HIP HOP
IS NO LONGER
THE AGENT
FOR SOCIAL
CHANGE AND HARMONY
WHAT HAPPENED?
WAY,WAY BACK IN THE DAY...HIP HOP REFLECTED THE PEOPLE WHO MADE THE MUSIC, CREATED THE STREET ART, SHAPED THE LANGUAGE, INVENTED THE DANCE MOVES AND THE EVER MOVING STYLE OF THE STREET. FROM THE EARLY DAYS BACK IN THE LATE 70`S TO THE LATE 90`S, HIP HOP WAS MANY THINGS TO MANY PEOPLE....NOW IT`S JUST STUCK IN THE SAME MODE.
It`s been this way for a long while, but it took awhile for people to pick up on it. The messages within rap began to wither down to one - the party thug. There was always a space for that way of music within the family of hip hop, but now it is the central message. It merged with R&B to become pop, and in time the figure of the lone lyricist became entertainment for the suburbs, the more the rapper leans onto the image of "the gangster", the more he/she sells. In fact I `d go as far to say America is far much comfortable with the idea of a black/latino living a semi criminal lifestyle than one speaking truth, talking about history, or social cohesion. (Partly to do with the country`s love of the outlaw, just as with portrayals of the "old wild west" type cowboys, the rogue detective who gets results and other mostly Hollywood hyped character types )
Yes, it came from the hip hop community itself, but how has it become it`s spokesperson? How come the hyper masculine, capitalistic, gangster approach to Hip Hop become the de facto stance that used to have a plethora of voices and styles? A good place to start is the distribution chain. What you get to hear is now determined by a few corporations. Getting a deal doesn`t mean you can now start saying what you want with labels able to reject songs that do not fit, or getting blacklisted by TV stations and radio stations having their playlist curated by higher forces and not, by the DJ themselves.
This documentary has the people who were part of Hip Hop from the very beginning plus views from current generation as to why this has happened...and how it happened. Who had been blacklisted from the music TV shows, who bought what out and what was the consequences.
STARRING: Afrika Bambaataa, KRS-ONE, Busy Bee, Kool Keith, MC Lyte, Slick Rick, Jean Grae, Gemini plus more....
DIRECTOR: Sonali Aggarwal:
What happened to Hip Hop?
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