Today’s generation is the hip-hop generation and not simply because that’s what they listen to. Hip-hop defines how they dress, speak, and interact among themselves as well as how they perceive previous generations. It’s the basic visual within the media they see; it is their source of artistic experience and their forum for socio-political commentary. Hip-hop reflects their state of mind. It is the foundation of this generation’s voice. Therefore it should be regarded as a powerful vehicle for change rather than devalued through our over simplification its content.

Every thin-skinned individual wants to jump down Hip-hop’s throat and denounce gangster rap, video hos, and the glorification of a “Bling Bling” lifestyle, while failing to see the socio-economic phenomenon that the Hip-Hop generation has brought into being. These individuals, coming from some of the worst neighborhoods, schools and family situations possessed the drive to turn despair into entrepreneurship and black art. Once limited to hustling on the corner, they have the power and the opportunity to perform across the world, and I reiterate they don’t just sing about the bling. Social rap is not just limited to Talib Kwali or Kanye West. We don’t admit it, but social commentary comes out the lyrics of gangster rap everyday. I hate to burst everyone’s moral bubble but artists like 2Pac and The Game share personal accounts of the violence that exists on the streets. It is these accounts that touch young people living in similar situations. These artists have become this generations leaders in so far as they have spread the word about the struggles of young urban youth in America. They are preaching in their rhymes. You may not like every word you hear, but not everyone liked Ray Charles either. We as a people need to pick another battle as far as Hip-Hop lyrics are concerned, because this is the vernacular that they speak. It’s what they say that is significant. Moreover, it’s what they do that matters.

Does anyone realize that the very media that brainwashes you to shake your ___ while denouncing rap artists utilizes the work of these same artists every day? In 2004, it was the Puff Daddies and Russell Simmons of our world who got black kids to come out and Rock the vote and fight against the Rockefeller Drug Laws. At one point African Americans and white America alike thought it was amazing to see OJ Simpson, a black man, in a business suit in a commercial. Today we have white men in business suits bopping their heads to Jay-z songs in every other commercial. How amazing is that! 50Cent made 11.4 million off of his first album. Words can’t begin to express the every growing power and success of these young individuals in spite of the hand life has given them. And there success is not limited to the car you see them drive on TV. At 25 years old, Ludacris has the power to start his own youth foundation, The Ludracris Foundation and he is not the young only one. Wyclef Jean has the Yele Haiti movement. We have the Jam Master Jay Foundation for Music, the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation; even the controversial Lil Kim founded Lil Kim Cares to aid sick and disadvantaged individuals. Not to mention The Hip Hop Summit founded by Russell Simmons, which mobilizes Hip-Hop artists and leaders like Jesse Jackson to educate urban youth. The list of Hip Hop Helpers is extensive, and it goes beyond the scheme of well known rappers. Young urban professionals, and intellectuals that are apart of this generation also do their part to affect positive change.

You know about BET videos, but do you know BET is no longer Black run. You know about the violence, and you can surely tell me about the immoral visualizations, but can you tell me about the community outreach? Can you tell me how often you’ve heard about these programs, and the good they do. Can you tell me how many commercials or news reels you see that glorify this group of young individuals for making it and giving back? If you think protesting is over, you haven’t seen us yet. If you think our activism died with Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, you haven’t heard us yet. Please take of the TV blinders off and start reading something. In the midst of police brutality, racism, no jobs and elders who completely fail to share our communal history and struggle because they think a few rings, and sneakers makes us superficial and anti-political, we are pulling ourselves up by the bootstraps and bringing capital America to its knees.

If that doesn’t prove that we are STILL natural born leaders, I don’t know what will.

LaShanda Henry
Each One Teach One
Urban Dyanamics: ud.msoyonline.com

blackoutloud ...

Very interesting article. I just have a couple of questions which might help me to be able to grasp hip-hop from the same viewpoint that is articulated here.

I guess my first question is what, being that the hip hop generation looks upon my generation as seeing hip hop as a negative social influence, what, exactly, would you say the positive message is that is portrayed through this medium? I mean, you say (or the article says ... I don't know if you wrote it! ) we shouldn't look at the bling and the hos and the thug/ganster images portrayed with a negative eye, but should accept hip hop as a valuable, educational, positive art form, instead ... but, if that's the case, where are the positive unlifting images??

Now, I'm far from a rap video enthusiast, but, where are the videos showing the good those hip-hop artists are doing in the community? Or of college students and their quest for knowledge? Or a video about the urban youth who make it up and out and become doctors or lawyers or something? I mean, that would be a positive image, right? You say the media doesn't tell the whole story, it leaves out the good parts. But, seems to me this generation could tell that story themselves, if they wanted to. Why doesn't that happen?

This article also speaks of people like 2Pac and The Game and 50 cent and others being the leaders of this generation. Could you maybe explain where or what they are leading them to??? I mean, 2Pac is dead ... do where exactly do they think they are going with him? And I don't mean that to be funny ... I would seriously like to know the mindset behind who this generation desires to follow and why.

I was speaking with my hip hop-aged neices and nephews, and what came out of a rather extensive conversation was that a lot of the "leaders" like Russell Simmons are basically admired because they've got money. And lots of it. They live large. And are afforded a high level of respect for that. But again, that goes back to the bling and the materialistic measurement by which who to follow and who not to is weighed. I fear that if this generation is only following money ... it will get lost real fast.

I'm sure I have a couple more, but I've got an early day tomorrow! I look forward to hearing your views on this!

I think that I am with ER on this. While there may be a great deal of potential in hip-hop culture (energy, passion, drive, creativity, and at times profundity), I also see very little in the way of sustained critical engagement with substantive issues in a reflective and reflexive manner.

Culture and art are extremely powerful tools in the pursuit of justice and the end of subjugation, domination, and exploitation, but they are not the only ones. More and deeper analysis is necessary. For example, the comment "we are pulling ourselves up by the bootstraps and bringing capital America to its knees" shows an incredible amount of economic and political naiveté.

I applaud the efforts of individuals such as Cornel West, Michael Eric Dyson, the critical analysis of the scholars such as Trica Rose. Yet, hip-hop is into its third decade, and I am not sure if the future will see much more coming to fruition than we have seen in the past.

ER I welcome your constructive criticism and curiosity, in my free moments I have spent this day formulating a response to your questions. Forgive me as I have a few things to say before I get to your request. In essence, the points I am about to present characterize both the economics and politics of the hip-hop generation, which I might add includes all of today’s young people, not just hip-hop artists. My initial interest in replying to your response has heightened after reading Kresge’s post, which appears to imply that my perception of the hip-hop generation’s present and potential social impact is simplistic or as it was put naive:

quote:

More and deeper analysis is necessary. For example, the comment "we are pulling ourselves up by the bootstraps and bringing capital America to its knees" shows an incredible amount of economic and political naiveté.

If more and deeper analysis is requested, I welcome such a request as I aim to stimulate conversations that bridge the gap between our generations. This post is denser than I would like it to be, but every point must be made, so enough of the fluff on to the analytical stuff.

The Politics and Economics of the Hip-Hop Generation

Every generation, this one being no exception, strives for the American Dream: reaping the financial rewards of hard work and personal dedication. We all can find common ground in this dream, but as we all know at some points there are disconnects between the Hip-Hop generation and its predecessors. These disconnects originated with the rise of new issues within the black communities. Post Civil Rights Movement, we are no longer fighting for segregation, but we are fighting against the side affects of integration within a society that remains racist and socially unjust.

The catastrophic affects of drugs, AIDS, rising percentage of black men in jails, the jail-like structure of urban public schools, increased unemployment rates, and teen pregnancy are now our issues of concern. On a superficial level today’s young people appear to be caught up in materialism. ER, like many others, voiced her concerns when she said, “I fear that if this generation is only following money ... it will get lost real fast.” However, they are already lost. With new concerns, minimal guidance, and an insufficient number of adults who share the historical context from which their issues originated, this generation is lost in a world that has long since given up on African American youth. Without ever having to be explicitly told, these kids are acutely conscious of how little their lives are valued in America. From the media, straight into their living rooms they are portrayed as criminals, ghetto, ignorant, un-ambitious, far from political, poorly educated individuals. There is no longer a fear of being lynched because there is now a fear of being shot, robbed, or sent to prison. Pre-Civil Rights Blacks could see their struggle and dream of better days to come. Black youth today walk around in their nice new clothes in over-crowded under-staffed schools and dilapidated neighborhoods and wonder to themselves if this is as good as it gets? Is a new pair of sneakers and some ice, as good as it gets? Is the Bling the only thing we have?

These questions directly relate to the origination and steady growth of hip-hop culture. Young people were seeing the social injustice in their communities and wondering why there weren’t enough politicians, and leaders to help. Like old Blues singers they started turning their thoughts into rhyme, and putting a name to their communal pain. You question the violence, and you ponder the social contributions of hip-hop artists like 2pac, because there isn’t enough explanation as to why people like Pac existed, and where the violent voice within the art form was coming from. As the son of a Black Panther and extremely political young man, Pac could take the violence of the streets and put it into a historical context for his peers. For many young people hip-hop is there nightly news. The corporations like the bling and sex because that’s what they are selling, but if you listen to the music many of these artists are sharing their lives and experiences. In his song, Brenda’s got a baby, 2pac talks about the environments that create our rise in teenage pregnancy, and young girls who don’t know where to turn. On his 2005 debut album, The Game responds to 2pacs song when he says, “Pac is gone, and Brenda is still throwing babies in the garbage.” The Game is making a socially conscious statement by showing how even after 2Pac’s inspirational words; the same issues within the black communities exist. He talks about seeing his friends getting shot for their sneakers and how such a harsh life turned him into an Old G in the hood before he was 12. He talks about issues that are relevant to urban youth, but are not objectively discussed by mass media. Dead or alive, these artists are looked up to because their fans identify with the words and aspire for the fame. Granted we need more adult influence in the lives of these fans to balance the negative side of hip-hop, but it goes without saying that there is a political and social message within the music. As far as the adults are concerned, whether they fail to see this generation’s potential, or just simply shirk the responsibility of having familial conversations about contemporary black concerns, the fact remains that many of our elders don’t talk to the young people as much as they should, which leads us to look to these hip-hop elite as our sources for knowledge.

You ask “where are the positive uplifting images??” Truth be told, these positive images are few and far between because hip-hop music isn’t just about telling stories, it’s also about making money. In order to share their experiences, get themselves out of the ghetto, and find new ways to give back to their families and communities these young kids have to reinvent themselves within the industry. It’s not right, but it’s real. Corporate America does not want to sell social consciousnesses, they want to sell hits. When you have suburban raised, college black boys reinventing themselves as inner-city thugs, you have a clear understanding of what makes this industry work. Of course, you can chastise these young people for selling their souls, but first let me tell you what has come out of their sweat and toil while answering the question, “Why doesn’t the hip-hop generation tell its story in a positive way, if the media does not?”

First, there is no way to get around the mainstream. For those urban youth unable to escape harsh lifestyles with higher education, names like “Cornel West”, “Michael Eric Dyson”, and even socially conscious hip-hop artist “Talib Kwali” hold no weight. They don’t dislike or devalue these people. Honestly, they just don’t know them, because these people get no real airtime. The hip-hop generation isn’t just going off of who has the most money; they are emulating who the media let’s them see. If white media does not write our articles or present our stories on television in non-stereotypical ways, where do you expect these individuals to tell their story. For most of them, their first and only chance at exposure is that record deal, and as I mentioned it comes at a cost. We got our Civil Rights, but we are still waiting for our 40-acres and a mule. These kids are coming out of communities with negative net worth and practically no political voice, how do you expect them to even begin to demand positive change with no resources?

In spite of coming out of nothing, hip hoppers have made something for themselves and their people. Prior to our generation, our elite were limited to a small group of blacks who gained their economical status through educational gains or athletics. Moreover, within this microcosm of the black community, were a limited number of black owned businesses. Within the hip-hop generation is an unprecedented number of black entrepreneurs. While the system fails them, and their parents struggle to make ends meet, the Sons and Daughters of Hip-Hop are creating Record Labels, Film Companies, Clothing Line, Jewelry, etc.; entrepreneurial acts that are not simply about blind materialism. In the midst of poor educational facilities and an employment crisis, these kids are aiming to create more black business. They are there own CEOs, they can begin to create restaurants, movies and write books about their issues. It’s the John Singletons, Damon Dashs, Queen Latifahs, Ice Cubes, Will Smiths, Russell Simmons, and Spike Lees, Jamie Foxxs of this generation that are our social pioneers. They are creating spaces that never existed before and white America is taking notice.

In the 2004 election, “Black voters came out in significant numbers to cast ballots in Nov. 2 presidential and congressional elections, according to political observers and activists... “Our folks turned out and we as a community – especially our young people – showed up at the ballot box,” said Melanie Campbell, executive director of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. Her organization worked with hip hop, fraternal, church, community, and civil rights groups, Black Entertainment Television, syndicated radio personality Tom Joyner, the UniverSoul Circus and others to register one million new voters. ” Hip-Hoppers voiced their political concerns, encouraging young people to come out and vote, and they did.

I proudly protest that “we are pulling ourselves up by the bootstraps and bringing capital America to its knees” and laugh at the implication that hip-hop in its third decade has brought little to fruition for our people. In such a short span of time street hustlers have turned themselves into CEO’s. No one gave them there 40-acres and a mule, they worked for it. Without degrees, being legacy children, or climbing the corporate ladder, they made millions on their own. Young people today are followers of Malcolm X’s school of thought in so far as they are trying to build empires by any means necessary. They don’t want to see their mother’s suffer or their siblings get shot, they are hustling so they can get to a point of ownership, because they see that in American money talks. They can see the hypocrisy of politics when rappers who were never noticed, have people taking note and listening and they want to emulate these people. They want to be in a position of power. They don’t just want to look nice, they want people to look at them and listen. They want the American dream, as we all do, but somehow their goal keeps getting misconstrued and oversimplified in the midst of pop culture and contemporary trends.

I’ll end with lyrics from Jay’z song “Moment Of Clarity”. If you are at all skeptical about what I have to say, listen to his words. Listen as he not only bares his soul as the son of a father he never knew, but as a socially conscious business man who understood that in order to affect change in the hoods politics he had to get with the politics of the industry.

(Woooooo)
(Yeah)
(Turn the music up turn the lights down i'm in my zone)

[Chorus]
Thank God for grantin me this moment of clarity
This moment of honesty
The world'll feel my truths
Through my Hard Knock Life time
My Gift and The Curse
I gave you volume after volume of my work
So you can feel my truths
I built the Dynasty by being one of the realest niggas out
Way beyond a Reasonable Doubt
(Yall can't fill my shoes)
From my Blueprint beginnings
To that Black Album endin
Listen close you hear what i'm about
Nigga feel my truths

[Verse One]
When pop died
Didn't cry
Didn't know him that well
Between him doin heroin
And me doin crack sales
With that in the egg shell
Standin at the tabernacle
Rather the church
Pratendin to be hurt
Wouldn't work
So a smirk was all on my face
Like damn that mans face was just like my face
So pop i forgive you
For all the shit that i live through
It wasn't all your fault
Homie you got caught
And to the same game i fault
That Uncle Ray lost
My big brothers and so many others i saw
I'm just glad we got to see each other
Talk and re-meet each other
Save a place in Heaven
Til the next time we meet forever

[Chorus]

[Verse Two]
The music business hate me
Cause the industry ain't make me
Hustlers and boosters embrace me
And the music i be makin
I dumb down for my audience
And double my dollars
They criticize me for it
Yet they all yell "Holla"
If skills sold
Truth be told
I'd probably be
Lyricly
Talib Kweli
Truthfully
I wanna rhyme like Common Sense
(But i did five Mil)
I ain't been rhymin like Common since
When your sense got that much in common
And you been hustlin since
Your inception
Fuck perception
Go with what makes sense
Since
I know what i'm up against
We as rappers must decide what's most impor-tant
And i can't help the poor if i'm one of them
So i got rich and gave back
To me that's the win, win
The next time you see the homie and his rims spin
Just know my mind is workin just like them
(The rims that is)

[Chorus]

[Verse Three]
My homie Sigel's on a tier
Where no tears should fall
Cause he was on the block where no squares get off
See in my inner circle all we do is ball
Til we all got triangles on our wall
He ain't just rappin for the platinum
Yall record
I recall
Cause i really been there before
Four scores and seven years ago
Prepared to flow
Prepare for war
I shall fear no man
You don't hear me though
These words ain't just paired to go
In one ear out the other ear
NO
YO
My balls and my word is alls i have
What you gonna do to me?
Nigga scars'll scab
What you gonna box me homie?
I can dodge and jab
Three shots couldn't touch me
Thank God for that
I'm strong enough to carry Biggie Smalls on my back
And the whole BK nigga holla back

[Chorus]

If there are any more questions for me I’ll try to answer them as best I can, but I also recommend reading Bakari Kitwana’s book “The Hip Hop Generation: Young blacks and the crisis in African American culture.”

blackoutloud ...

It took a couple of readings to digest all you wrote So forgive my delay in responding to it!

And I'm sure down the line I will have additional questions, but for now let me just give this comment.

The first truth that was most profound in your post was that my generation did indeed drop the baton while trying to pass it to yours. The guidance you need is not there for you, not being told where to go or how to get there. Which, I suspect is the reason why your generation has ended up where it has.

I think what I find most disturbing, though, is that many of the young people seem to thing that they have ended up in a good place. Success, money, economic/social power is good ... but how you get it and what you do with it is also part of the equation. In the lyrics you posted, Jay'Z himself tells of how he "dumbed down" to make money (presumably in the quickest way he knew how), in an attempt to gain the means by which to reach back and help others following in his footsteps (if I have that right! ).

What the industry is doing is exploiting black youth. It is using unflattering, stereotypical images of urban black children to make money and further promote negative perceptions to the world at large. When a 2Pac or a Jay'Z or a 50 cent joins that industry, thus allowing themselves to be exploited and bring and encouraging others to do the same, it does not polically or socially uplift the community. It may uplift the bank account of the artist or the record company, but it doesn't send our children to college, it doesn't renovate dilapidated neighborhoods, it doesn't supply elementary and secondary schools with text books. And then the artists who make it big, who establishes the recording studios, or record label or the clothing line turn around and use that same method of exploitation to make even more money!

So, it's not just what you do, but how you do it. I supposed the most important lesson that we did not teach you is that true and viable social/economic/political power will only come through our unity as a people and as a community. The gap between the generations will have to close before any real progress is made. I don't think that my generation looks down on hip hop as an art form ... rhymes and storytelling has been around since generations before mine! But if what you are expressing never formulates into a positive outreach, then you are, by and far, simply makign money. And the positives of that are usually short-lived.

I read a story recently where Puffy is going into the rim business. He is taking his influence (and his money) and pairing up with a White rim maker somewhere in the South and is going to make these rims to market and sell to urban youth at between $700-$3,000 dollars!! He's going to make a lot (more) money!! Usher just bought into a sports franchise, which I happen to think is excellent. He says he's going to give up performing to concentrate on being a successful businessman. He also made a statement not too long ago that entertainers did not need to be involved in politics and the two should remain separate. That's his opinion ... but, it's not very helpful! Suge Knight ... one of the biggest gansters there is. Keeps going to jail. Keeps making money. Keeps exploiting his own people. But for all that, he is still revered by the hip hop community for the fact that he is a success ... not how he became successful.

The Get-Out-The-Vote campaign was indeed very successful. But how many of the young voters actually knew what they were voting for? Did they come out and vote because Russell Simmons told them to ... or because they knew their duty to evoke effect political change by casting their vote for the things and people that they believed would be able to accomplish that goal? Again, it's not just what you do, but how and why you do it that enables power to take a positive form.

It's late and I know I'm probably rambling ... but let me just close with this. I think my generation appreciates and recognizes the ability of hip hop and the youth within it as an art and form of expression. I believe we see the potential it has to globally send a message and call attention to what matters and is important today and changes that need to be made and voices that need to be heard in order to establish a rise and growth of the Black community. But in its present form, it is more about the quick buck than any social or political stance. It is more about continuing to give the record industry the rope that is used to to hang us with, than the establishment of any real individuality or purpose with which to effect positive change. As you said, in our day, it was education and hard work that created the successes. It still needs to be. Instead of trying to find new ways to tell the same old stories of poverty and despair, tell those teenage girls to stop having babies while they still are, tell the young men to pick up a book, not a gun, teach them that the Black woman is a queen, not a ho, share the stories of getting out of the ghetto by education and applying yourself. Don't just tell the youngsters that AIDS is a problem ... tell them how to avoid contracting it!! Give them self-esteem about who they are and where they are going ... not glorify a gangster/thug lifestyle as if that is something that anyone would really want to achieve.

quote:

Originally posted by EbonyRose:
blackoutloud ...

It took a couple of readings to digest all you wrote So forgive my delay in responding to it!

And I'm sure down the line I will have additional questions, but for now let me just give this comment.

The first truth that was most profound in your post was that my generation did indeed drop the baton while trying to pass it to yours. The guidance you need is not there for you, not being told where to go or how to get there. Which, I suspect is the reason why your generation has ended up where it has.

I think what I find most disturbing, though, is that many of the young people seem to thing that they have ended up in a good place. Success, money, economic/social power is good ... but how you get it and what you do with it is also part of the equation. In the lyrics you posted, Jay'Z himself tells of how he "dumbed down" to make money (presumably in the quickest way he knew how), in an attempt to gain the means by which to reach back and help others following in his footsteps (if I have that right! ).

What the industry is doing is exploiting black youth. It is using unflattering, stereotypical images of urban black children to make money and further promote negative perceptions to the world at large. When a 2Pac or a Jay'Z or a 50 cent joins that industry, thus allowing themselves to be exploited and bring and encouraging others to do the same, it does not polically or socially uplift the community. It may uplift the bank account of the artist or the record company, but it doesn't send our children to college, it doesn't renovate dilapidated neighborhoods, it doesn't supply elementary and secondary schools with text books. And then the artists who make it big, who establishes the recording studios, or record label or the clothing line turn around and use that same method of exploitation to make even more money!

So, it's not just what you do, but how you do it. I supposed the most important lesson that we did not teach you is that true and viable social/economic/political power will only come through our unity as a people and as a community. The gap between the generations will have to close before any real progress is made. I don't think that my generation looks down on hip hop as an art form ... rhymes and storytelling has been around since generations before mine! But if what you are expressing never formulates into a positive outreach, then you are, by and far, simply makign money. And the positives of that are usually short-lived.

I read a story recently where Puffy is going into the rim business. He is taking his influence (and his money) and pairing up with a White rim maker somewhere in the South and is going to make these rims to market and sell to urban youth at between $700-$3,000 dollars!! He's going to make a lot (more) money!! Usher just bought into a sports franchise, which I happen to think is excellent. He says he's going to give up performing to concentrate on being a successful businessman. He also made a statement not too long ago that entertainers did not need to be involved in politics and the two should remain separate. That's his opinion ... but, it's not very helpful! Suge Knight ... one of the biggest gansters there is. Keeps going to jail. Keeps making money. Keeps exploiting his own people. But for all that, he is still revered by the hip hop community for the fact that he is a success ... not how he became successful.

The Get-Out-The-Vote campaign was indeed very successful. But how many of the young voters actually knew what they were voting for? Did they come out and vote because Russell Simmons told them to ... or because they knew their duty to evoke effect political change by casting their vote for the things and people that they believed would be able to accomplish that goal? Again, it's not just what you do, but how and why you do it that enables power to take a positive form.

It's late and I know I'm probably rambling ... but let me just close with this. I think my generation appreciates and recognizes the ability of hip hop and the youth within it as an art and form of expression. I believe we see the potential it has to globally send a message and call attention to what matters and is important today and changes that need to be made and voices that need to be heard in order to establish a rise and growth of the Black community. But in its present form, it is more about the quick buck than any social or political stance. It is more about continuing to give the record industry the rope that is used to to hang us with, than the establishment of any real individuality or purpose with which to effect positive change. As you said, in our day, it was education and hard work that created the successes. It still needs to be. Instead of trying to find new ways to tell the same old stories of poverty and despair, tell those teenage girls to stop having babies while they still are, tell the young men to pick up a book, not a gun, teach them that the Black woman is a queen, not a ho, share the stories of getting out of the ghetto by education and applying yourself. Don't just tell the youngsters that AIDS is a problem ... tell them how to avoid contracting it!! Give them self-esteem about who they are and where they are going ... not glorify a gangster/thug lifestyle as if that is something that anyone would really want to achieve.

Peace,
I like you Ebony.

Pardon my interjection, but you consistently speak of your generation. I am relatively new to this forum.....may I ask of what generation you are a part?

Peace,
Khalliqa(virtue)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Khalliqa,

Peace,
Khalliqa

"The Goddess emerges as the evanescence of the inferior dissipates.... "

lol @ virtue

Well, for the purposes of this post, I think blackoutloud and I parted the generations somewhere around pre- and post- Civil Rights Movement!

"My" generation officially is considered the same as the young people, because the previous generation I believe stops off in the 50's. I was born in the first part of the 60's. But I more relate with those "old folks" than I do with todays generation ... although I try to keep an open (and young) mind.! Doesn't always work though ... I'm about as old fashion as you can get! I am called "The Grandma" amongst my friends!

Peace and Blessings Ebony,

Grandma to Grandma! I was born in the very early seventies. So, technically I'm supposed to be the young generation of which everyone speaks.
But, honestly, outside of my dh, my closest friend is my grandmother. My grandmother and I are very close, because we share the same values and outlook on life. She was born in the late twenties! Personally, I believe the word "old fashioned" is outdated. LOL! There are eternal principles and flexible methods....

Peace,
Virtue

Hip Hop is a vehicle. We use this vehicle to escape into an eye opening experience of life, success, and passion. Not all hip hop artist observe the significance of passion. However, the good artist, through their passion really put the "soul" in hip hop. That's right, Soul.

The sons and daughters of soul have not deviated from soul. If you listen like blackoutloud said, you'll hear artist bear their soul on ol' skool "soul" tracks. We have a serious appreciation, and affinity for the music our mothers and fathers brought us up in. We don't borrow your "soul", we revere it, and it lives through our art.

As far as leadership goes; I don't see why hip hop has to be used to promote or distribute a Black Renaissance. Hip hop is how we enjoy ourselves. Just like the "blues" in the south, or "swing" in the midwest, "funk" in the west, and "jazz" in the east, it's all good times. This "positive movement" wasn't grasped when we listened to our parents music. So why should this unneccessary burden be placed on us. I love my old school, but the "positive" was few and far between. The closest thing we have to a Black Renaissance or positive movement is reggae.

This whole paranoia of whites manipulating black youth by giving them rope to create their own noose is laughable. If we're hanging, then so are white sons and daughters, and all other forms of nationalities across the world.

quote:

As you said, in our day, it was education and hard work that created the successes. It still needs to be. Instead of trying to find new ways to tell the same old stories of poverty and despair, tell those teenage girls to stop having babies while they still are, tell the young men to pick up a book, not a gun, teach them that the Black woman is a queen, not a ho, share the stories of getting out of the ghetto by education and applying yourself. Don't just tell the youngsters that AIDS is a problem ... tell them how to avoid contracting it!! Give them self-esteem about who they are and where they are going ... not glorify a gangster/thug lifestyle as if that is something that anyone would really want to achieve.

Let's play a game. You name some old school songs with these messages in mind, and I'll give you a hip-hop song with equal or greater attributes.

quote:

Originally posted by virtue:
Peace and Blessings Ebony,

There are eternal principles and flexible methods....

Peace,
Virtue

I like that

Yes, you sound like you have an old spirit. My neice is younger than you, and she has one too! I think we are the lucky ones!

All right, HeruStar ...

Let's look at this from the perspective of "art."

Hip Hop is a vehicle. We use this vehicle to escape into an eye opening experience of life, success, and passion. Not all hip hop artist observe the significance of passion. However, the good artist, through their passion really put the "soul" in hip hop. That's right, Soul.

What percentage of the artists in the industry would you say are "good"?

The sons and daughters of soul have not deviated from soul. If you listen like blackoutloud said, you'll hear artist bear their soul on ol' skool "soul" tracks. We have a serious appreciation, and affinity for the music our mothers and fathers brought us up in. We don't borrow your "soul", we revere it, and it lives through our art.

I don't doubt your appreciation of the music your moms and pops brought you up with. After all, it was very good music! Nor do I doubt that that's why it is used in the music. However, an additional (and maybe more prominent) reason why so many of the songs are cut to our music is because, many of the hip hop artists are not talented enough to make their own music. Those songs their using were original pieces, written to go along with lyrics and played by some of the best musicians who put it together and made it sound right. The "expression" of hip hop is spoken word, more than anything else. At least that's how it gets started. And my main objection with it is what they have to say. And the way they say it.


As far as leadership goes; I don't see why hip hop has to be used to promote or distribute a Black Renaissance. Hip hop is how we enjoy ourselves. Just like the "blues" in the south, or "swing" in the midwest, "funk" in the west, and "jazz" in the east, it's all good times. This "positive movement" wasn't grasped when we listened to our parents music. So why should this unneccessary burden be placed on us. I love my old school, but the "positive" was few and far between. The closest thing we have to a Black Renaissance or positive movement is reggae.

Hip hop has been proclaimed as a way of taking up the mantle, so to speak, of the social issues and progressive movement of the Black community. Not only that, again, we are asked to look at it as an art form. Moreover, it is absolutely huge ... global, which means that it is in the forefront of the perception and perspective of the Black community ... worldwide.

Hip hop is a "movement" whether you desire it to be or think it so or not. Thus, it should be going somewhere. "Good times", yes, but music has always been the way we spoke to each other, from slave times to now. It has always been our expression, our tool, our motivation. From jazz, blues, swing, r&b, to now, hip hop makes me ask, where is this going? In what direction, and why? Which is what I'm trying to understand when I as these questions.

"Unnessary burden"? Do you really think the struggle is over and we, as a people have nowhere else to go? And if it is not you, our youth, who is going to take us there, then who do you supposed we look up to?

This whole paranoia of whites manipulating black youth by giving them rope to create their own noose is laughable. If we're hanging, then so are white sons and daughters, and all other forms of nationalities across the world.

Exactly. Everybody's swinging.

Let's play a game. You name some old school songs with these messages in mind, and I'll give you a hip-hop song with equal or greater attributes.

I wouldn't mind playing this game with you, but really, it's not a matter of tit for tat, my artist against your artist, my song against yours. Hip hop is an entire lifestyle. It encompasses your generation. Back in the old school days it wasn't. It was one form of art/entertainment. And generally, the rappers used to talk more about themselves and their abilities than anything else. Those socially-oriented songs that did come out were generally about denouncing the evils of drugs, guns, social decline and the like. Not glorifying them.

Now, please don't mistake me as saying that I find nothing good about the hip hop generation! I can respect it for what it is, try to understand it, and see the potential for it to evolve into all that you young people are trying to convince me that it is! It's not that it's a bad idea, but it lacks a certain wisdom, that really, most youth can't be expected to grasp the concept of, because, in truth, wisdom is definitely something that comes with age!! It still amazes me how many hip hop artists come of age and totally change their whole tune about how they related to their fans. How many of them say, What I was doing back then wasn't really cool ... and now I'm about to do something else!

But, being ever the optimist, I'm still keeping the faith! And will continue to do so, especially where my youth are concerned.

********************
BLACK by NATURE, PROUD by CHOICE.
Before there was ANY history, there was BLACK history.

If you see someone without a smile .... give them one of yours! !!

quote:

Unnessary burden"? Do you really think the struggle is over and we, as a people have nowhere else to go? And if it is not you, our youth, who is going to take us there, then who do you supposed we look up to?

No maam, I don't think the struggle is over. Hip-hop is a form of revolution (not fluffy renaissance) that our Mothers and Fathers don't understand. If you look at the spirit of hip hop as a whole you will understand that we rebel. We rebel against our opposers who deny us Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of OWNERSHIP of our rightful compensation. We can't obtain this through an intellectual medium, because half of us (our artist) don't have a formal education. But we can darn sure express ourselves.

When our leaders give us access to positive and forward moving education, maybe then we'll require our artist to have at least a bachelor's degree.

quote:

Originally posted by HeruStar:

When our leaders give us access to positive and forward moving education, maybe then we'll require our artist to have at least a bachelor's degree.

Peace,

A bachelor's degree is not needed for direction and character. However, leadership with the qualities of insight, empathy, discipline and character is a necessity. This is what our generation lacks.

Ebony, I believe that wisdom, sometimes comes with age....not always. In my humble opinion, wisdom comes from the insightful and sometimes painful practice of developing one's character...consistently.

Right now, the majority of the images the world sees of us are degrading. Point blank. No matter how much good exists, it doesn't get airplay because it's not in the profitable interests of record companies (black and white), nor is it the true interest of the artists. Who, in my opinion seem to express frustration with oppression, but no frustration with the roles they play in the oppression of their own communities. I see leadership placating this mentality, simply because it doesn't know how to relate, which in truth, makes them ineffective. The few "leaders" that speak out about the hip hop culture's failings as well as those who have failed hip hop do little more than talk. If change is to happen the entire culture would have to change and no one seriously wants that to happen, because maybe someone would have to stop smoking blunts, or popping their booty in the air or glorifying guns or speaking sado machistically about harming Black women in particular during sex, or excusing ignorance....or displaying their cartoonish prowess....this wouldn't be, well, fun. What I do believe I hear that is sincere, is the plea to stop the killing, I truly believe that this is an area where our generation wants help but does not truly know how to go about it and their "leadership" is impotent.

Peace,
Virtue