Hip-hop is the expression of cultural and societal issues through positive and meaningful messages of inclusion, activism, equity, justice, political consciousness, education and success—or at least it was in its early years. Thus, hip-hop was not just a genre of music, but rather a 1970s lifestyle stance starting in the Bronx. For over three decades, this lifestyle rapidly expanded from the streets of south-central Los Angeles and New York (east side and west side) and into the consciousness of listeners and performers alike. Today, hip-hop has evolved into consumer hip-hop—a colossal music industry with, for the most part, no to very little connection to its roots.
Just like rock and pop, hip-hop music reflects the changing lives and audiences it speaks through in the past decade. While hip-hop still talks of the griminess of the streets, those lyrics are countered by a manifesto of ‘the good life.’ Come 1990s, however, the culture of hip-hop began to remodel itself. Artists such as Buju Banton and Elephant Man have been criticized for their homophobic lyrics, promoting hate crime. Similar claims have been aimed toward Eminem and 50 Cent during their early stages of artist development. To this day, Canada has refrained from allowing Elephant Man to perform a show.
Overall, most rappers today have as much lyrical skill as emos have on epidermal pigment. Pimps, hoes, money and swearing for the sake of swearing seem to be common culprits in hip-hop music. Arbitrary rhyming without any fundamental meaning does not in any respect mean one is hip-hop. Refer to Kanye West’s Getting It In: Don't try to treat me like / I ain't famous / My apologies, are you into astrology / Cause I'm, I'm tryin to make it to Uranus; or perhaps Lil Wayne’s nonsense in Jump In the Air: Mijo, zero degreeyo, frio / Get into your soul like Neyo, weeyo / Oh I meant ohwee or is it oohwee. It’s humorous how anyone can take these and similar lyrics seriously. Compare these to legendary Nas in I Can: We were kings and queens, never porch monkeys / It was empires in Africa called Kush Timbuktu, where every race came to get books / To learn from black teachers who taught Greeks and Romans / Asian Arabs and gave them gold. There is, evidently then, a shift in content and context within hip-hop music. It seems what was once an art can be destroyed and rebuilt by just about anyone. Record labels create revenue by enforcing safe, generalized, omnirelatable music. Consequently, activism, equity, justice and political consciousness are deficient in mainstream hip-hop. It’s mainly a gimmick which blinds everyone, including myself at times, with sensational beats.
Sparked by rappers experimenting with a new art form, hip-hop fashion became an expression of the hip-hop culture demonstrating a particular stance. The fashion of hip-hop was chiefly influenced from Mafioso and breakdance references. Break-dancers (or B-boys) wore, and still wear, clothes that were functional for dancing, such as baggy jeans. Conversely, Mafioso established the classic gangster look. Beginning in the 1990s, the style was immensely exasperated with iced out jewelry, fully-loaded and pimped out vehicles and an overall commercialized, egotistical lifestyle. Just like any other pop artist transformation, hip-hoppers ultimately become the product of relations, instead of a product of the self.
Adolescents are, and have always been, the most impressionable people on this planet. Unfortunately, this rose as hip-hop was symbolizing guns, rape, violence, drugs, and female sexualization. At this time, rappers start to endorse a heartless cohort of ego driven thug soldiers. This is where the fine line is drawn between hip-hoppers and everyone else. I am not African-American, so I'm perhaps not ideal to critic such a dividing issue, however, being brown-skinned, I can look at racial stereotypes from an outside perspective – from a viewpoint that is neither black, nor white. So then, the debatable and omnipresent million-dollar question is: Does hip-hop—specifically its clothes—promote these negative stereotypes? Yes and no; it all depends on the outcast and the observer. However, one may believe it may be easier to avoid a hip-hopper to circumvent any trouble (I use trouble loosely here). Although, despite the negative stereotypes upon hip-hop clothing, the average hip-hopper wears baggy clothes, not to breakdance more efficiently, although that is of course plausible, but to challenge the negative societal perception against them.
Whether for good or evil, Auto-Tune processing has taken over modern hip-hop music. Audiences have been transfixed by the robotic vocal alterations Auto-Tune creates. Auto-Tune is impractical in two accounts: it was originally used to correct vocal pitches that were amiss, even by a hair, to ensure superhuman perfection at all times; it is now used as an esthetic property, which enforces the profound laziness of lyricists and producers alike. Therefore, music has become so "perfect" today that it has literally lost reality.
Either audible or not, this phase vocoder will consequently give off the illusion that the performer can actually sing, therefore not worrying too much about anything else in the production process. In fact, according to the Boston Herald, artists confessed to using Auto-Tune, suggesting it ensures a good performance. That made me sick to my stomach. Had it been used sparsely and more artistically, rather than a bombardment of cover-ups, Auto-Tune could have brought a new challenge to the music industry. Unfortunately, it’s currently doing the opposite. Think of Auto-Tune like steroids was to baseball—we seem to want to mimic everyone because it "seems" to work.
Browsing through this weeks Billboard Top 100, one can easily discover its rise in pop culture. There are at least 10-15 artists on the charts who are heavily over-using this musical “technique”, including Lady Gaga and Flo Rida. The effect reached to such popularity and irritating peak levels that Jay-Z expressed his own opinion on his amazing track, Death of Autotune.
Hip-hop will undoubtedly continue to grow, which is a great thing, but it must not forget the raw impact it once had. Hip-Hop was not only a pivotal point in music, but also culture. Hip-hop died when it became the very thing it was originally against. Of course, I don’t believe all hip-hop today is trivial. There are many sublime artists today who raise the bar to staggering heights. Sage Francis is the smartest, most profound rapper/lyricist I have come across. He does not depend on fame and auto-tune to create his image, rather speaks from the soul regarding a sociological, ideological and political culture that he is surrounded in. Other artists who bring something climatic to the table include: M.I.A., Lauryn Hill, Q-Tip, K’NAAN, El-P and RJD2. Whether through rhymes, graffiti, clothing, and the like, hip-hop is an art form and should remain as such. Anyone who takes shortcuts into hip-hop or uses it for fame and fortune is completely disrespectful to the entire culture and what it represents. Although I am aware there are other issues within the hip-hop lifestyle that more or less changed the world, I covered the most crucial shards. For now, however, we need to be critical listeners and decide what is appropriate for the human race.
© Ajay Patel
