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Posted by Dave
Rap News Network
3/11/2005 2:27:16 PM
Tags and topics realted to this article include Chuck D.
Hip hop state of mind is all about mine? Im not one to make the rules and I do pay attention to structure when it's beneficial and in place for the masses, but now I have to make a few mentions amidst the blizzard of commercialism...
Let's get real- anything sold from merchant to consumer automatically makes it commercial. Across hip hop now are so many compartments and conflicting, varied definitions it's easy to call everything hip hop. But is it all hip hop? And really what the hell is it? Let's not get twisted in false truth (yeah)
The elements of mcing, djing, breakdancing, and graffiti simply evolved from whatever the black rooted art extensions of vocalization, musicianship, dance, and graphics already were- presented for thousands of years prior.
I swear that hearing Tymphany 5 bandleader, Louis Jordan and 1960's comedian Pigmeat Markham in old tapes made me swear I heard em ‘rap'. Ok we won't even get into whether it was rap or not. But the flip side of this is that many aspects of hip hop can be bought and purchased at a local mall nearest the high school.
Hip hop started out of a jazz mentality, meaning it really didn't aim to please 100% of the time if you didn't already get it. There wasn't really anything to tangibly purchase. Therefore hip hop in its humble beginnings was created from out of what was considered nowhere and from, in essence, nothing.
It was punk, it was jazz- a social rebellion against the cultural status quo. Costs for urban style were under the radar, jewelry was bending a fork into a bracelet in high school metal shop, wearing a rake in your fro, to keeping your 'kicks' clean... Ok, enough with the memory lane thing, what I'm saying is that hip hop was always anti-status quo, always a minority piece of the crowd. When the masses picked up on it, hip hop became something entirely different. Corporations were afraid of it and didn't totally understand it and when they finally did understand it they couldn't get their hands on it. Too greasy, too slippery for captivity.
The culture of hip hop and the genre of rap kept moving through unpopular trial and tribulations- thus it couldn't be stopped only merely contained. Now here we are a good twenty-six years after I've been turned out by its innovation, as well as fighting for its social respect and existence.
I would let folks know that hip hop is in their personal state of mind and within their souls. You don't have to buy all the advertised gear to be hip hop. You don't have to purchase every CD or watch every video to be hip hop. You don't have to ice-grill cats on the block or kick lock-down slang to be hip hop. In fact it's debatable in the new millennium that if you don't do those things you may be more hip hop than what's advertised.
Somebody that's clear speaking and rhyming definitely is rebelling. Someone wearing something entirely different- like Jay Z wearing suits and Andre 3000, are statements of trying to run from blending in as fast as they can...
The weekend of February 24th-26th was memorable in more ways than one. Coming fresh from doing Air America, in Atlanta that Friday(gorgeous spring day) I had to head where it just snowed and was as cold as a witch's argument- NYC for the Jammaster Jay Foundation Dinner. Kid Rock couldn't make it and we filled the slot up with me hosting the event. DMC, Fat Joe, Remy Ma, a fully reunited Bone, Thugs and Harmony and Vinnie from Naughty By Nature performed as the latter brought us on. JMJ'S DJ Scratch Academy had an exhibition as well as an incredible dance- basketball rendition by Bobbito Garcia and his crew.... I was sort of pissed at the back of the event where the noise, networking and milling around interfered with the dedications up front. Hip hop has a way to go if 35-40 year old people don't know how to act...still in all it was a class event.
Speaking further of class, the three day seminar-symposium tribute around PE's 'Takes A Nation' album was a grand affair. Mr. Jason King and Hank Shocklee really put to motion the most elaborate forum/discussion on a hip hop record ever. As I sat in the audience and saw and heard peeps breaking down the significance of the record (many I hadn't seen in years) it reminded me that ‘Yes, the struggle pushes forward'... More on this on www.pubicenemy.com.
Remembering the late great Mr. Ossie Davis... I'd like to follow in his footsteps someday. Covering my position on Air America Radio, I was fortunate to have interviewed him in November as well as being on the same Gary Byrd GBE Radio show just a few weeks back.
I'm blown away still by the fact that he chose to do the Unfiltered Show partly because of me... we must work to always strive to fill such gigantic shoes he and his wife Ruby Dee have set for us.
Still Black History Month as I tripped to Fairbanks Alaska on my lecture path. The second time to Alaska but I've never been to Fairbanks, which is 800 miles north of Anchorage... Missed my morning Seattle- to- Alaska flight since the airport is old and slower so I should of gotten there two hours earlier.
After standby, I got to Anchorage to transfer on a plane literally the size of my Montero. I'm really not fazed as you would guess... (after the MIDEM Conference, I flew on a mosquito into a thick blizzard going from Nice into Vienna)...
After all this, I was in Denver for NBA All Star Weekend with PE performing for Charlie Mack's Hip Hop Legends Classic. It was one of two shows featuring old school rap artists. I was to host the Wheaten, Big Daddy Kane, MC Lyte, YO YO, Doug E Fresh and Slick Rick show. Again plane delays worked against yours truly. Made it at the end to see my favorites do their thing... The following night we performed at the Denver Fillmore with Kurtis Blow, Naughty By Nature and The Sugarhill Gang.
The city newspaper, Rocky Mountain News, gave big time love with a giant shot of Flav in action.
There were sixty different parties going on but I chose to be holed up in Golden Colorado watching most things on TV. CNN's Wolf Blitzer had David Stern, Shaq, Manu Ginobilli and Grant Hill discussing the image of the NBA. The players handled it well and it was good seeing cats defend their interest- new humble young stars like Dwayne Wade, Lebron James and Amarie Stoudemire are making the effort. Now if it could only rub off on the same hip hop cats these players dig...
I did get some gear at Mike Jordan's place to wear on stage- thank you Airness. Ran into Special K and Teddy Tedd heading out of the airport. Them cats are the utmost quality of class and blessing in hip hop. Catch em on SIRIUS satellite Radio- On The Real WWW.rapstation.com.
Gia Garel will bring a bi-monthly column for the On The Real section, folks. The new redirection in Rapstation will be classic as well as continued services for independent and startup rap hip hop artists, producers, and labels.
As people ask me what do I think of Flav doing TV, I counter with, "If you know anything about me what do you think I think?" About the Flavploitation piece last month, it was said on behalf of lookout love for him. I talked and let him know how I felt and exactly what I thought. I used all my power to try and stop the Flav/Kids conflict but Flav's managerial side signed off. Well here we go again- as of this writing it's the quiet before the storm... To be continued... March 20th is that show i tried to prevent...
Meanwhile... as a former art student and straight heterosexual grown male, I'm not turned off at all by the beautiful black women in KING and Black Men magazines, not at all. But rather the marketing desperation of many of the women within.
It's like I understand if a woman has a nice body to want to flaunt it in a magazine, but sometimes it seems like a desperate career move to get attention, money or some other prop status thrown at them by some horny conference room board members.
MIDEM in Cannes France was fantastic as I enjoyed the conference keynotes(I did one myself at MIDEMNET the internet centered, one day symposium before the four day main MIDEM event. I hosted the first urban MIDEM event with a little help from Lyricist Lounge founder, Anthony Marshall (who I'd mistakenly called Anthony Hamilton a few times before I caught myself, thank God.) Together we bought some time because the first two acts, including beautiful songstress Ayo and French rappers, Beastie Boy like had run quickly through their sets, leaving a slight gap before the headliners- The Pharcyde.
The Pharcyde does a gang of world travel and their band is tough- it was a pleasure to freestyle to. DJ Premier did a fantastic set as usual during a fashion show of industry bigs headed by Tom Silverman's wife... The concept was a judgement of scores and theme music from various trackmakers/producers...
Slamjamz has www.theorchard.com for online download distribution and various partners across the world.
Jamie Foxx- Ray- Big ups ... I felt it from wayyyyy back ....
John Jackson's new book ‘A House On Fire, Rise and Fall of Philadelphia Soul'- an excellent plane read, I must say... Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, Thom Bell...incredible tandem.
Im out check my radio shows ....they're hot as hell and visit the PE homepage sometimes to find exactly how we doin....gone MKLVFKWR
Mistachuck@rapstation.com
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