back from mali. oh hip-hop.
when i chose west africa over europe, i was not thinking about hip-hop. i was thinking about human rights, about once in a life time opportunities, about really challenging myself in a culture more than a little different from american culture. however, i lucked out and also got to live in a city where all sorts of music was played, including a lot of hip-hop from america as well as french rap and african music influenced by american hip-hop. i saw rapper's faces painted on the sides of cabine telephoniques and rapper's names spray painted on walls throughout the city. their faces were also on t-shirts and magazine pull-out posters and their music in clubs, on tv and on cell phones which are actually pretty hi-tech in mali.
so i was not deprived of the music i love. however, most of what i heard were songs i already knew - from the last 5 or 10 years. lipgloss was popular, gasolina (reggeaton, i know), walk it out, that 50 cent and justin timberlake song, some tupac, jay-z and beyonce's crazy, that please don't stop the music music music, any akon... i didn't really hear the stuff that came out in the last three months until i got back in the states this week.
and let me say: being removed from it for a little while and then coming back, lends some perspective to the ridiculousness of it. some shit i can't believe. the new david banner/chris brown song is unimpressive but not outrageously dumb or anything. but souljah boy does not need to bring his friends to the rap game with more dance songs when its not even a new dance. i dont need to here about how you have "money to blow" or about your ""cash flow" or that the only thing on your mind is "get dough". jesus. lil wayne who i loved last summer and argued was genius, recycles a line that used to be clever and makes a whole damn song about lollipops and w/rappers now. please, spare us. whoever's cousin did not need to put out that lime in the coconut song. i'm not going to say it isn't a little catchy. but that alone is not enough. i know its summer! we can have some fun. i would rather songs about dancing and drinking and candy than songs about violence and acting hard. however, this former category is producing a very cheap kind of hiphop right now.
i am sure in a week or so i will be used to it again. i'm sure "hi haters" will be bumping from my car and i will feel like the coolest chick on the block. but it is barely a song.
john mchorter has a new book out about how hiphop is not a social revolution. trying to shut down my senior thesis before i even start it. hip-hop is. or can be. i firmly believe this. however, it is doing a hell of a lot to undermine itself.
so i was not deprived of the music i love. however, most of what i heard were songs i already knew - from the last 5 or 10 years. lipgloss was popular, gasolina (reggeaton, i know), walk it out, that 50 cent and justin timberlake song, some tupac, jay-z and beyonce's crazy, that please don't stop the music music music, any akon... i didn't really hear the stuff that came out in the last three months until i got back in the states this week.
and let me say: being removed from it for a little while and then coming back, lends some perspective to the ridiculousness of it. some shit i can't believe. the new david banner/chris brown song is unimpressive but not outrageously dumb or anything. but souljah boy does not need to bring his friends to the rap game with more dance songs when its not even a new dance. i dont need to here about how you have "money to blow" or about your ""cash flow" or that the only thing on your mind is "get dough". jesus. lil wayne who i loved last summer and argued was genius, recycles a line that used to be clever and makes a whole damn song about lollipops and w/rappers now. please, spare us. whoever's cousin did not need to put out that lime in the coconut song. i'm not going to say it isn't a little catchy. but that alone is not enough. i know its summer! we can have some fun. i would rather songs about dancing and drinking and candy than songs about violence and acting hard. however, this former category is producing a very cheap kind of hiphop right now.
i am sure in a week or so i will be used to it again. i'm sure "hi haters" will be bumping from my car and i will feel like the coolest chick on the block. but it is barely a song.
john mchorter has a new book out about how hiphop is not a social revolution. trying to shut down my senior thesis before i even start it. hip-hop is. or can be. i firmly believe this. however, it is doing a hell of a lot to undermine itself.