The genre must be renamed to honour the true Hip Hop of yesteryear. Every now and again there is an artist that emerges and the whole Hip Hop world expects him to be the one to stay true to hip hop. But, soon after, the commercial tendencies creep in and again we are left hungry for true hip hop!
The Hip Hop world as we know it today is but a shadow of what the pioneers of Hip Hop had envisioned! Today, money, cars and women are depthless topics so-called “artists” are interested in writing about! I won’t even address auto-tune. It makes me mad! Fashion and Hip Hop was always something to be admired. That too is dead! Mainstream fashion has crept into Hip Hop… Skinny jeans? Really? And they come is all sorts of shiny colours!
I suppose the evolution of Hip Hop has led to what we hear and unfortunately see in the world of music today!
I have been a Hip Hop fan for a long time. My father introduced me to the beats when I was still a thundercat. It became part of me. Back then, Hip Hop was a movement, a state of conscious thinking, a way to express feelings without resorting to violence. Remember the days of NWA? The Sugarhill Gang dropped Rappers Delight, tongue-twisting and lyrical genius all on one track! And, L.L Cool J slowed it down and appealed to the ladies.
Don’t get more wrong, there are artist out there making some good music… exciting, catchy music which unfortunately lacks longevity.
I was still wet behind the ears in the early 90’s so I can’t talk about Chuck-D, Big Daddy Kane, or even Doug E. Fresh. My father listened to them almost religiously and those beats stayed with me. I can’t talk about Hip Hop without mentioning Tupac and Biggie; their impact is still felt today, but they’re not relevant to the new school of Hip Hop fans!
“They can remake the songs but they can’t replicate the swag” – Jadakiss said that!
There are many rappers who could have been influential if they’d had the right support behind them: Jadakiss is one of them, and Shine, if he could stay out of prison for long enough. Ludacris has been doing it for a while but hasn’t quite reached his full potential.
South African Hip Hop, which once had an element of individuality, has sadly lost that unique sound which had set them apart from American Hip Hop artists. South African artists need to break away from this trend of following American culture.
Hip Hop is my first Love. Can we ever go back to its realness?
Real Talk never lies!
