I would like to thank commercial hip hop for not only successfully closing the doors for conscious hip hop in the minds of the greater part of society, but for also giving the entire genre a negative reputation.
I would like to thank commercial hip hop for not only successfully closing the doors for conscious hip hop in the minds of the greater part of society, but for also giving the entire genre a negative reputation.
A lot of people have preconceived notions of hip hop. If you could ask the older generation to define it is in just one sentence, I'm certain many of them would describe it as crude music, with pointless lyrics that too many a time merely praise the hottest women, doing nothing to elevate one's soul.
I don't blame people for thinking in such a way, what with the mainstream media feeding the masses this nonsensical side of hip hop. Had I not been exposed to the real deal, I would hate hip hop too.
Let me dissect the difference between the two for you: Conscious hip hop is a sub-genre of hip hop that focuses on creating awareness and imparting knowledge. It is a stellar art form fused with poetry and it nourishes one's soul. Its lyrics mainly revolve around social commentary and never fail to touch on the subject of politics and when these artists do so, they do it without tip-toeing around their words. Hence most of their albums are banned, because the powers that be cannot stand people that tell it like it is.
With many of these rappers there is a voice of morality lurking behind every line they utter, and often just one couplet offers many interpretations that make one think. These rappers take their craft seriously – like a heart attack. They're well read. They know how to ride a pun, how to use alliteration and never floss about the money they have in their bank accounts. Their mission is to educate, while entertaining, as they understand that music is an antidote for dying souls.
As Lauryn Hill puts it; music is meant to inspire. Sadly the music of concious rappers like Immortal Technique and Black Thought never receive much air play like commercial rap does.
On the other hand, we have commercial hip hop, whose rappers have more money than sense and are more than happy to flaunt their cash around while singing about how many women they have bedded and other nonsensical things that society doesn't really need to know about.
Let's face it: music is very influential and I think commercial rap is a reason behind society's moral decay. What message are you passing on when you broadcast videos of women clad in bikinis, shaking their behinds like their lives depended on it?
And chanting: "Nigger it must be your money because it ain't your face,'' like American rapper Nelly does in his music videos. Since commercial rappers have a huge following it would be great if they would use this avenue to address social ills, instead of serenading us with the self-indulgent first class Louis Vuitton of garbage they rap about. Get a grip!
