So apparently a 50 year old man has pinned the entire downfall of hip-hop on a wildly popular kid who makes inane, irksome songs.
Fortunately for me and my laziness, Jay Smooth breaks down my thoughts on the matter in bite-sized fashion suitable for a block quote. If I were important I’d make dude my spokesman:
I’d love to see his generation feel more of a connection with our hip-hop, but they don’t OWE that to us. It would only happen if we built relationships with them beyond the same arrogant knee-jerk hate our elders gave to our music. Like Soulja Boy said, if we think they can do better we should be helping them. Or else just accept that they have their own thing that isn’t meant for us, and move on. Cuz we’re sounding way too much like our parents at this point.
There is a troublesome challenge I’m having these days, which is to not let my adherence to standards expand to a close-minded dismissal of everything I can’t immediately relate to. It’s almost like turning into your parents is inevitable.
Well, that’s the mature, measured thought process. My id is also partial to this one.
And in related news from the “I’m old and just can’t understand” department, this hipster hop thing isn’t going away any time soon (the battle still rages, just hasn’t merited any more discussion on these pages.)
I recently had a meeting of the minds on this topic:
stylus: so I’m trying to give the Cool Kids a chance
but it’s just alien to me
they’re talking about ’88 like they were there
PJ: i could care less.
i’ve never heard any of their shit
i find the whole thing puzzling
PJ: so fucking pretentious
stylus: very puzzling
this article made me hate them
but i’m listening to some stuff now
because I don’t want to be old bitter dude and I want to be fair
is it homage or irony?
the “Black Mags” joint is kinda fun
about picking up a honey on your BMX bike
PJ: arent they from UPENN?
stylus: detroit and chicago
it’s REALLY hard for me to not hate these kids
but then I tell myself, we were borrowing heavily from the ’70s in the ’90s
how are these cats different from Camp Lo?
PJ: they dont have ski beats
and they have the internets
stylus: right
but you know what I mean
Camp Lo bathed in that whole blaxploitation style
isn’t that what these cats are doing, just focusing on a decade later?
PJ: DING DING DING
stylus, you’ve won the contest
wait
does this mean cats are gonna start doing 90s rap next decade?
stylus: very quite possibly
hoodies, Carhart and iggedy biggedy
machetes
tie-top hats
PJ: lol
stylus: east coast stomping
I don’t think cross colours will be resurrected though
so if these youngsters get a pass because our generation did the same shit, why am I still annoyed?
PJ: because it’s lame
pretentious
internets pitchfork blog hype
thats why
stylus: they’re only hot because of the online hype machine?
they actually rap pretty decent
and they name drop the old school a lot
isn’t that a positive thing?
especially since the young generation is so quick to dismiss history
PJ: yeah
i guess so.
stylus: I’m still annoyed though
PJ: rightfully so
stylus: can’t pinpoint why
they’re talking about boomboxes and cassettes and shit
they were 1 and 4 years old in ’89
PJ: they r posers
stylus: so the rappers who borrowed all that 70’s pimp imagery were poseurs too?
PJ: yes
stylus: there you have it
PJ: but
camp lo werent some upenn grads
this is ivy league suburb 80s poser
i think thats the difference
stylus: where’d see they were upenn grads?
PJ: maybe im making that up
or confusing them
stylus: I tried to post about it a while back
then I couldn’t make myself care any more
Stay tuned to this ongoing process.
Dammit!!!!!!!! I also agree with Souljah Boy. I get tired of old folks complaining about shit and not making any attempt to connect to the younger generation. That, in my opinion, is the main contributing factor to the downfall of our society. Older generations say “Things used to be this way and these young people don’t know shit… bla bla fucking bla bla” Meanwhile, young people don’t care about any of that, the same way the older people didn’t care about THEIR elders opinion 35 years ago. It eventually comes full circle but I wish our elders would cut that bullshit out. It doesn’t provide anything… Thanks for posting this. I just got the Cool Kids album. I’m dumb late on listening to them, probably for the same reasons you’re annoyed by them although they seem to have all the shit that us purists look for in “acceptable” rap music. These days, we can really find a logical reason to be annoyed at anything. Especially if there is an enormous amount of hype and we all lived through the era where what they were doing was original.
BUT! I also agree with Ice-T, now that I watched his response to Souljah Boy’s video.
Now I’m over it. Back to more important issues…
I agree with you. Not only do I not care about Soulja Boy, I care even less about Ice T. Isn’t he married to an inflatable doll?
In any case, there were tons of horrible rap shit out when we were coming up, but all that shit has fallen by the wayside. I’m sure my parents were totally confused as to why I could like groups that dressed with their clothes on backwards (Criss Cross) or inside out (Another Bad Creation), but they were dope at the time.
I say, let the kids have their fun. If Soulja Boy’s smart enough, he’ll save his money and not look like Hammer when he spent all his money on his boys…and horses and waterfalls and shit. Cream always rises to the top, and the good music will always do just that. These kids will discover Max Roach and Big Daddy Kane and whoever else is worth listening to when they get to college anyway.
Ice-T apologized but is still beefing, blah blah…
It can’t hurt to reiterate:
And I should do a mix that consists of nothing but terrible, corny golden age & old school hip-hop.
i’m no fan of soulja boy tell’em (i’ll use his full name since i don’t know him like that), but it seems to me, considering ice-t’s contribution to the hip hop canon, he speaks from a glass house. with his distinct lack of rhyme skills and as a long-time advocate of pimpin’, there’s a bit of a credibility gap…like say here