Myth 1. : Hip-hop is easy to produce.
Like any musical genre, if you can make a formula out of it, then you can produce a nice watered down rip off of an old tune with generic beats and then you have a puff daddy no. 1 hit. Though if you dig deeper, look at the underground scene, look at the historical greats, the technicality of the instruments used - which as a point of fact goes far far beyond most forms of techno - and the influences it takes on, then you need to produce a good hiphop track before and then explain how easy it was before coming up with blanket statements.
Myth 2. : Hip-hop is a mirror of American culture.
Hiphop has and always will been a reflection of diversity. It's roots started from Jamaican dancehall mc's talking over dub, rocksteady and reggae and was shipped to Brooklyn and surrounding NY areas with the West Indian migration flux. In the late 70s, early 80s funk licks were the main loop that producers were cracking on to, and in the 80s as most hiphop fans thank their lives for, hiphop found the jazz drum. It has been able to incorporate ANYTHING into it's sound, from Frank Zappa to Big Audio Dynamite. Since then it has spread to all over the world, with very VERY talented musicians coming from England, France, AUSTRALIA, New Zealand, Italy, and other parts.
The base of the music is definitely African-American, but where the hell do you think most forms of modern electronic music originated and developed from? Even the trendy chic terms I see used on this board come from hiphop bringing it out of the ghetto and making it chic, eg. peeps, crew, etc. Jungle is actually an evolution of hiphop.
Myth 3. : There lyrics are simple.
Hip-hop has definitely recieved a bad rap (no pun intended) and rightly so for the lyrics that were expressed during the so called 'gangsta' scene in Los Angeles, early to mid 90s. Homophobia, misogony, violence, etc. You name it. Though if this is what you think hiphop is all about, then you are eating too much shit from the media, it sells more to mention stuff like this, then mention the more talented, intelligent rhymers, who outnumber those others easily 10-1.
GreenAlien: It's easy to take a lyric out of context on any occasion, way too weak an argument. I always see people quoting "safe as fuck" .. what the fuck is that? I dont know but it obviously conjured up a certain emotion in people from the music that's what its all about. Another thing people fail to recognise about so called 'gangsta' rap, is that it wasn't just pro-violence, etc. it was also an expression of the poverty and opression black americans were and are suffering out of racism.
Back to lyirical content, if you really want to take apart a hiphop album and judge it lyrically, off the top of my head I recommend Black On Both Sides by Mos Def which discusses everthing from water conservation, to the comercialisation of rock n roll, to violence in hiphop. Also check out stuff by KRS-1, Chuck D, Saul Williams, Reflection Eternal, Black Thought, Sarah Jones, Paris, Tricky, etc. etc. etc. Basically none of the mtv shit everybody is referring to, like techno or whatever else, once something loses its underground vibe and sells out ot comericialism, it stops becoming revolutionary and is just marketing, I thought most of you would get that, Decimal Dan thankfully seems to get that the most out of all of us.
Someone shut this thread down before I rip this cockhead a new asshole.
Fucking moron.
This is why bluelight is not as fun anymore. Attitude and ego have taken over from fun and debate. Talk about violent lyrical content.
Here is a bibliography if anybody is interested in some more analysis and critiques of hiphop culture, rather than misinformed attacks.
http://artemis.simmons.edu/~morrow/hiphopbib.html
"Hip-hop is an African-American response to the consumerization of culture and the disposability of people, it is a vehicle that can represent [and misrepresent] the misrepresented and compete in the marketplace. Hip-hop is the pop art of race politics."
-Tate
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"Not until you listen to Rakim on a rocky mountain top have you heard hiphop." - Saul Williams
[This message has been edited by Fireal (edited 08 December 2000).]
