It was a fateful Friday night (probably). Downtown Raleigh was cool and crisp, much like we were in our wedding attire (highly likely). See, that day a good friend of mine got married and we all went out that night to celebrate. Some of us celebrated a bit harder than others and that’s how this story begins. Diego, Taylor and I stood outside of a club. You don’t know who they are and that’s ok. All you need to know is we were taking a breather from killing it on the dance floor.
You know that level of tipsy when you hear everything but perceive nothing? That is exactly where we were. As we stand in a circle, something pierces our perception bubble. It’s the song “Sexy, Can I?” by Ray-J. Diego looks up from his drink and says, “Yoooooo. Is… is this rap, hip-hop, or R&B?” Never before has such an important question been asked. We argued for 20 drunk minutes (in reality, probably 5 sober minutes) or so on what defines each of those genres, which artists we associated with each, so on and so forth until we decided well there’s no real answer here. I’ve spent the last 11 months of my life trying to prove us wrong and I’m confident I’ve done so. Through countless hours of listening, many of late nights researching, and tons of crowd-sourced data, I can truly say “Sexy, Can I?” is NOT hip hop and why.
In order to arrive at this ground-breaking decision I put the song through my stringent yet fair tests. So to start I considered defining the three genres: hip hop, rap, and r&b. It did not take long before I decided that was entirely too much work and that I should just stick with the one I know best and decide which songs fall into that category. Hip-hop - The raw, the real and the resonating. I know this genre best so I’ll move forward with that. What defines hip-hop? What elements of hip-hop are completely necessary? I’ve chosen three. 1) introspection 2) rawness/organic inspiration 3) story telling. I’ll explain each of these with artists that define the element and songs that exhibit that.
I think before we dive into the different elements of hip hop, we should discuss how I’ve defined the word artist. A person who paints is a painter. A person who creates art with his or her paint is an artist. A person who raps is a rapper. A person who creates art with his or her rap is an artist. I consider all hip hop artists to have been artists the majority of their career. I use the word majority because at the end of the day a lot of these artists need/want to make money so it’s difficult to expect each and every song from them to fall under the art umbrella. At some point a formula starts to play into the creative process and we get things like Kendrick Lamar on a Maroon 5 Album or in (dare I say it?) the “Bad Blood Remix”. I’d like to take a moment to say why the fuck did “Bad Blood” need a remix? I will forever admit to liking the poppy version of Taylor Swift but that song is just painful and it’s made more painful by a forced raw rubbing of hip-hop and pop. If Taylor Swift beat Beyonce for a grammy (again) for the song “Bad Blood Remix” and KanYe stood up and took the mic from her (again), even Swifties (what i assume hardcore taylor swift fans call themselves) would be like “nah, he right. give it back Taylor.” Anyways, I consider hip hop to be an art and anyone that can masterfully craft a hip hop song is an artist in my opinion.
Often, a popular song can make a hip hop artist seem less relatable or “real” but sometimes the artist lands a hit that’s above being either popular or being real. When this happens his or her art becomes something just incredible. I think Tupac is a great example of this phenomenon. When establishing these elements of the genre, I tried to choose artists that for the most part don’t release much music anymore. It seemed like it would be easier to define an element based off of songs that I’ve listened to quite a few times, created by artists that no longer release music (for the most part). If you go on Spotify as of July 25th, 2017 the top 3 most listened to Tupac songs are “Ambitionz Az A Ridah”, “Changes”, and “California Love” in that order. Two of these three songs could be considered popular or even a little pop. The beat for “Changes” is light; the vibe of “California Love” is west coast funk. Neither of these songs have the same feel of “Ambitions Az A Riddah” which hits you in the chest with its bass, snares and hook — A combo that leaves you feeling like you’re riding shotgun in downtown Los Angelos with the baddest mother fucker around. “California Love” is clearly a party song and “Changes” is as close as a hip hop artist is going to get to Man in the Mirror from Michael Jackson (“High For Hours” by J. Cole tries to accomplish this as well). However, all three of these songs have something in common — introspection. Tupac beautifully and purposefully lets us know where he’s from, both emotionally and physically. This song is so powerful and relevant, even today, it was hard to decide which lyrics to paste here but I decided to go with just the opening lines of “Changes”:
I see no changes wake up in the morning and I ask myself
Is life worth living should I blast myself?
I’m tired of bein’ poor and even worse I’m black
My stomach hurts so I’m lookin’ for a purse to snatch
He touches on the validity of his life, social constructs, and the morality of stealing to survive in about 40 words. His thoughts are so crisp and clear and 100% him. This is introspection in a “‘pop” hip hop song and it’s magical. In one hand he wields the words to make people think and in the other he wields a melody that will make them listen. Introspection can come in many forms but I chose to talk about this one because in my mind it’s one of the most impressive examples. It’s not an easy pill to swallow when someone talks about the good and the bad, revealing the darkest parts of him or herself. Pac does this in a way that’s honest, vulnerable, and a bit charming. I think those characteristics make his song so easy to listen to even though he’s hitting on some hard subject matter. Between “Changes” and “California Love” we get a good grasp of what goes on in Tupac’s brain and how he believes the world around him has affected him. In “California Love” he and Dr. Dre show how the state has molded them in the instruments they choose to incorporate, the slang they use, as well as the overall tone of the song. We, as listeners, get a taste of what something means to them without having to experience it ourselves — this is something very important and very beautiful about hip hop. However… It’s very important that this isn’t the only element of hip hop because then we could pretty easily argue that Ke$ha’s glitter-covered self is a hip hop artist. If we look at the song Tic Toc it starts with “wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy” and we already have an idea of what state of mind she’s in. That P. Diddy state mind is dangerous, bruh.
She goes on to describe what she does (how you living?), how she spends time with her girls (who you rolling with?), and how it makes her feel (what it do?). We get a pretty solid idea of what it’s like to live as Ke$ha.
Boys tryna touch my junk, junk 😜
The same goes for Soulja Boy and “Turn My Swag On” (a great workout song by the way). After listening to a minute of this song we know that Soulja isn’t phased by people that want to see him fail (his haters), he wants to support the people close to him (his clique), and he looks to himself for inspiration (“I look up in the mirror and say what’s up”). That’s incredible Souja Boy! Please start doing motivational speeches at college graduations if the whole music thing doesn’t work out for you because your confidence and swag are honestly 🔥. Ke$ha and Soulja Boy are solid artists but I wouldn’t consider either of them hip hop artists. They need more elements of hip hop in there songs to get there, but I feel pretty good about this requirement of introspection because it separates songs like “Salt Shaker”
Popping till you percolate
First booty-on-booty, no time to wait
Make it work, with your wet t-shirt
Bitch you gotta shake it till your calve muscles hurt
from songs like “Paris, Tokyo”.
I turn to see my dream
Love supreme queen, meanest thing on the scene, cry.
I drop my bags in a flash
That’s faster one eighty on that dash-er,
To dry your tears.
And wipe the rain from my dear like dash-er,
Use the dame who’s the username to all my pass-words.
The reason I get fly as Ivan Jasp-er,
I even keep your picture in my pass-purt.
I needed to have more than one requirement for hip hop so for my second category I chose rawness/organic inspiration. When I listen to “Changes” sometimes the weight of the words he’s saying is too much to process. I think a hip hop artist should possess the ability to make us feel that way. It’s that “Ohhh shit! I can’t believe that just happened!” feeling. Similar to when you and all of your friends have the same thought at the same time. “Yo we should go to Red Lobster for dinner and cop some of those cheddar biscuits!” Oh shit! You right! The Fam eating cheddar biscuits tonight 😎” That’s rawness/ organic inspiration. I think back in the day when hip hop was still young, people got to experience more of this sensation with freestyles and ciphers. Now it’s a little bit more rare to see but it hasn’t lost its importance to the genre. I was going to try to describe this feeling with words but I think a song would be better suited. You might remember the words of a song like “Low” by Flo Rida but you remember the emotional attachment of a song like this. That’s what rawness is to me.
His verse isn’t much more than a minute long and by the end of it he has no more breath. I may have been misleading earlier by making it seem like rawness is always a lighthearted, fun element of hip hop but I think I appreciate it most when it’s heavy. This song came on my Spotify Discover Weekly after a string of videos came into the light of black people getting shot (I say that vaguely because it’s painful to realize that I could be referring to quite a few times). I couldn’t help but feel every breath as my own. His words caused a physical reaction in my body. I felt surrounded yet alone, exhausted but enraged. The best hip hop artists make their words mean something. Sometimes the lyrics aren’t received well and sometimes the lyrics don’t hit everyone but when they do it’s so very powerful.
This is business, no faces just lines and statistics
From your phone, your zip code, to S-S-I digits
The system break man child and women into figures
Two columns for who is, and who ain’t niggaz
This quote is from the song “Mathematics” by Mos Def and it/he exemplify organic inspiration. His style, the way he chooses his words, the way his songs seem like they just come straight from the heart all contribute to this feeling of rawness. He has one song called “Umi Said”. He opens the song by singing
I don’t wanna write this down, gotta tell you how I feel right now.
and the chorus goes something like this:
my umi said shine your light on the world, shine your light for the world to see.
I had a hard time with this element of hip-hop because it definitely seems to be pretty personal. The more I thought about it though, the more I felt like it was necessary. If music isn’t personal to you and doesn’t resonate deeply within you to provide some sort of catharsis then I’m not sure it’s music — it might just be noise. I also think it’s cool to have an element of the genre where a lot of people may not agree on one or two or even three defining artists. This area of hip hop can truly be made your own and I think that’s part of the reasons no one will ever really agree on who is the greatest hip hop artist of all time. Lupe Fiasco’s “Kick Push” is a lot different than Tupac’s “Ambitionz Az a Ridah” in tone, cadence, content, and emotion. These differences make hip hop unique and powerful. Hip-hop has individuality whereas it seems Rap can be polished, easily imitated and replicated. I think rawness/organic inspiration reflects this difference. (Edit: if you’re still having troubles imagining what rawness/organic inspiration is just think of it as the Rick Ross grunt a la “Devil In A New Dress”)
Another element of hip hop that touches on that individuality piece is the genre’s ability to tell stories. The most talented hip hop artists can vividly describe a scene that goes along with the flow of their song. I think Notorious BIG aka Biggie aka Fat Black Muthafucka exhibits this best. In his songs “Juicy”, “Suicidal Thoughts”, and “I Got A Story To Tell” he drops you right into a day in the life. The stories he crafts create something so clear that it’s almost as if we, the audience, can feel it. It’s almost like Biggie created the first Trapped In The Closet Series before R. Kelly. I realize this is a stretch but I just felt like it was really important to mention the Trapped In The Closet Series. Like Trapped In The Closet, “I Got A Story To Tell” also has that forbidden love factor. The song is about a time where Biggie was hooking up with this girl at her place and her husband/boyfriend/guy she semi-consistently got dick from showed up.
She get dick from a player off the New York Knicks
Nigga tricked ridiculous, the shit was plush
She’s stressin me to fuck, like she was in a rush
We fucked in his bed, quite dangerous
I’m in his ass while he playin gainst the Utah Jazz
My 112, CD blast, I was past
She came twice I came last, roll the grass
She giggle, say I don’t smoke it on homegrown
Then I heard a moan, honey I’m home
Yep, tote chrome for situations like this
I’m up in his broad I know he won’t like this
Now I’m like bitch you better talk to him
Before this fist put a spark to him
Fuck around shit get dark to him, put a part through him
Lose a major part to him, arm, leg
I think Biggie does this far better than most and I think by listening to his songs we get an idea of how many stories there are to tell. This element of hip hop is the vessel in which ideas and experiences are shared in a concise method. For a while, the only dialogues that made it to the lime light were those of the stereotypical hip hop artists: black men. As hip hop has grown, more artists have grabbed the mic and shared a kaleidoscope of experiences. It’s very cool to think that since its inception, hip hop has expanded in a way that gives a voice to many. In “Latifah’s Law”, Queen Latifah lays down her thoughts in one of the most commanding tracks hip hop has ever seen. In “Shoop”, Salt n Peppa flip the script of the courting process and challenge male domination. In “White Privilege II”, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis share their perspective on what it’s like to be an outsider to the hip hop culture. With the story telling element of hip hop it becomes clear that the genre can be expansive and inclusive. I’ve loved seeing hip hop grow up as I have. The first songs I listened to in the genre were really just a couple of guys rapping about the things around them — “Rapper’s Delight”. It was introspective, organic, and it told a story. It was performed by 3 black guys from New Jersey in like 1980. It’s incredible to me that “Rapper’s Delight” by a group called the Sugarhill Gang and “Love Game” by Eminem feat. Kendrick Lamar share these three same elements. It’ll be dope to see what hip hop looks like in the next 10 years and it’ll be dope to be able to listen to hip hop in the next ten years knowing that I’ve determined that “Sexy, Can I?” isn’t hip hop. Not only have I done that but I’ve made a Spotify playlist with all the songs mentioned in this jumbled up article that has been my thoughts. You’re all welcome.
