rygon Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 i have just finished watchint he MTV hip hop cerermony of the most influential rap artist (and it was amazing..they had proper djs on there like grandmaster flash, kid rock..yeh hes a decent dj, and mix master mike) along with the best mcs etc doing there biz (and even breakdancers...rockafellas were they called....im not too sure cos im not too good athip hop history..but they were struting their stuff) anyway it made me think (seeing this is a pre-domentory hip hop site) what does hip hop/rap mean to you...could be a certain band of way of life, but i'd like to know (and no zappa comments dee lol). cos i wasnt born in the hip hop movement time (or in the right place)..but since being with this board and knoing ppl from here ive come to an understanding (and passionate liking) to the "movement" of this certain music...so all im asking is a bit of background of each person about this type of culture Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 I got into it in '83 when I was at school. The 80's were almost certainly the best years so far for hip hop IMO. I've got hundreds of hip hop albums, but I find myself listening to the old stuff far more than anything that's been released recently. I know a lot of people my age who are like that - I dunno if it's just cos we're stuck in the past or whether the music really has got worse. I guess cos hip hop is everywhere and it's become extremely commercial - that leads to a lot of very poor music being released, whereas back in the day I would go to Ruby Red Records in Wolverhampton and pick out an album at random and I'd almost certainly buy it. Now days I hardly buy anything, but again I dunno if that's me being old and stuck in reminiscing mode or what. I love all the 4 (5 if you include beatboxing) elements of hip hop. When I was at school, loads of kids would walk around with beatboxes blasting out the latest Street Sounds Electro album and trying to breakdance and shit. It was clearly a fad for a lot of them, but it was still cool to be around back then. B-boying (NOT breakdancing ) always amazes me, I love graff and MCing, but obviously the DJ side of things has always been my favourite. As cliched as it is, I would probably say hip hop is a way of life for me. I've listened to it/watched it/read about it almost every day for over 20 years now and I can't see that changing. There's far too many fakes, whiners and shit talkers around for my liking right now (I fit into all of those categories btw ), but as a genre hip hop is still relatively new so who knows what's gonna happen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbay Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 thats interesting man.. i was born in '85 in the philippines, grew up listening to michael jackson.. wOOOoooOoo~ i got into all that rnb shiznit when i was about.. 12? 13? 14? something like that.. anyway i didnt know much about hip hop til just before i got out of high school.. my best mates started breaking in about 2000 and then eventually they started entering national competitions and stuff.. when i left high school had mates at college in their mid to late 20s exposing me a lot of hip hop, especially 90s hip hop like pete rock, gang starr, pharcyde, atcq, etc.. at the same time searching for myself waht scratching was all about (because i found out about scratching from the x-ecutioners) .. then i took on the dark side and went scratch crazy.. generally now ive just come to embrace the hip hop culture.. dont really go to any bboy events anymore, i like seeing good pieces around true works of street art, and im always down to see some dope mc's and dj's if theyre around.. i perefer to listen to 90s and 90s-inspired hip-hop more than todays 'hip hop', i dunno if thats because its what ive been exposed to, but i find hip-pop stuff nowadays to me just doesnt have soul. got my first setup in 2003 (and still have it). yes im a n00b. a scratch geek. anyway dunno if that sounds cheesy, fuck it, i like hip hop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djxander Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 too lazy to respond right now so I'll give you a stripped down answer Hip hop is a very real culture. Its a culture focussed on the here and now. In its "golden era" form, hip hop is very mature. Few musical movements in relative history gained as much exposure and reflected the spirit of the times so accurately (I'm talking about ATCQ, 93 till infiniti, blackstar, etc). [my ideal vision of] Hip hop is positive and reaches out to all people with an open ear and mind and is able to generate change in the world. Hip hop started in the communities and eventually got to the airwaves, not the other way around. Today, hip hop is badly misrepresented and many people are misinformed, but as long as there are people loving music, loving each other and communicating I think there will always be a spirit of hip hop. I just want to keep it alive and not let the media image consume the beautiful culture and movement. Thats a part of the reason why I'm involved. I'll post a more biographical response later... btw this was the stripped down answer LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbay Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 [my ideal vision of] Hip hop is positive and reaches out to all people with an open ear and mind and is able to generate change in the world. I just want to keep it alive and not let the media image consume the beautiful culture and movement. Thats a part of the reason why I'm involved. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> there should be more people with your outlook, props to you man! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djxander Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 there should be more people with your outlook, props to you man! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I'm working on it- more on that in my promised biographical post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 What do you guys think about Gangster Rap? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mowgli Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 What do you guys think about Gangster Rap?<{POST_SNAPBACK}> acceptable in moderation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
excitedlittlefatty Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 gangsta rap... it's a fucking waste of time.... (well to me it is....) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blak Randy Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 Ghetto Boys are the illest. Mind playing tricks is the shizzle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snuff Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 i fuckin love hip-hop, but am not a fan of rap. or crunk. or grime. decipher that how you will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2tall Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 i think hiphop has got so huge that you can take or leave which ever style of it that you want, its like an enourmous buffet. i do not like what major labels have done to the youth of today though, a lot of young black kids in london buy into that whole gangster thing, i feel that they feel that it gives them an identity, which has good and bad connotations, i can say this from first hand experience having taught many about djing and production, being young and impressionale they think hiphop is what they hear on choice all day, which is true, but its only really one part (coorporate rap music is one way to describe) which at the moment is dominating worldwide media, i do think that people need to get off the self-image thing so much because people are becoming increasingly shallow and insecure due to life being made easier for people with problems by simply wearing the right clothes and acting a certain way. i guess what im saying is, people can buy into it to affirm themselves instead of dealing with their problems, feeding that shallow part of society that ultimately leads to misguidance and problems later on. thats my 10 cents Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Deeswift Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 As cliched as it is, I would probably say hip hop is a way of life for me. I've listened to it/watched it/read about it almost every day for over 20 years now and I can't see that changing.<{POST_SNAPBACK}> When you're 65, you'll be shaving your head, listening to the Wu Tang, scratching and wearing baggy jeans? @ Xander: You ain't gonna change the world through hip hop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 Why not? Should I be wearing slacks and comfy slippers? My parents listen to the same music they listened to when they were in their 20's and 30's so what's gonna make me any different? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Deeswift Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 Dunno, just asking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 If you ever see me with a side parting, wearing slippers and listening to Perry Como please give me a fucking slap! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJDelay Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 i think hiphop has got so huge that you can take or leave which ever style of it that you want, its like an enourmous buffet. Totally agree It kind of annoys me when people bang on about what "real hiphop" is and isn't. To me Rap is just one member of the hiphop family, like it or not Rap is big business.....so whether people like it or not it's going to be in the pop charts. It's still hiphop but it's just watered down for the pop audience like 99% of music in the charts Yes there is alot of rap coming out nowadays that is aimed towards a pop market but that doesn't make it any better or worse than alot of UG drivel that is getting pumped out. I listen to what music that I like, there is still quality hiphop being produced you've just got to look for it Also i think we're living in a golden era right now , people are always going to quote the past as being better but you never realize it until it's gone lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 I agree with you man. Take any genre of music and you're gonna have to cut the wheat from the chaff as it were. I listen to what music that I likeMe too. I don't care what genre it is or if it's considered cool or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snuff Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 Also i think we're living in a golden era right now , people are always going to quote the past as being better but you never realize it until it's gone lol<{POST_SNAPBACK}> yeah i think you right to a certain extent here...and as 2tall said earlier hip-hop is such a huge umbrella these days with so many different styles/variations that there is something for everyone....if you look...and i'm sure what i think of as hiphop will be to someone 5 years younger than be totally different! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phology Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 for me...hip-hop is one of the best genres of music (jazz..is the best...no question)i dont see it as anything to get all 'spiritual' about...but i have strong feelings towards it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snuff Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 for me phology thats a tricky line to walk as the influences can clearly be seen between the 2 genres...again thats based on what i pervieve to hip-hop of course...any lil john fans will no doubt disagree Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phology Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 for me phology thats a tricky line to walk as the influences can clearly be seen between the 2 genres...again thats based on what i pervieve to hip-hop of course...any lil john fans will no doubt disagree <{POST_SNAPBACK}> ye totally agree that jazz and hip-hop are linked, thats how i see hip-hop aswell.but they're still different genres of music.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Deeswift Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 So can you guys explain what happened to my love of hip hop? Why is it that ten years ago my mentality was "hip hop for life", and a few years later I looked back at myself and laughed? Now, don't you hip hop guys start thinking I'm attacking hip hop in any way -- I want a genuine reason why my taste and my attitude towards hip hop changed. I think it changed for the better, personally. I'm very glad it did change. It wasn't until I started listening to other music that it changed either. How come so many people see hip hop almost like religion? I honestly felt like I'd deserted hip hop, and was going against my religion or something when I moved on and got bored of it. For me now, hip hop is one-dimensional. You can claim all day long that there's so many sides to it, or that there's "something for everyone", but to me that's just not true. It's no dfferent to house music in that there's just slight variations of the same thing, but only labeled differently. I do appreciate some hip hop (the old shit), but since maybe the early 90's I can't stand most of it. I also can't stand the fact that it's just a fashion statement. Look all around you. It's like what teenagers do, they get into music genres that have their own dress codes. With hip hop, you're wearing a uniform. With goth music, you're wearing a uniform. With punk, you're wearing a uniform. With metal, you're wearing a uniform. It's like everyone has to belong to a certain club, which to me shows weakness and insecurity. Now, you can disagree if you wanna, but hip hop is a young thing that many of you will grow out of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phology Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 becuz back then hip-hop stood for something, it had meaning..now its something to look cool.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snuff Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 i dunno Dee, i agree with what your'e saying, but i think different people grow in different ways... some people will always listen to the same genre music/watch the same tv shows/wear the same clothes. some people will want to broaden their horizons and listen to different things, try different food, travel, it all amounts to the same thing. some people fear change there's no right way or wrong way. i guess it's just up to the individual to decide what they feel comfortable with.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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