If you think that I’m about to start this off like the intro to Brown Sugar you might as well leave now because it’s about to get real. Hip-hop is and has always been something that has been used as a tool or outlet to express ourselves. Since the day the first MC spoke into a microphone and said mic check one two one two it has been on the climb and has now dominated not just our culture but culture period.
We are everywhere, EVERYWHERE, we cannot be stopped, paused or deleted. Hip-hop is culture. The world seems to try and ignore that just like they seem to forget that Africa is the cradle of civilization but we are culture. Hip hop is now the judge, jury, and the correctional officer escorting you to trial. Deny us all you want but we oxygen baby and we are everywhere. With that spread though I feel as though we lost who we are because we saw the value that came with it. I don’t care who you are and where you come from if you tell me that Tupac was not one of the greatest let me take a step back from you, because the Lord is about to strike you down.
Tupac was one of the first artists that made it cool to love your mother, be a thug, and woke at the same damn time. He made it effortless and that’s what made him original. The current state that we are in has shifted to an evolution of social media and acceptance.
The current generation seems to disrespect their history sometimes by refusing to learn it, but at the same time it is our elder’s responsibility to guide the new generation.
Somehow along the way I feel as though those true to the game either sold out or were forced out. Prime example, the Hyphy Movement. Just how society wants to know who killed Tupac, what happened to the Bay Area?
When the Hyphy Movement started it was a beautiful and loving time for our home. I remember being young and out at the local sideshows and it was glorious. You didn’t need to go to a club all you needed was someone with some real slap to turn that volume up and somebody get to swinging. You’re probably asking yourself what happened to it, who killed it? And I will give you my opinion which is probably going to have me catch some heat. The person who killed the Hyphy Movement was one of our own- 106.1 KMEL.
Tell me I’m lying? After the beloved God of Hyphy Mac Dre (May he Thizz in Peace) the wave slowed down somewhat because our spirits were crushed. At the same time our connection to music wasn’t what it is now. The only outsource of hearing new music was the radio stations. Just like that it seemed like one day we were listening to our cousin Keak Da Mothafuckin’ Sneak and then came the conquest of the south and we were listening to the King of the South T.I. I love TIP so this is no disrespect to him at all. I’ve been a big fan of his music since I first heard it, but at the same time I’m stating facts. KMEL had the power of control and the power to sway us just like a shepherd to sheep. With that wave of the south came the birth of trap music.
Trap music was something new and original that we never believed would happen. Sweet melodies and 808 bumping and grinding together to make a beautiful baby. With that somewhat snake charm sway came the love of beats. We got too accustomed to hearing a beautiful beat and no longer focused on what anyone was saying. Then came drugs and shit. Even now you don’t even have to say real words to have a hot single. I’m not trying to hate on anyone because I understand that not all artists are like that and there are those that have mastered the art of combining the craft of those before them. With the melodies of the current are some of the hottest artists out right now. With the birth of any child comes growth and with that growth comes evolution so do I have faith in the current state of hip hop you ask? Yes, indeed. For times change and even now all of us have short attention spans, because we get new news every five seconds. This causes new growth on a dramatic and massive scale and only those who have mastered the true craft shall prevail.
Queen Media Collective 