I get it now. I didn’t get it before. I thought I did but I didn’t.
I didn’t really understand why the old fogy hip hop historians were always mad. I didn’t comprehend why they vocally screamed to the top of their lungs for anybody to hear it, that hip hop was dead. The Lil Uzi Verts and the Young Thugs of the world had ruined rap music like there hadn’t always been “trash” rap music on the top of charts in every era.
“My waist bone's connected to my hip bone. My hip bone's connected to my thigh bone. My thigh bone's connected to my knee bone. My knee bone's connected to my hardy-har-har-har.” – a trash can rapping
It was simply the changing of the guard. A new sound from new voices.
400 Degreez is one of my favorite rap albums of all times. It holds a special place in my heart. Who I was in in 1998 was really close to what Juvenile was spitting over Manny Fresh’s beats. I wasn’t rocking Reeboks and Girbaud jeans but the other shit; yeah I was with that shit. I said all that to say; I attended the “Legends of Southern Hip Hop” show at the DAR Constitution Hall a couple of weekends ago and Juvie was the headliner. The lineup was extra solid; Scarface, 8 Ball & MJG, Pastor Troy and Project Pat but I noticed a few things strange. First off crowd participation fell flat; all that "I rap and let the crowd finish the line" shit wasn't working. They didn't remember the words outside of the chorus. Also, as I made my trips to the bar and the bathroom I observed that everybody was old and I’m old but they were older than me. I might have been the youngest person there or at least in the bottom 5%. It was a lot of 70’s (maybe even 60’s) babies raised in the 80’s in the building. I can’t remember ever feeling like the youngest person in attendance and I’ve seen Hall & Oates in concert 4 times and their last big hit was in 1984 (Out of Touch). I was 4.
I’ve always said these so call hip hop heads don’t buy music and don’t attend concerts. That very much holds true because you could have legitimately seen 5 gold and platinum selling artist for as low as 35 bucks and the auditorium was half empty. I don’t anybody in my age that’s not a Scarface fan and I don’t know anybody in my age range without 35 bucks to blow at a moment's notice but, I only saw 2 familiar faces in the building. On the flip side I only know a handful of Young Thug fans but his shows always sells out. Your favorite artist isn’t selling because you old heads aren’t pulling up to the show or pushing play. Music is free. You don’t have to drive down to Sam Goody or Tower Records for the latest Nas album. Nope it’s right there on your phone built into an app that you’re probably not paying for anyway and all you have to do is hit play. It’s like magic; you hit play and your favorite artist gets a check. Unfortunately, the problem is way bigger than you fake hip hop heads being disloyal.
What makes rap great is the same thing that makes it extra contemporary. It’s regional. It’s a reflection of right now. It speaks directly to the listener in that exact moment. Right the fuck now, you can turn to anybody and ask them to name their 5 favorite songs from before they were born and not a single rap track will be listed. Think of yours for a second... is there a rap song in your top 5 from yesteryear? In my mind Run DMC is great but at the same time I can’t imagine listening to 3 Run DMC tracks in row, in entirety, on purpose. I just tried and I failed. Nope. There’s in no reach back quality for the next generation. This is why Rich Homie Quan didn’t know the lyrics to “Get Money” at VH1's Hip Hop Honors show a few years back. It came out when he was 6 years old. He wasn’t checking for that. He was still watching Barney and Friends. Fire up YouTube right now and find a hip hop cover with a million views. I haven’t even looked but I seriously doubt you can find one. Now Boyce Avenue has made a whole ass career out of singing other people’s songs. Unlike R&B and Rock and Jazz you can pull up the sounds of old and make them new again. Jodeci’s cover of “Lately” is better than the original (sorry Stevie). The Dixie chicks killed Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide”. Nobody’s ever going to do a remake of “Rapper’s Delight” and you’re perfectly fine with that. Rap might be the only form of media that’s such a huge part of the culture but isn’t revered by the generations to come after. On the flipside Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly hasn’t dropped any new music since 1993 but they are playing the DAR Constitution Hall on November 24th because those hits don’t get old.
Damn you hip hop
Jean DeGrate has spoken
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