Down The Street: “The DJ Is King… Again?” by Michael Telemaque
DJ Premier, one of Hip Hop's greatest DJ's and producers!
Down The Street are guest posts by other bloggers, writers or anyone who has an interesting view on Hip Hop music or the culture as a whole; that could even be you if you post something significant in the comments, or even email me! — In the first post kicking off this brand new category, I have a long time friend and reader of LostMoniker.Com, Michael Telemaque, discussing his take on the role of the DJ in modern Hip Hop culture. Definitely not one to be a missed, and sincerely an excellent post by Michael. Also, be sure to leave comments and feedback!
The DJ Is King… Again?
By: Michael Telemaque
I’ma throw this premise out there: they say history and societal trends are cyclical, and in the early days of hip hop, the DJ was the star and the MC played more of a host role, and we both know how that evolution went and now we have the dynamic today of the MC as star and DJ/Producer as an after thought. In some cases DJ/Producers are considered down right replaceable, but I ask this: are we now coming full circle ?
With the desire for lyrical uniqueness either in delivery, cadence or complexity , rappers are now more archetypes or characters we can identify with than the more traditional versions of the original MC. Has the hip hop community slowly started a march towards marginalizing the MC and giving due to the musical muscle behind many acts? Its no coincidence that more rappers are doing collaborations with House Producers and with a euro pop sound finding way on many club records, that the fans now are starting to idolize the DJ much like they do in House Music.David Guetta, Ardman Van Helden or John Digweed release a record with a booming vocal hook and we dont even attempt to recognize the singer. We are so overwhelmed with mixtapes, youtube channels and street DVD’s, both bad and good, maybe we feel like anyone can rap, and just like dime-a-dozen singers on house records, the production is what makes the track stand out.
In the early evolution of hip hop beats were much more basic, and for a large part the MC is what had to carry the song, but is that the case anymore? Production has evolved so much, and so fast that we are pushing the envelope looking for new sounds that maybe we don’t care who is on the track or what they are saying. The tragic death of J-Dilla, and the rise of Kanye West as a rapper/producer, along with his slowed down style, sold more on having swagger than lyrics…
All these factors point to the return of the DJ as king.
“It’s Hi-Tek (and Kweli) on the track like Flo Jo,
Bet you ain’t even know I had flow though ” – DJ Hi-Tek
Posted by LostMoniker on April 30th, 2011 :: Filed under Down The Street
Tags :: Ardman Van Helden, beat, David Guetta, dj, emcee, J-Dilla, John Digweed, mc, mixtapes, street dvds, youtube
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