"There is a war going on outside, No man is safe from, You can run, but you cant hide forever from.. These streets that we dun took, Yo...
I remember when C. Delores Tucker, and Rev. Calvin Butts decided they were tired of Hip Hop and it's disrespect of women.... They started a all out battle against Hip Hop. Come to find out C. Delores Tucker was trying to start her own record label venture, and Calvin Butts just was on the bandwagon for media attention for his church. As a young kid born in 1980 I felt like they were trying to take my older brother to jail for being honest. I felt violated and I couldn't understand the mind state behind censoring words that I heard people say everyday.
Time would slowly pass, I seen the eastcoast - westcoast beef, seen 2pac get murdered, Biggie get Murdered, the Rise of The Dynasty (Rocafella), and the fall of an era.(Early Hip Hop) As a adult now (early 30's) I look at the art form that is known as hip hop and I feel like even through all the early stages where it felt like it was going to die, it is most vulnerable right now.
Things have changed. They say once their is division amongst any group of people, that devastation is sure to follow. Well to my fellow Hip Hop Lovers and Family...We are divided as a Hip Hop Nation. it seems that somehow we have fallen from the group of people who speak about EVERY aspect of our lives through music, into a group of people who debate who's story is realer. There is a difference between having a opinion and passing judgement. Opinions are considered "Hate" and Judgement is considered "Keeping it Real".
I remember when part of being in hip hop or being a rapper you understood that you were outside of the norm, because your point of view may not be excepted as the overall point of view that is seen by the masses. Somehow it seems that, that base has changed and being apart of hip hop means that you vow for global acceptance. Which to an extent is not wrong because if we look at the history of hip hop there always was a genre of music which people call "mainstream" where the goal was acceptance through music. If you asked 80-90's Ice Cube about MC Hammer he would say he was todays equivalent to "Mainstream radio music", Let's not forget Kid N Play, Kwame, Will Smith, Vanilla Ice, Heavy D, and many more Pop Rap artist. On the other end of the spectrum there was Public Enemy, X Clan, Wu Tang, and many other gritty street, and political rap groups.
The difference between then and now is that those who were considered gritty, and political rap groups had no problem with their underground success. As their success widened they looked at it as a blessing to spread their message to more people, without auctioning off their integrity. The difference between "mainstream" artist then and now, there was not a feeling of we are "better than" but more of a feeling of "you can achieve this too". There is a overall misconception of storytelling.. People seem to forget that Biggie, did not live what he spoke about...and we knew that. Nowadays people tend to believe whatever a rapper says. Also creating a division in Hip Hop. With reality TV, and constant social media exposure, new rappers feel the need to "live" what they speak, even though its verifiable that it is not true.
My personal feeling is that somewhere between Suge Knight standing on stage uttering the now infamous line " To all you artists out there, who don't wanna be on a record label where the executive producer's...all up in the videos, all on the records, dancin'...then come to Death Row!" and the success, and deaths of 2 Hip Hop legends.. was the very moment that the industry changed. That was the moment when money became the division in hip hop. This is not to blame Suge Knight but to blame the media who used their powers of exploitation to Exploit a group of people and their massive following into two sides. Through Television exposure, magazine exposure, and constant reports of high end music sales they created clear groups: The Have's and The Have Not's. Also they martyred death, as a memorable achievement in Rap music. This was always a underlying factor in hip hop but not the ONLY factor in Hip Hop. In today's music, The people that "Have" feel a certain type of exclusivity from the same crowd that supports them "The Have Not's" created over the last 12 or 13 years from "My Sales, Make my music better then yours, My Car is Bigger than yours, My House Cost more than Yours, which makes my music better than yours attitude." And on the other end of the spectrum there is the I don't give a F*ck, I buy the cheapest clothes, I'll walk and catch the bus, I'll say whatever I want and I'm still dope "attitude".
If you speak about gangs, and street life, you have the responsibility to explain why gangs were formed, why street life exists, and why it can help and harm. If you speak about money, You have a responsibility to speak about the work ethic it took to achieve that success and monetary value. Music should be a form of education to those who don't recieve a traditional education, even for those that do who are listening at leisure. Music should be the Big Brother that it once was, who told you about f*cking b*tches, about AIDS, Single parent households, About gangs, About going to school, about going to parties, about dancing, about positive images, about negative images, about selling dope, about Going to jail, about Murder in the black community, about achievement in the black community, about making choices outside of f*cking b*tches, about choices outside of selling dope, about the failure of going to Jail, about respecting your brother, about respecting your mother. Music should tell you about going to school, riding a skateboard, and whatever other aspect that a artist chooses to speak about. There should be no division in hip hop because, like art, its up to interpretation not segregation.
I hear people speak of the Illuminati, I hear people speak of some kind of grand scheme setup to make us fail without our knowledge and we need to be enlightened to the facts, and open up and realize whats going on around us. That the "powers that be" are changing our history and our art, without us knowing it. That is Bull sh!t. We as a people need to take Responsibility for our actions and stop looking for a excuse to keep doing the same. The only thing that "the powers that be" are doing is laughing at us as we crash our own destiny and try to convince someone that they are control of the wheel.
The war on hip hop is being led by the people who say they love hip hop. The War on Hip Hop Is Televised, The war on hip hop Is the strongest form of Censorship there is. This time its not led by a woman with side motives starting a record label, this time it's not led by a minister trying to get more patrons in his church, this time its not led by thirsty politicians trying to get extra votes for a presidential run, its led by our own people. Money, cars, struggle, sex, drugs, success, failure, education, opinion, and more will and should always be apart of hip hop, but degrading each other, fighting each other, and killing each other should not. We need to ban together like we once were, understand that we all have differences but we all are apart of something for the greater good. Instead of self destructing with-in.
We leave you with this:
Uh, one thing 'bout music
When it hit you feel no pain
----- folks says it controls your brain
I know better than that
That's game and we ready for that
Two soldiers head of the pack
Matter of fact who got the gat?
And where my army at?
Rather attack than not react
Back the beats it don't reflect
On how many records get sold
On sex, drugs, and rock and roll
Whether your project's put on hold
In the real world
These just people with ideas
They just like me and you
When the smoke and camera disappear
Again the real world (world)
It's bigger than all these fake ass records
When poor folks got the millions
And my woman's disrespected
If you check 1,2,
My word of advice to you is just relax
Just do what you got to do
If that don't work then kick the facts
If you a fighter, rider, lighter, flame ignitor, crowd exciter
Or you wanna just get high
Then just say it
But then if you a liar-liar, pants on fire
Wolf-cry agent with a wire
I'm gon' know it when I play it
It's bigger than hip hop, hip hop, hip hop, hip
It's bigger than hip hop, hip hop, hip hop, hip hop
Uh, who shot Biggie Smalls
If we don't get them
They gonna get us all
I'm down for runnin' up on them
-------- in they city hall
We ride for y'all
All my dogs stay real
----- don't think these record deals
Gonna feed your seeds
And pay your bills because they not
MC's get a little bit of love and think they hot
Talkin' 'bout how much money they got
------ all y'all records sound the same
I sick of that fake thug, R & B
Rap scenario all day on the radio
Same scenes in the video, monotonous material
Y'all don't hear me though
These record labels slang our tapes like dope
You can be next in line, and signed
And still be writing rhymes and broke
You would rather have a Lexus or justice
A dream or some substance
A Beamer, a necklace or freedom
Still a ---- like me don't playa' hate
I just stay awake
This real hip-hop, and it don't stop
'Til we get the po-po off the block
They call it
Hip hop, hip hop, hip hop - Dead Prez (Hip Hop)
Understand every word of this song is not the law of the land, Yet the general point of this song should help you realize that this artform we call Hip Hop....Is bigger than just a couple words over a beat. It is a important part of our lifestyle.
