what an outstanding essay Robert! You are very thoughtful, knowledgable and articulate. Art is both representative and influential - this dichotomy/conflict has been argued since at least Aristotle

Hip hip's influence spreads far and wide, right down to the bottom of Africa. There are a lot of people who need to read this, I am glad I have.

Indeed I'm a person, maybe about five years older (use to live in Gig Harbor and Kent) and - as a musical trip - my experience of and journey through hip-hop is very similar to yours (though Tupac was my thing and my appreciation for Biggie (who I'd barely heard of) grew after he died.

Both extremely sad as I still think Tupac was gifted far behind music and would have grown to be a very positive influence. And was to a certain extent already as he proved you could comercially portray yourself as a sensitive / smart black man without repercussions and still be successful. The Wu did that as well to a certain extent.

Mos Def is an inspiration and luckily a lot of people are tuned into that - just not "mainstream."

A lot of mainstream from Jay-Z to 50 Cent to Big Boi to the entire "G Unit" is one dimensional. That doesn't mean they can't occasionally pop out the great sounding tracks, but the SOP behind them is sadly the same.

With Jay-Z, I had a special affinity for Annie (don't ask) so I was drawn in there. But the rest of that album was posturing, as if people really wanted to kill him 9or cared one way or the other) and he was setting himself up as a martyr.


Anyway - fantastic write up.

Thanks for this Robert. Though not my style of music, your essay was well worth reading, and I learned quite a bit.

Cheers!

Your comments on Hip Hop and the current state it is in are though provoking. I am a great fan of Mos Def and Talib Kweli, but sadly even their music has lost a bit of its edge in recent years.

Being in college and "academia", it made me think of the various classes which I have attended where a discussion of race was always paired with a discussion of Hip Hop. The constant need by mostly White students to talk about 50 Cent as a current figure of Black culture was, to a degree, sickening.

I wish some of the students in those classes could read what you wrote. Maybe then they'd actually learn something.

Robert,
This was very thought provoking. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this subject.

Thank you. You've articulated a lot of things that have always been unstated, and therefore unknown. Unfortunately, the people who need to read this article the most are most likely the people who'll never see it.