Dear "Real Hip-Hop" Heads
Do me a favor.. call me jerk one more time
Yes, this post is going to be scathing. Yes, some people are going to feel some kind of way. But the difference between myself an those people is that I don't give two shits...
Now that we got that out of the way, hello 'real hip-hop heads'. Put Atmosphere on pause for a minute and hear this. Above, is the New Boyz video "You're a Jerk," which displays a new dance craze from out West called jerking. While the video is simple and very fanciful in its production, its meaning beyond such is far removed from dancing and adolescent revelry. I can see you 'real hip-hop' heads cringing. You think that this video and the people responsible with it should be sentenced to five years under the tutelage of Joe Jackson. But not so fast.
For the past few years, as the blogosphere has expanded to an astronomical, I've seen a similar rise in you 'real hip-hop' heads. Touting the inferiority of anything sold in mass quantities, you eschew songs like the one above in favor of independent labels, unsigned hype and used record store flows. While such things are laudable, the spectrum of hip-hop delves farther than that. You real hip-hop heads fail to see that hip-hop is much more than an art form dominated by protest, introspection and grass roots. When hip-hop first began to take shape in the late 1970's Bronx (BX STAND UP!!!!), with songs like "Rapper's Delight" penetrating listeners' airwaves and 8-tracks, it was a music of celebration. Whether in discotheques or during summer block parties, rapping was a form of entertainment. Dancing, and b-boying towards the mid-eighties, was the physical force driving the audible revolution. With feet oscillating like project fans, dancers gave a visual interpretation of the merriment that accompanied early hip-hop.
With that said, I contend this: hip-hop is not one-dimensional!!! I'm tired of you self-righteous, preachy backpackers sucking the fun out of everything not from Stones Throw Records because it isn't 'real hip hop'. Stop closing your ears to everything remotely mainstream and then bitching over Twitter when Maxwell isn't the very first act at the BET Awards. Stop making it seem like hip-hop is this angry, constantly introspective teenager who's one kick in life is to inform everyone about the new Breakstra record and how he's better than everything in the mainstream (hip-hop is subjective, people).
If there's one thing that I've learned in my travels, it is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Younger rap fans listen to this music because it speaks to them. People say that if the youth of today listen to the New Boyz and Soulja Boy, then the future is doomed. I beg to differ. Young artists promote the purest form of creativity, only hindered by their own mentalities. Why clamp down on that, claiming that it's ignorant? Were you really listening to Jaylib and Little Brother when you were 13?? If so, then your childhood must have been incredibly dry, which I pity. What you 'real hip-hop' heads miss is that there's no shame in letting down one's hair for a while. Hip-hop isn't ignorant if it's focused on joviality. It is simply there for novelty. So to you 'real hip hop' heads, put down your backpack for a little while. I promise that if you dance for a little while, your hostility will dissipate, and hell, you might have some fun for a change instead of being a kill-joy for hip-hop. That's right. I said it. Real hip-hop heads are a kill-joy. See the value in all forms of rap, whether your respect the grind or not...