There isn’t a genre of music I love more than hip-hop.
It’s the reason I chose to write for the Arts Desk at The Spectrum and it makes up most of what my cohost, Cletus Emokpae, and I discuss on our WRUB radio show “In the Booth.”
It’s almost always blasting through my headphones and I can discuss it with my friends and peers for hours. From losing my voice in arguments over who the better MC is to discussing my top five albums of all time and thinking of my dream collaborative project, I’m always quick to talk about the genre. Many hip-hop fans share these kinds of moments.
There is one comment that currently pops up in these discussions that gets me aggravated from time to time: “Hip-hop is dead.”
People look at the top rap songs out right now and declare the art form as dead.
People who share this sentiment love to say how hip-hop from the ’80s and ’90s was the golden age of the genre, which in many respects, it was.
Back then, people told stories about their daily lives and struggles. It was poetry with a beat.
While the rap music of today also shares that characteristic, a stereotype exists that all of rap only glorifies violence, drugs and misogyny.
The hip-hop that’s heard on the radio and in the club is different from what you want to hear while doing homework and relaxing. Catchy, aggressive beats and repetitive hooks that have you dancing like a madman shouldn’t have the same messages as the lyric-driven songs you listen to in the library.
The official song of the 2014-2015 season of the NBA is a rap song. It isn’t by Bobby Shmurda or by Young Thug. It isn’t about shooting, stealing or objectifying women. It’s simply about loving yourself.
“I,” by Kendrick Lamar, is the song I’m referring to. When asked about why he made the song, he said it was for people behind bars as well as people on the outside to stay strong. It’s about loving yourself in all aspects.
More than a few songs are guilty of helping people subscribe to this belief. There are quite a few artists in rap who tell stories and promote positivity, much like MCs of the ‘golden era’ did.
Kendrick Lamar, J Cole, Childish Gambino and Joey Bada$$ use their slick wordplay and thought-provoking lyricism to tell stories to people of all backgrounds – that’s what hip-hop is all about.
They talk about things many young people go through: peer pressure, self-identity, racism and repression are all themes that these rappers are known for spitting about.
I would implore everyone who is under the impression that “hip hop is dead” to listen to current music and compare what they talk about to what rappers from the ’80s and ’90s talked about.
Even the songs and artists that get flak for being “ignorant” have a place in hip-hop.
While the genre may be young, hip-hop has so many styles and sub-cultures. All of them deserve a place in hip-hop, not just the lyricists who can tell a story just as well as any novelist.
There’s beat-heavy, dirty-south rap, then gritty, aggressive drill music from Chicago. Compare this to the mellow vibes from the West Coast the boom-bap, head-bobbing sounds from New York. All of these styles have a place in hip-hop and come together to form something unique and beautiful.
For some reason, it’s hard for many rap aficionados to admit the genre has changed over the years.
You can’t expect such a popular and trendy genre to remain the same, and to be honest. It would be disappointing if it did. Just like in nature, an organism either evolves or dies.
I think it would be more appropriate to say hip-hop isn’t dead: it’s evolving. Every genre of music goes through change over time. That doesn’t make the music any better or worse and in the words of 2 Chainz – it’s different.
Rock and Roll is a good example of this as well.
Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley and The Beatles started what grew into a one of America’s most popular music genres, which split into various sub genres such as metal, hard rock, grunge and punk.
So instead of saying hip-hop is dead, keep in mind it is still alive and well. It’s just finding its identity, much like the young people such as myself who love the genre.
email: jamesbat@buffalo.edu
