Bulletin Board Archive

Topic: NAS says Hiphop is Dead

Aug 19, 2006 09:27am by NRG - livin the art that is life ! www.64111clinic.com fam www.nrginmotion.com massage www.myspace.com/nrginmotion world community Location: havenhouse KCK/ 64111 Clinic 4 Life
What do you think? speak on it nrg
Aug 19, 2006 01:32pm by Reach. - Peace and oneness, www.emceereach.com www.myspace.com/reach www.twitter.com/emceereach www.youtube.com/reachtv www.cdbaby.com/cd/reachmusic2 www.cdbaby.com/cd/reachmusic Location: Kansas City
Ah yes, the classic Chicken Little routine... The sky is falling!!! Hip Hop is alive and well. Nas should know that. He's working on a new album. Certainly he counts himself among the members of Hip Hop's faithful. Is he dead? Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West, Ghostface Killah, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Pharoahe Monch, Consequence, The Game, Outkast, TI, Common, Field Mob, Slum Village, Jean Grae, Little Brother, Legacy, Median, Supastition, Kenn Starr, I could go on... Go Fish... Nas just needs to turn the radio off and finish his album.
Aug 19, 2006 03:43pm by MILES - [url]http://www.MilesBonny.com/[/url] Location: KCK
[quote:b9528e7454="Reach."] Nas just needs to turn the radio off and finish his album.[/quote:b9528e7454] ahh haaaaa lost of people like to say that. I think its supposed to be shocking or something. who cares?!! make what you make and f%$* what its called. do you do it from the heart or from a marketing perspective? thats the difference and every one reading this knows which side they stand on. one or the other. And if you are standing on a side you dont want to be, switch it up cause you're fooling yourself and your future.
Aug 19, 2006 04:50pm by Krisna - "We live in an intensely political age and theory and historical experience show us that the condition of any artistic development is an uncompromising hostility to the values of Stalinism and to those of American bourgeois society." -CLR James
Fuck em. No one cares about Nas's philosophy. We like him in relation to him as a rapper. That's it. Fuck all the celebs (not literally, but in terms of what they say). They don't respresent the totality of hip-hop. As long as motherfuckers are still rappin on the street, hip-hop won't be dead. If there comes a time when its only art students doing it, yes, hip-hop will be dead, because it will divorced from any organic movement of people. But until then we have a lot more life to breathe into it. We, as in, motherfuckers who have jobs. Peace. (sorry for my overuse of the f-word)
Aug 19, 2006 07:40pm by beatbroker - -beatbroker HHA/Symbol Heavy/IN crew Location: KCMO
hip hop was never "alive" to begin with. people make alot more out of it than there really is what defines hiphop? who fucking cares?
Aug 19, 2006 09:35pm by Krisna - "We live in an intensely political age and theory and historical experience show us that the condition of any artistic development is an uncompromising hostility to the values of Stalinism and to those of American bourgeois society." -CLR James
haha.
Aug 20, 2006 12:11am by phism
well, "dead" is kind of a weird thing to say... everything's got it's golden era. there's a lot of "dead" genres that still have good music coming out of them. that being said, i think hip-hop is pretty god damned close to dead. and i'm wanting something new and raw to happen. and i'd like for it to start in kansas city. i've got some ideas but nobody likes them.
Aug 20, 2006 12:16am by Krisna - "We live in an intensely political age and theory and historical experience show us that the condition of any artistic development is an uncompromising hostility to the values of Stalinism and to those of American bourgeois society." -CLR James
Phism, what are you missing? Hip-hop is more alive today than ever. If you want to find hip-hop go to any city in America, hell, any rural town for that matter, and pay attention to the way working people express themselves. If it is anything, it is hip-hop. The Peanut is not the only place to find it, go to the Loop on Sundays, go to G's on hip-hop nite. You know what I'm saying? Don't confine hip-hop to something so narrow. Embrace it as a whole and then take another look. One.
Aug 20, 2006 12:52am by phism
i guess that's sort of my problem with it. maybe "dead" isn't the right word, but definitely diluted... i think i have a lot of feelings and attitudes that aren't expressed accurately in any form of music or anything that i can think of. like, the most interesting things in hip-hop to me aren't the kinds that you can find everywhere... i like the scenes that pop up in maybe 1 city, or amongst disenfranchised or marginalized people because that group of people feels differently about how music should be and how they should represent themselves, rather than mimicking what's already available........ i don't know, i think the highlights in hip-hop are dimming and occurring less often. i dig the crunk and hyphy shit that's been going on because they do capture a slightly independent spirit... but i also don't think it's amazing or groundbreaking really. to be more concise, hip-hop's gonna turn 30 soon. it's had a good run, and it's probably got quite a few years left in it (if you compare it to the longevity of other genres) but what's next? i always wanna know what's next. to me, if you're not a step ahead, you're a step behind.
Aug 20, 2006 03:50am by Reach. - Peace and oneness, www.emceereach.com www.myspace.com/reach www.twitter.com/emceereach www.youtube.com/reachtv www.cdbaby.com/cd/reachmusic2 www.cdbaby.com/cd/reachmusic Location: Kansas City
Hip Hop only had a "few years left" 20 years ago. Again, as Krisna said... As long as angry disgruntled 925'ers continue to do this Rap stuff the artform will always live on.
Aug 20, 2006 05:09am by phism
seeing big daddy kane at scribble jam, and krs-one a few months ago, made me sort of uninterested in following hip-hop.
Aug 20, 2006 09:33pm by DEMENCHA
nas has made himself look like an idiot in numerous interviews over the years
Aug 21, 2006 12:56am by Reach. - Peace and oneness, www.emceereach.com www.myspace.com/reach www.twitter.com/emceereach www.youtube.com/reachtv www.cdbaby.com/cd/reachmusic2 www.cdbaby.com/cd/reachmusic Location: Kansas City
[quote:4e5805879e="DEMENCHA"]nas has made himself look like an idiot in numerous interviews over the years[/quote:4e5805879e] That he has.
Aug 21, 2006 06:56am by JDFlow - [url=http://www.my.rawkus.com/profile/jdflow]JDFlow on Rawkus[/url] [url=http://www.myspace.com/jdflow]JDFlow on Myspace[/url] [url=http://ccedistribution.blogspot.com/]Distribution & Marketing[/url] Location: Seattle
as a mass hiphop culture is dead. Now we got a bunch of wack underground heads tryin to temporarily fill the shoes of the masters. Here's a hint... It has nothin to do with fresh rhymes.
Aug 21, 2006 12:00pm by StikFiga - "i could never be a thug, they dont dress this well"--Malice of the Clipse
hiphop is only dead to people who cant sell records. hiphop is the streets, just cause folks dont like how the streets is doin it right now ina different region(primarily the south), doesnt make it dead. new york rappers are salty they have to sit out, and underground--indie scene-sters--former whitesnake listening--pitchfork reading--golden era revivalist dont even have a right to speak on it. there the ones who are dead, not the streets, and def. not hiphop.
Aug 21, 2006 12:02pm by StikFiga - "i could never be a thug, they dont dress this well"--Malice of the Clipse
[quote:6cce344e81="phism"]seeing big daddy kane at scribble jam, and krs-one a few months ago, made me sort of uninterested in following hip-hop.[/quote:6cce344e81] why?
Aug 21, 2006 02:19pm by Lucidialect
Man, I was convinced KRS had become a complete quack, until I saw him at that last show. It re-inspired some faith in me about hiphop. His freestyles about the lineage of hiphop, breaking down a year every two bars, from like 76 to 85, was amazing. Phism wrote [quote:381f01d583]i'm wanting something new and raw to happen. and i'd like for it to start in kansas city. i've got some ideas but nobody likes them. [/quote:381f01d583] You know, this is when DIY comes into play... Krisna wrote [quote:381f01d583]If there comes a time when its only art students doing it, yes, hip-hop will be dead[/quote:381f01d583] Haha, I was an art student. So, maybe I understand that statement even better than those that have only seen drunk art students at parties trying to freestyle and breakdance. Stickfiga wrote [quote:381f01d583]hiphop is only dead to people who cant sell records.[/quote:381f01d583] That's real shit. Still though, to me hiphop is as much or more alive for those that ain't moved shit, those who are just experimenting and making tracks in their one-room studio apartment. To me it's those whose jobs are wack, but they work the hell out of it to afford equipment to fuel a dream that might just be an escape. To me, these people represent the real culture of hiphop. The money isn't where hiphop came from, it's what happened to hiphop after big-business got a hold of it. And don't get me wrong, I'm not hating on what rags-to-riches rappers have achieved. It's just that their music sucks once they become rich.
Aug 22, 2006 05:14am by phism
[quote:528fa25fd2="StikFiga"][quote:528fa25fd2="phism"]seeing big daddy kane at scribble jam, and krs-one a few months ago, made me sort of uninterested in following hip-hop.[/quote:528fa25fd2] why?[/quote:528fa25fd2] because nobody these days knows how to interact with the crowd. everybody wants to have something to say. maybe we should put an official limit on mc's stage time, heh. every old school hip-hop performer i've seen knows how to make sure everyone in the crowd is having a good time. bdk, krs, prince paul, de la, etc. it's not about who's on stage, it's about everyone all at once. people these days try, but not many of them are all that successful at it. i'd like to start a genre. but i'd like to have some compatriots, and people don't actually like to be around me.
Aug 22, 2006 02:26pm by Lucidialect
Ahhh, I thought you were saying that Big Daddy Kane and KRS themselves were the reasons you were disenchanted with hiphop. I get it. And, I feel you. I think that mediocre passes for impressive, as far as stage shows go these days. I think there's so many emcees now, and they can be in any bar in any town. One in a thousand are going to have some thing interesting and/or original to say, let alone in a way that incorporates you/me/us. Ionno, I still love it though. The good shows give me all the reason in the world to maintain, and I just ignore the wack shows. They can have their twenty minutes, I've had plenty of my own stage time when I had no idea what I was doing. Shit, I still don't know what I'm doing, but at least more people like it now.
Aug 22, 2006 10:02pm by Krisna - "We live in an intensely political age and theory and historical experience show us that the condition of any artistic development is an uncompromising hostility to the values of Stalinism and to those of American bourgeois society." -CLR James
Lucid, you had it right the first time. KRS is a nutjob. Straight up.
Aug 22, 2006 10:51pm by Lucidialect
Yeah, you gotta question somebody who retains an entourage of subordinates who all refer to that person as "teacher", and nothing else. I think it was Spiritually Minded that turned me off his shit. It was that album that he sort of took his self-proclaimed messiah-ship beyond the standard shit talking that any rapper can get away with, departed from it as a metaphor and kind of stated it as a reality.
Aug 22, 2006 11:04pm by Krisna - "We live in an intensely political age and theory and historical experience show us that the condition of any artistic development is an uncompromising hostility to the values of Stalinism and to those of American bourgeois society." -CLR James
Yeah, no doubt, Lucid. He's struggling to turn hip-hop into some religion/cult which is in complete negation with the everyday hip-hop practiced by common people. He is as marginal as they come these days. Ironically enough, he was probably the biggest influence to me hip-hop wise. After all, I changed my name because of him and a graffiti writer from Chicago named Krsna Golden who is very involved with the black and latino population of that city. I've been Krisna for ten years, since 1996, but I was born Cameron. I think that is the first time I've ever revealed that. Peace.
Aug 23, 2006 02:44am by StikFiga - "i could never be a thug, they dont dress this well"--Malice of the Clipse
[quote:2a07fe6b8c="phism"][quote:2a07fe6b8c="StikFiga"][quote:2a07fe6b8c="phism"]seeing big daddy kane at scribble jam, and krs-one a few months ago, made me sort of uninterested in following hip-hop.[/quote:2a07fe6b8c] why?[/quote:2a07fe6b8c] because nobody these days knows how to interact with the crowd. everybody wants to have something to say. maybe we should put an official limit on mc's stage time, heh. every old school hip-hop performer i've seen knows how to make sure everyone in the crowd is having a good time. bdk, krs, prince paul, de la, etc. it's not about who's on stage, it's about everyone all at once. people these days try, but not many of them are all that successful at it. i'd like to start a genre. but i'd like to have some compatriots, and people don't actually like to be around me.[/quote:2a07fe6b8c] ive never gotten to see any old school rappers, to be quite honest. but i had plenty of good times at plenty of rap shows ranging from El da Sensai to David Banner. maybe everyone is just turning into rap republicans. its redundant "it aint what it used to be" talk.
Aug 23, 2006 03:05am by Krisna - "We live in an intensely political age and theory and historical experience show us that the condition of any artistic development is an uncompromising hostility to the values of Stalinism and to those of American bourgeois society." -CLR James
StikFiga, You said it. It is hip-hop conservatism. That is a huge tendency within certain underground avenues, including hiphopkc. Of course, that is no knock to hiphopkc, it is just an observable trend. There does exist within this forum a tendency towards a hip-hop universality as well. Much of my writing, Stik, is in hilighting the incompatible and inconsistent ideas of hip-hop conservatives and conservatism. The angle I always argue from is that of mass opinion and action. If we start from this set of morals or hip-hop "commandments" so to speak, then we get a partial and limited perspective, but if we start out from the activity of large masses of people, we have more of an encompassing view. If we start from "this is hip-hop and that is not" we cannot arrive at any concrete conclusions about the historical and contemporary context for this culture. But because of the fact that hip-hop conservatism no longer offers a viable explanation for hip-hop trends today, it is creating the basis for a hip-hop intellectual that is part of its new manifestations: Hyphy, Crunk, the South, the Midwest, etc. It is our job to articulate the ideas, attitudes, values, capacities, and possibilities of this new movement. The conservatives were apt at a certain time about explaining the basis for the political hip-hop of the late 80s and early 90s, but nowadays are completely incapable of seeing the political implications of its modern popular forms. Its my quote at the bottom, but because I don't think people read our quotes, I'm going to paste it again. [i:3e5f34b0ef]"We live in an intensely political age and theory and historical experience show us that the condition of any artistic development is an uncompromising hostility to the values of Stalinism and to those of American bourgeois society." [/i:3e5f34b0ef] -CLR James
Aug 23, 2006 03:05am by MILES - [url]http://www.MilesBonny.com/[/url] Location: KCK
doo-rags is extra super dope.
Aug 23, 2006 07:08am by phism
i'm not denying that krs is a weirdo... that doesn't mean he can't make a hip-hop show be damn near perfect. i don't think it's conservatism, from me, so much as a desire for something after hip-hop. i don't want it to "come back" either, i just want to see what's next, and it's taking longer than i would prefer. the music world should obey my whims.
Aug 23, 2006 10:27pm by Reach. - Peace and oneness, www.emceereach.com www.myspace.com/reach www.twitter.com/emceereach www.youtube.com/reachtv www.cdbaby.com/cd/reachmusic2 www.cdbaby.com/cd/reachmusic Location: Kansas City
I'll be honest with you Krisna. I've been a fan of your writings for some time, but I find myself bouncing back and forth. At times I can identify myself as one of those 'conservatives' you're referring to. Just the other day I was watching old Tribe videos and the Questionmark Asylum joint and I felt empty. Like much of what we see today simply doesn't have that feeling to it. I'm not sure that I even know what "it" is. Just feels like something is missing. At other times I feel as though the genre is right where it should be. That folks get a bit too heady and forget that rappers were rhyming about 'money, cash and hoes' 20 years ago. For the most part I think I identify with the latter rather than the former, but I can fully understand both sides. What does that make me??? 😕 Confused I guess. I always feel weird about that, but I can honestly say that I, too, at times play the Rap conservative.
Aug 24, 2006 08:22am by phism
i think for me it's about certain periods of time, or even just certain albums or songs that do it right.... but it's more interesting when people in a certain time and place can all realize that they want to do something a certain way because it hadn't been done before and it needs to be done. that's how i felt when the backpacker shit really solidified, but it's only been a couple years and now i think the majority of it is complete useless crap. it happens in every genre. but usually the best music, in my opinion, is where no one's looking, at the point in which those ignored people stop trying to get noticed, and decide they'd rather do their own thing than get famous on somebody else's trend...
Aug 24, 2006 02:35pm by Reach. - Peace and oneness, www.emceereach.com www.myspace.com/reach www.twitter.com/emceereach www.youtube.com/reachtv www.cdbaby.com/cd/reachmusic2 www.cdbaby.com/cd/reachmusic Location: Kansas City
[img:9c953b4667]http://blogs.sohh.com/ya_heard/archives/jay.jpg[/img:9c953b4667]
Aug 24, 2006 09:20pm by Lucidialect
That poster is awesome. Where in the hell did you find that Reach?
Aug 25, 2006 01:24am by Reach. - Peace and oneness, www.emceereach.com www.myspace.com/reach www.twitter.com/emceereach www.youtube.com/reachtv www.cdbaby.com/cd/reachmusic2 www.cdbaby.com/cd/reachmusic Location: Kansas City
SOHH blog I wanna say...
Aug 26, 2006 10:40am by JDFlow - [url=http://www.my.rawkus.com/profile/jdflow]JDFlow on Rawkus[/url] [url=http://www.myspace.com/jdflow]JDFlow on Myspace[/url] [url=http://ccedistribution.blogspot.com/]Distribution & Marketing[/url] Location: Seattle
[quote:b4b5ddfbb8="StikFiga"]hiphop is only dead to people who cant sell records. hiphop is the streets, just cause folks dont like how the streets is doin it right now ina different region(primarily the south), doesnt make it dead. new york rappers are salty they have to sit out, and underground--indie scene-sters--former whitesnake listening--pitchfork reading--golden era revivalist dont even have a right to speak on it. there the ones who are dead, not the streets, and def. not hiphop.[/quote:b4b5ddfbb8] Hiphop died amongst the masses when it became pop. Face it. What used to be an outlet of expression has been reduced to cats waitin in line for thier chance to get some dough. For those who really know what it is, yes it's still there. But if you're tellin me that what the media is sellin is hiphop then I don't agree.
Aug 27, 2006 09:14pm by Krisna - "We live in an intensely political age and theory and historical experience show us that the condition of any artistic development is an uncompromising hostility to the values of Stalinism and to those of American bourgeois society." -CLR James
Reach: Don't sweat that. You are going to like what you like. Ain't no fixin that. My favorite era in hip-hop is the boom-bap era, but as long as I don't dismiss hip-hop's new forms and are able to accept hip-hop on its terms and as a totality, a whole, then that is what keeps me from being a conservative. All the other stuff is purely subjective, you know? It's all good. JD: That is straight up consumerist, Noam Chomsky hogwash. Every bit of it. Sorry bro, but hip-hop is alive and it isn't alive because I say it is, it is because people EN MASSE are DOING it. They aren't doing your subjective individualist hip-hop, no doubt. They aren't doing that biblical, four elements, Afrika Bambaataa shit, but they are doing a hip-hop that reflects their contemporary struggles and ideas. If you don't like it, well, that sucks, because it isn't going anywhere for a long time. The people have rejected your KRS-Oneism and its time to wake up and smell the Hyphy.