Kanye, Jay-Z, Eminem, Nas, and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
This past week Kanye West received 10 Grammy nominations for his album "The College Dropout (iTunes link)." Jay-Z was hired as President of Def Jam records one of the most profitable divisions of Vivendi Universal, and his collaboration with Linkin Park, "Mashed Up", was number 1 on the Billboard charts this week. Emenim's album "Encore" remained in the top five after weeks at number 1 on the Billboard charts, followed closely by Nas album "Street's Disciple".
Not only is rap and hip hop everywhere, but more importantly, it has broken out of it's narrow demographic to encompass a diverse audience. This ability to break out of it's assumed audience is what every other musical genre longs for. Country music for example has tried desperately to gain wider acceptance, yet it is still predominately stuck within it's own demographic.
Rap and Hip hop have an influence only dreamed of by the early pioneers of rap and hip-hop like Grand Master Flash and Gill Scott-Heron(iTunes Link). So what are they doing with this new influence? Are the rap and hip hop stars of today facilitating the violence, misogyny, greed, and low expectations that earlier artists wanted to rise above?
I had originally intended this entry to be for the Heir Force Blog, but then I remembered that one thing teens hate, a lot, is being asked to deconstruct their music. That's why I switched my topics.
I have an article in my Youth Worker written by the regular Urban Ministry columnist, and he sees a lot of postmodern themes within rap and hip hop (article). Songs like "White America", "Jesus Walks", "I Can", and "Where is the Love?" all have a message that gets away from just the girls and the bling bling.
So my question is, as these artist become more and more powerful both behind the mic and in the boardroom what remains most important to them? Is finding whatever will sell most important, or is speaking against injustice? Does an artist deserve our attention (i.e. money) if on one song he promotes social justice and on another talks about the power of killing, money, and sex? Are these artists doing more harm than good to our youth?
4 comments:
Great question. I tend to agree that today's hip hop is under a guise of social justice while it reaps in the millions. But I think Tupac stands out as a artist who didn't care about market trends or statistics, but spoke the truth sometimes. Though he did have his moments of money and girls, but his early work is all about the poor and oppressed. I suggest to anyone to watch Tupac Resurrection. Until the first time he was shot Tupac was full of hope for the poor, but after he was shot he lost all hope and began to write about money, girls and not given a @!#$%. So good observation about current hip hop and its apperance of social justice while they only get richer (Jenny from the block? OK).
Is is possible for these artists, like us, to be betwixt and between? In other words, can't we grant them the same grace we grant ourselves when it comes to motives and purity of heart?
I'm a minister but I'm also a professional. I want to help others but I also want to get paid doing it. I want to share but I also want to hoard. So isn't it possible that the answer to Jason's question, "what is most important to them?" the same answer we would give for ourselves?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not excusing or defending the worst of their output (just as I wouldn't excuse my own horrible output) but I do think that artists, like us, find that they are betwixt and between when it comes down to motive.
I could go for a Twix bar myself.
I think the main thing people don't understand is that rap is made up of different things but mostly 50% is reality and 50% is fiction and fantasy.Rappers speak of experiences that they have been through in their everyday lives which is why so many people relate to their songs and the artist as a person.So the real question should be why blame rappers for what they rap about when society has dealt them these crappy hands to play with but that is completely off topic.To get back to my point they rap about what they have done in the past and what they wish for as artist(girls,money,cars).So once an artist becomes so successful that he has all that he has wished for they start to become calm and make these nice songs with nice messages.If you think about it Jay-Z,Nas,Kanya West didn't really make these songs until after they were successful.People say that they make one nice song but after this song is made they usually go back to the only thing they know which is wishing and experience only the difference now is that these wishes are their daily experience. True hip- hop fans know the difference and won't just question an artist sincerity.They will listen and investigate before passing such harsh judgement on men who are just that men speaking the truth of their lives.This is not to say that all rappers are speaking about what they done because everyone can't sell drugs and use guns.It up to you as a fan and a true lover of hip- hop to go out and weigh out the reality from the fiction.Decide who is the true artist and who is the pretender.Just a little hint pretenders care more about quantity and artist care more about quality.
Sign Sade a True Lover Of Hip-Hop
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