Hip-Hop: Beyond Radio Hits

The word “hip-hop” conjures the image of gangsters with saggy pants, modeling grills alongside an entourage of big-bootied women. Parents shake their heads at the crude, violent and materialistic image popular artists promote, but I’m a fan of the Soulja Boy dance. I love the new Kanye. I can’t resist Lil Wayne’s distinctively hoarse voice and bad boy appeal (a tattoo on his eyelid? What a thug!). On the other hand, I can see where these seemingly overprotective parents are coming from.

            It’s not just the fact that the media sheds the brightest light on artists whose lyrics are disrespectful towards women and promote drug use and violence. I can deal with an offensive lyric over a tight beat. What I can’t deal with is the fact that other talented artists who chose to utilize their creativity rather than surrender to a stereotype, are not being showcased.

I used to take “old school” hip-hop to mean my CD case from elementary and middle school, flashing back to Ja Rule expressing his quality relationships: “I’m nasty, heh, you know me/ But you still let me f*** with you baby.” The very titles of 50 Cent’s songs give an insight to their content: “I’m a Hustler”, “How to Rob” and “P.I.M.P” to name a few. At hip-hop’s true roots, however, lies the history of a race that was once not given a voice. When hip-hop evolved, inner city kids became DJS, dancers and emcees, and got to speak out. Having evolved “in the backyards, basement and communities of inner-city black and Hispanic youth,” hip-hop began as an uplifting and inspirational movement, breaking all tradition to allow for self-expression. Hip-hop broke the rules while conveying important messages and ideas. Mainstream artists break the rules by rhyming about breaking the rules, and stop there.

In the turmoil of the 1960s and 70s, figures like Dr. Martin Luther King inspired people to open up and express themselves. For many African-Americans, hip-hop presented opportunities that had never previously existed, “freeing them to use raw language to say things on vinyl no generation of African-Americans had ever felt comfortable expressing in public,” according to Nelson George, author of Hip Hop America. The artists most commonly featured on the radio throw in enough swear words to open up thousands of radio-editing jobs around the country, getting so comfortable with raw language that they’ve inspired fourth graders to adopt a swagger and use it too. I don’t think that’s what Dr. King had in mind when he encouraged self-expression.

Some hip-hop artists work hard to express themselves to the world in innovative ways. The lyrics of artists like Organized Konfusion take self-expression to a whole new level: “Poetical medical medicine for the cerebellum/ I divert ’em and flirt ’em insert ’em then I repel ’em.../ I’m mathematical, acrobatical/ Attack the wack take rap to the maximum.” Those who aren’t caught up in a stereotype create powerful work that affects listeners and send messages to them in unique ways, focusing on topics other than cars and women. The lyrics of non-mainstream artists encompass a wide range of topics, emotions and styles.

With the spotlight on rappers who sing about the same thing, in the same way, the media convinces the public that this is the extent of hip-hop.  People who don’t investigate hip-hop beyond its commercialized forms are left not knowing about the creativity and talent of the movement’s leaders and those who continue its tradition of originality.  Injustices like the Jena Six go unnoticed for months, but the newest clothing brands and cars are referred to in the newest radio hits. Media puts a spotlight on less socially conscious hip-hop artists. Hip-hop was “meant to raise one’s political and social consciousness,” but with the media’s concentration on “gangsta rap” this purpose has been lost on popular culture. We need to pay attention to artists who tell stories that need to be told and whose works exude important messages. Industries like MTV need to expand their vision and artists need to be encouraged to express their opinions about current events and issues that are being ignored at the expense of materialistic interests.

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