Monday, March 3, 1997
MUSIC:
Intelligent rap culture not dead, just hard to find on marketBy
Justin Fuller
In response to Andrew John Westall’s column titled "Hip-hop
culture drowning in sea of commercialism"(Viewpoint February 26)
one immediate thought comes to mind. To quote the venerable Chuck
D, "Don’t believe the hype!" Hip-hop and commercialism were, but
they are not now, nor should they ever be, mutually dependent. It
seems that his great complaint is that the heart and soul of the
music has been lost amidst the waves of no-talent rappers getting
signed because record companies are trying to co-opt the industry,
but it ain’t necessarily so.
We should congratulate Westall, not only for his knowledge of
the music, but more importantly for his recognition of its
connection to African-American history and struggle. And when I
hear rappers that do not appear conscious of this aspect of the
music, I get a bit disappointed myself. We cannot however,
generally accuse hip-hop as no longer living up to its end of the
cultural bargain. Indeed, we need to keep in mind the bigger
picture to help put this thing called rap in perspective.
I remember having to wake up early on Saturdays to catch "Yo,
MTV Raps" Â no daily show, no "Rap City." It’s once a week,
and if you missed it, you probably didn’t get to see any hip-hop
videos for seven more days. I remember driving on the freeway just
so I could pick up KDAY on my car radio, otherwise the only hip-hop
music was coming out of my tape deck. Today there are two FM
stations that play hip- hop, albeit in an often watered down
R&B format. I can turn on my TV and see rap videos all day
long, and yes, many of them do suck, but at least they’re there.
But somewhere between the old days and last night’s episode of "MTV
Jams", we have collectively forgotten that this time around the
revolution was not going to be televised. To tell you the truth,
I’m amazed we’ve seen as much of the kind of conscious hip-hop
Westall’s looking for as we have. The record industry even let The
Coup have a second album.
Commercialism is an unfortunate fact of life, and yes, sometimes
life isn’t fair (That is why it’s called the record industry, as
opposed to the record mutual admiration society). But before we
condemn the Vanilla Ices and MC Hammers of the world, try and
remember how hard it was 10 years ago to even find hip-hop in a
record store. If you have ever had to go to the back of a store,
only to find one row of tapes (remember this is before CDs) that
you either already have or don’t want, then you know how far we
have come. And the artists who couldn’t even get their records into
mainstream stores know that "Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em!" made
room on the shelves for "Paid in Full." Don’t forget that true
hip-hop fans regulate the industry in the end through their
purchasing habits. While the Used CD racks fill up with Vanilla
Ice’s "Hootie Mack" album, record stores are selling new pressings
of BDP’s "Criminal Minded."
I’m not going to say that there are no rappers out there that
are producing crappy records. For every EPMD there are two or three
Rough House Survivors getting signed to record contracts, for every
song produced by DJ Premier, Jermaine Dupri does five. There are
quite a few people out there who probably don’t deserve it
talent-wise, but they rarely have staying power; after all, when
was the last time you heard a Twin Hype song. In hip-hop, as in
life, shit usually washes off.
When Westall tells us that groups like A Tribe Called Quest, BDP
and PE "maintained (my emphasis) a sense of culture, history, and
social criticism" as if they had stopped, he seems to forget that
Chuck, Kris and Tribe have all released records in the last year.
Yes, these albums are not the same as those done in the past, but
hip-hop is not a static art form and could not survive respectably
as such. If KRS-I was still making "By All Means Necessary," I
wouldn’t buy it. You simply can’t make the same record eight
times., unless of course you’re Ice T.
The revolution in hip-hop is not dead, Mr. Westall. If you
aren’t hearing the message that some artists are sending, then stop
buying Dogg Pound records and pick up Jeru. If you think there are
no conscious artists out there, take a trip down to the Good Life
and hear some rappers doing it without a record contract. Hip-hop
has never been a one-sided art form; sometimes the message is
embedded in the rhyme, so you have to dig for it like a diamond.
That is the problematic beauty of a music derived from the rich
oral traditions of Africa. Sure, you might have to look hard these
days to find something worth listening to, but back in the day you
had to look for it between Winger and Motley Crue, today it sits
between Big Mike and 95 South. But when you do find it the reward
is still just as sweet.
And if you think that the masses of young people are missing the
message in the music, first, give them a little more credit, then
give them a little more time. Failing this, remember the answers
you seek have always been in the music, if you were listening.
Those who know and care (the 5 percent) are poor righteous
teachers; it is their job to bring the knowledge to the masses (the
95 percent). Each must teach one, Mr. Westall; it’s all in the
music. So if some writers out there try to tell you that the mental
side of hip-hop is gone … "from them I say don’t believe the
hype/ Yo Chuck, they must be on the pipe, right?"