I Am Hip Hop

I would like to start out by saying that hip-hop is a culture, a lifestyle, a way of life and all that jazz. Defining hip hop according to Merriam Webster is probably the hardest thing you could ask me to do, so I won't. Hopefully this post will be a good enough definition.

I have been exposed to a lot of hip hop in my time. When I was a kid my mom used to make mixtapes with a number of songs that she had on 12 inch vinyl. Those were the days. When my mother was growing up she was really into The Commodores, The Emotions, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, The Gap Band and Tina Marie. In addition to R&B, she also listened to gospel and rock music. Her eclectic musical style taught me to appreciate the art of music; for that I am grateful.

Here are some new artists that I have found over the last few weeks and I enjoy:

Outasight - you can download his mixtape From There To Here free at zshare. I did and I love it.

Big Sean is a lil dude that's working with Kanye and G.O.O.D. Music. I didn't like him at first but he's growing on me.

Mike Posner & The Brain Trust. I really just found this dude when I was looking up info on Big Sean because they did a song together. His single is pretty nice.

I'm cheating a little with this one but I thought I would take this chance to pub for an artist I was put on to a few months ago named Drake. This guy is real. He was flying under the radar for a while but with his recent tour stops with Lil Wayne people are starting to get hip. Any newcomer that can get on a track with my favorite rappers (UGK) is cool with me. Oh, he raps and sings too. Download his mixtape So Far Gone at Datpiff.

Bobby Ray, otherwise known as B.o.B. is one of my favorite new artists right now. I saw him and his band perform live at SxSW in Austin during Spring Break. Before they went on stage, I looked at the performance list like "who the heck is B.o.B.?" Turns out, I had heard them before and even had a song on my computer by him and just didn't know his name. I think this guy, Drake and Kid Cudi are the future of hip-hop.

Here are some new music videos I didn't have a chance to watch until now:

Amazing: Kanye West feat. Young Jeezy. The treatment for this video includes breathtaking images of nature.

Zion: I Geek to the Beat. Love this video - the treatment is this guy going through different areas of a house and seeing random images. Very nice.

The Cool Kids: Pennies. This video features the two rappers walking around a neighborhood rapping in random places like a laundromat. The pennies falling from the sky is the dopest thing I've seen in a while.

Magnificent: Rick Ross feat. John Legend. This video is about living the good life. Expensive cars, thoroughbred horses, mansions, champagne and beautiful women.

Day 'n' Nite: Kid Cudi. Shows Kid Cudi walking around having various hallucinations of cartoon images.

• The NBA is using Kanye West and Young Jeezy's Amazing for their playoff theme song. All of the commercials for the playoffs use this song with highlights from playoff basketball.
• Chevrolet used rapper T.I. as a spokesperson until he was found guilty on weapons charges. That was a really good ad campaign and it's unfortunate that he lost it. Check out his commercial with Dale Earnhardt Jr. at YouTube.

The elements of hip-hop don't just stop at rapping. It also includes, break dancing, dj'ing, beat boxing, and graffiti. This is where it started and is where it should always be in some way. Here is a video clip of hip hop legend KRS One speaking about hip hop with a new schooler:

• Hip Hop influences are in numerous forms of media today. Hip Hop has come a long way from the Breakin' days. Just this morning, Lil Wayne was on The View and I was floored.
• I'm addicted to online shopping, and one of my favorite sites is Karmaloop - a huge online sample sale dedicated to selling street clothing from various designers.

The representation of Hip Hop reminds me of the representation of black athletes in the media. You only hear good things about the really famous breakout stars, but when something negative occurs they are crucified no matter how famous they are. It's quite unfortunate that the media focuses on the negative influences of the music so much. The newer artists (Souljah Boy, Gucci Mane) that are really big right now on the radio are not even artists that I listen to as a true music lover. To me, their raps and videos are an embarrassment to the culture. But that's what the young people like, so it sells. Artists like Queen Latifah made songs and lead movements attempting to dispel the misrepresentation of ethnic women in the community and media but at that time it failed. Conscious rappers write songs about how we have to change the way people see hip hop. People buy the records but ignore the message. The bottom line is: hip hop is controversial and controversy sells. As long as we are attracted to what's real, people will continue to ignore the negativity in reality.