs sake. But if your Hip Hop collection only has the Ying Yang Twins, Dem Franchize Boys, Young Joc, and groups of that ilk, you my friend might be a dumb-ass. Sorry, I'm only being honest because I love you, but like that single mother raising kids who finally decides to enroll herself at a local university, it is never too late to advance yourself mentally. That means turn off the radio, stop listening to these so called "journalists", recognize that an act is beneath you if you wouldn't feel comfortable asking them for directions if you ever saw them on the street based on their idiocy, and last but not least.....MEMORIZE EVERY LINE OF RAKIM'S "PAID IN FULL". Good luck!

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

COT DAMN!!!

Undeniably the best post yet!

Sherlon Christie said...

always a good read.

Side Note...how are you still able to upload pictures to blogger. I've have hit or miss problems with uploading photos for like 2 months now.

Anonymous said...

"People do that with Hip Hop as well, say someone is wack and they say "But they are getting paid though!!"(So are crack dealers..), criticize another tune as being modern day black-face and people say "It's a club song so it's OK!", or the people who act like modern day Hippies, minus the birkenstocks and the tie-dye, and want to give hip hop a giant hug and accept all of it blindly like a mother would embrace all of her children despite how wack on of her kids were . Well Fuck that, if it's wack it's wack..."

EXACTLY!!!!

Luke Cage said...

HC, I don't want to say that you are wasting your time, but brah, this so-called hip hop generations' fans are simply ignorant. I didn't even know there was a rap group called the Ying Yang twins until 6 or 7 months ago. I'd stopped listening to regular radio because quite simply, it all just hurt my ears. Hip Hop, rap, all of it just stings my eardrums man.

I mean literally. I could stomach any root canal before allowing some of this generations Hip Hop music to play from anywhere in my home or car.

Back in the 80's and even the early to mid-90's, you could turn on the radio and listen to a few lyrics and figure out who was rocking on the radio. Do you know why? Everyone had a signature sound that was their own. EVERYONE. There was creativity, lyricism, originality, diversity and the rappers of the day stood apart meaning, each one had their own thing about them that made them stand out.

Everyone today sounds like a friggin' carbon copy of eachother. How the heck is that original? And how can one insult themselves into believing that this is quality music?

Everyone back in the day was unique. With RunDMC it was their adidas and leather jackets with hats, with LL it was his trademark Kangol and bragadociousness, with Kane it was his suaveness and smooth but acrobatic lyrics, with Rakim it was the knowledge he spit from his lyrics where EVERY.DAMN.SONG. had a lesson of some sort within, KRS-1 and his BDP crew brought the realism of the streets to wax, Cold Crush rocked hard in the parks and in Harlem World, and Public Enemy stood as the official ambassadors for the black power movement.

They reached out to the fans to bring quality stuff and they appreciated the art form. Even the 1-hit wonders of the time rocked alot harder than these cats today could ever do. Quite simply, I feel that every hip hop fan that is a fan of the sound of today that feels that this is quality stuff needs to be kidnapped, thrown into a sealed off air chamber, complete with food and ample air supply because we need them alert and play nothing but Hip Hop music from its genesis to the mid-90's. Know your past young'ns and then you will see how a once incredible art form has literally taken it on the chin because its been diluted by today's garbage.

It's not hating, its just the facts. Now shut the fuck up and get some home training punk!

G. Cornelius said...

Little Brother is the lick! Anything that has them featured is hot...From the lyrics to those crazy 9th Wonder tracks...I;m about to go home and put the "Show" and the "Circuit"! I'll keep you posted

Jdid said...

on point! there is no substance to anything coming out the mouth of the young jocs young jeezy's franchise boyz types. I remember when it used to be about lyrics not catch phrase choruses.

artists should know the history and the culture its bad enough they bite the rhymes already.

Passion of the Weiss said...

well done critic. well fucking done.

Anonymous said...

1000000% TRUTH!!!!!!!!

THAT's the truth!! Next time I might pimp-slap someone for sayin Lil' Wayne's the best lyricist alive, knowin that Chuck D, and in our case, Rakim!

[I got Madonna's "Papa Don' t Prech" and Musical Youth's "Pass The Dutchie" on my MP3 Player and I'm PROUD!!!]

Jonzee said...

You know what pisses me off most about these young foolish cats (my brother's dumb ass included...he should know better he grew up with me...damn)

Is that they come from places with other artists have continued to to innovate on hip-hops roots.

Outkast, UGK, Scarface...


These young boys and dumb heifers like Khia, only see the bling and the Moet...

My theory is B.I.G left that bling, screwing, drinking and partying crap behind and now we can't get rid of it--.

Anonymous said...

great post. all too often people label honest criticism of music (and hip hop in particular) as hating, but as common says in the 6th sense, if i don't like it, i don't like it - that don't mean that i'm hating."

by the way, "careless whisper" is a great song! in fact, just the mention of that song reminded me i need to go download "father figure." i'm not telling the guilty pleasures on my ipod. you'd make fun of me!

ManNMotion said...

Roots, Jurassic, Mos Def, there's a precious few left out there. Paid means nothing. Look at Biz. Dudes from Whodini actually have jobs these days (or so I hear).

I ain't no joke, used to let the mike smoke, now I slam it when I'm done to make sure it's broke...

TOPolk said...

Clear Channel Conditioning -- you hit it right on the head there. Most hip-hop fans nowadays blindly swallow what's being spoon fed to them by the folks at Viacom and ClearChannel. While these "great artists" such as Yung Joc and Three 6 (even though I don't mind 36M too much) sell records, the industry execs are busy lining their pockets while castrating the genre at the same time.

In the 80s/90s they took what they had. Thankfully it was LL, RunDMC, Rakim, The Beasties, etc. Now, there's so many "artists" dying to be famous, they can pick and choose who they want, and unfortunately they want artists to make you buy records -- not think. For every Lil Jon out there now, there's still a Common floating around. But why find and market the plain jane guy when this guy has gold teeth?

Now sure, I like some of the new stuff. It's not (completely) bad. But at the same time, I have no problem going back and obtaining some of the classic tracks. Unfortunately, the majority of my fellow Generation Y-ers aren't as willing. Which is a shame, because then not only can they experience Common's "I Used To Love H.E.R." but also realize that the message in that track still holds true today.

Anonymous said...

I have to agree. I have to admit that even though I sorta enjoyed some of the lil jon "club hits" that first came out, I can't remember one single line other than the chorus. So I too eventually had to switch the freakin radio off. It makes me violently angry to hear young jeezy 8 times an hour, and that's not good for my road rage.

Since we're on the subject of hip hop, I can't help but be one of the countless annoying tupac fans you always talk about. Just wondering if you've ever read his poetry. I know it's not robert frost or maya angelou or anything, but I think it's got some substance. Ever read it?

And also, what do you think of T.I.? Just curious, I promise I won't send you any hate mail or death threats if you think he's trash.

Breez said...

*mouth agape*

EXCELLENT post. Once I finally read the XXL article (which I only read sporadically because I find that hip hop mags reflect the state of "hip hop" - nuff said) I realized that he so OBVIOUSLY ignored the post. Being a sheep and only giving love to what you hear on the radio (i.e. what THEY tell you to like, nay, LOVE) is beyond stupid. It's a blatant sacrifice of individuality, which, in my opinion, is a little dangerous.

Amadeo said...

That whole rebuttal is a symptom of the times. To quote Blackthought, "The general flows kids composed on tablet/Exposed how they was averaging they thoughts not rapping" Maybe one day Hip-Hop as a whole will speak to me again. For now it doesn't even come on the party tip without being totally vulgar.

Anonymous said...

HC, Usually I go on and on about how that crap is Rap and not HipHop.. But I bow to the mastery of a scribe that is right as rain. I survive via the internet allowing me to find artist that can and do good music. I'll leave myspace out of my thoughts cause thats the most vast wasteland I have ever seen.

Great Post.

Anonymous said...

This is one of the best blog entries I´ve EVER read. I love it!! You have a new fan, seriously. /cdot

Jameil said...

many of these motherfuckers will never criticize anyone, not wanting to ruin their chance of one day interviewing Lil Flip.. word?! hilarious!! i had a chance to interview 50 at the top of his career and backed out. couldn't do it.

SoundOff said...

Wow...I hope you were able to breath after writing that blog. You seemed as if you were on the brink of vomiting. However,being from Philly I hate to see the Young Joc's and Young Dro's get beats and Reed Dollaz and Hollowman rehashin dipset antems. Why is Choppa getting songs and Ness sitting at home? Why don't lyrical MC's sell anymore? How is someone comparing Kanye(producer) to rappers. If youd don't realize that producers get your foot in the door by now you will never know. I know one thing...they need to keep that kid from the freaks come out at night out of rap. All he has ever done is harm the culture. When things have become fadish...they have faded. I hope Lupe is right and it comes back to the lyrics.

EJ Flavors said...

you're on the money with this one, bruh.

Anonymous said...

Preach to the choir HC !!!!!!!

Unknown said...

i agree g.. 100%

aquababie said...

i like this post! i don't listen to the radio anymore. my ipod rocks the shit i like. i admit i have a few dance joints from some of the folk you mentioned, but i love music with a purpose, a message and actual words :)

today's music doesn't do too much for me.

BLESSD1 said...

Tho most disappointing thing is that despite the large number of like-minded folx on the subject, the Young Jocs and Ying Yangs will STILL eat good b/c these record labels will continue the practice of 'mass-producing mass-confusion'. Excellent post, HC! Excelsior

Jaesoreal said...

Absolutely brilliant! I'm tired of people getting upset when I call trash by its name!

Anonymous said...

Mojoe is the new sheriff coming to the Hip Hop town on September 12 to enforce the new Hip Hop order using live instrumentation and to re-introduce America to its Blues, Soul and Funk heritage. Mark my words.

Unknown said...

Just do a drum beat loop with some etheral type strings and go "yeah", "um-hmmmm", "yeah", "um-hmmmm", "check-it" "um-hmmmmm","yeah"; then intermittently make a sound like you are close to, or actually popping your cherry and you have a hit. I could do frickin eveything i hear on the radio in Garageband. Everything I hear on the radio sucks! I'm 47 and I have turned into my parents, but it's bleak ladies and gentelmen!