Attack of the Clones: How Lack of Topical Diversity is Killing Hip Hop and Its Listeners

I love going into schools and talking with kids. Before making music I taught high school full time. Ironically, students pay infinitely more attention now that I'm a rapper. Class always begins the same way. "What is hip hop? When you think about hip hop, what comes to mind?" I'm good at asking in a tone that suggests I'm curious to hear what their answers are, but I could write them all up on the board without calling on a single student.

"Money!" The class murmurs in agreement.

"Cars. Clothes. Jewelry. Watches." I suggest that that kind of falls under the money umbrella. They agree.

"The streets." I play dumb to flush this answer out. "What do you mean the streets? Do you mean like, concrete? Driving directions?"

They laugh, then correct me. "No. Street stuff. Ghetto stuff. Drugs. Crime. Shooting people."

I thank them for the clarification, and ask if there's anything else. Everyone knows what the last answer is, but depending on the grade, it may take some cajoling on my end to get a student over the embarrassment of blurting it out.

"Sex!" And the room erupts in laughter.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Cryptocurrency on October 5, 2012 at 8:30pm

Rise of the Reds

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Chip on October 6, 2012 at 7:55pm

Violence begets violence.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Maas on October 6, 2012 at 9:48pm

These kids are clueless, obviously. Rap was subverted back in the late '80's; it was much, much different in the early '80's. Check out the clip where hip hop came from a culture of celebrating life, even in times of tragedy, such as the murder of Scott La Rock, KRS-1's dj and producer.

Hip hop represented a means to escape the ghetto as well as simultaneously celebrating the hidden, unorthodox beauty within street-life. Drugs, murder, prostitution, illicit sex and all the negative stuff were documented, but they were just peripherals; just something that had to be dealt with on a daily basis.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Maas on October 6, 2012 at 9:58pm

Really interesting article. Got a lot of comments after reading just the first few paragraphs, but I've got no time. maybe I'll post a response blog at some point. Thanks for sharing.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Burbia on October 8, 2012 at 2:16pm

"The Secret Meeting that Changed Rap Music and Destroyed a Generation"

http://www.hiphopisread.com/2012/04/secret-meeting-that-changed-rap...

even if the story from the above link about the privatization of prisons isn't true, the landscape of what is passed off as hip hop today has been co-opted by a largely non-urban not below poverty level distributors and labels exploiting what happens when large amounts of drugs that could never be manufactured or originate from the sources where the blame is put in these ghettos which receiving fame for inhumane atrocities for the almighty dollar...