Does Hip Hop Take Enough Responsibility? [#knowledge]
Since the pioneers paved the way, many have amassed substantial wealth from the blood, sweat and tears of those before them. There has been an industry shift that exploits the materialistic yearnings of young people and is used to perpetuate stereotypes and influence cultural and political patterns. Hip Hop has come along way, but who is to be held responsible for all of the negativity it espouses in the mainstream? My answer. Each of us.
Each One Teach One
This has been my personal motto, since around 1994, as a youth coming up in the blossoming Toronto Hip Hop scene. As members of the community, it is our responsibility to ensure the next generation coming up is guided in a way that maintains the essence of what the pioneers laid out before us.
In the video featured here, Run (RUN DMC) brings up some really good points, the main one that impacted me the most was when he said "Hip Hop was created to get people off the streets and out of the gangs", I'm paraphrasing, but I'm sure you get the gist of what I'm saying here.
The video is only about 10 minutes, so if you have the time to take it in now, do drop a comment below and let us know your thoughts.
One love!
@vandigital
Nice article, i actually saw that video on youtube yesterday. I'm totally against show guns in music videos, rappers gotta understand that some fans really look to us and if they see us showing off guns and disrespect women.....those fans will do the same( not all of coarse ) but yea i agree with the legend 100%
First I want to say how much I respect DMC for talking about all the weed Run DMC smoked back in the day and how much he used to drink. Its just goes to show that he, the group and properly the label had the sense to keep their private lives and image separate from the public eye. As adults were free to do what we want and it's just common sense that we keep certain things out of site of impressional eyes.
I tend to look at anyone who has power to put out records to blame. As well as the artist that decides to go ahead with what the record label wants. I also believe that groups or labels that come out portraying a negative image are to blame. And what I mean is if your quick to put on a persona of a gangster, thug, drug dealer and glamourize that life style without an actually narrative to the music you're making, then in my opinion you're just doing it because your main concern is to make money.
I that there's a different between the old school and the new school of what we call gangsta rap. Because when I listened to Ice T, his music tends to have a message. And to me NWA was more sensationalized in there approach when they and Ice T are similar in image and content. Just have to mention that I think Ice Cube's music in his early solo career was a lot more meaningful.
The only person I think of right now that escapes blame would be Chuck D. I'm sure there are others but I'm trying to think of who hasn't done anything terribly wrong.
@alatomz have you had a chance to listen much to the new stuff?
Chuck's new stuff? No.
The new Hip Hop that Run was talking about. Have you soaked any of that in at all?