Hip-hop isn't dead, in fact the elements of hip-hop (break dancing, graffitii, dj'ing, and mc'ing) are more prevalent today than at any other time in history, it's just that they are slightly transformed. I often ride the train from San Diego to Los Angeles and one of the highlights of the trip for me is seeing the amazing monsterpieces of graff along the walls of the LA river. About six months ago the powers that be in L.A. saw fit to buff out all the pieces and now all that you see on the sloping walls of the man-made river canyon is a patchwork of cover-up paint, sometimes you can still make out the outlines of the original pieces, a ghost image. The gentrification of the LA river is analogous to what is happening to hip-hop in general. The pieces moved out of the underground, or the LA river basin in this case, and onto the commercial storefront. An urban outfitters sporting a massive Shepherd Fairey piece is just one example that springs to mind. I'm not hating on Shepherd or the massive industry of art that he has created with Obey, the guy is an amazing artist, whose decades of hard work and refinement of a style are finally getting him his due. What I am concerned with is that we can so easily purchase street culture today, that the effort and outsider appeal of true street style has been watered down and repackages and sold to us at a higher price than ever, and in the process the music that inspired all of this has also suffered the same fate.
The parts of hip-hop that society at large could stomach and appreciate were incorporated into the mainstream to better relate brands to the youth so longing for a sense of authentic street culture in their purchases. Break dancers in teen films, beat-boxing in soda commercials, graff pieces as advertizing for major international brands, the major media co-opted hip-hop as a way to generate excitement and interest from the youth, and it worked. The parts of hip-hop that society could not stomach have gone the way of the dinosaur, relegated to obscurity because of the inability for hard-core subject matter to generate commercial success in the post MTV era. During the nascent days of hip-hop it was the danger and edge to the music that attracted the youth. Today most hip-hop hits are more akin to the RnB love ballads of yesteryear. It is so hard to say goodbye to yesterday, but we must move on we must evolve and not devolve into media hungry labbits. Gone are the days when a band with a name like N.W.A. can sell millions of records. Today we get groups with the depth of a text message, LMFAO, trying to infect our brains with catchy jingles about how to rock a party, no social statements, no biting critique of government or educational systems allowed in mainstream media. Just stop thinking and party.
Music and Hip-hop are no longer dangerous. Ghetto drug music or any of the other detractors that mainstream media initially tried to label hip-hop with are gone, replaced by candy coated messages to consume more, a message that mainstream media is much more comfortable with than "Fuck the Police". Hip-hop is safer than Disney for the most part, our most dangerous MCs have to write lyrics about struggle and despair from the third person, because they have never experienced it. The sentiment and energy of the music is lacking, replaced by constant reference to material achievements. Who's got the most bling, baddest bitches and fastest rides have always been a part of the subject matter of hip-hop, you don't have to look much further than the album covers of Eric B and Rakim to see the glitz and gloss has always been a part of hip-hop, but beneath those album covers were the substance of great lyrics and beats that really made you think but also worked on the dance floor. Today it seems like the quest for more material possessions is more than just a of the music and is in fact the whole enchilada. (Mmmmm enchiladas). Honestly I cannot think of the last really great hip-hop album that I heard.
Aesop Rock's "None Shall Pass" or El-P's "I'll sleep when I'm dead" were probably the last two that I got into, both artists have new albums out this year but as I have listened to neither in their entirety I will withhold any comment on their quality, although I do love the "Full Retard" video from EL-P. No coincidence that both albums were from the same label, the now-defunct Def Jux. Music that you have to dig a little deeper into and work at understanding, music that can evoke powerful emotions that are not usually happy, music that makes you think just doesn't sell enough records. The meaning you could infer from this is that the majority of people are not interested in challenging themselves with their music choices. It is easier to just turn on the radio and start party rockin than to attempt to (usually feebly) decipher an Aesop Rock verse.
I attended Coachella this year with some friends and got treated to a reunion performance by Company Flow, arguably the group that started the underground hip-hop, independent boom of the late 90s. I was so excited to finally get to see Co Flow perform, although I have seen El-P several times and his live shows always deliver, I had at this point in my life thought that the chance of a C0-Flow reunion show were slim to none. When I saw them listed on the lineup I started to tell all of the people that I was going with that this was an event not to be missed. Amon Tobin and Flying Lotus were certainly other highlights of the weekend, but the Co Flow performance was a once in a lifetime opportunity, or twice if you were me and still pissed that you missed out on the first one because tickets for their last show sold out so fast. Sunday evening at Coachella rolled around, and while most of my group went of to listen to Gotye, my friend and I headed over to the tent where Co Flow was performing their seminal, and only, album Funcrusher Plus in its entirety. To my amazement (not really) this was the only performance that I attended all weekend that was not packed to the gills, in fact, less than 300 people were lined up in the tent, to see a bombastic onslaught that is a Co Flow performance. Of those in attendance I noted several of the LA Beat scene including Gaslamp Killer. So those on the fringes of cutting edge beat science still respected the classics (can't believe I'm talking about Co Flow like they are the Beatles or something now) but the majority of the party goers opted for something that they were more familiar with thanks to radio play and mass media.
Hip-hop in it's purest form has not really existed since it migrated from the streetlamp lit parties in Prospect Park sometime around 1977. Right now I believe that hip hop is going through what we would consider the techno era something akin to the transformation that R&B went through in the disco era. Can we expect a similar backlash in the coming years where the techno style becomes as hated as disco once was. Will we see the rise of a new punk rock in response? I think that this is already happening with the proliferation of dubstep infused hip-hop remixes. People are eager for a new sound that allows them to go bat-shit crazy, sing along and warp their aural sensibilities.
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