Hip Hop: A Sub-Culture that has been Hijacked

God is the Creator of all things, including cultures. God expresses Himself through His creation: through the vastness of His creation, through the animals, through music, through people, and through cultures. All cultures are an expression of the creativity and the nature of God. The apparel, the cuisine, the etiquette, the traditions, the music (jazz, rock and roll, salsa, blues, etc.), the dances and manners of living all showcase a glimpse of God from all around the globe. You are NOT your culture. Your culture is a reflection of you. It is the distinct and unique characteristics of God’s nature specifically design for you and your group to express a part of God in this world. For example, the image you see in the mirror you; is that you or a reflection of you? God puts different cultural characteristics in ethnic groups, and innately the group behaves accordingly. Similarly, Hip-Hop is a sub-cultural artistic outlet. It began in the 1970’s and consists of: break dancing, popping, locking, rapping, scratching & mixing, and graffiti (tagging) and b-boy/b-girl apparel, occurring mainly in the urban youth in the African American community. My purpose for writing this article is to express my displeasure at Hip-hop being hijacked. As an adult, I look at rap today and it’s a disgrace. Hip-Hop seems to be nearly extinct compared to the explosion of the mainstream rap. I know times, things, and styles change; we live in a progressive world. In 21st century rap, there is very little substance and creativity in the artists, the beats, and lyrical content. There use to be metaphorical geniuses, creative plays on words, imagery, and poetic allegory that couldn’t be taught. But today, we are experiencing a sub-culture that has been hijacked.

There have always been elements within the Hip-Hop community that have not been positive, but that wasn’t and isn’t what Hip-Hop is about. Again, Hip-Hop is a sub-culture primarily of the African-American community for artistic expression. But for sometime now, Hip-Hop has been hijacked by images of money, sex, drugs, gangs, violence, etc and has been commercialized by the mainstream media. In the 1980’s, I remember when there would be neighborhood battles (non-violent break dancing and popping competitions). This was done instead of fighting, and the kids were demonstrating something that was a passion in them. The things some of those kids were doing couldn’t be taught, either it was in you or it wasn’t. Self-proclaimed truth seekers were “building knowledge” (instructing the youth about history and right living) on street corners. I didn’t particularly believe in everything they were saying, but there was a consciousness about serving God and right from wrong. And while I don’t agree with defacing public property, there were some very talented graffiti artists who sharpened and honed their skills and later became architects, cartoonists and advertising agents.

Today we don’t see a lot of this. Some of the more positive elements of Hip-Hop still exist, but they aren’t in the mainstream media. Mainstream rap is not Hip-Hop, and it basically appeals to the Caucasian audience. Generally, if you appeal to the mainstream, you’re going to make a lot more money. There’s nothing wrong with the Caucasian fan base or making a lot of money, but Hip-Hop (once great) has lost its flavor. So the temptation exists for underground rappers and lyricists with positive messages to compromise the true roots of Hip-Hop for more money. Unfortunately, a lot of them sell-out. A lot of negative rappers justify their behavior by saying that they speak about real life “street” issues and they mirror what life for the kids is like, so that they can relate to them. However, that thinking is flawed. A mirror shows you the image with the flaws, not to glorify and emulate the flaws, but to locate the flaws and fix them. Many Hip Hop artists, past and present, glorify the flaws of the African American community, and much of the younger generation emulates that. This isn’t how we raise the consciousness of our contemporaries or the next generation. We need to fix the problems, not make them larger and appealing to practice. Those of us who were kids when Hip-Hop started are now in our 30’s, and those of us who are still walking around with a mountain of jewelry around your neck and in your mouth need to wake up. That is not reality! No one is going to hire you for a real job looking like that. Those rappers can do that because it’s an image that they are being paid to portray. Responsible men and women need to reach out to, and connect with these young people and share the realities of life with them. These types of mentor/protégé relationships are so necessary. Many times, these relationship aren’t available long-term for the youth, so they look for these connections in gangs, sex, drugs, and other forms of trouble.

Look folks, this is a world where everything is a commercial transaction. That statement is key! This world is all about money. And those who make the money know how to play the game, and those who have the money make the rules. Listen to the rappers of today, because there aren’t many Hip-Hop artists. The rappers are talking about bling, goin’ to the club, shootin’ someone, drinkin’ alcohol, smokin’ marijuana, thuggin’, or pimpin’. A lot of these rappers aren’t even talented, but they have stupid gimmicks and a “hook” and you buy it. (Please read my articles about “How the Mass Media Thinks for You.”) If you put these messages to a nice beat, people are going to move to it and buy it. These rappers and business executives are getting so rich off of you consumers supporting this trash. An artistic express, Hip-Hop, has been stolen from and sold out by members of the same society that started it. Some African Americans blame the Caucasians for capitalizing on rap artists. Hey, this is America, “Forget the Icing, I wanna Taste the Cake.” Remember, everything is a commercial transaction. Follow the Money! A lot of these gangster rappers left the illegal business, and do it legally as an image, and make a lot more money, to the detriment of the cultural that helped to form them. Last Saturday, Floyd Mayweather Jr. came out of his dressing room to fight Oscar de la Hoya with 50 Cent rapping in his entourage. This is just so irresponsible. It’s unfortunate, but a lot of people have no social or moral ethics. 50 Cent and people like him are a cancer to our society. 50 Cent’s video game “Get Rich or Die Tryin’” rewards players with points for selling drugs, doing a drive-by shooting, putting grenades in people’s mouths, etc. This is amazing! He may say I’m just portraying an image, “I’m just keepin’ it real.” Yeah, OK, keepin’ it real. Don’t support Snoop Dog and Trick Daddy, Ludacris, and the rest of these rappers. Look you’ve already made these people wealthy; you are the ones that are living in the neighbors from which they moved. They don’t want to live around you. They don’t want to be around you and your family. They just want you to buy their CD’s. These are the villains of Hip-Hop, not the executives, because if the Hip-Hop artists stayed true, then the executives couldn’t sign the truly talented artists. Think about this article folks, the next generation is following a bad example that is being set. We need to raise the standard and consciousness of our communities. Live well!