What's the future of Hip-Hop/Rap?

[Filiprish]

I see Hip-Hop being pushed further into the underground, while Rap becomes the party music of this decade. I've noticed that the entire genre has lost a lot of its political tinge. Maybe that will be revived. I see more Asians and Latinos representing. Maybe more "white" people, too.

[Hiroshi2]

First off, what is your definition of "hip-hop" and "rap"?

[Filiprish]

^I think of Hip-Hop being more focused on lyrics and beats, while Rap is more focused on getting crunk. Is there a difference to you? If so, what are your defs?

[nonamerasian]

I'd like to hear more politics and social consciousness. Songs that don't just sound good, but that have actual messages.

On the less serious side, more songs about love and respect, rather than just fucking and fucking.

I'm getting tired of the womanizing and bling-bling crap.

I wanna hear something more relatable.

I would like to see more females with respectable talent, too. Women who won't need to dress as whores, yet will still garner attention. Known for their music first and then maybe looks.

What I see for the future is more party music. A continuation of disrespect for women and excessive materialism.

I think the good stuff will remain on the dl.

I'm glad the Puerto Ricans are back in the game! I love Spanglish hip-hop/rap. Lean Back with Tego Calderon sounds hot.

[Hiroshi2]

Well, maybe that's sort of what it is in 2004.


To me, they're interchangable to an extent. Though "rap" has always been to me been the stuff that was closest to the street, the stuff that was definitely not pop fluff..................for example, the Black Eyed Peas would NEVER be considered rap (well, hell I don't think they're really hip-hop either, so maybe that's a bad example).


I wanna say that hip-hop is more "sophisticated" but in a sense, it's not.

[Filiprish]

Hey, if you guys haven't, you should watch the webcast called "Civil Rights in the Hip-Hop Generation" I posted on this thread, Saturday School at Harvard Law (http://www.forums.yellowworld.org/showthread.php?p=305650#post305650). The webcast is a speech given be Kevin Powel, the Hip-Hop activist.

[Hiroshi2]

I'd like to hear more politics and social consciousness. Songs that don't just sound good, but that have actual messages.

On the less serious side, more songs about love and respect, rather than just fucking and fucking.

I'm getting tired of the womanizing and bling-bling crap.

I wanna hear something more relatable.

I would like to see more females with respectable talent, too. Women who won't need to dress as whores, yet will still garner attention. Known for their music first and then maybe looks.

What I see for the future is more party music. A continuation of disrespect for women and excessive materialism.

I think the good stuff will remain on the dl.

I'm glad the Puerto Ricans are back in the game! I love Spanglish hip-hop/rap. Lean Back with Tego Calderon sounds hot.




I don't mind party music, crunk music, etc. I just can't stand it when you have some MFers that build their whole career on that, and you can tell they're dumb as hell and have no skills whatsoever and you wonder how the hell they got to be MCs.


IMO people like the Ying Yang Twins and Bone Crusher embarass us in the South. How are we supposed to say we got talent with them n**gas up there representin us.


Sometimes I think that maybe crunk music's gone too far. Like I said, when you see dudes build their whole careers on that, and never do anything else....................it's sad.

It'd be good to see somebody do something different, something political but not too preachy (like ATLiens by OutKast - Talib Kweli, I love him, but I admit he can sound too preachy at times).


Kanye West is preachy and annoying as hell cause even though he has his moments, a lot of his rhymes are corny and lame as hell. I'm sure you've heard them at some point (I like that Slum Village song, "Selfish", but I put the TV on mute when Kanye's verse comes on).

In the future, I think hip-hop will do this more laid-back, less tame style of music for a while, then somewhere around '05 or '06 it'll go back to more hardcore stuff. Right now the game is pretty relaxed and tame, with the biggest hits being stuff like "I Like That" and "My Place".


I think dancehall/West Indian music will be even bigger.........................but it'll only last for a short while unless they do something else with the music besides just booty-shaking songs, which is exactly what everybody else is doing.


I like a lot of the party music that's out now, but I agree that hip-hop needs something fresh. No wait I take that back - hip-hop needs something fresh in the mainstream. Kanye was decent..........................but he lacked the skills to become a true powerhouse in the future IMO. We need an artist to come out and take the mainstream, the same people who watch 106&Park every day, by storm and educate them, and expand their minds, and at the same time, give them something they'll want to listen to.

Hey, if you guys haven't, you should watch the webcast called "Civil Rights in the Hip-Hop Generation" I posted on this thread, Saturday School at Harvard Law (http://www.forums.yellowworld.org/showthread.php?p=305650#post305650). The webcast is a speech given be Kevin Powel, the Hip-Hop activist.







I saw like maybe the first 5 or 10 minutes........................interesting, but damn that webcast is 2 hours long! Maybe if I got it in book form.

[Filiprish]

Yeah, the preachy stuff does get annoying. You're right about Outkast. I like Outkast's style. Also, I like how Outkast have fused Hip-Hop and Drum 'n Bass, a sound they refer to as Slum 'n Bass. Haha. Here's an interesting article: http://www.papermag.com/magazine/mag_00/mag_nov00/roni_size/

I think Bhangra is going to play a big role in the future of Urban music in general.

I see UK artists playing a bigger role in US Urban music in general.

UK Hip-Hop and Rap artists such as Dizzie Rascal and The Streets will become more popular.

I see UK Garage artists, such as Misteeq and Ms. Dynamite, becoming for synomous with R&B in the US.

Maybe this should be titled: "What's the future of Urban music?".

I saw like maybe the first 5 or 10 minutes........................interesting, but damn that webcast is 2 hours long! Maybe if I got it in book form.
Just listen to it while you're on the net. Sometimes, it's boring to watch webcasts because all you do is stare at the person's face. It's like listening to music while you're on the net. That's what I do.

[nonamerasian]

I think dancehall/West Indian music will be even bigger.........................but it'll only last for a short while unless they do something else with the music besides just booty-shaking songs, which is exactly what everybody else is doing.

There is more West Indian music than booty-shaking dancehall already out there.

I just finished watching a great calypso competition from this year's Vincy Mas. Great music filled with political commentary. . .But I don't think it will hit the mainstream U.S.

The U.S. seems to just have taken to dancehall. Starting to embrace some soca-ish stuff (Kevin Lyttle).

[hooligan]

www.bluescholars.com

some good, socially conscious hip hop.

[Hiroshi2]

But you know what filiprish, if you insist on drawing a difference b/w "rap" and "hip-hop"................well, here ya go.





Hip-hop (http://www.trickology.com/component/option,com_remository/Itemid,30/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=30&func=download&filecatid=4)


Rap (http://a420.v8383d.c8383.g.vm.akamaistream.net/7/420/8383/3b858b51/mtvrdstr.download.akamai.com/8512/wmp/2/25363/29012_1_13_04.asf)





BTW, I'll be sure to go back and check out that link hooligan.

[mr. x]

Filiprish, The Streets is NOT that accessible IMO, its very english, i mean the whole pace of it

[Filiprish]

Hiroshi, I think you and I define Hip-Hop and Rap the same way.

See, I grew up listening to Pete Rock CL Smooth, Slick Rick, Black Sheep, Lords of the Underground, Poor Righteous Teachers, Fu-Schnickens, Das Efx, KRS-One, Public Enemy, Gangstarr, The Roots, A Tribe Called Quest, The Pharcyde--mostly NYC stuff. Now the latter stuff is Hip-Hop, IMO. On the otherhand, Jin (<yes), 50 Cent, Outkast, DMX, P. Diddy, Ludacris, Missy Elliot, Busta Rhymes, Jay-Z, Kayne West, Eminem, etc. is Rap. Yeah, I'm old school.

To be quite honest, I don't listen to Hip-Hop or Rap very much anymore. In my younger days Hip-Hop had an overriding influence. I should mention that I've always had very eclectic musical tastes, though. My current attitude towards Hip-Hop it's just too underground. I liked that stuff growing up--the word play, the beats and politics. In HS, it was good to smoke to (if you know what I mean). But, now, I'm a college graduate and I just can't relate to the music. It's not my mentality and hasn't been since circa 1997. Besides, I have and have always had an upper-middle class lifestyle and I think it's a little corny to listen to Hip-Hop and try to relate to the streets when I live and grew up in the suburbs. I suppose Hip-Hop was a trend/phase for me. A lot of my friends from high school that didn't go to college still listen to Hip-Hop religously, though. I can't really relate to them anymore. On the otherhand, Rap is cool to listen to in the car or get crunk to on the dancefloor. I like how Rap has become pop. It really has united a lot of people. You have parents and grandparents of all races jamming to Rap. Nowadays, rather than Hip-Hop or Rap, my primary musical taste is mellow and jam rock. To name a few artists I like: Jack Johnson, Dave Matthews, 311, Sam Roberts, Ben Harper, O.A.R., The Urge, Guster, Dispatch, Gillian Welch and Robert Earl Keen. A lot of these bands have Hip-Hop and Ragga influences, so they are pretty much a fusion of all my musical tastes and a better reflection of current mentality.

Mr. X, I'm not sure what you mean by "NOT that accessible." By that, do you mean underground? They're a lot more popular than you might think. Well, let's just say I'm not very fond of The Streets, that was not a good example. There are plenty other well-talented UK artists out there who are gaining clout in the US. Take Dizzie Rascal for a poppish example. DJ Premier gave him props. A lot of the good UK artists are underground, though. I think it's natural for the US to seek talent overseas for new exotic artists, especially since our tastes are extremely fickle and most US artists have trite sounds.

[Shogun Empress]

Hip Hop is an amalgamation of different urban sounds such as scratching records, stealing samples, beat-boxing, r&B singing, and rapping. Rap is just rap.

[kitty]

uhm... i define hip hop and rap completely opposite. hip-hop is more emphasis on beats, dance music, it is hard to dance-dance to rap. rap is about the lyrics, harder, edgier, and more old school. you can't really grind to rap, you can grind to hip-hop. all the stuff that people think is 'rap' nowadays is actually hip hop or hip-pop, imo.

[Hiroshi2]

Hiroshi, I think you and I define Hip-Hop and Rap the same way.

See, I grew up listening to Pete Rock CL Smooth, Slick Rick, Black Sheep, Lords of the Underground, Poor Righteous Teachers, Fu-Schnickens, Das Efx, KRS-One, Public Enemy, Gangstarr, The Roots, A Tribe Called Quest, The Pharcyde--mostly NYC stuff. Now the latter stuff is Hip-Hop, IMO. On the otherhand, Jin (<yes), 50 Cent, Outkast, DMX, P. Diddy, Ludacris, Missy Elliot, Busta Rhymes, Jay-Z, Kayne West, Eminem, etc. is Rap. Yeah, I'm old school.

To be quite honest, I don't listen to Hip-Hop or Rap very much anymore. In my younger days Hip-Hop had an overriding influence. I should mention that I've always had very eclectic musical tastes, though. My current attitude towards Hip-Hop it's just too underground. I liked that stuff growing up--the word play, the beats and politics. In HS, it was good to smoke to (if you know what I mean). But, now, I'm a college graduate and I just can't relate to the music. It's not my mentality and hasn't been since circa 1997. Besides, I have and have always had an upper-middle class lifestyle and I think it's a little corny to listen to Hip-Hop and try to relate to the streets when I live and grew up in the suburbs. I suppose Hip-Hop was a trend/phase for me. A lot of my friends from high school that didn't go to college still listen to Hip-Hop religously, though. I can't really relate to them anymore. On the otherhand, Rap is cool to listen to in the car or get crunk to on the dancefloor. I like how Rap has become pop. It really has united a lot of people. You have parents and grandparents of all races jamming to Rap. Nowadays, rather than Hip-Hop or Rap, my primary musical taste is mellow and jam rock. To name a few artists I like: Jack Johnson, Dave Matthews, 311, Sam Roberts, Ben Harper, O.A.R., The Urge, Guster, Dispatch, Gillian Welch and Robert Earl Keen. A lot of these bands have Hip-Hop and Ragga influences, so they are pretty much a fusion of all my musical tastes and a better reflection of current mentality.

Mr. X, I'm not sure what you mean by "NOT that accessible." By that, do you mean underground? They're a lot more popular than you might think. Well, let's just say I'm not very fond of The Streets, that was not a good example. There are plenty other well-talented UK artists out there who are gaining clout in the US. Take Dizzie Rascal for a poppish example. DJ Premier gave him props. A lot of the good UK artists are underground, though. I think it's natural for the US to seek talent overseas for new exotic artists, especially since our tastes are extremely fickle and most US artists have trite sounds.




Yeah I understand and even tho I live in a suburban-style neighborhood now..................a lot of the stuff and some of the mentalites...........I actually could relate to, especially since I grow up in the inner-city and actually go to a school in the inner-city with inner-city kids.




It's just a preference.

[nonamerasian]

uhm... i define hip hop and rap completely opposite. hip-hop is more emphasis on beats, dance music, it is hard to dance-dance to rap. rap is about the lyrics, harder, edgier, and more old school. you can't really grind to rap, you can grind to hip-hop. all the stuff that people think is 'rap' nowadays is actually hip hop or hip-pop, imo.

That's pretty much my definition, too.

[Hiroshi2]

Yeah see hip-hop is more than just music, it's a culture. A culture that includes not just music but dances, the way people talk, dress, etc.



Rap is just rap, I guess.

[Filiprish]

Yeah see hip-hop is more than just music, it's a culture. A culture that includes not just music but dances, the way people talk, dress, etc.



Rap is just rap, I guess.
Exactly. Hip-Hop is a culture that consist of four elements. The elements are: Djing, B-Boying, MCing, Graffing. Some people even want to include Beatboxing and Skateboarding. Most people don't know the history of Hip-Hop.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip-hop

Btw, it's different you, Hiroshi. You grew up in the inner-city. So, you can relate to Hip-Hop better than me. Even though I grew up in the 'burbs, I can still relate, though, b/c I'm a minority.

[Hiroshi2]

Exactly. Hip-Hop is a culture that consist of four elements. The elements are: Djing, B-Boying, MCing, Graffing. Some people even want to include Beatboxing and Skateboarding. Most people don't know the history of Hip-Hop.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip-hop

Btw, it's different you, Hiroshi. You grew up in the inner-city. So, you can relate to Hip-Hop better than me. Even though I grew up in the 'burbs, I can still relate, though, b/c I'm a minority.





Yeah I don't mind opening up to other styles of music, it's just that that's (mostly) what I grew up on. Like I said before (maybe not on this thread) my mother listens to every type of music out there, but still.


Like I was talking with some white kid who said he was tired of seeing hip-hop/R&B all over the place on MTV and stuff and how he wished they played more "regular" music, for him "regular" music, being rock music. And I'm like..................dude, hip-hop/R&B *is* regular music to me, that's what I grew up on.

[Filiprish]

Like I was talking with some white kid who said he was tired of seeing hip-hop/R&B all over the place on MTV and stuff and how he wished they played more "regular" music, for him "regular" music, being rock music. And I'm like..................dude, hip-hop/R&B *is* regular music to me, that's what I grew up on.
Regular music? Ignorant. Did/do you listen to any of people I mentioned: Pete Rock CL Smooth, Slick Rick, Black Sheep, Lords of the Underground, Poor Righteous Teachers, Fu-Schnickens, Das Efx, KRS-One, Public Enemy, Gangstarr, The Roots, A Tribe Called Quest, The Pharcyde? You might be too young. Yeah, you should broaden your horizons. That way you can better understand the big picture. I'm trying to learn about modern music, in all genres, from all over the world. Hip-hop is pretty influential around the world. Have you heard of Kwaito? It's South African Hip-Hip. It's not really that good to me, but it's cool to know that they have their own answer to Hip-Hop. Lately, I've been listening to a lot of Reggaetonik (Spanish Hip-Hop) and Bhangra (Indian Hip-Hop). You should check them out.

[Mr.Lum]

Yeah I don't mind opening up to other styles of music, it's just that that's (mostly) what I grew up on. Like I said before (maybe not on this thread) my mother listens to every type of music out there, but still.


Like I was talking with some white kid who said he was tired of seeing hip-hop/R&B all over the place on MTV and stuff and how he wished they played more "regular" music, for him "regular" music, being rock music. And I'm like..................dude, hip-hop/R&B *is* regular music to me, that's what I grew up on.

Well, it can get boring after a while. It's almost all they play.

[Hiroshi2]

Regular music? Ignorant. Did/do you listen to any of people I mentioned: Pete Rock CL Smooth, Slick Rick, Black Sheep, Lords of the Underground, Poor Righteous Teachers, Fu-Schnickens, Das Efx, KRS-One, Public Enemy, Gangstarr, The Roots, A Tribe Called Quest, The Pharcyde? You might be too young. Yeah, you should broaden your horizons. That way you can better understand the big picture. I'm trying to learn about modern music, in all genres, from all over the world. Hip-hop is pretty influential around the world. Have you heard of Kwaito? It's South African Hip-Hip. It's not really that good to me, but it's cool to know that they have their own answer to Hip-Hop. Lately, I've been listening to a lot of Reggaetonik (Spanish Hip-Hop) and Bhangra (Indian Hip-Hop). You should check them out.





Kris? Big fan of him, man...................he could kill *anybody* in the game, past or present. Except for maybe Rakim (actually I think Common could hang with dude too, people never give Common enough credit).


Tribe Called Quest....................I remember people on my block used to bump stuff from the "Low End Theory", I think it was called. But yeah...............this was when I was a little kid, so I'm talking about like mid-90s. Haven't heard any TCQ in a long time. Now I think Q-Tip's done some solo stuff like that song "Vivrant Thing" from like '99................but naw, other than that, haven't heard from them in a LONG time.


The Roots, of course I've heard of them, I've got Phrenology right here. I've heard some of their earlier stuff, tho.


Slick Rick? Ha..................I wish people did rap music like he used to. Tell stories and stuff. Actually if you listen to some stuff of off Ghostface Killah's new one................it's kinda reminscent of some of that old-school New York-style rap.


I'm not familar with any of those other people you mentioned.

And when I say regular music.......................all I'm saying is that's what I'm most familar. I'm sure everybody has their own idea of regular music, or normal music, or just plain familar music. For me, it's mostly hip-hop/R&B, for others it may be something else. Whatever. I'm defintely one to try to expand my musical horizons, believe me, if shit is weak, I'll get tired of it real quick.

Well, it can get boring after a while. It's almost all they play.





Wha? MTV and MTV2 both play a lot of rock music, about half the time that I turn it on there's something like "Headbanger's Ball" or "Rockzilla" or whatever it is that comes on.



I don't see how anybody could complain MTV and MTV2 play too much hip-hop. They seem to keep it pretty balanced.

[Mr.Lum]

Wha? MTV and MTV2 both play a lot of rock music, about half the time that I turn it on there's something like "Headbanger's Ball" or "Rockzilla" or whatever it is that comes on

MTV2 is different. MTV is mostly commercial rap or R/B. MTV isn't even music most of the time, but when music is on, it's mostly rap.



I don't see how anybody could complain MTV and MTV2 play too much hip-hop. They seem to keep it pretty balanced.

That's because you like it. MTV2 is the opposite of MTV, there is less rap there than on MTV.

[Filiprish]

And when I say regular music.......................all I'm saying is that's what I'm most familar. I'm sure everybody has their own idea of regular music, or normal music, or just plain familar music. For me, it's mostly hip-hop/R&B, for others it may be something else. Whatever. I'm defintely one to try to expand my musical horizons, believe me, if shit is weak, I'll get tired of it real quick.
I hope you don't think that I was calling you ignorant. I was talking about your friend.

Man, you're missing out on a lot of good music. Every single one of those artists are legendary. I let my younger sister listen to some of that stuff and she was like who it that. I'm like, you never heard this! She's too young, 20, so I can't blame her. Ya'll young kids don't know real Hip-Hop (thought I would never say that). You should check out those artists so you can understand the history of Hip-Hop. You have to know your Hip-Hop roots. :wink:

[Hiroshi2]

I hope you don't think that I was calling you ignorant. I was talking about your friend.




Oh, OK.


See the interesting this................he defined "regular music" not as being rock music, but he actually said, "you know, guitars, drums............real instruments."



First of all, R&B (especially old-school R&B) has more "real instruments" than most rock songs. Most rock music seems to consist of guitar, bass guitar, and drums. Lot of old-school R&B has all that, plus horns, trumpets, pianos, etc.


Second, hip-hop uses real instruments sometimes (think Roots), any rap song can be played on real instruments like horns and trumpets (just come to halftime to a black college football game, where they'll play all of the hottest rap hits, Lil Jon, Petey Pablo, Jay-Z, anybody that's hot at the time) so it is real music. It's not just thumping on a table, though that's pretty much where hip-hop started off at.


Too many people don't give rap music the credit it deserves in terms of contributions to music, despite all of the great artists that have emerged out of it and the fact that it's been around for 25-30 years. I had to defend it.

[Filiprish]

Celebrating 25 years of Hip-Hop

http://img.coxnewsweb.com/C/04/52/82/image_382524.gif

http://www.accessatlanta.com/music/content/music/images/hiphop.jpg (http://www.accessatlanta.com/music/content/music/index.html;COXnetJSessionID=BYhPtVRS2jxt65Fv3sXx0O 7cXatxmIeSJ3lkSt35wwgYsHcSIdbC!-718483922?urac=n&urvf=10963274399420.08809801100653136)

[Hiroshi2]

Celebrating 25 years of Hip-Hop

http://img.coxnewsweb.com/C/04/52/82/image_382524.gif

http://www.accessatlanta.com/music/content/music/images/hiphop.jpg (http://www.accessatlanta.com/music/content/music/index.html;COXnetJSessionID=BYhPtVRS2jxt65Fv3sXx0O 7cXatxmIeSJ3lkSt35wwgYsHcSIdbC!-718483922?urac=n&urvf=10963274399420.08809801100653136)




Who's the best old-school hip-hop artist?



Rakim definitely.......................I was always really into Biggie and Jay-Z and that's where those dudes got their whole style from.


Favorite hip-hop slang?


Country slang....................cause that's what makes sense to me and it just rolls off the tongue so easy. I just don't get New Yorkers, even though I've spent enough time up there to understand most (not all) of what they say.


Favorite hip-hop fashions?


Throwbacks are too ghetto for me personally and you know the motherfuckers that came up with that "white tee" song were some broke ass negroes cause a white tee is the cheapest type of clothing you can get.............I think it's like 5 for $3 at Wal-Mart and you can get 5 tall-Ts for $20 at Hibbett.


I like the striped color shirts that Nelly, Jay-Z and Kanye've been rockin in the videos and on TV, etc. I got one just like that, that's my pimp/club shirt, ha ha.


Favorite hip-hop songs?


That is so hard...................let me just say that I'd thrown in some shit from OutKast, David Banner, Geto Boys, etc. as well as West Coast people like Ice Cube, Snoop, and defintely 'Pac, and East Coast dudes of course.................everybody from Rakim and Kris to Jay, Biggie, even Fabolous can get lyrical. But fuck 50. In the Midwest, Twista's real hot and Nelly's style of rhyming is very unique and he's definitely talented. Slum Village is cool......................Chingy need to quit tho. TrakStar (his producers) need to hook up with better rappers, dudes who could actually flow and got something to say, not fake wannabe thugs.

[Faithless]

Who's the best old-school hip-hop artist?

How far back do we go? Melle Mel? KRS-One? Kurtis Blow?

Add a category: Smoothest voice?

Big Daddy Kane.

I think the future of rap could be a return to old school, namely in the form of --

Conscious rap (http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030113&s=chang).
article | Posted December 23, 2002

'Stakes Is High'
Conscious Rap, Neosoul and the Hip-Hop Generation
by Jeff Chang

Fifteen years ago, rappers like Public Enemy, KRS-One and Queen Latifah were received as heralds of a new movement. Musicians--who, like all artists, always tend to handle the question "What's going on?" much better than "What is to be done?"--had never been called upon to do so much for their generation; Thelonious Monk, Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder were never asked to stand in for Thurgood Marshall, Fannie Lou Hamer or Stokely Carmichael. But the gains of the civil rights and Black Power movements of the 1960s were being rolled back. Youths were as fed up with black leadership as they were with white supremacy. Politics had failed. Culture was to become the hip-hop generation's battlefield, and "political rap" was to be its weapon.
...

[IndescribabLGuy]

hiphop- ' raise ya hands up in the air and wave em around like u just dont care!'
rap- 'what these bitches want from a nigga'

[hooligan]

Common Sense. Enough said.

[Faithless]

First off, what is your definition of "hip-hop" and "rap"?
A discussion/definition of hip hop through an interview with Saul Williams (http://www.motherjones.com/arts/qa/2001/07/saul_williams.html).

I like this quote: Oppressed people across the world were like, "Wait, we're gonna speak up through this art form, because it's fucking powerful. In this way, we can just deliver speeches over beats." And since we nod our heads to beats, that's instant affirmation.

With logic like that, you could say that hip hop could come out of more cultures than we are currently used to.

...
Mother Jones: Is Amethyst Rock Star -- you've got "Rock Star" in the title -- a hip-hop album?
Saul Williams: I do think it's a hip-hop album. I think that we've given ourselves a premature definition of hip-hop that inhibits our growth. I can look at Grandmaster Flash in the '70s and something coming out of the U.K. in the '90s and say it's all hip-hop.

MJ: What makes it hip-hop?

SW: Well, that's the question. We can say what makes it hip-hop is this black, urban [experience] da-da-da. But no! Hip-hop is no longer that. I mean, hip-hop has existed in Yugoslavia now for 10 years, has existed in France for 10 years, in Japan for at least 10 years -- has existed where there are no African American experiences. So what is hip-hop? Well, with Public Enemy and KRS-ONE, hip-hop became the language of youth rebellion. But now, commercial hip-hop is not youth rebellion, not when the heroes of hip-hop like Puffy are taking pictures with Donald Trump and the heroes of capitalism -- you know that's not rebellion. That's not "the street" -- that's Wall Street.

MJ: You take the sellout of hip-hop very personally.

SW: I have a very family-like connection to hip-hop, which is why it frustrates me so much. It used to be the thing that inspired me toward new self-definitions. And now I listen to hip-hop and think, "That's not me. That does not inspire me. That's not what I want to be." It also hurts because I have kids, you know, and the fact they're listening to some shit that is not feeding them. And I was fed by the music I listened to as a kid. Hip-hop fed me psychologically, spiritually, politically. I learned from that music.

MJ: Are you trying to re-create the music of your youth?

SW: What I'm aiming to do within hip-hop is to point out that the music itself is powerful; it reaches so many people. Through Public Enemy we learned that when the idea of self-empowerment is connected to music, it becomes the most powerful thing in the world. And it's because of Public Enemy that there are hip-hop groups in all the countries I mentioned before. Remember: Public Enemy cannot be compared to Mos Def, The Roots, or any of that self-conscious, bohemian hip-hop. Public Enemy was hardcore -- it's what drug dealers listened to. Oppressed people across the world were like, "Wait, we're gonna speak up through this art form, because it's fucking powerful. In this way, we can just deliver speeches over beats." And since we nod our heads to beats, that's instant affirmation.

MJ: But your music isn't about easy head nodding.

SW: I feel that people need to be jolted out of their comfort zones. The thing that I loved about the poetry scene was that people were gathering and saying, "You know what? I can think for myself." And that's what I'm doing in my music. You change the beat up, you might change the way people dance to the music. If you change the way they move, maybe they'll think about it differently. I want to connect music to its highest power -- which is heightening consciousness and affecting people's reality. That can't be done in normal ways, not according to my experience.
...

[Hiroshi2]

But you know this word "hip-hop" is not what they called it at first. In the beginning, everybody called it "rap". "Hip-hop" actually sounds like a word that white people invented when the shit got popular to be honest with you. But maybe I'm wrong.




MJ: But your music isn't about easy head nodding.

SW: I feel that people need to be jolted out of their comfort zones. The thing that I loved about the poetry scene was that people were gathering and saying, "You know what? I can think for myself." And that's what I'm doing in my music. You change the beat up, you might change the way people dance to the music. If you change the way they move, maybe they'll think about it differently. I want to connect music to its highest power -- which is heightening consciousness and affecting people's reality. That can't be done in normal ways, not according to my experience.



OK if the beat sounds like shit, nobody's gonna listen to it. Period. Look at the remix to "Why". Common, Nas, and even Jadakiss snapped on all their verses. With lines like "why can't they catch Osama/why don't we impeach the president and elect Obama?" or "Why half of America got AIDS/why the school care more about your sons braids than they do 'bout his grades?" and you wonder why that didn't get played on the radio, MTV, etc. when the original did? Because the original had the beat that would grab your attention, and the beat to the remix was atrocious. It was garbage, the worst rap beat I've heard in a long time. Sounded like some shit that was thrown together.

[Kennyb]

First off, you are right in one of your earlier posts in saying that hip hop is a culture. Ask someone to define what rap and hip hop is and you'll see the difference on the definition. Still, many people can't tell the difference.


See the interesting this................he defined "regular music" not as being rock music, but he actually said, "you know, guitars, drums............real instruments."

First of all, R&B (especially old-school R&B) has more "real instruments" than most rock songs. Most rock music seems to consist of guitar, bass guitar, and drums. Lot of old-school R&B has all that, plus horns, trumpets, pianos, etc.

Your friend really needs to listen a little bit more genre of music with that definition of his.

That's true about R&B, since it developed from blue, jazz and gospel music, later funk too. Ella Fitzgerald and Aretha Franklin are the definate pioneers to it.

Reason why rock only has a limit amount of instrument is because it's a music genre where you want to make yourself quickly heard and it's not too hard to pick up a guitar and pluck a few chords, same with the drum. You can add more elements to rock music - Oasis's 'Whatever' featured a orchestra, Guns N Roses 'November Rain' has Axel playing the piano. It depends how experimentive you are with music - again, The Velvet Underground are a genuis to music experiementation.

Second, hip-hop uses real instruments sometimes (think Roots), any rap song can be played on real instruments like horns and trumpets (just come to halftime to a black college football game, where they'll play all of the hottest rap hits, Lil Jon, Petey Pablo, Jay-Z, anybody that's hot at the time) so it is real music. It's not just thumping on a table, though that's pretty much where hip-hop started off at.

James Brown layed the foundation of hip hop - listen to any of his track and it's all played by musical instrument. So you are correct to say it. Mixing and scratching is just another elevation to hip hop which incidentally it can be identify as an instrument.

Too many people don't give rap music the credit it deserves in terms of contributions to music, despite all of the great artists that have emerged out of it and the fact that it's been around for 25-30 years. I had to defend it.

Well rap has pretty much gone into the hip hop culture, so it's hard to clarify the differences.

As for the future of it, hip hop has done everything there is to do to change society. You can see it's gotten more commercial but think of the opposite of what's not hip hop and that may be turned into hip hop. I mean the thread that got closed 'Gay Hip Hop' is proving the changes - sooner or later it will be a change for the good. If you want evident of changes in music world, I can list you numbers amount....