Can Hip-Hop be artistic and capable with piss-poor subject matter? I ask this because I think people generally think garbage Hip-Hop is Hip-Hop that isn’t “about” anything, meaning it’s about drugs, pussy, alcohol, murder and conspicuous consumption instead of real issues and affirmations that young Black kids need to hear.
For all my bitching about Hip-Hop at large, I can’t say that topicality has ever been the main issue with me, but I’d rather hear a Slum Village song about pussy than a Soulja Boy song about pussy. That’s pretty much how I delineate these matters. In fact, I listen to quite a bit of Hip-Hop from the underbelly that people may think is “positive” just because it’s non-mainstream, but it’s not. We like to fit things into boxes that make them easier to contextualize. I remember when Erykah Badu wore a dread wig post-Baduizm and everyone shit their pants like it was some kind of grand betrayal, but there was nothing in Badu’s earlier work that implied authenticity based on her hair. How could someone so “real” do something so “fake?”
Same goes for how we perceive Hip-Hop. While it may be true that a more talented artist has a deep well of topics from which to cull material, don’t think for a moment that talent (i.e. “embodying the true spirit of Hip-Hop”) equates messianic intent or even depth. It just means a cat has an innate ability to flip vocabulary and become a part of the music and that his skills aren’t founded strictly in entrepreneurialism and attention-whoring. On the same token, there’s still some shitty Hip-Hop with noble intentions. You can impart all manner of hope and knowledge and positivity and seek refuge in your intentions, but if you lack lyrical panache then your output holds less currency with me than “Every Girl.”
Viva la Pussy Rap!
Had a really dope breakfast conversation today about writing, music and… well, writing and music, at the Starbucks at Howard with a loud derelict chortling in the background at a book he was reading. It was extremely fucking loud, and we were afraid he was dying because it was a hacking cough that sounded like he was being strangled from the inside. This detail isn’t important to this post at all but I wanted to include it.
What struck me the most about this conversation was that we discussed Pop divas. The concept of Pop divas is something that I’m largely at odds with, since I tend to believe Pop stars are frivolous yet always end up somehow becoming cultural ambassadors. Moreso, the conversation I had was with another gay man of color, and in most of my experience, in real life or online, those discussions usually devolve into heated emotional warfare. I mean, we hit all the usual targets–Whitney, Beyoncé, Mariah, Mary J., and a bit of Madonna and Janet–and never once did it become “OMG OMG OMG SHE’S SUCH A SAINT AND EVERYONE HATES HER BECAUSE OF HER BEAUTY AND SUCCESS AND EVERYTHING ABOUT HER IS SO FLAWLESS AND FIERCE!!” or “HOW DARE YOU SAY _______ IS INCONSISTENT? YOU KNOW WHAT? FUCK YOU. I’M NEVER SPEAKING TO YOU AGAIN. BITCH.”
It was a very pleasant and fun conversation where we allowed each other to be critical and comparative without fear of stepping into landmines. I can’t say that I’m particularly surprised, since the person with whom I had this breakfast discussion engages with me in a way where I never have to worry about that. But within the larger context of my gay brethren, socially, this was a glass of homemade lemonade on a quiet beach in the middle of 80 degree weather (What is… refreshing? </jeopardy>).
So basically I’m marking this day on my calendar and celebrating its anniversary next year. With gifts.
![NOVAJAVABLEND #15 [01.25.10]](http://www.novaslim.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/novajava15.jpg "NOVAJAVABLEND #15 [01.25.10]")
NOVAJAVABLEND #15 [01.25.10]
(right-click, save as) (subscribe to all via itunes)
MARY J. BLIGE // I’m The Only Woman
WU-TANG CLAN // C.R.E.A.M. [Jazzy Jeff "Loot" Remix]
JADAKISS // We Gon’ Make It
JEAN GRAE // Love Thirst
KAM MOYE // Hello Karma [ft. Phonte & Ayah]
JAY-Z // Allure [Just Blaze Remix]
BLU & EXILE // Greater Love
LITTLE BROTHER // Life of the Party Pt. 2
JAY-Z // Party Life
ERYKAH BADU // Didn’t Cha Know
CARL THOMAS //You Ain’t Right
ANDRE 3000 // Spread
STEVIE WONDER // Until You Come Back to Me [That's What I'm Gonna Do]
A TRIBE CALLED QUEST // Like It Like That
AMY WINEHOUSE // In My Bed
DE LA SOUL // Breakadawn
ZHANE // Sending My Love
SLUM VILLAGE & Q-TIP // Hold Tight [Remix]
nickdouglas:
“I felt it would be fake of me to leave [the word “nigger”] out of the record just so I could look like a better Christian. Being Christian doesn’t mean I’m perfect. It just means I’m forgiven and I strive daily to be better and get closer to God.” — Features : Christian Rapper Explains Jay-Z Diss
What an asshole. Tries to act self-righteous and still use the language he’s supposedly mad at.
Christ. (No pun intended.)
First of all, I don’t care if he uses the n-word (I don’t think language is what Rizzo is mad at as it relates to Jay-Z). The problem I have with this statement is that RIZZO (why’n the fuck is your name RIZZO?) attempts to absorb this with the whole “Being Christian doesn’t mean I’m perfect” bullshit. Why did he feel the need to not only qualify that but qualify it so wackly? Most of the people I know that use the n-word happen to be Christian, but you’ll never hear them say “I’m not perfect” as a way to reconcile poor language with their faith.
Note, Rizzo says “nigga” roughly 13 times in this song. Do you suppose every time he uttered it he thought to himself “I’m not a perfect Christian so I’mma just go ahead and use it anyway”? Probably not. Still, this doesn’t make him an imperfect Christian. It just makes him a lazy rapper that, admittedly, happens to have a potentially decent flow.
read more…
![NOVAJAVABLEND #14 [01.18.10]](http://www.novaslim.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/novajava14_draft.jpg "NOVAJAVABLEND #14 [01.18.10]")