I love Hip Hop. To me, there is no greater musical style that has the potential to effectively convey ideas, opinions, worldviews and just plain old stories in a way that is both entertaining and thought provoking. I say "potential" because I find it wasteful for good beats and rhythms to be wasted on rapping about cars, booze, getting high, getting drunk and stuff like that (that said, I love Dr. Dre's new song "Kush").
Maybe that's a little cynical of me, as there is a place for that type of Hip hop and, of course, everything mixes together anyway. But I get my true enjoyment from lyrics that really mean something. A good track not only has a good beat, but lyrics that transcend simply rapping about getting high. A good MC makes you think, not just passively listen. When you listen to a track there should be meaning within the words, or the possibility for you to impose your own meaning onto them (like most songs). Indeed "Shad" (a Canadian rapper) says it best: "you can't be everything to everyone, let me be anything to anyone".
If you're going to waste time rapping about nothing but partying and the like, what is the point of saying anything at all? For the record I said "nothing BUT". Rap about that stuff, just not every fucking song. Indeed there are many great rappers who switch it up now and again(I'm thinking Kid Cudi off the top of my head) To be fair, I think most artists generally lead away from the generic stereotypical Hip hop that plagues the minds of many older generations.
But Hip Hop at its best, in my opinion is something like this:
Artist: K-os
Hip Hop done right can say more than the most eloquent speeches and the most detailed novels.
I'll probably go back to Hip hop later but for now, does that seem right to you?
Including k-os in your blog was a great thing to do.
ReplyDelete-Caitlin