The Change in the Hip-Hop World

In the article “Rakim: We Need a Few More Kanyes,” David Samuels, a reporter for the Atlantic Magazine, interviews Rakim Allah, one of the most influential rappers in hip hop about his view on the change in hip hop from its earlier years when he rapped, to its current position in society.  With the influence of society, media and money, Rakim believes that hip hop has taken a drastic turn and is an all new art form all together.  Rakim Allah was a rap artist in its early years around 1985.  He talked about how back then, people told stories in their songs, but “now it’s more like, “Look what I got” or “”You ain’t got what I got” or “You got to get what I got.” It’s making the listener a little envious of what’s going on, and it’s almost demeaning.”  Rakim says how people listen to music to get away, and to relate to the music, but people cannot relate to the music if they do not have any of the things they are talking about.  Hip hop is no longer a way to vent about an issue, or a good day, but rather to boast and brag about your personal success.  David Samuels also suggest how “Jay-Z’s a guy who makes $80 million a year off his huge talent, and he raps about his private jet.”  In other words, Rakim Allah is against the direction that hip hop is headed.  It should not be about bragging and shoving their success in their listeners faces, but rather be the artists way of escaping, and allowing the listener to escape with them.  Rakim wishes that this conceited  new “art” form would come to an end and hip hops original roots would be revived so he along with the many other listeners could enjoy the music the way it was enjoyed in previous years and be able to say that hip hop is not dead.

In my own opinion, I do not think hip hop is dead, but I do believe it has altered.  There are still many “real” hip hop artists such as Nas, J Cole, and Kanye West who continue to rap about real life struggles, a good day, or a real life situation.  Of course, as Rakim stated, hip hop has changed.  Everything changes, but I would not go on saying that hip hop is dead.  Not everyone is rapping about their gold chains, watches, private jets and riches, and I think those people who do rap about that stuff will not make it far.  If you go on  a site that gives away free downloads, such as datpiff.com, you will see that those who rap about those things, are not making it in the charts, or be as successful as some of the more classical hip hop artists.  Hip hop is not dead.

Frank Ocean’s Impact on Hip-Hop

It seems as if hip hop as been on a steady decline in the past years with fewer and fewer real hip hop artists. In my last blog post I posted about how hip hop has been taking the road of rapping about your personal success rather than rapping about your real life and feelings.  In “Frank Ocean effect: What happens when a hip hop artist confesses same sex love?” an article on the CNN website, Russell Simmons, who is the founder of Def Jam Records, spoke about “it [was] a big day for hip hop.”  Russell Simmons was speaking about Frank Ocean, a R&B and Hip Hop artist, coming out and announcing his homosexuality through his music on his newest album, Channel Orange.  According to Russell, by Frank Ocean’s brave step in music, hip hops heartbeat grew that much stronger.  Rapping and singing about his life, and his homosexual relationship with another man when he was 19, did not only alter the hip hop world, but set a good example for those who are still in fear about coming out.  Frank Ocean’s “Channel Orange” album continued to remain in the top 5 albums on iTunes for 6 weeks straight.  This alone suggest that listeners, fans and critiques were very interested in this turn in hip hop rather than turned off or controversial about the subject of Frank Ocean being gay.  Russell Simmons ultimately hopes that this breakthrough in hip hop will set an example to artists who are rising or even to those who are currently in the hip hop “game.”

I think this is true in multiple ways.  It re-ignites the small flame that hip hop had and brought it back to its original roots where people rap about meaningful things.  Also, the lyrics Frank Ocean incorporates into his music allows the listener to escape with him.  In other words, Frank Ocean openly expresses his homosexual feelings towards another man.  This sets an example to those who are afraid or unsure whether they want to come out or not.  The shift that this caused in the Hip Hop world was not a bad one.  It showed that it is not bad to be homosexual as a recording artists.  Many artists in Hip Hop such as Lil Wayne and Kendrick Lamar applauded Frank Ocean on this extremely courageous move.  This could have been a make or break for Ocean and luckily it worked in his favor.  Most of all, this showed everyone; gay or not, to not be ashamed of who they are and I believe that that is the underlying message to it all.

I am not saying that every song should be about a strict reality such as a relationship, but it is in fact better than boasting about your own personal success.  Most people think that by Frank Ocean singing about his homosexuality will bring down his career and negatively hip hop culture.  For everyone who believes this, hip hop has taken a step forward and the openness of Frank Ocean’s lyrics will set a positive example for the future of hip hop.

Weekly Sample Post #1

Edna Wright – Spend the Night With Me (1976)

Enjoy!

Welcome! Get a Free Beat!

What’s up everybody? My name is Brian “Mr Temmtation” Temme, and I am currently a sophomore in college and I am studying music/audio production and I am Majoring in Music Industry.  I’ve been making Hip-Hop beats ever since freshman year in high school.  I’ve the years i personally felt my music has progressed so i decided to try selling my beats to local rappers around my school and town, and I gotta say.  Selling my first beat was a huge adrenaline rush.  I’ve always wanted to be be a music producer or engineer but that moment that I sold that beat, was the moment that my career choice was set in stone.  I continued selling beats locally up until right after graduation when i purchased my VIP Soundclick account.  I began selling more beats, but still nothing like i had in mind.  I really just needed exposure, and I still do, which is why I have created this blog.  I am not making this blog in order to just rake in more sales with my music, but rather gain connections, network and simply just get out there a little more.  To prove this, for the rest of the month, I am going to give away a free beat, to anyone who is a fan of my facebook page, and writes on my wall.  If you share this page as well, I will include my own personal drum kit which i use on just about all of my productions.  Simply as that, no fine print.

So what do I have planned? First of all every week I am going to have a “Weekly Sample” post, starting tonight.  I am going to go through all of my samples that I have and I will post a gem for all of you guys to flip.  Even if you do not produce, its still some good music that you can enjoy!  I will continuously be adding to the “Downloads” section of the site providing you guys with free VST instruments, and effects, along with drums to build your collection.  I am going to be adding a “Tutorials” section soon and post a series of tutorials on there that I believe will bring you in a good direction.  There’s a lot of useless crap that people throw on Youtube when they usually have no clue what they are talking about so I will scrape out all of the good stuff for ya!

So those are my intentions.  Hopefully you guys come along for the ride and get some enjoyment out of it too! Keep producing!