It's no secret that hip hop has enjoyed renewed publicity and possibly identity to accompany it in recent times, but has it lost its integrity in the transition? 2Chainz, Trinidad James and Chief Keef; these are just a few celebrities that have made me cynical of the new breed of hip hop. To what end must the art form that I truly love be publicly mutilated as a popular circus act for (pardon the stereotype) those Beverley Hills residents who entertain their guests with meaningless notions, and the entertained continue to gyrate to lyrics of overly lavish lifestyles conveniently stitched to EDM backdrops.
Its with even greater sadness, that I learn that the range of hip hop accolades that can be won in The Grammy Awards have been downsized to one award! I now find myself enraged by either one of two notions. My initial thought is that revival of rap is not as formidable as initially thought and the second being that many of these dubious 'hip hop' artists are the only type of artists that are recognized in such a vast industry. To further compound my frustrations, I was listening to a radio interview with D.C. rapper Wale, and during that interview he actually brought to my attention that the only hip hop artists that have ever won best Grammy Album were OutKast in 2004 and Lauren Hill in 1994. Without taking any credit away from these exceptional artists, what one may argue is that the respective albums that won did not really employ the same melodic environment that was typical of their hip hop background.
Even though I am concentrating on the most recent contributions to rap music, it has sadly been an endemic issue. KRS One, Pharoahe Monche, Curt@!n$, Talib Kweli and Yaslin Bey (Mos Def) to name a few have been plagued by their innate obligation to resist the pollution of commercial music. At the risk of sounding hypocritical I am by no means a purist, I will admit to have the club tracks and the hype hop, and I enjoy the odd Diggy track but it just seems that so much of it is dominating good rap music. I may receive a lot of negative feedback by addressing the following artists, but even lyricists such as Kanye West and Jay Z are exploiting the commercial revenue in order to stay relevant.
However with new pioneers in hip hop such as J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Wale and Joey Badass, I still have hope that rap will remain an art form and not just a fashionable distraction for cool-chasers. So far 2013 has proved a promising year for these artists gaining a lot of exposure, but will they retain their integrity? Only time will tell, till then. PEACES.
