Hip or Not (Hip Hop)
Music has touched a lot of people on this lovely lace we call earth and whether its Hip Hop, Pop or RnB, everyone has their own opinion of how the sound should be. When you talk about Hip Hop you talk about the beats, lyrics and the flow or skill rappers use to write. After many years of Hip Hop evolution most are still wondering whether they should follow the old age of Hip Hop or the new age . when I say old age I’m talking about rappers like De la Soul, KRS1, Nas etc. and when I say the new age I’m talking about rappers like Lil Wayne, Drake, Rick Ross etc. the difference between the two is not that far from each other but they are worlds apart.
What started in the mid to late ‘70s has gone far beyond one could have imagined in those days, from the ciphers on the street corners, dancers, Djs scratching the vinyl and graphity artists who expressed their love for the movement of Hip Hop through art. I don’t think they could have seen how far it would go. Now you have Hip Hop followers in places like china etc. and Hip Hop is pushing the limits as we speak. Although the U.S icon Nas said Hip Hop is dead, I would say Hip Hop is evolving from where it was to the new age of your Lil Wayne, HHPs, Drakes and others who are holding the torch high now, and anyways if it was dead he wouldn’t still be releasing albums would he? Hip Hop is not dead at all, you have rappers like Outkast who changed their style a bit and are making millions of it. In 2005 they released the album Speakerbox the love below and they sold over 5million copies of it but since it was a double disc album they sold over 10million copies with songs like Hey Ya! and I like the way you move, many would argue whether it’s Hip or Not. 50 cent said it on one of his albums that, ‘’go ahead switch your style up and if they hate then let them hate as long as the money piles up’’. The new age of Hip Hop consists of rappers who can rap and sing and they do it so well. Most people particularly those who started listening to Hip Hop in its early stages find it hard to relate to this new wave of rappers who sing on their albums as well.
I have to admit though that Hip Hop these days is more about what you have than what you put in your songs and how you put it. These new rappers talk about their cars and money and that’s why some of the Hip Hop heads find it hard to understand them. But the question is, is Hip Hop described by what you talk about or the way the whole song sounds like and the way you expressed yourself? Personally I like the ‘80s and ‘90s rappers like KRS1, Common, and Mos Def etc. but at the same time I find it hard to ignore the talent of these new rappers like Rick Ross, Khanye West, and Drake etc. I don’t think it matters whether you talk about your cars and money or whether you talk about politics, what matters is how you put it down, from beats to the way you choose your flow and how well they blend with each other. We have rappers like Rick Ross from Miami who always talks about the drugs he sell and how much money he makes of it and no matter how wrong it is, its what the new generation wants to hear and he sells millions of copies of it, and on the other hand we have rappers like Nas who always tries to teach us something from his albums and he does it well and sell millions as well.
What makes me proud is that South African rappers are sticking to what we relate to and not their money and cars, but who knows, maybe it’s because we haven’t reached the standard of money the Americans make of rapping. For example if Skwatta Kamp had millions of money would they be talking about money or what we relate to? Just a thought. S.A Hip Hop has grown a lot from where we started and rappers are starting to make lots of money from S.A Hip Hop. Look at HHP, that boy is making so much money now I’m starting to be jealous. He is making money from everything he touches these days. He has what we call swagger and no one can take that away from him. The motswako crew has got almost the same style of rapping but HHP stands out of them all. Now he got his own Status Deodorant HHP. That’s what I call hustling. He even got the pleasure of featuring the U.S Hip Hop icon Nas on his latest album and I say to him, ‘’make that money boii’’. That has opened a lot of doors for artists in S.A who thought it was far fetched to feature someone as huge as Nas. Hip Hop has changed a lot from where it comes from, but who has the write to say it shouldn’t? who has that right to say how Hip Hop has to be? Nothing stays the same forever and Hip Hop shouldn’t as well. Who knows, maybe the golden times of Hip Hop haven’t come yet and the evolution of Hip Hop will get us there.
What started in the mid to late ‘70s has gone far beyond one could have imagined in those days, from the ciphers on the street corners, dancers, Djs scratching the vinyl and graphity artists who expressed their love for the movement of Hip Hop through art. I don’t think they could have seen how far it would go. Now you have Hip Hop followers in places like china etc. and Hip Hop is pushing the limits as we speak. Although the U.S icon Nas said Hip Hop is dead, I would say Hip Hop is evolving from where it was to the new age of your Lil Wayne, HHPs, Drakes and others who are holding the torch high now, and anyways if it was dead he wouldn’t still be releasing albums would he? Hip Hop is not dead at all, you have rappers like Outkast who changed their style a bit and are making millions of it. In 2005 they released the album Speakerbox the love below and they sold over 5million copies of it but since it was a double disc album they sold over 10million copies with songs like Hey Ya! and I like the way you move, many would argue whether it’s Hip or Not. 50 cent said it on one of his albums that, ‘’go ahead switch your style up and if they hate then let them hate as long as the money piles up’’. The new age of Hip Hop consists of rappers who can rap and sing and they do it so well. Most people particularly those who started listening to Hip Hop in its early stages find it hard to relate to this new wave of rappers who sing on their albums as well.
I have to admit though that Hip Hop these days is more about what you have than what you put in your songs and how you put it. These new rappers talk about their cars and money and that’s why some of the Hip Hop heads find it hard to understand them. But the question is, is Hip Hop described by what you talk about or the way the whole song sounds like and the way you expressed yourself? Personally I like the ‘80s and ‘90s rappers like KRS1, Common, and Mos Def etc. but at the same time I find it hard to ignore the talent of these new rappers like Rick Ross, Khanye West, and Drake etc. I don’t think it matters whether you talk about your cars and money or whether you talk about politics, what matters is how you put it down, from beats to the way you choose your flow and how well they blend with each other. We have rappers like Rick Ross from Miami who always talks about the drugs he sell and how much money he makes of it and no matter how wrong it is, its what the new generation wants to hear and he sells millions of copies of it, and on the other hand we have rappers like Nas who always tries to teach us something from his albums and he does it well and sell millions as well.
What makes me proud is that South African rappers are sticking to what we relate to and not their money and cars, but who knows, maybe it’s because we haven’t reached the standard of money the Americans make of rapping. For example if Skwatta Kamp had millions of money would they be talking about money or what we relate to? Just a thought. S.A Hip Hop has grown a lot from where we started and rappers are starting to make lots of money from S.A Hip Hop. Look at HHP, that boy is making so much money now I’m starting to be jealous. He is making money from everything he touches these days. He has what we call swagger and no one can take that away from him. The motswako crew has got almost the same style of rapping but HHP stands out of them all. Now he got his own Status Deodorant HHP. That’s what I call hustling. He even got the pleasure of featuring the U.S Hip Hop icon Nas on his latest album and I say to him, ‘’make that money boii’’. That has opened a lot of doors for artists in S.A who thought it was far fetched to feature someone as huge as Nas. Hip Hop has changed a lot from where it comes from, but who has the write to say it shouldn’t? who has that right to say how Hip Hop has to be? Nothing stays the same forever and Hip Hop shouldn’t as well. Who knows, maybe the golden times of Hip Hop haven’t come yet and the evolution of Hip Hop will get us there.
Ishmael (Phly) Serobatse
Originally publised on 21 April 2010
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