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.

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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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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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