Aug 29 2008
Hip Hop Is Dead?
A friend recently told me that Hip Hop is dead. When I disagreed and said, “what about groups like Spank Rock?” he claimed that they’re not hip hop, they’re “hipster jump off” or “hipster get up” a genre which I’d never heard of.
Is hip hop dead? Is there such a thing as “hipster get up” music? Are genres in general dying?
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hip hop’s doing great. new rich boy bigger than the mayor is slammin. new jeezy is focused. new swizz beats oprah is recontexualizing contemporary pop music and turning it into hip hop just like when hip hop started. spankrock doesn’t really fit directly in a hip hop conversation because he’s not really doing much for ghetto youth and urban audiences. i guess that’s what your friend means by ‘hipster get up”
I dunno, I’m not sure the actual music (Hip Hop) is dying more the attached youth subculture is diminishing at least in predominately middle class western neighbourhoods. The popularity of the ‘hipster movement” thats kinda taken over in the same neighbourhoods is in my opinion struggling to gain a distinct musical (genre) identity mainly again in my opinion because of the ADHD nature of current western society.
But then I like Detroit Techno…….
if Slick Rick were younger (and out of jail), it’s hard to deny that he wouldn’t be right in there with Spank Rock and the Cool Kids.. . and who’s more hip hop than mc ricky d?
okay what about this one Yo Majesty? Hip hop or not?
i think it would be important to recognize that hip hop itself has evolved like any other music genre or sub-genre.
that said, anyone rationalizing the state of hip hop and posing the question is almost certainly comparing its current state to the traditional notions of hip hop (and at the very least to the ‘golden era’). but is that a fair comparison?
for example, ask a 70s punk junkie how they feel about punk rock today. they might say punk is dead because their definition of punk and its ideals are rooted in its origins… essentially the music evolved and they didn’t. like punk rock, hip hop takes on different forms and moves with the climate and out comes hip hop in a less traditional, but still relevant form. SpankRo, Yo Maj, and Cool Kids are relevant to the hyperculture scenester youth, while Rich Boy, Swizzy, and Jeezy are relevant to ghetto kids. There is of course the expected crossover, but people identify with the music they want to and in the end it’s all hip hop.