'underdog on the demise of hip hop'

[TCwebtime]

I have enjoyed reading the “AND ANOTHER THING… underdog on the demise of hip hop” column on page13 of the latest issue of MTM (November 2007 n.56). I do think he is making a good point and as a bonus, even if you don’t agree with what he says, you cannot not feel amused by his writing :)

I’m also growing sick and tired of the myriad of hip hop tracks mostly saying the same thing and using the same vocal noises for lack of a better way to describe the sometime abusive use of Yo Yo, and stuff. For this reason I have been listening to hip hop less and less.

What do you think about it? Or better, do you know of some good hip hop track worth listening to?

[Jace]

Not got this months issue yet, but i can give my experiences of hiphop and such.
being a young lad, back in the early 80's i got into breakdancing and electro music, and a natural add on was hiphop or rap , And as we know it was all about the message and being heard if you where a lost voice in a getto or could connect / relate to such.
grandmaster flash - getting the message across, dougie fresh rapping about good times , and so on,
then we had roxanne shante the first known femal rap artist, who got a bit more dissing, but this was all part of the
standoff to go with breaking, but through this we then got the exteme of evolution with the likes of NWA and Public enemy, Ice T, Ice cube who started off the trend of gangster rap, some early stuff did have meaning, and i got to admit as a young lad we found this cool, Ice T got it right, but when i look back on it, as the scene got more and more violent, gun crime got more known to us in the UK , and this did start the first wave of gun crime over here, which i can not argue, and i do put this down to gangster rap attitude, that reflects from the sorry state of the messages that where being taught.
my last stage of rap was listening to Tin dawg about 1992 (bang bang shootem up blah blah) then it dawned on me the negativity, because of things that i could see happening around me, even my mates and associates where
doing their own gangster thing, in their own uk way, and this was not for the point of being in a deprived getto, but out of
the messages of coolness, toughness, and sucsess that they tought they could achieve.
now when i hear such music i feel sick at the negativity, but like war this is here to stay unfortunatly, and its not about the message but about the money gained through becoming a selling rap artsit.

As for the new wave of r&b /rap , i appreciate the production quality and idea principles, but as for the ripping off other music, i find this yawn yawn.
I had a guy the other day that said why dont you do a remix of that keana west (spelling ?) harder faster,
and i nearly choked, at the notion that a track by daft punk - harder faster .... ..... could be lost to such pop.
also to think that daft punk made some good cash, but keana west is buying yacts etc, and wasting money, why do these artist make milions yet deserving brits and other such artists make peanuts.
i wonder if ever he has gone and done someting worthwhile with his funds to help the formentioned getto rap scenario and poverty and i mean in the areas that count, without being planned by his promotional poeple.

But at the end of the day, it is here to stay, so i suppose if keana west is singing good vibes its one over the gangster life style, so i have to say yay to keana west (CRINGE) and nay to ganster rap.

[Jace]

just realised it the issue i have, i skipped past the hip hop article then, will take a look tomorrow.
and maybe give some further thoughts.

[TCwebtime]

It is an entertaining quick read :)

[Jace]

will take a look, thanks for pointing out, I have that much going on, sometimes I just flick to relevant articles to my learning , which is at the forefront of my drive.

[seriousmusic]

I like that column!

*runs away cackling*

[mico]

Let me start out by saying that I have not read the article, so, I may be off base, but didn't they say 'rock is dead' too? Sure, you'll have copycat acts who steal someone's sound, but that doesn't mean the entire artform is lifeless. If you only know the big artists with big companies then you can't really say everything in the genre is trash. Alot of people talk like this for three reasons:

1. Corporate media tries to capitalize on 'what's hot' at the moment. Corporations don't care if an artist is original or intelligent or anything else. The only thing they care about is MONEY. All media is like this. I read an article about a television network complaining because their new show only had 10.5 million viewers! That's crazy. They will deem something a failure unless it breaks records and brings the board members previously unheard of profits.

2. Nothing is ever as good as it was when you were a kid, was it? Movies, tv, music, life. I think people have a selective memory when it comes to their past. Think about it. I'm pretty sure that there has always been alot of crap made regardless of what year it was. The only difference is that now the barriers to entry are cheaper (internet, cheaper gear, etc...).

3. There are many good artists waiting to be heard and a lazy consumer population. People don't want to search for good music. People want music to be spoon fed to them. It takes work. Work is something most people don't like to do. It's you're own fault if you blindly take what you're given and don't care to find good music yourself.

Every kind of music goes through phases. Some good, some bad. If you think the scene is so bad then you should not have any problem breaking into the scene with your own music. Quit talking and start making the good music you're all missing. This isn't an attack on anybody who has posted here. It's just my take on what I perceive as a tired conversation.

-mico

[TCwebtime]

Actually the article may in a way be saying the same thing

[mico]

Then I'd say the article correct!

[TCwebtime]

Yeah the article does end saying "it takes a nation of idiots to buy this stuff" which fits with the point you make on (3) :)

[Jace]

There are many good artists waiting to be heard and a lazy consumer population. People don't want to search for good music. People want music to be spoon fed to them. It takes work. Work is something most people don't like to do. It's you're own fault if you blindly take what you're given and don't care to find good music yourself.

As you say here,
for me it was also a similar Thing which happened in my eyes, with the soul funk and
R&B (we used to call street soul), from cool 80's soul funk, Latin American hip-hop on into R&B/rap I used to play on pirate radio in Manchester 86 to about 89, which then from about 1990-92 seemed to go into this popular music area, which was good for the artists granted, but originality started to fade, and the soul died for me, this music became week and had no character.
granted yes their may be some good stuff out their, but because of such it has become hard to spread in an educational sense to the younger generation which could be said for quite a lot of today’s music, which in return stops the creativity in newbie’s too production, and also makes it harder for true flavours to break in because it is not considered popular, but either way we can not argue for or against, their is no wrong or Wright, only what is and what is not.
I myself have moved on to other styles of music, which goes to show, how music can become stifled by the commercial aspect and taint overall perceptions, sad to here I know.
Giving all this general opinion as your self mico, I still have not had time to read this article, but I think all opinions are valuable.
I am not one to moan just to give a view of where I am now as suppose where I was. lol

[Sakura]

I feel the exact way in which you do. Most of hip-hop now looks,sounds, and feels the same. Where is the artistic originality anymore?

[Jace]

Hello Sakura nice to see you chatting on the forums,

Artistic originality, anymore? In the broader sense definitely

Their is some wicked talent out their as always and their always will be talent, and you do find the odd artist that does get it right, for example I hate black-eyed peas, well really I don’t hate them , I just am not into this type of music ,at this stage in my life.
although they do rip of licks here and their the way they are doing it is very creative, more so than say Keanu west and such rap as we talk about ,with blatant rip off's, such as (yeh yeh'yeh yeh) thrown in .
Thinking about black eyed peas they kind a remind me of a London based group from back in the mid to late 80,s..
It’s bugging me know though because I can’t remember the bands name.

Anyhow, I must read this article because i have probably taken the conversation way off track, lol.