The Troubling Trend of Hip-Hop Music's Image

Jussummen

It’s rather easy to understand how and why Hip-Hop music (and Hip-Hop culture as an extension) came to gain and maintain such an infamous reputation within mainstream media and across everyday America.

From its humble beginnings in the Bronx, New York and outward, Hip-Hop was loud, brash and something Midwest mom and pop probably didn't like: drum machines, wicky-wicky noises and fast talking… oh my!

The excuse on loop “Kids these days don’t listen to real music like they used to” had already been a common refrain every time a new genre took the nation (and ultimately the world) by storm: Jazz, Rock ‘n Roll, etc.

Hip-Hop in its infancy was just as troublesome as those other 20th century American music fads movements. But those genres eventually ascended into high art acceptance as its teen fans and founders became mom and pop themselves. Hip-Hop, on the other hand, has been dragged further down into the muck even through generations of prosperity. Why?

Well, as the 1980’s progressed into the 1990’s, Hip-Hop transformed from an unapologetic party to unabashed "reality". Grandeur visions of rocking the bells were replaced by grim [tall] tales of 187s on undercover cops.

Reality is two things: scary and never 100% real.

Even with the multiple branching paths that the Hip-Hop sound – like Jazz and Rock before it – took, Middle America still feared the impact and content it delivered.

Its intent from the outset was a safe haven away from the violence and drugs afflicting the streets, but as those alleys and avenues swallowed up more youth, Hip-Hop became the way to escape the streets. So the violence and drugs were topics that sadly became more relatable to a wider swatch of people.

(To its defense, Hip-Hop’s general feel and lyrics were always grounded in depictions of psuedo non-fiction and as a whole, less based on the whimsical stories that permeated Rock music's lyrics.)

At this point in time, audiences expanded and the stakes grew higher. The voices came straight outta Compton but the stretch of their songs reached straight into suburbia.

The phat beats, the sick flows, the terrific turntablism, the fervorous & fun...everyone was intrigued.

“[Hip-Hop] has and always will be the most infectious genre ever created,” said Heath McNease, rapper/singer/songwriter and Georgia native.

Nancy Reagan couldn’t tell us what to say ‘No’ to; we were hooked and bringing every urban broadcast into the comfort of our own homes. Big hair became big pants. Times were good as those with and without the means to spread their musings and viewpoints found a channel on which to broadcast.

Parents may finally understand them

This generation that grew up idolizing Flash, Fab 5, Caz and Bambaataa were now legitimizing Hip-Hop as an art and viable career. Excitement was abound as scenes influenced by their own regional flavor popped over all over the country (namely LA, Bay Area, Minneapolis, Chicago, New Orleans, Houston, Miami, Philly, Detroit but also well beyond). The phenomenon was no longer confined to the 5 Boroughs.

Elements of Hip-Hop music and culture even crept into the pop portal as the made-for-radio industry slumped into bland formulas. Now with turntables in the Top 40, Hip-Hop was that trend that simply would not go the way of Disco.

“Hip-Hop is full of the people who supply the edgy and charmingly dangerous bent to your slang, your fashion, your dance, your art, your comedy, and oh yes - your music,” noted Seattle-based rapper Animal Teef.

...But then things started to blur.

Once the C.R.E.A.M. capitalists at Big Business Records saw the dollar $igns, they sunk their teeth in deep. The rebellious nature that peaked curiosity and vicarious adventure began to lose its edge.

Records became more graphic and raunchy, more upscale and affluent – completely unrealistic. Escapism took over. The mantra of “keeping it real” fell to no more than a catchphrase. With money to be made, the hunt was on to find someone who could replicate each and every hot now craze or dance, but look more presentable doing it.

In other words, Elvis was no Chuck Berry and Vanilla Ice was no Big Daddy Kane. The boardroom could not replicate the block. But why would they need to, we don't know the difference...the package looked legit to us.

The budgets grew and the authenticity shrunk. Hip-Hop’s relatability took the first plane to Hollywood. Its leading men and women were copycats and/or sellouts pedaling easy to digest messages or easy to follow narratives, dumbing down from the originator (who, of course, never received the financial compensation as their shiny image counterparts).

[Again, perfectly paralleling Rock ‘n Roll music’s history!]

The “mainstream” (however you want to define that term) has conditioned us to see Hip-Hop as nothing more than synonymous with indulgences such as openly selling and using illicit drugs, thugs and gangstas on tragic capers, misogynistic womanizing, casual alcohol abuse, proudly flaunting pimps as idols, senseless/thoughtless violence to combat the smallest offense, fiscally irresponsibility for the sake of looking fly, pointless & overexaggerated profanity and few to no consequences for any of these actions or habits.

Andy Cooper of Long Beach, California Hip-Hop trio Ugly Duckling wrote an excellent piece on why rappers (and the fictional characters they’re portraying) are more believable than entertainment counterparts such as movie stars and pro wrestlers – whom he all know are playing a part.
Read Andy’s article HERE.

While the flawed anti-hero has indeed become the new superman in our culture, none of the aforementioned traits lend themselves to any type of role model.

Kids growing up too far in the woods to see the trees are actually turning into the characters they hear about in rap songs, encouraged to blindly buy this and act like that – just furthering the cycle.

This treating of rap songs as disposable commodities is vapidly sucking the soul from a passionate art and replacing the creative process with paint-by-numbers formulas. Would be up-and-comers see Johnny Come Lately make a milli on a song that took 20 minutes to write, record and mix -- why would they waste time in producing something worthwhile if slapdash replications sell big?

It's not all gloom and MF doom though.

Because meanwhile…on the so-called underground scene, innumerable folks are fighting the good fight on a smaller stage. They are the regular guys and gals whom we can actually relate to.

Bay Area emcee Lyrics Born & singer Joyo Velarde

They arose from the distant fringe, armed with new and distinctive viewpoints, shaped from experience with the good, bad and ugly of Hip-Hop. Because by now, Hip-Hop has enough mass appeal and commercial influence that it consumes every corner of pop culture: TV commercials, movies, clothing, athletics, etc. For better or worse, it cannot be avoided.

These artists deserve recognition as the proper heirs to Hip-Hop's throne. They're the ones running campaigns to reintroduce the virtues of Hip-Hop in spite of its vices.

Educated consumers with general knowledge can skim across names new and old like Lil’ Wayne, N.W.A., Nikki Minaj and the Notorious B.I.G, but still generally disregard Hip-Hop as vulgar and hollow music unfit for anything but dancing or occasionally preaching empty rhetoric from an unwarranted soapbox. Having Snoop Dogg in the background for most of their lives, they certainly respect the skills of emcees and deejays, but downplay Hip-Hop’s power as an art that can truly make an impact on the community the way Rock ‘n Roll can.

They just haven't been exposed to the right people!

To fight this misperception, here is a list of emcees and groups who not only craft heartfelt music with meaningful and well-thought out messages that address social, political, humorous, personal and everyday topics but also keep it clean with lyrics fit for all ages [most of the time].

Raashan Ahmad / Crown City Rockers, Braille / Beautiful Eulogy, Heath McNease, Playdough, Kero-One, Mars ILL / DeepSpace 5, Ohmega Watts, Restoring Poetry in Music, K-Os, Ugly Duckling, Janelle Monae, The ReMINDers, Lyrics Born / Latyrx, Blackalicious, Doomtree / Dessa, Zion-I, J-Live, oneBeLo, Aesop Rock, Sage Francis and ya don't stop!
(List in no particular order, just a random few off the top of my head)

I encourage you all to check out any or all of these artists to gain a better representation of what Hip-Hop can be. It's me, you, everybody.