The Hip Hip culture was created in the Bronx in 1973 but as a concept, Hip Hop and more specifically Rap can be traced back hundreds of years in West Africa. Griots (prounced “gree-ots”) were storytellers, loremasters and the keepers of their peoples’ histories. While Europe and most of the Asian continent had developed their own versions of the written word, most of the African continent still heavily relied on the spoken word. Griots passed down the history of their people from one generation to the next orally and primarily via music or storytelling.

The Atlantic Slave Trade disrupted what had been generations of unbroken oral history passed down through the ages. Not just by way of people forcefully taken from everything they knew but those left behind who would never see or hear from their missing kin ever again. Over the course of almost 300 years, it’s estimated over 2 Million people from the African continent were taken primarily to the Americas as slaves. Yes, some African tribes and kingdoms did participate in taking people as slaves before Europeans arrived but the arrival of slave traders from Europe changed everything and saw countless African tribes and nations wiped out. A lot of the tribal differences on the African continent quickly vanished as people banded together to fight back against what was an existential threat to everything they knew.

This is a general estimate based on some records that were recovered centuries later but it’s believed over 20,000 African captives never made it to their final destination. Most died to disease but many of those who died were murdered by their captors. Some captives were thrown overboard when the ship’s food supply began to run low in an effort to ensure everyone else survived. Worse, some slavers intentionally sank the ship after Europe outlawed the slave trade to hide their “cargo” from naval vessels looking for slave ships.

For the overwhelming majority of African slaves who survived the trip across the Atlantic, weeks of hell at sea were only the beginning of their new lives as slaves in the Americas. They were given new names, a new language, a new religion and stripped of their former identities. In the early years of the European Slave Trade, African kingdoms that trafficked slaves quickly learned Europeans were willing to pay a lot of money in exchange for African slaves. So, they attacked and raided other nations to get their hands on people to sell for money. More so after they quickly realized they needed to keep doing it to keep the Europeans from enslaving their own people. When they eventually ran out of villages and nations to pillage, their benefactors simply came for them. Accounts of that time period say some people threw themselves from cliffs because they’d rather die than be enslaved. Others threw themselves from the decks of slave ships at the first opportunity for the same reason.

Across the African continent in the past–as well as now–what we now refer to as Rap and Hip Hop was used to share stories and messages not just across generations but between tribes on the African continent. The spoken word–Lyrics–as well as the instruments–the Melody–were combined to convey thoughts, ideas and more. Combined with dance, a more complex message or story could be told. As we have learned with its rebirth in 1973, Hip Hop is far more nuanced than originally believed. Music is already considered a language so…yeah.

 

What the modern world knows as Hip Hop was (re)discovered in the Bronx, New York in 1973. Clive “DJ Kool Herc” Campbell and his sister Cindy are the undisputed creators of the Hip Hop genre. At the time, five years had passed since the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. New York City was broke, what I refer to as The First Civil Rights Era (1951-1972) was ending and Richard Nixon was president of the United States. At the time, most people who lived in cities were looking for something to do to keep kids out of trouble. Then Hip Hop debuted one summer day in 1973.

 

…The rest is history.

I have listened to Hip Hop and Rap from all over the world, non-English languages included. Like every other genre of music, it crosses all boundaries. I was born in 1984 so it’s fair to say I literally lived through most of Hip Hop’s ongoing history. This is one subgenre of Hip Hop that helped elevate the culture in the 1980s well into the 2000s that is no longer considered “mainstream” by today’s standards: Gansta Rap. Let’s not kid ourselves, Hip Hop thrived and evolved largely because of Gangsta Rap early on. It was considered profitable for almost three decades until Kanye West–before we knew what kind of person he really was–beat 50 Cent in record sales with his Graduation album. That is largely considered the moment Gangsta Rap died.

Even before that knockout blow to the subgenre, Gangsta Rap was heavily criticized publicly since its inception largely by concerned parents, law enforcement, politicians and womens rights groups. If you ask Dionne Warwick, she’ll tell you her imfamous closed-door meeting with Snoop Dogg and Ludacris in the late 90s played a huge role in changing perceptions among artists early on. She was outspoken about the mysogyny that was so prevalent in their music at the time, they couldn’t simply ignore her. Snoop would later recount Warwick daring them to call her a bitch to her face as soon as they walked in the room. No one dared take her up on the offer because they knew they weren’t talking to someone who was just “hating on their music”. They were talked to a very concerned black woman who could easily pass for any of their mothers. When he asked her why she took issue with their music, Warwick responded “There’s gonna come a time when you might have daughters and nieces. When that time comes, you’re going to need to explain this to them.”

Warwick clearly made a breakthrough as everyone who was at that meeting slowly started to pivot away from the more vitriolic material they were known for.  Some outright branched into other things. Ice Cube and LL Cool J both got into acting for example. Snopp Dogg went corporate though he has been making appearances at WWE events. 50 Cent became a business mogul as well as an actor. There’s no mistaking ever since Hip Hop went corporate 20 years ago, the genre has become oversaturated with basically the same stuff that sounds the same over the last 20 years.

This is to be expected with the death of Gangsta Rap. Even before Kanye made it unprofitable 16 years ago, by the mid-2000s most high-profile artists who weren’t beefing with someone had already started toning down their music. Everyone knew they needed to reinvent themselves if they wanted to stay profitable. This is also why most high-profile Hip Hop artists started branching off into other things, mainly acting or business. It turns out there really can be a life after music after all. They paved the way for those who would come after them across all genres. Now people who make it in music know to use it as a stepping stone into other things.

…The problem is Gangsta Rap itself was sacrificed.

If you ask rapper turned actor Ice T, today’s Hip Hop is not real music. He’s been pretty outspoken about modern Hip Hop for almost 20 years. He refers to it as soft and watered-down which it is. Don’t get the wrong idea, no one is saying things didn’t need to change. If not for the changes happening when they did, I don’t know if the Hip Hop Culture would have thrived let alone survived for this long. It certainly wouldn’t have gained the mainstream appeal it now enjoys even with Eminem coming up when he did.

The problem is things went too far and fast in the other direction and more so over the last 15 years. Now, most young people–anyone under 30 at this point–don’t know or understand that there’s supposed to be clear differences and distinctions between Hip Hop, Pop and R&B. THAT’S what’s been lost over the last 20 years. All three genres now sound largely the same. Listen to music from of those genres from the 80s and 90s. Compare it to today’s Hip Hop, Pop and R&B. There are CLEAR distinctions.

That’s all the more reason Hip Hop needs to get its edge back. The time is now and more so with the cultural and political turmoil going on in not just America but around the world these days. People used to rap about that back in the day. It was a form of expression that became culturally uncool by the early 2000s. Not saying it’s ok to attack, threaten and destroy people with music. That’s why I’m talking about expressing and venting through bars. We didn’t need to dress it up with synthetically altered voices or slurring so much of your lyrics you sound drunk or high. Just be clear and concise.

The time for Hip Hop to reinvent itself again is now.

 

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