Barak on Hip Hop

Ok, I have been on the Obama fence for some time now. I wasn't sure if he was black, white, Cablasion (as Tiger calls it). I wasn't really sure where he stood on the issue of his "blackness." To me that is very important, especially, in today's socio-political and economic climate. To be honest I'm not sure I feel any more affinity for Obama now but I do know this... Watching this clip didn't give me the usual jaw clenching feeling I usually get when I hear the "Civil Rights" generation talk about hip hop. They talk about it from such a far removed place that it's almost impossible to take their opinion and criticism to heart. Furthermore, they have this old school way of thinking i.e. I'm older than you so if I say hip hop is bad it's bad. Respect your elders... back in my day we didn't blah blah blah." Not to seem disrespectful but that just doesn't fly with today's youth. The control parents once had came largely from control of what your children knew or experienced. Now, the the innovation of the Internet and text messaging, parents have virtually no control of what information their kids have access to. So when you get people around your grandparents age or even your parents (if you have parents that are actually parent age! Not like your 25 and your mom is 32, lol) barking mindlessly about your music without even taking the time to listen to a song that wasn't looped on Hot97 or BET (Black Embarrassing Television) a million times, it's hard to take seriously.
In this clip Barak comes off like a concerned dad. He seems like he's taken the time to listen to a Jay-Z album and see the quality of his lyrical ability in SPITE of the "Radio Play" tracks. He says he met with Jay and Kanye. Not that every parent can do that, obviously most can not! However it's the sentiment of his effort. He points out the bad in such a tender and kind way that you can't help but say "damn, I need to stop cursing."
Overall, I'm not handing out any "Black Passes" or anything, but I'm not mad at him...

~H. Herald~

An ode to Hip Hop... well not really an "ode" just a cool comment :-)

As the the second edition to the "Hip Hop generation" (being that the true starters of the hip hop movement are probably about 5-6 years older than me) we like to credit people who have a good flow and good content and even some people that don't. But, I think we truly forget people who engineered the way rappers rap today. The style is SO different. Most of us remember Kid N Play right, the go-go rhythm and simple one two rap style... "Say Heyyyy, now say Hoooooooo! Now say Hey-Ho...." and so on. There was a time when a flow like Jay Z's or Nas' or Rakim or Keith Murry (also a SICK MC) wasn't even on the map; because it hadn't been invented yet. Crazy rapid fire styles like Bone Thugs' or even creative stop and start types like Kanye or Wayne weren't even in consideration. So, with that said, I'd like to pay homage to this Harlem native and a favorite rapper of mine from the days of way back. I mean like sitting in the house with a cassette tape in the Hi-Fi trying to catch his songs on the radio cause my mother wouldn't let me buy the tape... the FIRST RAP BATTLE EVER! More importantly though, a clip of time where hip hop went from being a entertaining musical style to a validated competitive arena where oratory stamina and mental power were necessity for credibility. Here's to you Kool-Moe Dee.

Sincerely,

~H. Herald~