Sick of Mainstream Rap Music? Here’s the Solution!
By Sebastien Elkouby
In recent months, rappers Rick Ross, Lil Wayne and Chief Keef have made national news for their controversial and negative lyrics. As a result, the music industry as well as other corporations who support these artists have been attacked for carelessly promoting artists who glorify dangerous and criminal behavior. Petitions, protests, boycotts and national movements have been organized to hold all guilty parties accountable for letting rap music get out of control. These actions have led to a few victories including Reebok dropping Rick Ross and PepsiCo dropping Lil Wayne.
“Hip Hop activists”, myself included, understand this to be an uphill battle as rappers aggressively defend their freedom of speech, no matter how irresponsible it may be. Meanwhile the music industry makes millions from these rappers, no matter how much sex, drugs and violence they promote. Ironically, we’ve been so busy fighting the good fight, we overlooked our greatest weapon yet. PROMOTING GOOD MUSIC!
We’ve spent so much time promoting our efforts to end this “dark” period in rap that we’ve neglected to shine light on what’s good about Hip Hop. We’ve spent so much energy tweeting, posting, debating and writing about our plight that we’ve forgotten to tweet, post, talk and write about what’s right with rap music. We’ve placed so much emphasis on telling the world about the “evils” of Rick Ross, 2 Chainz, Tyga and other similar clowns that we’ve neglected to share the new Public Enemy and De La Soul. We’ve pointed our collective finger at companies like Def Jam and Interscope but looked past independent outlets like Mello Music Group who consistently release incredible music.
Don’t get me wrong, our fight is worthwhile and necessary. Nevertheless, we need to invest an equal amount of time into promoting an alternative to what the industry has been pushing on us. Doing so is one of our most effective method to counter the kind of rap we claim to be against. Our youth only hear what’s shoved in their ears. If we don’t do some of the shoving ourselves, we can’t expect them to know what else is available to them. There are countless incredible Hip Hop artists, new and old, releasing new music that deserves to be heard. Some of it is political and socially conscious. Some of it is humorous and witty. Some of it is aggressive and experimental. But all of it is creative, thought provoking and what Hip Hop is truly about. At this point, we can’t depend on the mainstream music industry to promote these artists but we should be able to do so ourselves if we’re serious about change.
Without further ado, here’s a short list of artists to help you restore your faith in great Hip Hop music!
Homeboy Sandman
EVITAN (Dres from Black Sheep & Jarobi from A Tribe Called Quest)
Wise Intelligent (From Poor Righteous Teachers)
Share this everywhere you can and do your own research to find more great artists. The future of rap music may depend on it.
Sebastien Elkouby is a Hip Hop Culture historian, writer and award-winning educator. Check out his educational program, Global Awareness Through Hip Hop Culture and his blog, SebIsHipHop.wordpress.
Sebastien,
I don’t think that mainstream rap is exclusively one dimensional. I think that it’s up to the listener’s discretion about what to credit/discredit, or to believe/not-believe as a work of serious craftsmanship – craftsmanship, in my opinion, goes beyond the music. It’s bigger than hip-hop.
If the purpose of this article is to highlight unheralded MC’s, then why title this a “solution” to “mainstream rap” as if rap needed saving in the first place? Why not title this “20 MC’s to Check Out”? Why have an implicit attack on another aspect or genre (if we were to label “mainstream rap” as a unique genre) of rap at all? Why don’t see articles like this in the rock ‘n’ roll realm – is it because they accept their diversity better than we do?
–Sorry, for all the questions.–
There’s more creative rap. I agree. But I think it takes a degree of discretion and maturity to know that. The beauty of hip-hop is that we have the freedom to pick and choose what means different things to us – and those meanings change all the time. The “good fight” is misguided because the music means different things to different people.
Sincerely,
A dedicated hip-hop head.
Well, we’ll just have to agree to disagree.
I don’t think you intend to do this, and I know that you have good intentions, however, I don’t think that it’s good to polarize rap music.
I would like to call into question the idea of “mainstream” and “underground rap” and our general concrete attachment of “bad” to “mainstream” and “good” to “underground.” In my opinion, there is no “mainstream” rap, nor is there any “underground” rap. Mainstream/underground seem to be two adjectives that people recklessly attach to the music that they are listening to when in reality the mainstream/underground hierarchy cannot exist.
I do recognize that you use the words “dark” and “evils” in quotations – hopefully because you use those terms with a tinge of irony (because you don’t really mean ‘evil’/’dark’) – yet the fact that we even spend time trying to identify what is dark and evil is ridiculous. Yet, we talk about a “fight” as if two forces of hip-hop goodness and hip-hop evil are at odds with each other.
First, an argument for ignorance (ignorance, as in, when we don’t give a fuck and just want to get live.):
Are we calling these mainstream rappers “evil” or “bad” or “detrimental” because society says so? Because the institutionalized vein of entertainment and consumerism – Pepsi, Reebok – drop their endorsements since rappers like Rick Ross aren’t up to Pepsi/Reebok’s moral standard? We are misguided if we are to ever try to impose a moral standard onto any artist – or anybody else for that matter. In ‘The Birth of Tragedy,’ Nietzsche says that the entire Western conception of what is “good” and “bad” is based on the Socratic notion of virtue – that virtue, reason, and knowledge are paramount. Yet the very same man who instilled these notions even said himself – that the most he knows is that he knows nothing!!! In music, then, we have the opportunity to restore the Dionysiac – in response to the Apolloine – in order to live a fuller life. Through music we can learn and know things more than what we can ever reason. This is why when I talk to my dad and he tells me that his favorite song ever was Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” I don’t scoff at him for liking the misogyny (let alone the overall funkiness. Don’t you just want to dance!?)
Next, a deconstruction of the good/bad or right/wrong or good/evil hierarchy that we develop in rap.
You can’t attach ‘good’ to underground when there is no difference between any of JMT’s lyrics (or god forbid, remember Jus Allah – that dude was psycho.) and someone like Cam’ron. We also can’t attach ‘bad’ to mainstream when Drake says “I’m just trying to find a reason not to go out every evening/ I need someone that’ll help me think of someone besides myself/” When was the last time we heard someone acknowledge their insecurities and strive for selflessness? It actually happens quite a lot.
Yet we can’t attach ‘bad’ to underground when there is no difference between super-lame pop-rap songs like ‘Where Is the Love” and almost anything Common ever says. At the same time, ‘good’ can’t be attached to mainstream for obvious reasons. But the point is to call such “obvious” reasons into question.
The whole point of the last two paragraphs was just to demonstrate the meaningless nature in whatever good/bad, good/evil or right/wrong attachment we impose on rap.
This is why I think whatever “fight” that so many purists, like myself, take part in is completely misguided. Of course, I’m not listening to Love Sosa for it’s lyrical merit. I’m listening to it as background music as I type this. I’m listening to it in the club because I sure as hell ain’t dancing to Death Grips when I’m trying to be smooth.
Yes, we should continue to support and promote music that we enjoy – whether that is Weezy or Jonwayne – but not because we are upset that XYZ is getting shine.
E-Rek,
The idea that my article polarizes rap music is pretty funny…as if mainstream rap didn’t polarize itself by being exclusively one dimensional. Also, your thoughts on mainstream vs. underground are unnecessarily critical. The purpose of the article is to highlight MC’s who don’t receive mainstream recognition and whose content is more creative than the tired themes in most mainstream rap. The average Hip Hop head knows exactly what I’m implying…and it ain’t that deep. There’s more creative rap music than what Chief Keef and company usually offer. That’s it.
This is a great thought – we do get bogged down in silencing detrimental rap that we forget to raise the volume of the positive hip hop. I’ve checked out most of the artists listed and they are all excellent in their own way.
One you may also want to consider is a music collective called R.A.R.E. Nation [Revitalizing Art; Reinventing Emotion] – with artists like Palermo Stone (http://palermostone.bandcamp.com), Ads Antalik, & MNI, they are working to also preserve and promote the artistry and intelligence in hip hop.
Great read!