Yes, Virginia, Hip-hop is Not Dead
Published December 24, 2004
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say hip-hop is dead. Papa says, "If you see it in a weblog, it's so." Please tell me the truth, is hip-hop dead? -Virginia O'Hanlon
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the nostalgia of a nostalgic age. They do not enjoy the present but the past. They think that nothing can be as good as the hip-hop music they heard when they first got into it. All fans, Virginia, whether they be old or young, are fickle. In this great music of ours, a fan is a mere insect, an ant, in his taste as compared with the boundless variety about him, as measured by the open mind capable of appreciating the whole of hip-hop culture.
Yes, Virginia, hip-hop is not dead.
It lives on as certainly as love and generosity and devotion continiue, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Dag! how wack would be the world if there were no hip-hop! It would be as bland as if there were no Virginias. There would be no bangin beats, no slick lyrics, no smooth dance moves to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in rhythm and blues. The external light with which Black culture fills the world would be extinguished.
Hip-hop is dead! You might as well say the DJ is dead. You might get your papa to hire men to watch all the videos on Christmas eve to catch hip-hop dying, but even if you did not see real hip-hop, what would that prove? Nobody can describe real hip-hop, but that is no sign that hip-hop is dying. The best music in the world are those that neither fans nor artists can describe. Did you ever think see a DJ searching for just the right record to play? Of course not, but that's no proof that they don't consider what to spin. Nobody can label or figure out what is real hip-hop amongst all the types of styles in hip-hop culture.
You tear apart the lyrics and critisize what makes the rapper is saying, but there is a veil covering the music which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernatural beauty and skill beyond the slang. Is it all still alive? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else lasting and permanent.
Hip-hop is dead? Thank God it lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to dance over breakbeats at the houeseparty.
- Yes, Virginia, Hip-hop is Not Dead
- Published: December 24, 2004
- Type:
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Hip-hop
- Writer: Hashim Warren
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Comments on this articleComments
No,HipHop isn't dead.It just smells like
it.
Hip hop is dead only so far as music is dead, and of course, we all know that The Music Will Never Die.
There will always be exploiters in the music industry, and horribly cruddy and exploitive musical acts that Some People will end up lapping up (but lots of people do lots of stupid stuff all the time, don't they?).
But in every musical genre the cream will rise to the top, proving again and again that talent and desire and tenacity will win out. Take Dr. Dre and Jurassic 5 and The Roots. Tell them hop hop is dead. Tell them music is dead. I dare you.
Eric Berlin
Dumpster Bust: Miracles from Mind Trash
http://dumpsterbust.blogspot.com
The important thing is to note the distinctions between "hip hop" and "rap". The easiest route is concentrating on music that is not glittered or gangstad.
You might not get excited over the next release by a rapper with a name beginning with "Li'l", but that's why you need to look at artists like Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, Mos Def & Talib Kweli, Kool Keith, and Common. Their music maintains a "hip hop" mentality in a music scene that's grown too big for it's britches.
Mr. Benning - How would you define the difference between hip hop and rap?
(I honestly don't know.)
Thanks,
Eric B.
Mr B., Good calls on Kool Keith(even if
he still hasn't topped DR.OCTAGON yet),
Common,Talib and Del T.F.H.S. There is
a lot of great Hip-Hop happening,mostly
on an underground level.I'd also add to
the list: J-Zone, Brother Ali, Diverse,
Black Moon,Handsome Boy Modeling School,
Ugly Duckling and DJ's Q-Bert,Shadow &
Dan The Automator(1/2 of H.B.M.S)to the
mix.You won't find any of these artists
on VH1,BET or MTV.
Proof that Hip-Hop is not dead-Ramm Ell Zee:The Bi-Conicals of the Ramm Ell Zee! If you like Kool Keith and MF Doom and the like, I seriously advise you to seek out this album. Ramm Ell Zee is one of the originators of graffiti, THE originator of 3D graffiti, and released his debut album this year after a 20 year gap from his last recorded output. He appeared in the classic Wildstyle video, was the leader of the Death Comet Crew, and some of you may recall his 12" with K-Rob called Beat Bop from 1983. This is old-school style meeting new school recording techniques. Even though the album drifts a bit towards the end, it is not enough to fall out of my top 10 albums of 2004 list, and I recommend it to all of you who hope to see hip hop branch out further while remaining true to its' roots!
Hip Hop is not dead. It's just that people are doing the same thing. They are rapping the same way. If hip hop was dead we wouldn't even be with it. It's a term used by artists such as
Q-Tip.
HIP HOP AINT DEAD!
hip hop is not dead, but its a major concern of mine. I can tell you that when i was a little kid i rooted for kool moe dee when he and l.l. cool j battled each other on wax. Ive not only been a fan but most importantly a student of this artform. I just have a question for all of you? 15/20 yrs. later are you going to remember " shake ya tale feather, the same way you remember the bridge is over? There it is, let the debates begin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hip hop simply will not die. There is always hope, as futile as that might be. On the positive side, hair metal died, disco died, so you never know.
One day, Virginia, music will again become part of the music business.
Good call, Eric B.: For proof that hip-hop is alive, keep looking to artists whose peak was years ago, not the ones who define the hop-hop of the day. That's a great way to miss the point--something's gone wrong with the scene when instead of the mainsteam being Biggie and Wu, it's this or that li'l bitch. Music can die, cultures can die, and all the love and nostalgia in the world doesn't bring them back. Keep on kissing the corpse, and I'll keep hoping that someone comes up who has something worth a damn to say and half a clue how to say it.
A.
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I suppose hip hop is dead the same way that rock 'n' roll is dead, if that means anything. To me, it starts losing its credibility when it all becomes a formula, where everyone wears the same uniform look and has the same uniform sound. At that point, it needs to be reinvented. Is hip hop there yet? I dunno, but r'n'r has been there at least a couple of times, so I imagine hip hop will run the same cycle too, if it hasn't already.