Ah, finally time for me to get on the ol’ soapbox and bitch and moan about hip-hop. Now mind you this is just my way of expressing tough love. I love hip-hop, therefore, I can make fun of it and hate on it to no end. This is my way of saying “why do you make me hurt you” and “I only hurt you cause I love you” and “this is gonna hurt me more than it hurts you” and all the other abusive clichés thrown around by people like Ike Turner or Dwight Gooden, Joel Steinberg or most of the NBA when coping with loved ones. Well unlike those clowns I really mean this. I have been a serious hip-hop addict since I was in 5th grade and since then I have taken the good with the bad and rode this shit till the wheels fell off and, believe you me, the wheels have fallen off a few times but a quick pit stop and we were back on the track. Now when hip-hop needs some repairs the problems are always major. It seems that boredom and stagnation have put us in the shop once again. There are other cancers plaguing this culture. Let me just play surgeon and try to remove these problems at their core. The issue of boredom and stagnation has become more and more apparent to me as the years have gone by.
First case the radio, I know I am about to say something that has already been said by many people before me but maybe saying it again will add fuel to the fire that’s needed to burn that headquarters of corniness down…and that is stop playing the same shit over and over and over again. I mean I don’t even think there is vinyl in any radio station anymore. Come to think of it I don’t think there are even cds in there anymore. Aren’t radio stations using some sort of elaborate CPU punching out all the same 10 trash songs hour after hour? DJ’s should change their names because there are no disc jockeys in the building because there are no discs.
The second case is a personal one and I know there are other people (such as my cousins) noticing this phenomenon also and that is the changing of my music purchasing habits. I used to rush to the store on Tuesdays to get the fresh new hip-hop or hit the online stores and rack up a hefty credit card bill but now I go to the store or to the website and stare blankly at the what is being offered. It feels like I went to a restaurant; they gave me the menu and I see nothing I want to eat, nothing even remotely appetizing, so I turn the menu over hoping I find the secret section where all the treats are. But nope, nada. So when the waiter comes by I settle for something bland and uninteresting. But wait there is a silver lining to this problem (at least for me) since hip-hop has become a reoccurring disappointment I have finally opened my close minded ways to…drum roll please…other genres of music. I look at my music collection over the past five years and the non-hip-hop purchases have increased tenfold (seriously).
The third and final case I will discuss is the degeneration of the hip-hop show. I remember going to shows and leaving early was not even a thought in my mind but lately I almost want to leave the second I step into the venue. This overwhelming feeling comes over me when I go to shows now. Its like that feeling you get when you are a kid going to the doctor and you hope you don’t get a shot; no shot, no problem just a clean bill of health, a lollipop and a sticker if you’re lucky. I walk in the place repeating in my head “please no shots” and shots in this case are…ahem, as the list begins…
You know I will stop right there, those five points are all valid and ever present at most of the hip hop shows I go to. Another problem I have noticed at shows (well its not really a problem its just sort of a sad occurrence) is the fact that when the dj is on point and he/she is spinning all types of goodies from the late 80’s, early 90’s, and even the mid to late 90’s its like as if these people were under a rock for those years. I guess maybe some of them are young and never heard these songs. But to me it always seems weird when I am singing along to one of my favorite songs and I look around and everyone else is just spacing out like there wasn’t even music on at all or they are looking at me like I am the crazy one. I have even been asked before by someone “yo you know this song” and I responded “uh yes”, mind you the song in question was “Hip-hop Junkies” by Nice & Smooth. I mean come on buddy, come on buddy, COME ON BUDDY nice & smooth, NICE & SMOOTH, HIP-HOP JUNKIES…please do your homework. This happened to me at a Brand Nubian show at SOB’s and one would assume that at this kind of show you would find some actual hip-hop heads or at least a rap fan who heard “hip-hop junkies”. Well I shouldn’t have assumed anything because we know what happens when you assume… you make an ass out of you and me and hip-hop also apparently.
Ok, now I will really stop. All these examples are very similar to shots from the doctor with the obvious exception of not being beneficial to your health. They all sting annoyingly and seem to be the worse possible way to spend your time at that moment. But much like shots from the doctor the pain does subside. You go along with your life with only a memory of the unpleasantness. The way real hip-hop heads should cope with these episodes of horror is just like the unwanted injection. Be cool and the discomfort will pass. Hopefully in the near future hip-hop will rebound from the staggering blows it has taken on its chin, get up from the canvas, dust itself off and return to the great culture it once was and still could and should be. Before I let you all go and turn the page I would like to mention that I know that nothing is black and white, nothing is clear-cut and this situation is no different. Hip-hop is going through a slump to say the least but…BUT there are exceptions. There are still artists who put out quality music and put on quality shows and djs who still tear it up whenever given the chance to. There are also real hip-hop heads who still come to shows to have a good time and spend their hard earned money on tickets to shows, cds, vinyl, dvds, magazines, books and anything else that truly represents hip-hop.