http://globalgrind.com/source/oldsc...instances-that-changed-the-course-of-hip-hop/
For better or worse, hip hop music has drastically changed over the past thirty years. Many Old School fans of hip hop believe that the music has changed for the worse and is practically dead, while younger fans argue that the music is stronger than ever. Listed below, in reverse order, are fourteen people, instances, and events that most changed the landscape of hip hop music:
14. The Telecommunications Act of 1996:
President Bill Clinton signed a bill into law that essentially lifted restrictions on the number of radio stations that a single business could own. The bill initiated an industry consolidation and the elimination of all but a few independent radio stations. The surviving companies became larger and were now able to offer advertisers discounted ad rates that independent stations could not match. Profits were further increased by adopting a stripped-down format that was practically identical across the U.S. Out went local morning shows, live deejay mixes, request shows, “Make it or break it” new artist premieres, and freestyle performances. In came syndicated morning shows and a single rotation of songs that is nearly the same in New York, L.A., and every city in between.
13. Tone Loc and Young MC:
All of the national goodwill that N.W.A. garnered for west coast hip hop was tarnished when Tone Loc and Young MC dropped "Wild Thing" and "Bust a Move," respectfully. The two rappers made music that specifically catered to a crossover audience. Highly critical east coast artists and fans unfairly formed negative opinions of west coast hip hop based on these two songs and began unleashing insults. Naturally, west coast artists and fans became defensive, and the tension reached its pinnacle in the mid-nineties; leading to violence and the loss of lives. It’s quite a stretch to suggest that Tone Loc and Young MC caused the east coast/ west coast beef, but they did represent a glimpse into the future of hip hop in which artists pandered to mainstream fans with radio friendly songs as opposed to creating music for the core fans of hip hop.
12. Lil Kim and Foxy Brown:
Piggybacking off of the success of gangsta rap and the bling-bling era, Lil Kim and Foxy Brown crafted both their music and images around sex and materialism; ultimately burning the credibility bridge that their big sisters Sha-Rock, Lisa Lee, MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, and others fought so hard to build. Though both possessed rhyming skills, Kim and Foxy opted to portray the stereotypical images of black women as sexual miscreants and gold-diggers. Women in hip hop have yet to shake the negative light that Kim and Foxy shined so bright in the mid-to-late nineties.
11. Outkast:
In 1994, Big Boi and Andre dropped a universally recognized classic album and proudly said to the hip hop community, "What ya'll really know about the Dirty South?" An innocent slogan coined to symbolize quality southern hip hop did more to harm the culture than Outkast and the Dungeon Family could have ever imagined.
Nearly fifteen years after Outkast blazed a trail that opened critical ears in the northeast to what southern rappers had to say, the duo's southern neighbors have frayed off the path, releasing music that bears no resemblance to the lyrically deep and soulful music that their older brothers made. The vast majority of southern rappers are now household names simply because they live in the South. Outkast’s descendants proudly chant the Dirty South moniker, but did not develop similar skills to maintain the slogan’s credibility.
10. Master P:
Though not the sole conspirator, Master P's commercial success in the mid-nineties ushered in the contemporary era of hip hop in which catchy hooks and chants trumped lyrical content. Master P’s success taught aspiring rappers that they could achieve commercial success without honing their skills; enabling new school artists like Mims to unashamedly state, "I can sell a mil. saying nothing on the track."
While Master P did enlarge the scope of hip hop, allowing artist from the Gulf Region to participate, he nevertheless hammered the last nail in the coffin of the emcee. Today, delivering creative lyrics are virtually an afterthought for aspiring rappers.
9. Jay-Z
Even Hov has to brush a little dust of his shoulder for contributing to hip hop’s lyrical demise. Not only did Jay-Z briefly dabble in the shiny suit era, he sprayed jet fuel on the bling-bling fire when he decided to use his extraordinary lyrical skills to become the undisputed Mr. Braggadocio champion. Jay-Z masterfully flipped the script and eventually decided to brag about something more acceptable than cars and jewelry: success. Unfortunately, the damage had been done. The little wannabe Jay-Z’s watching and hearing tales about jewelry and luxury cars did not realize that his rhymes had far more substance. Even Jay had to utter in one of his songs, “Do you fools listen to music or do you just skim through it?” As a result, hip hop is forever blinged out.
8. Puff Daddy's Shiny-Suit Era:
The story of the Howard University student who flipped an intern into a multi-million dollar business is etched in hip hop history. However, with Puff’s tremendous success came outrageous excess. Puff Daddy went from crafting onstage images that complimented his artists’ music, to directing his artists to assume the latest fad and trend. As a result, Bedstuy Biggie went from "Timbos and Girbauds" to Vercase shades and shirts; "Murder" Mase became the shiny suited ladies man; and The Lox practically begged to be released from Bad Boy. The shiny-suit era eventually died and, remarkably, Puffy managed to distance himself from the era without any notable backlash. However, remnants of the era are forever embedded in new school hip hop, as contemporary rappers continually rap about materialism.
7. NWA:
Though some can be credited with first recording violent hip hop songs, the members of N.W.A. are the undisputed godfathers of Gangsta Rap. N.W.A. told meticulously detailed tales about living in South Central L.A., including stories of police brutality, drug dealing, prostitution, and relationships. The group creatively chose to embed their messages in between a barrage of profanity and racial epithets that had never been recorded at such an extent before. In fact, if all of the profanity and N-words were stripped from N.W.A.'s music, listeners would still obtain a vivid understanding of the 80's South Central L.A. lifestyle.
Unfortunately, young fans and aspiring artists were unable to decipher the underlying messages that N.W.A. attempted to convey, and instead, made songs with lots of profanity, but no message. Credit nearly all usage of profanity, the N-word, and gangster tales heard in new school rap to N.W.A.; their impact and footprint on hip hop remains present today. Unfortunately, new school artists were unable to dig beneath the group’s hyperbolic surface and realize that the core of N.W.A.’s music was pure hip hop.
6. Luther Campbell:
Uncle Luke, the 2 Live Crew, and their traveling circus hosted the most entertaining, jaw-dropping parties during the eighties and early nineties. Luke not only de-emphasized lyrics in hip hop, but he was also a major reason for the marginalization of women in hip hop that pervades today. Once the center of attention because of their skills on the mic., women in hip hop are now relegated to submissive roles, and are best known for their exploits in music videos. Due to the Luke Effect, an entire generation of little boys and girls grew up watching his videos thinking that the clothing, dancing, and treatment of women as sex objects was appropriate. Though no one forced the women in Luke’s videos and parties to act in such a manner, their actions weren’t discouraged.
5. New York:
As soon as hip hop was packaged and sold as a product to the general public, it was no longer a musical art form exclusive to New Yorkers. Hip Hop’s founding fathers created a musical form that was regarded as the voice for disenfranchised people, but, ironically, refused to let voices with similar issues from different regions be heard. New Yorkers were reluctant to accept any variation of hip hop created by outsiders even though the new music was rooted in hip hop’s foundation: beats and rhymes. As a result of this discrimination, artists from other regions banded together and targeted hip hop fans living in the other seventy-five percent of the nation; ultimately surpassing Northeasterners in sales and becoming the figureheads of new school hip hop. Unfortunately, the majority of contemporary rappers with no discernible skills have established careers based solely on being from a particular city or region. If New Yorkers would have embraced
music by artists from other states, lyrics may have never been pushed to the foreground.
4. Music Videos:
During the hip hop’s infancy, the majority of hip hop fans’ contact with their favorite artists was relegated to either late night radio, or albums and cassette tapes. Listeners formed opinions of artists based on the quality of their music. Many of The Beastie Boys' original fans did not know that they were white, but became fans because they loved their music. The linear relationship between quality music and popularity in hip hop was disproved and forever dismissed as music videos grew in popularity. Emcees used to paint a picture with their rhymes and allow its listeners to individually colorize the music with images that they developed through their interpretation of the song. Akin to watching a movie instead of reading the novel, music videos tell an abbreviated and oftentimes inaccurate summary of what the lyrics in a song suggest. Music videos dumbed down hip hop, weakening listeners’ ability to comprehend complex storylines and lyrics.
As a result, new school hip hop fans prefer simple, elementary rhymes and a four minute mini-movie that tells them how they should feel, act, and dress.
3. Sylvia Robinson:
Intrigued by a new form of urban music first introduced by a young relative, Sylvia Robinson co-founded Sugar Hill Records in 1974. In 1979, the record label released its first song, “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugar Hill Gang, which went on to become hip hop’s first Top 40 hit. Unfortunately, hip hop was launched into the commercial stratosphere based on a group that was essentially a 70's boy band. Robinson practically picked up three guys off the street not far from Sugar Hill’s New Jersey headquarters and said, "Today is your lucky day. Do you all want to make a record?" Wonder Mike, Big Bank Hank, and Master Gee had never performed together and were supplied with lyrics in “Rapper’s Delight” that were written by Grandmaster Caz, a bonafide emcee and member of The Cold Crush Brothers.
The Sugar Hill Gang did exactly what anyone else in their position would have and seized the opportunity. However, the fact remains that Robinson established from the outset that talent would not be the primary factor for profiting in hip hop. When art and capitalism diverge, the result is watered-down, unauthentic product. In essence, Hip Hop was doomed at its birth.
2. The Media:
The media have become the de-facto gatekeepers of hip hop, determining which artists get exposure, and ultimately shaping the opinions of its young, influential audience. Critics have always voiced concerns about the negative images that are continually looped on radio and television, and printed in publications. Yet a unified media steadfastly stands behind the notion that it only provides what their audiences demand. Well, after years of brandishing violence, misogyny, and materialism, hip hop’s young generation has no other image of hip hop other than the sensationalized falsehoods that the media forces down their throats. It’s no wonder why they “demand” gangsta rap and snap music. The media could easily lead hip hop in a different direction. But, because their only goal is to maximize profits, the media have no vested interest in the well-being of the culture.
1. Old School Hip Hop Fans:
We were the original audience at Kool Herc’s block parties; bought “Rapper’s Delight;” emulated everything we saw in Wild Style, Beat Street, Krush Groove, and Breakin; made The Fresh Fest hip hop’s first successful concert series; and made Run-DMC the first platinum selling hip hop artists. If not for our support, hip hop would have never made it beyond that late night weekend slot on urban radio stations, MTV and VH1 could very well still have an all rock & roll format, and the billion dollar industry that exists today would have never made it beyond New York. Yet, when hip hop’s pursuit of money influenced our artists to appeal to a mainstream audience and corrupt the music’s foundation, we did absolutely nothing.
On our watch, lady emcees, graffiti artists, and deejays are nearly removed from the culture; urban radio stopped airing request shows and live deejay mixes; B-boys and B-girls were replaced by booty dancers; the media anointed Biggie and Tupac the kings of hip hop, then created an east coast/ west coast feud; BET and MTV stopped airing non-violent music videos; and rappers with no lyrical skills became the accepted standard. Worst of all, we failed to pass on the true essence of hip hop to our younger generations. It’s our fault that our youth best know Reverend Run as the wealthy, heavyset, father of six spoiled kids. We can continue to live in our cocoon and reminisce about the golden years of Hip Hop, or we can fight to Restore, Preserve, and Celebrate a unified hip hop culture.
Let’s save the music. Let’s save our culture.
For better or worse, hip hop music has drastically changed over the past thirty years. Many Old School fans of hip hop believe that the music has changed for the worse and is practically dead, while younger fans argue that the music is stronger than ever. Listed below, in reverse order, are fourteen people, instances, and events that most changed the landscape of hip hop music:
14. The Telecommunications Act of 1996:
President Bill Clinton signed a bill into law that essentially lifted restrictions on the number of radio stations that a single business could own. The bill initiated an industry consolidation and the elimination of all but a few independent radio stations. The surviving companies became larger and were now able to offer advertisers discounted ad rates that independent stations could not match. Profits were further increased by adopting a stripped-down format that was practically identical across the U.S. Out went local morning shows, live deejay mixes, request shows, “Make it or break it” new artist premieres, and freestyle performances. In came syndicated morning shows and a single rotation of songs that is nearly the same in New York, L.A., and every city in between.
13. Tone Loc and Young MC:
All of the national goodwill that N.W.A. garnered for west coast hip hop was tarnished when Tone Loc and Young MC dropped "Wild Thing" and "Bust a Move," respectfully. The two rappers made music that specifically catered to a crossover audience. Highly critical east coast artists and fans unfairly formed negative opinions of west coast hip hop based on these two songs and began unleashing insults. Naturally, west coast artists and fans became defensive, and the tension reached its pinnacle in the mid-nineties; leading to violence and the loss of lives. It’s quite a stretch to suggest that Tone Loc and Young MC caused the east coast/ west coast beef, but they did represent a glimpse into the future of hip hop in which artists pandered to mainstream fans with radio friendly songs as opposed to creating music for the core fans of hip hop.
12. Lil Kim and Foxy Brown:
Piggybacking off of the success of gangsta rap and the bling-bling era, Lil Kim and Foxy Brown crafted both their music and images around sex and materialism; ultimately burning the credibility bridge that their big sisters Sha-Rock, Lisa Lee, MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, and others fought so hard to build. Though both possessed rhyming skills, Kim and Foxy opted to portray the stereotypical images of black women as sexual miscreants and gold-diggers. Women in hip hop have yet to shake the negative light that Kim and Foxy shined so bright in the mid-to-late nineties.
11. Outkast:
In 1994, Big Boi and Andre dropped a universally recognized classic album and proudly said to the hip hop community, "What ya'll really know about the Dirty South?" An innocent slogan coined to symbolize quality southern hip hop did more to harm the culture than Outkast and the Dungeon Family could have ever imagined.
Nearly fifteen years after Outkast blazed a trail that opened critical ears in the northeast to what southern rappers had to say, the duo's southern neighbors have frayed off the path, releasing music that bears no resemblance to the lyrically deep and soulful music that their older brothers made. The vast majority of southern rappers are now household names simply because they live in the South. Outkast’s descendants proudly chant the Dirty South moniker, but did not develop similar skills to maintain the slogan’s credibility.
10. Master P:
Though not the sole conspirator, Master P's commercial success in the mid-nineties ushered in the contemporary era of hip hop in which catchy hooks and chants trumped lyrical content. Master P’s success taught aspiring rappers that they could achieve commercial success without honing their skills; enabling new school artists like Mims to unashamedly state, "I can sell a mil. saying nothing on the track."
While Master P did enlarge the scope of hip hop, allowing artist from the Gulf Region to participate, he nevertheless hammered the last nail in the coffin of the emcee. Today, delivering creative lyrics are virtually an afterthought for aspiring rappers.
9. Jay-Z
Even Hov has to brush a little dust of his shoulder for contributing to hip hop’s lyrical demise. Not only did Jay-Z briefly dabble in the shiny suit era, he sprayed jet fuel on the bling-bling fire when he decided to use his extraordinary lyrical skills to become the undisputed Mr. Braggadocio champion. Jay-Z masterfully flipped the script and eventually decided to brag about something more acceptable than cars and jewelry: success. Unfortunately, the damage had been done. The little wannabe Jay-Z’s watching and hearing tales about jewelry and luxury cars did not realize that his rhymes had far more substance. Even Jay had to utter in one of his songs, “Do you fools listen to music or do you just skim through it?” As a result, hip hop is forever blinged out.
8. Puff Daddy's Shiny-Suit Era:
The story of the Howard University student who flipped an intern into a multi-million dollar business is etched in hip hop history. However, with Puff’s tremendous success came outrageous excess. Puff Daddy went from crafting onstage images that complimented his artists’ music, to directing his artists to assume the latest fad and trend. As a result, Bedstuy Biggie went from "Timbos and Girbauds" to Vercase shades and shirts; "Murder" Mase became the shiny suited ladies man; and The Lox practically begged to be released from Bad Boy. The shiny-suit era eventually died and, remarkably, Puffy managed to distance himself from the era without any notable backlash. However, remnants of the era are forever embedded in new school hip hop, as contemporary rappers continually rap about materialism.
7. NWA:
Though some can be credited with first recording violent hip hop songs, the members of N.W.A. are the undisputed godfathers of Gangsta Rap. N.W.A. told meticulously detailed tales about living in South Central L.A., including stories of police brutality, drug dealing, prostitution, and relationships. The group creatively chose to embed their messages in between a barrage of profanity and racial epithets that had never been recorded at such an extent before. In fact, if all of the profanity and N-words were stripped from N.W.A.'s music, listeners would still obtain a vivid understanding of the 80's South Central L.A. lifestyle.
Unfortunately, young fans and aspiring artists were unable to decipher the underlying messages that N.W.A. attempted to convey, and instead, made songs with lots of profanity, but no message. Credit nearly all usage of profanity, the N-word, and gangster tales heard in new school rap to N.W.A.; their impact and footprint on hip hop remains present today. Unfortunately, new school artists were unable to dig beneath the group’s hyperbolic surface and realize that the core of N.W.A.’s music was pure hip hop.
6. Luther Campbell:
Uncle Luke, the 2 Live Crew, and their traveling circus hosted the most entertaining, jaw-dropping parties during the eighties and early nineties. Luke not only de-emphasized lyrics in hip hop, but he was also a major reason for the marginalization of women in hip hop that pervades today. Once the center of attention because of their skills on the mic., women in hip hop are now relegated to submissive roles, and are best known for their exploits in music videos. Due to the Luke Effect, an entire generation of little boys and girls grew up watching his videos thinking that the clothing, dancing, and treatment of women as sex objects was appropriate. Though no one forced the women in Luke’s videos and parties to act in such a manner, their actions weren’t discouraged.
5. New York:
As soon as hip hop was packaged and sold as a product to the general public, it was no longer a musical art form exclusive to New Yorkers. Hip Hop’s founding fathers created a musical form that was regarded as the voice for disenfranchised people, but, ironically, refused to let voices with similar issues from different regions be heard. New Yorkers were reluctant to accept any variation of hip hop created by outsiders even though the new music was rooted in hip hop’s foundation: beats and rhymes. As a result of this discrimination, artists from other regions banded together and targeted hip hop fans living in the other seventy-five percent of the nation; ultimately surpassing Northeasterners in sales and becoming the figureheads of new school hip hop. Unfortunately, the majority of contemporary rappers with no discernible skills have established careers based solely on being from a particular city or region. If New Yorkers would have embraced
music by artists from other states, lyrics may have never been pushed to the foreground.
4. Music Videos:
During the hip hop’s infancy, the majority of hip hop fans’ contact with their favorite artists was relegated to either late night radio, or albums and cassette tapes. Listeners formed opinions of artists based on the quality of their music. Many of The Beastie Boys' original fans did not know that they were white, but became fans because they loved their music. The linear relationship between quality music and popularity in hip hop was disproved and forever dismissed as music videos grew in popularity. Emcees used to paint a picture with their rhymes and allow its listeners to individually colorize the music with images that they developed through their interpretation of the song. Akin to watching a movie instead of reading the novel, music videos tell an abbreviated and oftentimes inaccurate summary of what the lyrics in a song suggest. Music videos dumbed down hip hop, weakening listeners’ ability to comprehend complex storylines and lyrics.
As a result, new school hip hop fans prefer simple, elementary rhymes and a four minute mini-movie that tells them how they should feel, act, and dress.
3. Sylvia Robinson:
Intrigued by a new form of urban music first introduced by a young relative, Sylvia Robinson co-founded Sugar Hill Records in 1974. In 1979, the record label released its first song, “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugar Hill Gang, which went on to become hip hop’s first Top 40 hit. Unfortunately, hip hop was launched into the commercial stratosphere based on a group that was essentially a 70's boy band. Robinson practically picked up three guys off the street not far from Sugar Hill’s New Jersey headquarters and said, "Today is your lucky day. Do you all want to make a record?" Wonder Mike, Big Bank Hank, and Master Gee had never performed together and were supplied with lyrics in “Rapper’s Delight” that were written by Grandmaster Caz, a bonafide emcee and member of The Cold Crush Brothers.
The Sugar Hill Gang did exactly what anyone else in their position would have and seized the opportunity. However, the fact remains that Robinson established from the outset that talent would not be the primary factor for profiting in hip hop. When art and capitalism diverge, the result is watered-down, unauthentic product. In essence, Hip Hop was doomed at its birth.
2. The Media:
The media have become the de-facto gatekeepers of hip hop, determining which artists get exposure, and ultimately shaping the opinions of its young, influential audience. Critics have always voiced concerns about the negative images that are continually looped on radio and television, and printed in publications. Yet a unified media steadfastly stands behind the notion that it only provides what their audiences demand. Well, after years of brandishing violence, misogyny, and materialism, hip hop’s young generation has no other image of hip hop other than the sensationalized falsehoods that the media forces down their throats. It’s no wonder why they “demand” gangsta rap and snap music. The media could easily lead hip hop in a different direction. But, because their only goal is to maximize profits, the media have no vested interest in the well-being of the culture.
1. Old School Hip Hop Fans:
We were the original audience at Kool Herc’s block parties; bought “Rapper’s Delight;” emulated everything we saw in Wild Style, Beat Street, Krush Groove, and Breakin; made The Fresh Fest hip hop’s first successful concert series; and made Run-DMC the first platinum selling hip hop artists. If not for our support, hip hop would have never made it beyond that late night weekend slot on urban radio stations, MTV and VH1 could very well still have an all rock & roll format, and the billion dollar industry that exists today would have never made it beyond New York. Yet, when hip hop’s pursuit of money influenced our artists to appeal to a mainstream audience and corrupt the music’s foundation, we did absolutely nothing.
On our watch, lady emcees, graffiti artists, and deejays are nearly removed from the culture; urban radio stopped airing request shows and live deejay mixes; B-boys and B-girls were replaced by booty dancers; the media anointed Biggie and Tupac the kings of hip hop, then created an east coast/ west coast feud; BET and MTV stopped airing non-violent music videos; and rappers with no lyrical skills became the accepted standard. Worst of all, we failed to pass on the true essence of hip hop to our younger generations. It’s our fault that our youth best know Reverend Run as the wealthy, heavyset, father of six spoiled kids. We can continue to live in our cocoon and reminisce about the golden years of Hip Hop, or we can fight to Restore, Preserve, and Celebrate a unified hip hop culture.
Let’s save the music. Let’s save our culture.
