This is for today’s internet rappers in the back fiddling with their autotune…
Know your history while expanding the craft.
The Golden Era of hip-hop was a creative explosion of styles upon styles as the craft expanded from the late 80s, morphing out of the party zone, the fad raps, and MCs slash public service announcers. Artists such as LL Cool J, Boogie Down Productions (Krs ONE), Eric B & Rakim, Just-Ice, N.W.A., EPMD, The Ultramagnetic MCs, Kool G. Rap, and others were continuing the aspect of hard raps and hard beats with deeper subject matters. While crews like De La, Jungle Brothers, and Stetsasonic were blending new grooves and styles while not divesting in subject matters. It was evolution and the beginning of the ‘Golden Era’ as rap became a powerful force in the 90s and beyond.
Be creative but thoughtful.
Sampling was king as producers mined for gold initially for known party anthems that would translate into hopefully the same success for your rap. Think of all of the different versions of Juicy Fruit by Mtume or In Between the Sheets by Isley Brothers. All of the James Brown, Parliament-Funkadelic, Ohio Players, Zapp and Roger, and others were used countless times in different new tunes. Not just the funk but rock heavyweights such as Billy Squire was mined for his drum breakbeats. Rap and rock merged when Aerosmith’s ‘Walk this Way’ was brilliantly redone by Run DMC.
At about the same time, known party anthems became over the top, and the music industry started complaining about copyright issues. Producers further sampled more obscure music from jazz, international music, folk, and symphony. The industry started imposing rules and regulations, and eventually, the prices went up on samples. Thus the lack of much of it now is a good and a bad thing, as a lack of creativity leads to mediocre beats elevated to a higher level in current popular hip-hop.
Imitation has been called the sincerest form of flattery and is a constant thing in the evolution of man and his artistic ventures. Stories, art, and music take bits and pieces of something else created over thousands of years of creativity. It’s extremely hard to be original and just as much to make something worthy. The heydey of sampling though piqued a humungous interest in the fledging genre, the good and the bad. The music industry fought back and now charges extraordinary amounts and fines for even the most obscure notes. At the same time, the original musicians have raked in millions. This has all propelled hip-hop forward but, at the same time, stifled its growth as a creative musical force.
We started the 80s with ‘Rappers Delight’ and ended with ‘Fight the Power’. As I wrote before, Public Enemy and other artists blended all of this, dance, rock your jeep, play in your headphones, and jam out with outright conscious lyrics. Rap was designed to be anti-commercialism in the era of commercialism. Obviously, with no reason to dumb down your message to appeal to the masses. I’ll repeat that for today’s internet rappers in the back fiddling with their autotune “No reason to dumb down your message to appeal to the masses!”
No Sell Outs.
As I’ve also written before, Mr. KRS-One in 2018 has scrolled on sacred tablets NINE elements of hip-hop: breaking, emceeing, graffiti art, deejaying, beatboxing, street fashion, street language, street knowledge, and street entrepreneurialism — trade and business. I have submitted a tenth — alms.
I implore this next generation, this generation Z or whatever the name is, to the worldwide phenom that rap has become, to study, to appreciate, to honor what your Godfathers, your uncles, and your peers have scribbled in hieroglyphics on the wall for you. Respect the craft, respect the culture, and innovate but expand the craft. Let’s not bend over for the powers that be, the man, the shady industry that has destroyed so many before. Yes, there are many on the underground pushing the movement forward, and many would argue to let them stay true by being underground. Underground doesn't pay the bills, but at the same time, selling out is essentially selling your soul.
We, as consumers, can show where our support is by not supporting who Krs ONE and many others warned you about. It is probably fake news if it smells too good to be true. While we have more tools at our fingertips now in the digital arts renaissance, let's still not sell ourselves short in the quest for your 21st-century viral moment. Viral moments are essentially the new ’15 minutes of fame’ or, ironically, ‘6 seconds of Tik-Tok fame’. We can do better for ourselves.
