My closest friends, the ones who witness my elitist Hip Hop rants up close and personal where I talk about the year 1989 as if it was the year Christ was born and have watched me burn paper mache versions of Lil Wayne and Cam'ron in effigy while dancing around the flames with a copy of "Paid in Full" sandwiched in my tight embrace - openly refer to me as "The Hip Hop Uncle Rico" based on the famous "Napoleon Dynamite" character. For the two or so people out there without indoor plumbing who haven't seen the movie, Uncle Rico is Napoleon Dynamite's uncle who seems to be literally stuck in the early 80's - exhibiting a flare for style that screams "video killed the radio star" and constant ramblings about his High School football career that he can't stop referring to every fourth conversation. As unsympathetic as that character is, I'm the Hip Hop version - I constantly find myself looking off into space as I recall my Emcee-ing days when telling people that you rhymed actually meant something, occasionally questioning people's intelligent quotient by asking if their parents were siblings whenever they tell me that they are a fan of someone I find vomit inducing. The icing of the cake was last year when I went with a friend to one of those radio sponsored concerts where a million and one acts play(it was free)- when we were backstage(she's a reporter) and an act that I loathe extended his hand to me, I crossed my arms, shook my head in disapproval, and turned my back on that miserable bastard on some truly Miles Davis shit.Yes, I'm a dickhead, but embrace your inner asshole I always say. Hip Hop needs a dose of tough love from people who adore the artform so we can bring it back to the level of prominence and artistry that it was once at.(Read more here)
4 comments:
I think it needs to be recuscitated too. I admit I was a nerd when I was a kid and I didn't even get into it until later (maybe the media had convinced me as a kid that rock music and rap was bad too). Now that I know there is conscious hip hop and that was how it started it has actually made me more interested in hip hop! So recent bad press could actually be good for some musicians and for hip hop because maybe now the world will be more accepting of conscious hip hop than it was in the past. Maybe hip hop needs to go retro!
I just want good music with great lyrics to return.
I demand that "Down Low" be taken back...that's what happens when you introduce a term to mainstream white America, they change it all up.
I will be so happy when this Crunk/Snap phase ends. It has brought Hip Hop to a new low. When you have artist like Huey and Crime Mob topping the charts, it's a sad day indeed.
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