No Song Unsung Blog

When I think about hip-hop, I always think about the hip-hop culture as well. This means fashion, partying, and of course, the liquor. But then again, we’ll probably associate all of that with most music genres — and how can we change that?

On many occasion you’ll hear hip-hop artists give pub to the brands of liquor they love in their songs. So naturally, someone like Sean Combs, a.k.a. “P Diddy”, “Puff Daddy”, or whatever you want to call him - would partner up with Diageo North America and Ciroc Premium Vodka. They held a press conference today at the Time Warner Center with Combs to announce the partnership.

A note to all you youngsters reading this: Just because Diddy is selling this vodka doesn’t mean you have to drink it!!

One of my more popular posts over at my other blog, The Good Life, is this one titled, “This Hip-Hop Controversy“. I aired my grievances about hip-hop/rap music and how it just wasn’t inspiring anymore. Granted, there are some great beats and I like to dance or work out to hip-hop, but as far as the words go…bleh.

Well, there are one or two hip-hop artists out there right now who are saying
things that actually mean something. Common is one of those artists who knows how to stimulate a person’s mind. Nas is another. Hmm…who else?

During my early 20’s Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, LL Cool J, and others were always bumpin’ in the club and sure, they had good songs to groove to. However, I’m growing up now and aren’t they too? When will hip-hop grow up? All I’m asking is that we get a few songs that don’t talk about drinking, sex, or how blinged out your car is.

Well, with the recent remarks of Don Imus about the Rutgers women’s basketball team, it has brought the spotlight on rappers and hip hop artists as well. As much as I love hip hop and rap, I feel that their lyrics are filled with negativity about their own people - which is why I listen to about 10% of their music nowadays.

Oprah has been shunned by some rap artists because she won’t have any of them on her show, but she has a valid reason. I completely side with Oprah on this one. However, that did change yesterday when Oprah brought on a panel of some of the leading figures in the hip hop community: Russell Simmons, Kevin Liles, Dr. Benjamin Chavis, and Grammy-award winner, Common. I only saw a small clip of the show, but it was enough to know that changes will start to be made. I know it.

I’ve heard the argument before - rappers are just expressing what they see in their neighborhoods, but if that’s all you are going to focus on then nothing is going to change. What about creating lyrics that inspire people in the ‘hood to want to make a better life? After all, these are the people who are listening to your music. Music affects people in many ways. As an music artist in the spotlight, you have a responsibility to the community. Don’t you want to take things to the next level?

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the passing of Notorious B.I.G., a rap/hip-hop legend. It was after listening to “Big Poppa” that I became hooked on his music. He still lives with all of us! Just listen to one of his songs….alive and well!

Odeo has a great interview with Biggie that aired 4 days before he was killed. Davey D. has some profound questions which are pretty thought provoking:

What sort of example have we left for his kids over the past 10 years? They are now old enough to look around and ask questions and soak up game. Can they look to our collective behavior within Hip Hop and emulate it and wind up in a good and safe place? Or do they need to turn away and look elsewhere? Have we made this Hip Hop World a better place for them? If so how? Was Biggie’s death in vain? Can his kids really look up to us? Have we really listened to the pleas his grieving mother made when she asked us to do better?
I feel that hip-hop music is beginning to evolve and I do see and hear some changes, albeit slow changes. But changes, nonetheless. There’s still alot that needs to be done because you still have artists talking about violence, sex, and all that negative stuff. The only way it’s going to change is if artists started spittin’ positive vibes. The more positive vibes there are, the easier it will be to wipe out all the negative energy.

To us it’s still a “mystery” as to who killed Biggie and Tupac. All I know is that nobody’s death is ever in vain. If anything their “deaths” were a sign that the hip-hop community needed to change. (I really don’t believe that people “die”, they just go to a different spiritual plane).

So, what do you think? Is the hip hop community changing for the better?