MUSIC is what
FEELINGS sound like.
( D.C Dowdell )
THE HUMAN HEART...has ALWAYS responded by "BEATS", to whatever was TRUE.
Whatever was AUTHENTIC.
In a sense, true "Life"...is the authentic human story of the "Heartbeat".
In every sense, the man is truly "ALIVE", who has a beating heart!
And the heart of everyman...anywhere and everywhere...beats continually, to an "Authentic Storyline".
BUT true life could sometimes be as "raw" and "ugly" - as the candid stories creeping out... everyday...from the nooks and crannies of the inner-city.
These narratives form the pulse-beat of
the ghetto.
Whether in America or in the Diaspora.
RAP, or the "beats" of the HIP HOP Storyteller, is all about "keeping it real".
Authentic.
Rap Music or "Conscious Rap", remains the "heartbeat" of Ghetto Life.
It's the music of the oppressed, the disenfranchised, the marginalised, or the suppressed.
You may call it ugly or you may call it raw, when you finally hear it all.
But all the same, it's AUTHENTIC.
Straight from the HUMAN HEART!
MUSIC is my sanity.
You can't walk in my shoes,
If you ain't lived my LIFE:
HUSTLING all day,
Clapping out all night.
(Trife, a rapper)
Intense Poverty. Outlaw Life. Selling Drugs. Shoplifting. Dubious things, that's ghetto life.
Just "passing time" was what Trife and his friends did on most days.
"Idling away" with
gossip, basketball, bowling: "playing games"!
Other days, they drank cognac, Hennessey: and "chewed" over their FUTURE.
23 or 24 years on the urban street, they were mostly young BLACK MEN - and women - living raw:
Violence, Sex-prostitution, Alcoholic binges, Drugs, Crime- vulgarity!
HIP HOP: channelled through Graffiti, Break dancing, DJ-ing, MC-ing or Toasting and RAP MUSIC, constituted the only real or authentic "game" that these youngsters played;
that was worth their while.
And our while.
Rap "Dreams" constituted, for these folks and us the listeners, a sanctuary.
As much as it afforded the artists an escape from their demeaning existence, so did it offer the audience a sharp insight into the viccissitudes of everyday life.
{ I hope you'd recall 'Everyday People', a rap song of Naughty By Nature ? }
If Trife and his buddies weren't doing Hip Hop, they probably would be doing 25 years or life, in the prison yard.
Or worse still, living with dead bodies in the cemetery.
RAP tales rally mostly around the Truth, "uncut": raw and ugly as they come.
They more or less carry the stench of the "trenches": the filth and rot of the backstreets that reared them.
But "authentic" sounds I dare say they are, which do emanate from these inner-city dwellers!
For their music communicates a message as old as the thumping ( or beats ) of the heart in our human "breast", if I may borrow expression from the famous English bard, William Shakespeare.
Hip Hop lyricism happens to be largely "user-friendly", and more so to the "itching" and adept ear.
THE RAPPER or the HIP HOP ARTIST originated as that young man, or woman who creatively bought into the unique "lingo" of the "Street" - hook, line and sinker.
He imported that odd, yet authentic phraseology of our urban streets into the MUSIC STUDIO, to wit.
By it, he minted fresh music whose lyrics tintillated the ears, and whose beats levitated the feet almost on an involuntary impulse.
The rhythm caused your limbs to shuffle with abandon, and raced your heart beat to a triple cadence.
Rap music, for the most part, comes with untold excitement and
and instantaneous response that is larger than life.
The overall delivery would blow your MIND with a vengeance; and completely translocate your SOUL to "cloud 9".
Go to your rack, take your CD or DVD. Otherwise, listen to your MP3 or watch an MP4.
The experience you get is psychedelic, almost heavenly!
More than dope!
It kind-a medicates your pain, like my American brother would say.
It's gotta have its own ways with psychotherapy!
Hip Hop has succeeded in no little measure in enacting a Revolution.
And a kingly one it is -
as it applies itself in a multi-dimensional capacity to society.
More than ever before, Rap is yet rocking and soothing the core of a deprived and "hungry" generation.
The story of Hip Hop is very R-E-A-L.
Yes, it is the genuine BEATIFICATION of "The H-O-O-D".
"Real G's move in silence like lasagna", said Lil Wayne, an American Rap act.
And I agree.
But going against the grain of oppression, the young rapper set out to break an age-long conspiratorial silence of the ruling corporate "machine" or White Supremacy.
And gave AMERICA back her ailing heartbeat, with a verve originating from a native African Gift of SONG.
"Hip Hop artists have mastered the English Language, with all its nuances and transmutations", says Gilbert Newman, an American Scholar and Chronicler of the textual elements of Rap.
According to him, "They have articulated an etymological perspective with an original slang lexicon, and have presented the WORLD with a previously UNTOLD STORY of American Life."
It was Socrates, the famed Greek Philosopher, who had declared the following ancient wisdom:
"The unexamined life is not worth living."
Like every society, the American Society has two faces: the popular one is the AMERICAN "DREAM".
The unspoken one, the very one that ails the inner city youth, is the American "nightmare".
For instance, 740 Park Avenue or the Hamptons represents the former; while Watts or the Bronx represents the latter.
You bet it's a long, long walk to Lady Liberty or "FREEDOM", or advancing from the nightmare toward the much talked about American Dream.
I WONDER if HEAVEN's
got a ghetto?
I see no changes,
all I SEE is RACIST FACES.
Misplaced hate makes disgrace...
I WONDER what it takes
to make this one
A BETTER PLACE.
(Tupac Shakur)
Human Societies have ALWAYS been characterized by this longstanding double-standard:
Which is a pathology, complete with huge paradoxes and innuendos.
Sad as it may be, the historian Alexander Saxton, is of the conviction that the entire course of our human existence cannot be explained without a reference to "Skin Colour".
According to him, Racism or Ethnic bigotry ( White Versus Black sh*t ) is a "Theory of History".
From the heyday of frank Slave trade, to the March on Washington, to the killing of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, the White Supremacist has fantasized the Black man as a terrifying agent of violence and crime.
The White Supremacy theory goes beyond the physical attacks provoked by Jim Crow or the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) or Lynch.
RACISM is an ideological warfare - with far-arching socio-political and economic implications.
It has in large measure contributed to the crippling of a sizeable population of the negro minority, in the United States.
This coded metropolitan "ghetto-stunting" of the African-American ( and Latinos ), beginning in the post-war Watts of the 1960's, attained full-fledged ugliness and rawness during the Ronald Reagan regime of the 1980's.
Hip Hop arose therefore, as a predominant Afrocentric ART form expresssed mainly via Rap music, in the counter-offensive mode.
Rap's attempt at "decoding" the stultifying ghetto formula of the racist, emerged utimately from the recording studio, as a touching "Cry of Ghetto Pain".
And on a more favourable note, this deftly crafted musical genre has become the hope of the Black ( or Latino ) Community.
Hip Hop has presented, with several testimonials, a "Way out" of all that ill negro-drama characteristic of inner-city life.
To the White bigot, the word "Nigga" was a derogation; a repeated attempt at de-humanising the Black race.
Racism was all a show of HATRED. Nothing better.
To the Black nationalist or revolutionary, the word "Negro" was a better appellation, a sign of dignity and person-hood to the African-American.
In contradistinction to racism, Hip Hop was all...about LOVE. Mostly.
{ You often would hear a brother say, "show me love" on stage, or in the tube; you know what I mean! }
In fairness, Hip Hop began as Anti-Racist chants, inter-alia; the crooned voice of Love pitched against Hatred.
The only time we deal
is when we kill each other;
It takes SKILL to be REAL,
It takes TIME to heal each other...
(Tupac Shakur)
Racism in part, gave rise to "Niggas With an Attitude" or N.W.A.
If nothing else, we remember Easy-E, Ice Cube, DJ Yella, as well as Dr Dre.
As pioneers.
The Hip Hop rev at the time, like "Straight Outta Compton" attempted to re-define the status quo, in America.
In terms of "being real".
They rose to the centre-stage, at parties and clubs, equipped with a unique style to sway mammoth crowds.
Even more than the Capitol Hill or the White House, not to mention the Pentagon.
Hip Hop has summoned a magic wand to alter a wide range of public opinion.
By words...and words...and more words, using a microphone or what is referred to in rap lingo, as an "M.I.C".
These acts use a turntable. Or a synthesizer. Or a simple jukebox, on the street corner.
These musicians set out to deconstruct the myth of America as "A Perfect Union".
They have highlighted, time and again, the reality of America as a severely racialized and gendered society.
The early rapper sought to promote the idea of unwavering confidence: in the black man's, ( and woman's ) walk, talk, dress-sense, and work ethic -
Be it writing or singing or performing at whatever line of duty they chose.
Hence, the Hip Hop sub-culture viewed against the backdrop of the overall American scene, looks past the stereotypes of hedonism and destructive tendencies -
To reveal an evolving sense of a more POSITIVE impact on society.
RAP MUSIC, especially as a tool of the Hip Hop movement, for the emancipation of blackfolk, has succeeded beyond expectations in pushing the limits of sound(s) - and more significantly the human story - beyond the fringes, to suburbia, and into mainstream America's corporate boardroom.
From its original "roots" or the streets of SOUTH BRONX in New York, to the subways of Toronto, to the runways of Hong Kong;
From the offices in Sidney, to the shopping malls of Brazil, to the schools of Africa - it's the triumph of Hip Hop:
Hurray!
Rap music unfolds as tales of defiance against man-made prejudices.
It continues as vivid and beautiful expressions in musical lyrics and dance steps ;in fashion sense and writing style, using an everyday "slang" and "swag" for special effects, that command easy recognition everywhere.
Rap is about "hyping" the natural GOD-given Rhythm and Style of an otherwise blessed people, who have been denied and maltreated for ages, by the warped Conscience of broad Society.
From nowhere, but through struggle and respect for the work ethic, these innovators have coined the words "GRIND", or you know, "HUSTLE"!
Thus, Black America created, from next to nothing, a rich cultural heritage, that has won WORLDWIDE acceptance.
TODAY, Whitefolk have bought into the Hip Hop culture - almost wholesale.
( Except the Anti-Rap racist, of course! )
This victory is indeed a "Rapper's Delight"! Reminding us vividly of the Sugarhill Gang's hit track, which was Rap's first commercial breakthrough of the 1970's.
The Rap musician as a performer of ART, has not failed to attract the lover of CULTURE, and the critical eye and ear of the SCHOLAR.
Properly "decoded", its lingo which represents part of its "street credibility", remains an attraction and an un-ending puzzle to music lexicographers.
As a unique expression of the human condition, rap bears a language or its own vernacular which spawns and spins euphemisms, and similes, and metaphors, and cliches at random will.
But do not get the meaning wrong!
For example, when Dr Dre the legendary "Father of rap beats" writes:
"Treat my rap like Cali weed,
I smoke 'till I sleep;
Wake up in the a.m,
and compose a B-E-A-T."
What Dre is really saying is this:
"From the moment I wake up,
'till the moment I go to sleep;
My M-I-N-D is focused on
my Professional Obligation."
In the foregoing verse, Dr Dre gives us a true picture of P-A-S-S-I-O-N.
He shows us that he's a "Nigga With an Attitude".
Reminding us of N.W.A, this is like Straight Outta Compton!
The B-E-A-T of Hip Hop, and Rap originated from the South Bronx,
New York. East side!
Rap began here " from Ash-y", long before it became "Class-y", borrowing from the rap legend, Christopher Wallace
a.k.a Biggie Smalls or the Notorious B.I.G.
The master M-I-N-D of Rap was a Jamaican-born Disc Jockey ( or DJ ) , Clive Campbell a.k.a Cool Herc.
Unofficially, the vocals of Hip Hop were born on Halloween (or All Hallow's Day ),
at a dance party in honour of Herc's younger sister.
But the christening, "Hip Hop" has been credited to three New York artists: Busy Bee Starski, DJ Hollywood and DJ African Bambaataa.
Rap lingo is traceable to the ORAL traditions and STORY-telling of ancient West African professional singers, known as the GRIOTS.
It has evolved through constant innovation and incorporation of the rhythmic elements of the Old Negro Spiritual plus Jazz, Rock and Blues.
And has become unarguably the MOST PASSIONATE ART form of black folk, in America and the Diaspora.
The music with its funkified beats, is regarded as highly provocative.
And S-E-X-Y.
Especially when backed with the unique garb of T-shirts and Jeans or Chinos;
Baggy pants, Sneakers, and Baseball Caps, to boot.
B-L-I-N-G!
In Hip Hop, to BLING is to SHINE,
not to fade!
It's the opposite of Sh*t; it's S-U-G-A-R!
"Bling-Bling" has earned the Rapper the name: "The Negro King of Swag"!
Rap Music itself embraces a multitude, for example:
°Conscious Rap of Public Enemy, Mos Def, Common, Kendrick Lamar;
°Root Rap of Grand Master Flash and Run DMC;
°Underground Rap of Jurassic 5 and The Roots;
°Hip Hop Soul of Nelly and Mary J. Blige;
°Gangsta Rap of 50 Cent and Ice Cube;
°Alternative Rap of Outkast and Kanye West.
°Southern Rap of T.I and Chingy;
°Mainstream Rap of Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz;
°G-Funk of Warren G, Snoop Dogg and Nate Dogg;
{ Remember 213? }
°Christian Rap of Kirk Franklin and Dietrick Haddon.
•Notable Legends of Hip Hop include:
KRS-One, Big Daddy Kane (BDK), Kurtis Blow, L L Cool J, Rakim, Eric B, Kool G Rap, Beasty Boys, the Notorious B.I.G and 2 Pac Shakur.
Also, there is Nas, A Tribe Called Quest, Whodini, Fat Boys, and Immortal Technique.
Female Hip Hop Acts include:
Queen Latifah, Eve, Monie Love, Missy Elliot, Nicki Minaj,
Salt N Pepa, TLC, CrazySexyCool, and Yo-Yo.
"You Can't Play With Yo-Yo", was a verse in a track against misogyny.
•Hip Hop Producers include:
©DeathRow Record's Suge Knight
©Def Jam's Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin
©Bad Boy Record's P. Diddy
©Roc-A-Fella Records of Jay-Z and Damon Dash
©NWA by Easy-E
©Maybach of Rick Ross and Young Money Records of Lil Wayne.
•Hip Hop Magazines/Tabloids include:
@ The Source
@ XXL
@ Vibes
@ Blaze
@ Rap Pages
In fact, "KRUSH GROOVE" was a highly successful motion picture of the HIP HOP CULTURE.
It grossed $17 million worldwide, and served up a GOLD Soundtrack - highlighting the enormous potential of RAP MUSIC.
Big Record Labels, headed by Whites, bought the idea: CBS, Polygram, Capitol-EMI, MCA, Warner, and BMG.
Multinational Giants: McDonalds, Coca Cola, Sprite, and Nike have embraced the culture.
The Literary Prowess of Rappers is something else.
It's exemplified by the word-building methods of Biggie or the rhyming texts of Jay-Z; both of which have been compared to the writing style of H.G. Wells.
The verbiage of Kanye West ( or Yeezy ) and the vocal alignments of Lil Wayne ( or Weezy ) mimic the literary style of F. Scott Fitzgerald.
"Hip Hop compositions are MASTERFUL POETRY: the form of the standard HIP HOP SONG is three verses of sixteen bars, written to various BEATS per minute patterns, which mirrors Shakespeare's use of iambic pentameter", enthuses Gilbert Newman.
At face value, Rap is hedonistic. But on a
deeper level, it preaches Brotherhood, Cultural Awareness and Lifestyle Development.
Hip Hop is an Authentic Declaration of BOTTOM-UP GLOBALIZATION.
Finally, let's dial 92.3 Radio Station.
The Beat!
It's the most popular in Los Angeles.
"Wes' Side!" , screams Tupac.
On the Radio, you may hear the "spitting" of two or three verses by Kanye West, or "a lacing " with RnB by Drake or "a hook" from Kendrick Lamar:
"The Blacker the Berry" or "To Pimp A Butterfly" .
Let's dream again!
To DREAM...is to "close your eyes". To close your eyes..."is to see nothing"...of the present; at least to SEE...
"No Colour Lines"! No RACISM!
Let's open the MIND...the TRUE EYE.
And see through the lens of GOD.
And feel the BEAT or HEARTBEAT of
The UNIVERSE,
once again.
Let's feel the pulse of Human Life!
TODAY, let's re-visit the "Zulu Nation", with Africa Bambaataa.
Let's re-invoke the meaning of his name:
"Affectionate Leader".
TODAY, let's ride the Hip Hop Superhighway to re-live the 50's and 60's "Beat Culture" which spoke the:
"Language of Love"
I was 2 years old
when my mother died.
I kept 3 SONGS on
the repeat.
And the LYRICS cradled
my broken heart
@ night:
'Hey Mama' by Kanye,
'Dance' by Nas,
'KEEP HOLDING ON'
by
Slum Village.
(Gilbert Newman)
TODAY, we shall cast aside the violence of Gangsta Rap, the sex of Big Pimping, the material worship that's Bling Bling.
TODAY, we shall overlook the commercialization of Hip Hop: the Paychecks, the Platinum records, the Grammy awards.
TODAY, we will re-enact the original context of Rap Music: its historic, socio-political and economic implications,
On the American scene and the Diaspora.
If we finally jettison the language of hate (like racism) and expunge the volatile politics of the word "Nigga" ;
We will arrive.
We will arrive at a Paradigm Shift which is Hip Hop: an authentic Story of human "faith"
in LOVE, BROTHERHOOD and PROGRESS.
TODAY, Dr Dre ( Black Race ) can do a "collabo" with Eminem ( White Race ).
This is the SPIRIT... of HIP HOP !
Before, they thought the message was about "who was badder".
Now, they should know it's about "who is better"!
Please, leave the Street Corner...and welcome to An EMPIRE STATE of MIND
RAP is dope. Da bomb. Legit.
"Can't Stop. Won't Stop", re-affirms Jeff Ching, a U.S Hip Hop Scholar.
What's given from Above
will never perish.
The TRUTH
won't fade away...
It's no secret,
the WORD won't be
kept hidden;
Truth will be VOICED
to the highest.
(Woah, Ethiopian Rapper )
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