So, I'm posting this song for a few reasons. The first one being, that I was listening to my headphones while cleaning and this song shuffled through. I haven't heard it in a while and it took me back to awesome, younger memories of when this song was all over the place...however my current/older/more experienced self, started thinking about how my musical journey has lead me to a point where I don't fully agree with Nas' entire message here. I do agree with his point that the music that's constantly on the radio and on every DJ's playlist, is played out and usually lacks any real talent or unique quality. However, I don't agree that hip-hop is "dead"... (Bare with me here because this whole train of thought will start to turn into a giant run-on sentence, but if I stop to worry about punctuation and all of that shit...my point will lose its intended value.)
In this song, Nas is referring to hip-hop as being the type of music that you hear on a constant loop on the radio, in department stores, and every stereotypical "bar."(Ya know, that type of bar you never plan on going to but somehow end up there late night/early morning...those gathering holes that try to portray a "club vibe" but in reality it's just an overpriced bar with an awkward strobe light, that's always too crowded and severely lacking of any type of seating...the places you have to throw bows like a claustrophobic Moses parting the drunk sea in hopes of finding a slightly less occupied space just to have it Christopher Columbused by a space cadet in search of their cellphone or a conversation about their feelings.) Holy shit, I digress..those types of places are literally my nightmare.
Back to my point, what Nas is referring to as hip-hop here...I like to refer to it as Rap. Hip-hop is good music...it has an intelligent message and a captivating beat. Rap music is played out pop-hop (I don't know if that makes sense but I'm saying that it's "pop-ish" in the sense that it lacks substance. There aren't any meaningful lyrics, and the beat is probably chopped from the same sample as the four songs played before it on the radio loop.
At the time this song was made, hip-hop wasn't dead but it was close to being buried and forgotten. I think that Nas could have used this track as an opportunity to talk about something better...not to shine more light on the radio pop rap community. When you talk about something it gains more popularity..in this case, it just helped to further burry real hip-hop's image. Nas should have just ignored all of that annoying shit and stuck to his old school hip-hop roots. With this track, I feel like Nas was fxcking with rap-pop himself. A wise man, Murs once said, "I coulda done a Nas and scream hip-hop is dead, but I got up off my ass and did something instead" (Song: Can It Be). Just something to think about...highdeas are the realist.
I'm with the general belief that hip-hop is more of a culture or way of life and rap refers to a specific genre. I say this because I think when we talk about hip-hop is dead its not the same as saying rap is dead. Hip-hop is about the struggles of the "system", oppressions of the law, civil rights, social divides, inequalities, and it used music in the form of rhythmic sounds and words like beats and rap along with clothing, art, books and movies to express their feelings on those subjects. The reason we can't relate to the rap of today is because rap artists dont suffer these same inequalities or social struggles like they did in the 80s and 90s. They're driving exotic cars and living in mansions so we as the fans dont relate or see the connection to our life. However you still have artist like Lupe Fiasco talking about political issues involving religion and war so there's still a message to be said there's just not many people saying it because it doesn't sell. Rap artists today just want a club track so the DJ can play their music in the club. I think as long as people demand to be beard and look for a way to share their voice, hip-hop will always exist.
ReplyDelete