Hip-Hop: From the Perspective of a Disgruntled Employee

Hip-Hop: From the Perspective of a Disgruntled Employee
An Industry Editorial by: DJ Single Handed
April 22, 2007

Call me a hip-hop disciple who loves it with all my heart and soul and feels completely disconnected from it right now.

I have been a DJ for eight years and still continue to do so. I was an MC in a former life. I had killer lyrics for days, and my flow was killer as well (although for different reasons…mood-killer and eardrum-killer among other things). I had a huge appreciation for the other two elements of hip-hop. My bones and joints thank me that I wasn’t a b-boy, and my lack of a police record shows that I wasn’t a graffiti-writer; but still, I loved and appreciated them all the same.

Rap was something I did, but hip-hop was something I lived throughout my primary school and college years. I loved it, felt it in my blood, studied it, took part in it, and enjoyed it immensely.

Fast-forward a few years: I’m 26 years old and have no idea what the hell is going on.

I took a hiatus for a bit from DJing, and during this time, the four elements of hip-hop changed. They are now as follows: the trap, ice, rims, and (fill in the blank with any other random bullshit item since there are too many to list). In order to succeed in the game, talent is no longer necessary. All you need is an aggressive marketing campaign and a nursery-rhyme hook. Bonus points are given for nursery-rhyme verses, or ones that at least perpetuate negative stereotypes, as well.

As for the current crop of music: Mims never did give me a good explanation as to why he’s hot, besides the fact that he is ‘cause he’s fly and I ain’t ‘cause I’m not. I would love to meet Young Joc at several other places to see if it’s going down (meet me at the Republican convention, it’s goin’ down; meet me at the Bed, Bath, and Beyond, it’s goin’ down). If I have to hear Rich Boy’s CD one more time, I will throw my “D” on it and piss in his Cadillac.

The industry has changed dramatically. Somewhere during our economic recession, perhaps around 9/11 or at the start of the Iraq war, the labels started crying broke and blamed it on bootlegging and illegal downloading. The fact that they became afraid to take risks and put out cookie-cutter artists with formulas that have previously sold in the past may have had something to do with it. The music just became lousy, period. Who wants to spend fifteen bucks at Best Buy for two or three decent tracks and sixteen songs of filler?

My advice to the industry: stop releasing full-length albums (since nobody goes platinum anymore) and stick to ring-tones (everyone has at least one single that has gone platinum from this). Ring-tones seem to be the modern-day maxi-single (for those of you that don’t know what that is, look it up). I can see it now: Cam’ron and his Dip Dip, Santana Set Set Purple City Pink Escalade Bang Bang Harlem Stand Up crew just re-signed with Koch Records to a six-ringtone deal over the next five years. Just think of all the costs that could be cut, especially at the recording studio. It seems to be a recoupable, if not profitable venture, don’t you think?

But seriously, folks….where is hip-hop really going? My answer: hip-hop is becoming the fad that people said it was at the very beginning.

What do we need to save hip-hop from becoming a huge pile of waste? My answer: evolution.

Some way, somehow, hip-hop has to evolve into something different from what it is now. As much as I’d love hip-hop to go back to the way it was, I’m not sure if there’s any turning back. As much as I love songs like Top Billin, It Takes Two, and Hip-Hop Junkies, I was happy that hip-hop evolved lyrically and production-wise. The aforementioned songs sounded old school to me, and though I still love them, I enjoyed the progression of the music.

Likewise, my Wu-Tang, Big Pun, and Mobb Deep songs of the mid-to-late 90’s probably sound old school to the whippersnappers of today. I maintain that they sound just as fresh today as they did then, but maybe the kids need something new in order to peak their interest.

As far as how hip-hop should evolve and what it should turn into…I have little in the way of ideas, but I’m always open to suggestions. Perhaps the musical ante needs to be upped. Add more live and complex instrumentation; bring back the concept of the “bridge” or the “break” to a song. The music should make you want to shake more than just your booty. Remember when music that made you really get down on the dance floor was released regularly?

Lyrically, perhaps rappers can introduce new rhyme patterns. Maybe everyone should start speed-spitting like Twista. Rhyming in foreign languages could become trendy. Incorporating chants, incantations, and speaking in tongues will be the next big thing, I guarantee it!

Brainstorm here, people. Come on! I can’t do this alone!

If you have any suggestions whatsoever, please let my good friends at AMW i.e. know so that we can put our heads together and come up with something better than what’s out right now.

I think hip-hop desperately needs to evolve. Then again, I could be wrong...

Hip-hop originated in the streets, correct? If that’s the case, what the hell would I know about hip-hop? I am a nice Caucasian Jewish boy raised in the rural, back-country woods of New York and the lush, well-landscaped suburbs of Virginia. I’m about as street as Brandon and Brenda from Beverly Hills, 90210 (boy, did I just show my age with that one).

Perhaps I’m just an elitist who doesn’t get it. Then again, I was anything but elitist when I was younger. I still can’t explain how I despise all Young Joc songs but loved Bia Bia and Headbussa. As much as I didn’t like the shiny suit, deliberate beat-jacking, nursery-rhyme style of Diddy in the mid-to-late 90’s, I danced to his songs and loved every minute of it.

My new conclusion: I’m now too old to enjoy bullshit music.

I end my rant and leave you with one thought: the best hip-hop song out right now is Lip Gloss. Yeah, I said it! Lip Gloss by Lil Mama is the best hip-hop song right now. First of all, it’s far better than Chicken Noodle Soup ever was (now let it rain, now shut the hell up).

The main problem with Lip Gloss is that it was released about 20 years too late. To me, it sounds old school as hell. If that song was released in ’87 or ’88, I guarantee each and every one of you would be wopping, popping, locking, dropping (sorry, couldn’t resist!), and doing the running man to the stripped-down minimalist yet extremely danceable drumbeat.

Now that I have completely destroyed my credibility, I thank each and every one of you for listening to me whine. If you love hip-hop as much as I do, then get up, stand up, and do what you have to do to take the music back and turn it into what it should be: good music.

“DJ Single Handed”
Playa-Hater Degree
World Heavycrate Champions DJ crew