Hip Hop Essay Part 1: The Music

Hip Hop Essay Part 1
Hip hop part 1: The Music

Welcome to my two part commentary on Hip Hop music and culture. Please understand that what follows is just one person's opinions. You are not required to agree. I would like to also acknowledge that the following dissertation applies only to mainstream hip hop music and culture (MTV, Radio, mass media), and I do understand that there are many underground artists that do not fit into the arguments and points stated below.



Once, a long long time ago, there was an era where in order to be in the music "business" (I use the word business in quotes here due to the fact that up until the 1950s the music business wasn't the billion dollar empire we know and love today), you had to be a musician. Now, call me old fashioned if you want, but I am still of this mindset. You may be asking, "What does this have to do with Hip Hop?!" Hold your horses my fine feathered friend, and do read on.

Generally, a person would spend a great deal of time practicing their instrument, and gaining experience writing songs, melodies, chord patterns and the like. This simple aspect, I feel, is missing from today's mainstream hip-hop scene.

To me, it separates the genre further out from most other forms of music, in that the namesake behind many of today's most over-saturated "artists" are not musicians at all, hence, one who creates or plays music. Instead, this portion of the song (see: any and all musical and rhythmic anything) is farmed out to the role of the Producer. The Producer's job inside the hip-hop arena, is to essentially create that "artist's" entire song from the ground up, while said namesake contributes Lyrics.

Luckily for this hip hop figurehead, his (or hers, but mostly his) producer has been nice enough to take all of the hard work out of making an album, leaving this person more time to spend yet unearned album-advance money on important things like rims and platinum-capped teeth. Can you imagine all the time this person would have wasted spending years learning an instrument, and learning to write songs even if only utilizing the most basic musical ideas? That path is for losers.

When I ask people why they enjoy hip hop, one of the first responses is usually something to the effect of: "I like music with a good beat". Lately, I have to admit, hearing this phrase makes me wince. I heard two people say this at work the other day when talking about getting new sound systems installed in their cars. "Gotta have my beats," one employee stated while bobbing his head to signify the "beats" he had to have. I think the reason this makes me upset is that when worded this way, it doesn't even sound like one is talking about music anymore, but simplistic ear-fodder for nodding.

I will concede here and admit that there are several hip hop songs with a very catchy groove pattern, coupled with memorable hooks. Usually very danceable, and I assume this is what people like about it. I too enjoy dancing, and I enjoy having good songs to dance to. But a song can still be memorable and catchy without necessarily being danceable.

One unfortunate side of this (at least for me), is the repetition of the programmed beat itself, and more often then not, the bass-line, and whatever extra layers therein. Now as we've just established, the majority of these mainstream hip hop songs are made with dance clubs as a priority, so redundancy can actually prove an asset when pounding a chorus into people's brains. I for one have never really been into grossly repetitive music, though I'm sure I still may be guilty of liking one or two along the way, which I freely admit.

On the subject of beats, I'm disappointed in the lack of creativity I hear in these over-played songs. I rarely, if ever hear a hip hop song pushing any experimental boundaries outside of the world of 4/4 time. Not that one has to have every song in 5/8 or 11/16 to be classified as "creative", far from it. I'm merely bringing up a simple observation that I just don't hear much variance across the board. An easy explanation for this could be that odd time signatures can make a song awkward to dance to...Or maybe no one cares to innovate and try new things.

Another thing I rarely hear, is a live drummer on hip hop records. If people think hip hop is really all about the beats, then why not get a live drummer on the tracks and have them play some great grooves that breathe and change during the song?

I recall seeing performances on television where big name rap stars had a full live band to back them for the one-off event. I remember thinking how much more interesting, energetic and enjoyable the artist/songs were with all of these musicians playing their instruments with him. Yet, when hearing the album version of the same song(s), I was disappointed to hear the same old drum machine beats, without the minor changes and nuances of a human player.

The next element is the actual music portion of the song, which by in large consists of a bass-line and possibly a few sound loops that repeat the same thing throughout the duration of the track. Not a lot to comment on here. This is obviously the least important part of the song, given its generally minimalistic nature and the lack of effort put into it. It's interesting to observe that in many hop hop songs, the "music" is the least important part of the music.

Lastly we have the lyrics. Yes, yes, how to begin? Let me start off by saying that I used to listen to a lot of hip-hop/R&B during the early 90s, when I was a youngin. Some of the artists people will shrug off and laugh at today, but never the less, I did listen. What I liked was the fun and positive vibe from the early days of hip hop, and yes, to tie into the paragraph above, the fact that many of the songs were great to dance to. But as soon as gangsta rap crossed into the norm, I transitioned into different styles of music.

I do understand that when gangsta rap first became popular, it did have a message and was portraying something that was real and hadn't been talked about much in music before. The lyrics spoke of injustices and hardships that most of middle-class America never paid attention to.

Jump forward in time and one gets the impression that mainstream rap has lost its message. I do believe that the basic concept of rap is rhythmic poetry set to a beat. If I am correct, let's go down the checklist.

Beat? Check.

Rhythm? Check.

Poetry? .................um....sometimes?

It is in my humble opinion, that all the 'art' from hip hop has been gradually drained away (Once again, I am talking about mainstream, pop culture hip hop, not the select underground groups which don't apply here).

Music is supposed to be art. If the art from hip hop is no longer there, can it still truly be music?

You can try to follow along with the lyrics to many 'songs' these days, only to get quickly confused as to the point the rapper is trying to make. Random words and sentences sewn together in a haphazard tapestry of nothingness. Try to make sense out of a lot of these anti-lyrical lyrics and one starts to wonder if there really is any real point at all. Maybe the author is just writing over my head. Maybe his lyrics are too ahead of his time and will not be understood for another hundred years. Or maybe this all-wise author is actually too uneducated to form a serious and cohesive statement.

"But He's rhymin' yo. Dats poetry!"

I'm sorry friends, but rhyming for the pure sake of rhyming does not poetry make. Especially rhyming the same word with itself in excess of 3 and 4 times. Some of the better poetry I've heard in my lifetime has used free-verse non-rhyming schemes, therefore giving the author the room he needs to express his thoughts without the restrain of being confined to rhyming every or every other line.

And I don't care how many times you mention your own name in a song, you're still not convincing me that art is taking place here. In fact, the more I hear the artist mentioning his own name in the song, the more it becomes a commercial, not real music.

Most of what I hear these days, and for the past several years, has been a three and a half minute long self-glorification with a desperate plea for the world to "look at me!!"

Yes guy, I see you. Apparently you have a lot of money since to appear to be driving expensive cars and throwing one hundred dollar bills around like they are covered with the ebola virus. This is something I look up to you for, thanks for calling my attention to it. You know, now that I think about it, money is everything. And thank god I have money, because it also buys happiness.

Material possessions (including women), money and "look how cool I am", have been shoved in my face for quite sometime now. I get it. You have no real message. For all the repetition of "Keepn' it Real", there is not much real about it. It is an image, a style. A chance for people to hear them and think how cool/tough/pimpn' they are. There is not much to be admired about cocky, ego-centric boasting. If someone is truly "cool", they would not be so insecure as to have to point that fact out to you several times a day.

The lack of real self expression though poetry, or at least thought-out words, is quite evident. Where are these individual's thoughts and ideas? Where are their personal perspectives on life and all things within it? Is Hip hop a form of self-expression? If so, I'm still searching for any clear and real message beyond the childishness of the ego.

Though I feel like an ass saying this (sometimes), the more I consider all of these points, the less and less I feel that hip hop can even be considered music. I would love to see some new artists come out with something fresh, musical and artistic and prove me wrong. I really would.