Hip-Hop and the City

Whether it is Lil’ Wayne representing New Orleans, Tupac rapping about L.A, or Nas emulating a New York State of Mind, hip-hop has always been intertwined with the city. In Jay-Z’s track, Welcome to New York City, Juelz Santana illustrated the prior in the Chorus when he says, “It's the home of 9-11, the place of the lost towers / We still banging, we never lost power, tell 'em / Welcome to New York City, welcome to New York City / You all messing with BK's banger and Harlem's own gangster / Now that's danger there's nothing left to shape up / Welcome to New York City, welcome to New York City.” With the recent allegations that Hip-Hop is dead, and the lyrical accusations as to who killed it, it is important to consider the genre’s relationship with the city, and its representing artists. Hip-Hop has an entangled relationship with the city whether it be Los Angeles or New York City, the city breeds Hip-Hop, and Hip-Hop breeds the city. The two are mutually intertwined, and this connection that once led to an outbreak in gang violence has now turned into a battled of the “bling.”

As the city becomes a consumer driven meca, the music it spawns becomes a manufactured product instead of an artful expression. While each neighborhood within that city looses its uniqueness, the music suffers, creating a monotonous cycle. As new forms of media and mobile devices are released, they remove the sense of community from the Hip-Hop culture, leaving its consumers viewing themselves only as an individual. This lack of communal relationships is reflected by a new generation that emphasizes the ‘me’ in media. At a time where music is the most mobile it has ever been it is lacking a message worth sharing. Through exploring the history of Hip-Hop in relation to the City, the relationship between East Coast Rap, and West Coast Rap, these regional rivalries, and how this effects gang violence within the city, it will become apparent the power music and the city hold over one another. This power is also illustrated through the current issues within Hip-Hop and its entangled relationship with the consumerism; posing the question of if Hip-Hop can save the city? Or, can the city save Hip-Hip?

Hip-Hop is a genre steeped in a history of power and change. In New York City during the early 1970s Hip-hop music was spawned by a group of talented black urban youth that fused New World African musical forms with rhetorical styles, highlighting new postmodern technologies. All in an attempt to express their feelings of struggle and suppression while growing up in a area filled with poverty, drugs and violence. With time, rap grew lyrically, and currently there is no limit on what may be discussed from one song to another. In the past it appeared to be a no holds barred critique on American life and the issues facing those in urban areas. For this reason many white North American officials such as; politicians, journalists, and activists blamed the genre and its artists for an apparent rise in the violent crime rates, sexual irresponsibility, poor academic performance, and general social dysfunction in central city locations. Rappers were an obvious target because of their topics of discourse, however in reality these fears and assumptions are nothing more than old beliefs regarding the influence of black youths on white North American society. Hip-Hop in essence was and still is a way for the urban youth to push back at the predominant white society in an artistic form and create their own distinct identity through spoken words rather than violence. However, the message has changed. With very few exceptions, mainstream rap is no longer portraying knowledge about political power and racial prowess, it is selling an exaggerated commercialized lifestyle, based on money and consumption. This musical genre has turned from a form of political expression and rebellion, to a new breed of advertising; one that depicts a lifestyle built on consumption and commercial goods. This transformation of music from a message, to a commodity, and now to a commercial is a reflection of our society’s current state, where all things, even artistic expression, have sold out and cashed in.

Hip-Hop’s transformation into a commodity began shortly after rap’s movement away from the gangsta’ rap trend, which was responsible for The East Coast West Coast Rivalry. In the late eighties and early nineties, rappers from Los Angeles and New York City took part in a feud based on gang support and public dissing. This war continued for year, eventually ending with the death of New York’s Notorious B.I.G. and California’s 2Pac in gang related shootings. After their deaths within months from one another, representative from both the East and West Coast parties made a public outreach for an end between the rivalries between both artists and fans. After the shift away from Gangsta’ rap, East Coast rappers began emulating the California lifestyle, based in Los Angeles, they began rapping about their mansions, millions and what they spend them on. The City of Los Angeles is one entrenched in superficiality, and suddenly appearances were everything. With the ever growing popularity of this East Coast style, West Coast rappers began to partake in this battle of the “bling,” it was no longer what you were rapping about, it was what you wore when you did it, and how much money you brought in by doing it. Hip-Hop was no longer about it the music, it was about the lifestyle. Similarly, during rap’s transformation into the a consumable product, over an art form, the city was taking the same root. New York City and its surrounding burroughs were quickly becoming a inhabitable advertisement.

Today Hip-Hop has come to encompass more than just a genre of music, it has become a style, a culture, even a way of life for many. There are five elements that Hip-Hop is made up of: Graffiti, Break Dancing, DJing, Rapping, and most importantly, Knowledge. The reason behind why the fifth element is the so important is that without knowledge one cannot have understanding – and if one does not understand what they are rapping about, dancing to, mixing with, or spray painting on walls than that person has no power of reasoning behind their expression. In order to have power one needs knowledge, however it could be argued that Hip-Hop is missing the knowledge and understanding it once had - that it has lost its message.

For decades rap and hip-hop used authenticity as their currency. However our consumer obsessed generation has cheapened this “realness” and replaced legitimacy with coin currency through making a spectacle of the ghetto, allowing a new generation of posers to take over. As soon as hip-hop became a mainstream form of music, advertisers became targeting the “street” subscribers through their lifestyle and interest. However this advertising quite often fell short, due to inauthenticity, that is until the music was infiltrated by consumer culture and turned into the newest commercial. Rap music is the primary vehicle for transmitting culture and values onto this new generation, these lyrics and artists define what it means to subscribe to this lifestyle. As this lifestyle switched to constant consumption and violence, so did the lyrics, perpetuating a cycle of ignorance. In Jay-Z’s documentary, ‘Fade to Black’, when in the studio discussing the current state of hip-hop, the Brooklyn Rapper addresses the viewers and says, “ You see how rappers are now? You see what the public did, you see what y’all did to rapper, they scared to be themselves, you know what I’m saying, they don’t think people are going to accept them as theyself.” Artists are rapping about what the listeners want to hear, and are afraid that by saying what they truly need to say they will not get heard, and therefore will not make money. Rappers who want to write about the issues facing Brooklyn, such as the poverty, racial profiling, drugs, gang violence, and lack of educations funding, are forced to rap about beautiful women, guns, cars and alcohol, because that is what the listeners have come to expect.

The perpetuation of this material message through rap music has spawned backlash from several legitimate artists claiming that the art of hip-hop is dead. In Nas’ 2006 album titled ‘Hip-Hop is Dead’ the veteran Queens rapper expresses upset over the loss of music that is motivated by artistic expression over base commercialism. In the album’s title track, Nas raps, “Everybody sound the same, commercialize the game / Reminiscin’ when it wasn’t all business / It forgot where it started / So we all gather here for the dearly departed,” clearly stating the loss of artistically viable rap at the forefront. He further reminisces over the changes within hip-hop later in the song, stating, how it “Went from turntables to MP3’s / From ‘Beat Street’ to commercials on Mickey D’s / From gold cables to Jacobs / From plain facials to Botox to facelifts.” In the prior verse Nas highlights the physical changes that have occurred in hip-hop culture recently that parallel the changes that have taken place in the social atmosphere and the overall condition of the music industry. Throughout the album, Nas questions who killed hip-hop, but then clarifies that hip-hop is not dead, but in an extremely vulnerable state. He elaborates on how not only the hip-hop industry, but also its listeners are lacking a political voice to fight the detrimental state of our consumer society. Nas explains that the artists no longer have the power. Similarly, the politicians have power over the people.
Tellingly, the issues within hip-hop are a direct reflection of those facing our cities today, however, its hard to tell whether a change in hip-hop will result in a change within our streets.

Although Hip-Hop seems to be taking a turn for the better with artists such as Kanye West, Common and Lupe Fiasco, how can one tell the difference made through lyrical claims? As the saying goes, it is easier said than done. One of the main issues in constructing a political movement within our generation is the lack of interest in social concern, the obsession lays within a national priority of financial gain. As active minded and inspirational as these artists and their lyrics can be, these messages do not go far past admiration. This generation is lacking the selfless mentality of prior generations that is required for one to be at the forefront of activism. According to Kitwana, “The deterrence to activism in our generation may have also inadvertently encouraged this generation to choose career over activism. Few hip-hop generationers can resist the omnipresent consumer culture. Add to this the complexities of the national economy we’ve witnessed in the 1980s and 1990s. Although the recent economic expansion was historic, study after study have shown that its gain did not make life better for most people. The lifestyle enjoyed by working-class people in the 1960s and 1970s is a dream unfulfilled for most working-class folks today. Consistent with these economic challenges, pursuing financial security through careers in the mainstream economy and, at times, the underground economy have taken priority over activists’ concern for most hip-hop generationers.” (p.154) Overall, our generation has chosen to succumb to temptation time and time again instead of making educated decisions regarding consumption and consumerism and the impact it has on our futures. As our youth continue to spiral down this market of consumption, our cities and our minds suffer, being coating with advertisements. It is difficult to predict whether the city will force Hip-Hop to change, or Hip-Hop will force the city, however with their entangled relationship it is evident that they will change together, or continue on this destructive path in a partnership.

Work Cited

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