...than hip hop hip hop hip hop hip
It's bigger than hip hop hip hop hip hop hip hop"
Allow me to get my Bill Cosby on.
"Keep On Pushin'" by Bun B is garbage and what's fucked up about hip-hop right now.
The beat is hot.
The artists on the track are some of the hottest of all-time and current times, Bun, Scarface and Jeezy. I love them all straight up.
But to take Curtis Mayfield's track, which is conventionally held as a black national anthem, and use it as a part of a song about pushin dope is damn near blasphemy.
Who in the hell thought of that fuckin idea?
Ask any black person 55+ what that track meant to them when the first heard it when Curtis and the Impressions first put it out.
Striving.
Fighting.
Perservering.
Joy and finding happiness in the struggle knowing that a better day is ahead.
So these guys got together and figured that what black people are striving for today is to hustle harder?
And that's hip-hop right now - all style, no substance.
No creativity. Everybody's following the same formula...sell ki's, bitches shake your titties and let's all buy jewelry, cars and clothes.
As big as hip-hop is, it needs to stand up and be accounted for more things than that.
I love hip-hop because it's me regardless of what I do or say.
It's my first love. I can say that I had Whodini and Mc Shan's first tapes. I can remember being a shorty and sitting around the boombox at my grandparent's house at Christmas and all of kids rapping along and dancing to "The Show" by Dougie. I was in a fuckin trance the first time I heard Rakim. I've got a few hundred more and I'm proud to say I was around for these types of firsts.
And I'm still glad that I'm around the first time I heard Jeezy a few falls ago way before everybody else and literally going nuts in the whip.
But goddamn hip-hop, what the fuck?
Artists need to understand that, like it or not, they're repping for two groups right now, the younger crowd and black people.
See, things have changed.
Where I had to search for hip-hop, a kid today doesn't.
It's everywhere. Day, night. Radio, tv, and all forms of media in between.
Kids literally grow up on it.
And what artists are puttin out there for them to grow up on is some bullshit. They're feeding the youth junk food instead of that mighty healthy nourishment.
A child cannot seperate between art and reality.
If all we present to them is images of drugs, violence and sex, they'll start to believe it must be reality because it's everywhere.
Yes, hip-hop ain't the only one guilty of this.
But hip-hop is the only one I have a longstanding relationship with.
And right now, because of that song and the current state of music, I feel like me and hip-hop are starting to grow out of love.
But I could never turn my back on hip-hop because I love it. I'm committed to it.
So, I say all this to say "hip-hop, step it up."
How do I handle it now that I have a child and I see why pops didn't want us listening to "Erotic City" as shorties?
Well, I pick and choose what I play in front of my shorty.
I play Common's BE strong in front of her, especially the intro track and "It's Your World".
I rock TI....yeah, TI.
How? I play "Motivation"....listen to the strong message he brings.
I have to search hard to find hip-hop that's positive but I find it.
And I play old stuff.
Maze, Curtis, etc.
Unfortunately, as much as I love Bun, I don't see myself playing his album.
I hate to think my child would get it confused with what "Pushin" forward and struggling are about.
No music from me today.
I'd rather just leave you with thoughts.
Feel free to add on, agree or disagree.
Salute!
