As a culture, Hip Hop has always been a product of technology. From turn-tableism to modern PC sequencers, Hip Hop’s always manifested from whatever current technologies are available. Depending on how you view it, this could be a good or bad thing. However, with the growth of technology becoming more apparent, has the accessibility turned Hip Hop into a burdened culture through it’s up rise of anyone-can-do-it rap artists and producers? Or has it helped Hip Hop in bringing it to a wider scale?

The originators of Hip Hop - or even heads who have been listening long enough - that Hip Hop started from “two turn tables and a mic”. This has been the goto quote for getting the message across that this culture started from few things, and blossomed into a multi-billion dollar industry. Even though that notion rings true, Hip Hop still started with the use of technology. What occured (if you haven’t already read here) was Bronx native, DJ Kool Herc started parties using two-turntables and a microphone; what set this apart as apposed to the normal block parties was Hercs use of “The Breaks”. What are those you ask? They were segments in a record that didn’t have the singer on them, these segments had much more percussion — they were considered the most danceable.

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Posted by LostMoniker on November 12th, 2008 :: Filed under Through The Telescope: Hip Hop and Society
Tags :: cell phone, classic hip hop, commercialization, Digital Age, digital downloads, Information Age, iPod, new hip hop, soundclick, world hip hop, youtube

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For those who haven’t already, please read “Part One” before you read the rest of this article.

For those unaware, Minstrel Shows were racist comedy shows that ran during the mid 1800’s that depicted how black people “supposedly” acted; which was generally done in degrading ways. Minstrel Shows lead to the white population assuming that this is how Black people acted, and once a black person deterred from how the “black face” performers portrayed them they were treated unkindly. So you’re probably wondering: “How does this fit into what you’re talking about?” Modern media and some of the rap it supports has twisted black performers into puppets, and in turn is still giving the same negative impressions that Minstrel Shows had been giving years ago.

The psychology is like this: We see the media perpetuate black figures as “gangsters” and “drug dealers” and instead of promoting this as a “sector” of the Hip Hop we see now, it’s a main focus; this spawns stereotypes such as “all black people are gangster” or “all black people are drug dealers”. In turn people who aren’t accustomed to the Hip Hop culture (this is for the older audience of course) and those who aren’t in racially diverse areas (younger audience) perpetuate these same stereotypes because they haven’t really been exposed to another ethnicity, a black person in this case.

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Posted by LostMoniker on October 13th, 2008 :: Filed under Through The Telescope: Hip Hop and Society
Tags :: 50 cent, boys, gang, gangster, girls, minstrel shows, racism, rnb, thug, trends

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As someone who considers himself “overly observant“, I’ve always been quick to notice the rising Hip-Hop trends… and the fading ones. Now, I COULD write about several other music-related “social trends”, but It seems like Hip-Hop trends generally come off more ignorant. At least “Scene” and even the now-dying “Emo” cultures revolved around some logic to make their trends somewhat appealing. And while I do consider other “social-trends” to give negative impressions, seems like Hip Hop’s not only the target for this but an actual contributor. Before you get your pitchfork ready and say how what I’m speaking is “blasphemy”, please read the next few paragraphs.

Now lets look at the “Ignorant” aspect. Hip Hop has always been a “product of it’s environment”; working from it’s roots as an “urban culture” and further reflecting anything from social woes to crime and poverty. Now, somewhere down the line listeners became effected to the point that they’ve imitated the music. I can’t say that I haven’t adopted a swagger or mindset while listening, because I have. However, there is a point where it becomes too much.

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Posted by LostMoniker on October 8th, 2008 :: Filed under Through The Telescope: Hip Hop and Society
Tags :: confidence, hip hop, minstrel show, social, trends

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Before you read the rest of this article, please read part one first. That article can be found here.

Any seasoned head will know you can’t have a proper discussion about “real” Hip Hop without bringing up the classic hit by Common: “I used to love H.E.R.” For those unaware, the song was an “ode” to Hip Hop; Its uniqueness however, lied in its metaphor of using the love of a woman in the context of Hip Hop culture. The song gives the initial impression it’s a love song, nearing the end though, Common reveals he’s talking about his love of Hip Hop and disapproval of what’s happening to it. The song brought up many questions and controversy in the eyes of many Hip Hop circles. The main idea of the song was about Commons love for the culture, but now Hip Hop’s direction - and fan base - was straying away from its conscious aspects and moving towards the rising popularity of “G-Funk”.

So this poses another question inside an already laboring one: Is “real” Hip Hop that of “conscious hip hop”? Conscious Hip Hop being more “socially aware” Hip Hop. I know that many heads, more-so backpackers would agree with this notion, seeing as this is mostly what Hip Hop came from. For those who have delved into the history of the art, you’ll know of the classic by: “Grand Master Flash And The Furious Five”, “The Message”. This classic piece in Hip Hop addresses the problems - in detail - that are happening in the groups neighborhood and homes. It’s what I consider - and many others - to be one of the first truly “conscious” pieces of Hip Hop.

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Posted by LostMoniker on September 30th, 2008 :: Filed under Through The Telescope: Hip Hop and Society
Tags :: breaks, common, conscious, DJ Kool Herc, H. Rap Brown, hip hop, hymns, I used to love H.E.R., Infinito 2017, part 2, party, poetry, real hip hop, soul, through the telescope

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You’re probably viewing the aforementioned with the notion that you do in fact already know what “real hip hop” is. Yet when asked to truly define that statement, and juggle this with the abundance of hip hop tracks being pushed out in terms of mainstream and underground, your opinion becomes stagnant. Before I delve into the subject at hand, I’d like to say that I’ve listened to countless albums and have been studying the Hip Hop art for quite some time (I’m sure some of the people reading this article have as well), and only to a degree can I describe what “real” hip hop is.

For those who may be newer to Hip Hop, I’d like to go over some slang quickly. A “Purist” (in Hip Hop terms) is generally a Hip Hop head who listens to majority of the classic Hip Hop and quite a bit of modern underground, they feel strongly about what they think “opposes” the initial visions of the culture. A “Backpacker” is generally someone who enjoys participating in the “hardcore” aspects of Hip Hop, generally listening to alternative or underground Hip Hop. This term can be considered derogatory depending on who you ask, however in context of this article I’m using it to describe a subculture. Nothing less, nothing more.

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Posted by LostMoniker on September 21st, 2008 :: Filed under Through The Telescope: Hip Hop and Society
Tags :: backpackers, dj premier, fake, hip hop, jedi mind tricks, kool g rap, mainstream, purists, real, underground

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Hip Hop has always been playing in my household, even in my youngest days I remember the classic ‘93 Till Infinity’ playing through-out my living room, or the classic ‘New York State of Mind’ track from Nas. However, I only thoroughly delved into Hip Hop (and its history) around 2004 (I’m still a youngin’). After I heard about KRS-One and the confrontation between him and Nelly I recall seeing mention of his ‘beef’ with Marley Marl and the Juice Crew; at this point I had no idea who the Juice Crew were, so I headed over to Google and searched with those tags in mind. Eventually, I came across a video in which KRS explained the ordeal and I slowly became fascinated with Hip Hop’s history. Essentially, from that point on I have been “studying” Hip Hop’s history and delving into classics that I either never heard as a child, or wanted to listen to for nostalgia sake; As it stands, I consider myself a “new-school” listener as I never grew up with the earliest Hip Hop music, but I felt that I owed it to this Art that I’ve fallen in love with, to understand it’s history. This is something that I feel a lot of new-school listeners disregard, and due to mainstreams ‘hot 100′ approach even more listeners have a lack of respect for it’s roots.

Before I get someone saying: “We don’t all have to know EVERY component to Hip Hop’s history like you do”, I want to concur. While I do not expect everyone to have a thorough knowledge base of its roots, I feel there should be some generalized regard towards them. There are several new-school listeners I know who have the mentality that “If it’s not on the billboards anymore, then it’s on my playlist’. Something I find to be completely ridiculous. I’ve also came across people who’ve had a more ‘hip-hop’ based sense of the culture, yet disregard the key figures (Tupac and Biggie only count to a degree).

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Posted by LostMoniker on September 15th, 2008 :: Filed under Through The Telescope: Hip Hop and Society
Tags :: bdp, classic hip hop, emee, furious five, grandmaster flash, hip hop, jazzy jeff, juice crew, krs one, marley marl, original, real

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