Thursday, April 13, 2006

Is hip hop dead?

I had an op-ed in the Famuan published yesterday asking this question.

Check it.

3 Comments:

Blogger Paul said...

It's more posing the question of death, really. Hip-hop is more of a business than an art form now, that's obvious. In its purest form hip hop is definitely dead. As far as DEAD dead... I don't know. I'll just pose the question.

4/13/2006 1:56 PM  
Blogger Paul said...

Yes, in the purest sense, that is true. Hip-hop DID die the moment the first vinyl single was sold or when people paid admission to a soundsystem concert. Talking about purity all stoically and shit is a useless argument, sure, and I may be guilty of that. I may have skirted that with my editorial, but there comes a point when you can't even recognize the music you used to love anymore. That's when you need to speak up. That's what I did.

When a genre is "pure" it is completely base, meaning it hasn't grown because its in its infant stages. For hip hop to naturally grow, like it has in spades over the last 30 years, it has to become inherently diluted and impure. Its like a child, becoming less innocent as he/she grows up. I know this may seem insane to you, but it makes sense to me.

"Hell, you also posted that High on Fire 'aren't even that good,' then told me at the KRS show how great they are." I remember telling you at the show that High on Fire are "pretty cool" or "cool" or "that will be an awesome show," because it probably will be, but (and I think I told you this explicitly) I wasn't going to see them live Thursday (tonight) like I had previously planned. This is partially to do with Passover and school assignments.

I certainly wouldn't gush over High on Fire, I can't think of a pheasable reason, and I don't believe I did. Its hard to hear in there, though, so maybe you misheard/misread me. I know I probably did the same to you a couple of times that night and pretended to know what you were talking about. Sorry about that.

In the interest of full disclosure, I haven't heard "Blessed Black Wings" in a while. I've heard it three times. For the record, High on Fire, as cool and talented as they are, run a formula into the ground a lot. Yet, metal-curious indie hipsters seem to like them. A small fraction of a reason I won't attend the High on Fire show. And HOF's formula (stoner-rock Motorhead, essentially) isn't even one I like that much... I don't like it so much that I want to hear it 12 times over in a CD done in 12 different (and rockin') ways.

There are times, however, where I want to rock the fuck out so I'll play "Blessed Back Wings" until I can't stand it (which is about... five songs). To their credit, High on Fire do rock, though. I can't stress this enough. They. Do. Rock. In their own way.

4/13/2006 3:26 PM  
Blogger Paul said...

Ok.

4/13/2006 3:37 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home