Monday, April 26, 2010
I Am Probably Going to Finish in Last
I am opening myself up again romantically and making some big strides doing so. I'm probably going to wind up getting less than I put in again...the downside of being a nice guy.
Monday, April 19, 2010
The Culture of Hip Hop
This is an essay I wrote for my music history class. I believe hip-hop is severely misunderstood and some of the opinions I hear toward it are disturbing. I'll admit, hip-hop can be degrading and it does glorify materialism and crime, but like I say in the essay, it also has much more redeeming values. I'd like to hear some comments on my essay and opinions on hip-hop. I believe there is so much I didn't cover. Enjoy reading!
Although hip-hop and rap are often used interchangeably to describe a genre of music, they actually have different technical meanings. Hip-hop is a musical culture consisting of four elements; break dancing, graffiti art, DJing, and rapping. As seen, rap is simply one of four elements in hip-hop culture, the rapid, rhythmic vocals of an emcee. It is the most promoted element of hip-hop; so much so that many people who call themselves rap fans don’t know the difference between the two words.
Hip-hop is a pool of misconceptions. Over a period of 30 years, hip-hop has evolved drastically. In the early days, the music simply consisted of a DJ repeating a break while the emcee acted much more like today’s hype men than today’s emcees. Hip-hop has also become more commercialized, and unfortunately even exploited. As a result, certain groups formed, dedicated to preserving hip-hop’s roots. Popular amongst extreme preservationists, as well as those simply ignorant of the hip-hop culture, is the idea that “rap” is a bad word, an acronym for “record artists pretending”, while “hip-hop” is the proper term.
Rap in no historical way is a derogatory term, so why do these preservationists get so upset over the word? It’s shorter to say than hip-hop, and is actually more specific because it’s the musical component of the culture. This is one of many common mislabels in hip-hop that doesn’t exist. What these people do not acknowledge is that hip-hop is vast and rich, and the attempt at creating a hierarchy of labels in hip-hop as to what is and isn’t real is futile. Hip-hop, at its core, is a source of entertainment and escape, and is correctly explored through many different approaches.
In 1975, Kingston DJ Kool Herc immigrated to The Bronx, bringing with him a new style of DJing, reciting improvised rhymes over dubbed versions of Jamaican records. However, New Yorkers weren’t into Reggae at the time, so he switched from Reggae to popular tunes. As this style of DJing became popular, competing DJs elaborated more with their rhymes. Eventually, Kool Herc gave up his emceeing role and let two friends take his position, Coke La Rock and Clark Kent, forming hip-hops first ever crew, Kool Herc and the Herculoids.
Rap started in The Bronx and then eventually the rest of New York City. This new style of music attracted many of New York’s young people because it gave them praise, inspired creativity, and the opportunity to express their personalities. As it is often praised for today, rapping was truely an escape from the realities of urban life for the young, and as long as one had a mouth they could join in.
The first commercialization of hip-hop was the hit song “Rapper’s Delight”. Although many critics consider it one of the most important songs in hip-hop, it is a slightly modified stolen work of Grandmaster Caz’s “Emcees Delight”. While The Sugar Hill Gang lives on in hip hop history, despite being non-rappers from New Jersey, Grandmaster Caz is a name usually only known by the dedicated aficionados.
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were the first truly recognizable rap group. Consisting of dedicated rappers who were previously innovators and famous in their neighborhoods, and a DJ who pioneered many turntable techniques, they are considered more true artists and have been given the honor of the first rap group inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They are known for socio-political commentary in songs such as “The Message” and “White Lines”, and interestingly enough their lyrics and sampling still sound fresh to this day.
Although DJs and rappers such as Afrika Bambaataa and T. La Rock were making great music in the early 80’s, it wasn’t until Run DMC’s self-titled debut that hip-hop artists would truly be challenged to out do each other. This form of rap was much harder and aggressive than previously seen. Then, with their third album Raising Hell, Hip-Hop had entered what many consider a “Golden Age”, which lasted until the mid 90s. With this second era of hip-hop, many new styles were created, mostly reflecting the atmosphere of the region they were created.
From this point, rap becomes very dynamic and divided by regions. Although East Coast and West Coast are the most popular scenes, other regions were bringing up great rappers as well, such as Outkast in the south, UGK in Texas, Common in the Midwest, and Too $hort in the Bay Area. As it can be seen, regions in hip-hop vary in how specific they are, depending on how different sounding the regions are. Texas is a southern state and is technically considered in the southern hip-hop realm, but because of its more aggressive sound compared to other southern hip-hop, it is usually specified.
As each region began birthing artists achieving gold records, hip-hop became commercialized. Thus, an “Us and Them” mentality developed in many “hip-hop heads” minds, separating those that were rappers because they were artists from those that were rappers because they were con artists. By “jacking beats” and including cheap sexuality in their rhymes, many rappers made money by exploiting the hip-hop culture. Vanilla Ice may be the quintessential example. In 1990 he released “Ice Ice Baby”, a #1 hit that relates instances of drive-by shooting in the lyrics and an uncleared sample of “Under Pressure” by Queen and David Bowie. Vanilla Ice was never involved in any drive-bys or any other gangster experiences he claims. His phoniness was eventually revealed by mainstream music media and a once #1 artist turned into a joke.
My interest in hip-hop began in middle school. Before this, I thought of hip-hop as superficial, and was not interested in it until I decided to explore it deeper after hearing the song TROY by Pete Rock and CL Smooth. From there, I looked into many artists from the golden age of hip hop: A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Gang Starr, and Public Enemy were my favorites. Slowly, I started creeping into more recent artists, such as Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and MF DOOM. Then from there I expanded my horizons to different sounds and became open to nearly anything new to my ears.
After attending numerous hip-hop shows, educating myself on its culture, and living the culture, what got me to love hip-hop were the mutual dedication and respect fans had for the art, just as myself had. At shows, it doesn’t matter what skin color or age a person is. Respect comes from knowledge of the philosophy and works of hip-hop artists. There’s a shared emotional appreciation at shows for the lines that the emcees recite, the meaning they have to the fans, the way that these lines changed their perspectives on life. Everybody relates to the music and will bob their head or wave their hands in unison as a single mind set appreciating the music.
So, what I don’t understand is how certain “fans” spend so much energy on differentiating terms in hip-hop. What I find much more common than the knowledgeable elitists who claim Hip-Hop is dead and that the only real Hip-Hop is in the underground, the ones that are truly fed up with con artists taking over the industry they loved, are ignorant listeners who claim the same thing. As much as I love hip-hop, it’s a culture of hypocrisy. There are many redeeming elements I find in the music, but I also understand that many artists sell-out or will contradict a message in one song with another song. Hip-hop is not meant to be an idealistic philosophy, it’s real life, all the bad and good qualities. The rapper Common has been known to say borderline racism in his songs, yet he’s still loved for his spiritual approaches and for being an alternative to the gangster style. So why don’t more outside listeners see Scarface as an alternative as well, a rapper that deeply explores the psychological frustration of being raised in one of the poorest neighborhoods in America? Yes, Scarface does use a lot of profanity and glorifies drug use, but he’s also lyrically articulate and a social critic. Not to mention he’s energizing to listen to.
Because it’s a culture of contradictions, hip-hop takes a long time to apprehend. It’s easy for one to say they understand hip-hop after listening to it on the radio and then delving into a few underground artists. Until one lives the vast culture themselves and discovers it on their own, the false media publicity are the opinions they will have on it. That’s also not to say that everyone will come out with the same perspective. The only common idea one should come out with other explorers is that hip-hop is clearly a culture.
Although hip-hop and rap are often used interchangeably to describe a genre of music, they actually have different technical meanings. Hip-hop is a musical culture consisting of four elements; break dancing, graffiti art, DJing, and rapping. As seen, rap is simply one of four elements in hip-hop culture, the rapid, rhythmic vocals of an emcee. It is the most promoted element of hip-hop; so much so that many people who call themselves rap fans don’t know the difference between the two words.
Hip-hop is a pool of misconceptions. Over a period of 30 years, hip-hop has evolved drastically. In the early days, the music simply consisted of a DJ repeating a break while the emcee acted much more like today’s hype men than today’s emcees. Hip-hop has also become more commercialized, and unfortunately even exploited. As a result, certain groups formed, dedicated to preserving hip-hop’s roots. Popular amongst extreme preservationists, as well as those simply ignorant of the hip-hop culture, is the idea that “rap” is a bad word, an acronym for “record artists pretending”, while “hip-hop” is the proper term.
Rap in no historical way is a derogatory term, so why do these preservationists get so upset over the word? It’s shorter to say than hip-hop, and is actually more specific because it’s the musical component of the culture. This is one of many common mislabels in hip-hop that doesn’t exist. What these people do not acknowledge is that hip-hop is vast and rich, and the attempt at creating a hierarchy of labels in hip-hop as to what is and isn’t real is futile. Hip-hop, at its core, is a source of entertainment and escape, and is correctly explored through many different approaches.
In 1975, Kingston DJ Kool Herc immigrated to The Bronx, bringing with him a new style of DJing, reciting improvised rhymes over dubbed versions of Jamaican records. However, New Yorkers weren’t into Reggae at the time, so he switched from Reggae to popular tunes. As this style of DJing became popular, competing DJs elaborated more with their rhymes. Eventually, Kool Herc gave up his emceeing role and let two friends take his position, Coke La Rock and Clark Kent, forming hip-hops first ever crew, Kool Herc and the Herculoids.
Rap started in The Bronx and then eventually the rest of New York City. This new style of music attracted many of New York’s young people because it gave them praise, inspired creativity, and the opportunity to express their personalities. As it is often praised for today, rapping was truely an escape from the realities of urban life for the young, and as long as one had a mouth they could join in.
The first commercialization of hip-hop was the hit song “Rapper’s Delight”. Although many critics consider it one of the most important songs in hip-hop, it is a slightly modified stolen work of Grandmaster Caz’s “Emcees Delight”. While The Sugar Hill Gang lives on in hip hop history, despite being non-rappers from New Jersey, Grandmaster Caz is a name usually only known by the dedicated aficionados.
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were the first truly recognizable rap group. Consisting of dedicated rappers who were previously innovators and famous in their neighborhoods, and a DJ who pioneered many turntable techniques, they are considered more true artists and have been given the honor of the first rap group inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They are known for socio-political commentary in songs such as “The Message” and “White Lines”, and interestingly enough their lyrics and sampling still sound fresh to this day.
Although DJs and rappers such as Afrika Bambaataa and T. La Rock were making great music in the early 80’s, it wasn’t until Run DMC’s self-titled debut that hip-hop artists would truly be challenged to out do each other. This form of rap was much harder and aggressive than previously seen. Then, with their third album Raising Hell, Hip-Hop had entered what many consider a “Golden Age”, which lasted until the mid 90s. With this second era of hip-hop, many new styles were created, mostly reflecting the atmosphere of the region they were created.
From this point, rap becomes very dynamic and divided by regions. Although East Coast and West Coast are the most popular scenes, other regions were bringing up great rappers as well, such as Outkast in the south, UGK in Texas, Common in the Midwest, and Too $hort in the Bay Area. As it can be seen, regions in hip-hop vary in how specific they are, depending on how different sounding the regions are. Texas is a southern state and is technically considered in the southern hip-hop realm, but because of its more aggressive sound compared to other southern hip-hop, it is usually specified.
As each region began birthing artists achieving gold records, hip-hop became commercialized. Thus, an “Us and Them” mentality developed in many “hip-hop heads” minds, separating those that were rappers because they were artists from those that were rappers because they were con artists. By “jacking beats” and including cheap sexuality in their rhymes, many rappers made money by exploiting the hip-hop culture. Vanilla Ice may be the quintessential example. In 1990 he released “Ice Ice Baby”, a #1 hit that relates instances of drive-by shooting in the lyrics and an uncleared sample of “Under Pressure” by Queen and David Bowie. Vanilla Ice was never involved in any drive-bys or any other gangster experiences he claims. His phoniness was eventually revealed by mainstream music media and a once #1 artist turned into a joke.
My interest in hip-hop began in middle school. Before this, I thought of hip-hop as superficial, and was not interested in it until I decided to explore it deeper after hearing the song TROY by Pete Rock and CL Smooth. From there, I looked into many artists from the golden age of hip hop: A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Gang Starr, and Public Enemy were my favorites. Slowly, I started creeping into more recent artists, such as Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and MF DOOM. Then from there I expanded my horizons to different sounds and became open to nearly anything new to my ears.
After attending numerous hip-hop shows, educating myself on its culture, and living the culture, what got me to love hip-hop were the mutual dedication and respect fans had for the art, just as myself had. At shows, it doesn’t matter what skin color or age a person is. Respect comes from knowledge of the philosophy and works of hip-hop artists. There’s a shared emotional appreciation at shows for the lines that the emcees recite, the meaning they have to the fans, the way that these lines changed their perspectives on life. Everybody relates to the music and will bob their head or wave their hands in unison as a single mind set appreciating the music.
So, what I don’t understand is how certain “fans” spend so much energy on differentiating terms in hip-hop. What I find much more common than the knowledgeable elitists who claim Hip-Hop is dead and that the only real Hip-Hop is in the underground, the ones that are truly fed up with con artists taking over the industry they loved, are ignorant listeners who claim the same thing. As much as I love hip-hop, it’s a culture of hypocrisy. There are many redeeming elements I find in the music, but I also understand that many artists sell-out or will contradict a message in one song with another song. Hip-hop is not meant to be an idealistic philosophy, it’s real life, all the bad and good qualities. The rapper Common has been known to say borderline racism in his songs, yet he’s still loved for his spiritual approaches and for being an alternative to the gangster style. So why don’t more outside listeners see Scarface as an alternative as well, a rapper that deeply explores the psychological frustration of being raised in one of the poorest neighborhoods in America? Yes, Scarface does use a lot of profanity and glorifies drug use, but he’s also lyrically articulate and a social critic. Not to mention he’s energizing to listen to.
Because it’s a culture of contradictions, hip-hop takes a long time to apprehend. It’s easy for one to say they understand hip-hop after listening to it on the radio and then delving into a few underground artists. Until one lives the vast culture themselves and discovers it on their own, the false media publicity are the opinions they will have on it. That’s also not to say that everyone will come out with the same perspective. The only common idea one should come out with other explorers is that hip-hop is clearly a culture.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Moon
Along with You, The Living, Moon is another film from the latter part of the past decade that I recently discovered and has instantly become one of my favorites. It was actually released just last year, and had completely avoided my film radar. The movie was directed by David Bowie's son, Duncan Jones...as if anybody was aware that David Bowie had a son...let alone one that was recognizable...let alone directing great movies! Moon is a return to the mature Sci Fi film that's standard was set by 2001: A Space Odyssey. Although it's no 2001, it's a great film that uses that imaginative backdrop of space to explore human conditions. There's no state of the art special effects or famous movie stars saving Earth. This is the space of imagination and mystery, an infinite land waiting to be explored by creative minds brave enough to do so.
Kevin Spacey provides the voice of GERTY, a robot assistant on a space bunker that's very reminiscent of the robot assistant from 2001. However, GERTY is full of personality and stands as a character on his own, being a homage rather than a rip off. His expressions are shown as a smiley face on a computer screen and brings life into the white walled, dull atmosphere of the moon bunker. GERTY is assisting Sam Bell, a man that has been operating the bunker for 3 years for Lunar, a company that harvests Helium-3 from the moon to provide resources for Earth. His loneliness and isolation has brought him to the brink of hallucination. He has a wife on Earth who just gave birth to his son, but because of a communication satellite failure, he's unable to speak to them.
The film soon takes a twist, and the viewers hostility toward Lunar's secrecy turns out to be justified. Sam discovers his life is not all that he thought it was and later makes a hard choice in coming to accept that. What surprised me so much about Moon was how charming it was. It's both funny and introspective. Duncan Jones is set to create a trilogy set in Moon's story line. I can't wait to see how the rest turn out considering how good Moon was!
Kevin Spacey provides the voice of GERTY, a robot assistant on a space bunker that's very reminiscent of the robot assistant from 2001. However, GERTY is full of personality and stands as a character on his own, being a homage rather than a rip off. His expressions are shown as a smiley face on a computer screen and brings life into the white walled, dull atmosphere of the moon bunker. GERTY is assisting Sam Bell, a man that has been operating the bunker for 3 years for Lunar, a company that harvests Helium-3 from the moon to provide resources for Earth. His loneliness and isolation has brought him to the brink of hallucination. He has a wife on Earth who just gave birth to his son, but because of a communication satellite failure, he's unable to speak to them.
The film soon takes a twist, and the viewers hostility toward Lunar's secrecy turns out to be justified. Sam discovers his life is not all that he thought it was and later makes a hard choice in coming to accept that. What surprised me so much about Moon was how charming it was. It's both funny and introspective. Duncan Jones is set to create a trilogy set in Moon's story line. I can't wait to see how the rest turn out considering how good Moon was!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Favorite Movies
I was thinking, and creating little lists of my favorite things is a good way to help me understand what I truly value. My first couple of lists are going to be general, but then they'll get more specific. Enjoy!
1.Raging Bull
2.Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
3.The Seventh Seal
4.Wild Strawberries
5.Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
6.Onibaba
7.Pickpocket
8.Neil Young: Heart of Gold
9.The Battle of Algiers
10.Eraserhead
11.Amelie
12.High and Low
13.The Bicycle Thief
14.Singin in the Rain
15.The Godfather Pt. II
16.The Godfather
17.Miller's Crossing
18.The King of Kong
19.Once Upon a Time in the West
20.Sideways
21.The Passion of Joan of Arc
22.Adaptation
23.You, The Living
24.The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
25.Jurassic Park
26.A Face in the Crowd
27.Taste of Cherry
28.2001: A Space Odyssey
29.Letters From Iwo Jima
30.Forrest Gump
1.Raging Bull
2.Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
3.The Seventh Seal
4.Wild Strawberries
5.Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
6.Onibaba
7.Pickpocket
8.Neil Young: Heart of Gold
9.The Battle of Algiers
10.Eraserhead
11.Amelie
12.High and Low
13.The Bicycle Thief
14.Singin in the Rain
15.The Godfather Pt. II
16.The Godfather
17.Miller's Crossing
18.The King of Kong
19.Once Upon a Time in the West
20.Sideways
21.The Passion of Joan of Arc
22.Adaptation
23.You, The Living
24.The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
25.Jurassic Park
26.A Face in the Crowd
27.Taste of Cherry
28.2001: A Space Odyssey
29.Letters From Iwo Jima
30.Forrest Gump
Monday, April 12, 2010
You, The Living
Why do humans stare so tenaciously at other people's misfortunes? Why do we live off our fantasies so sternly? How unfortunate can we call a bad hair cut when a man suddenly dies of a stroke in front of you after whelping over said hair cut? You, The Living, one of the best movie I've seen this decade, critiques modern day human's trivial obsessions, and explores these human conditions existentially. Here at the small campus I attend, I have a close relationship with many different people. I can relate to it, laughing at the characters peculiarities because it's what I see every day, as well as do myself.
The film itself is 50 vignettes of interconnected lives. Watching the first 10 minutes of the movie, it's hard not to get sucked in. The second scene is especially worth mentioning. It starts out sad, with a woman crying over the breakup of her boyfriend with her boyfriend. Then she starts talking about the sadness of their dog and how he is affected by the breakup. Finally, they end the conversation with what's cooking for supper. At the end a brass band starts playing across the street with people in a building behind the band staring at the scene of the break up.
The film is full of symbolism and is deep beneath its simple exterior. I can't recommend it enough. Anybody reading this should go out and watch it ASAP.
The film itself is 50 vignettes of interconnected lives. Watching the first 10 minutes of the movie, it's hard not to get sucked in. The second scene is especially worth mentioning. It starts out sad, with a woman crying over the breakup of her boyfriend with her boyfriend. Then she starts talking about the sadness of their dog and how he is affected by the breakup. Finally, they end the conversation with what's cooking for supper. At the end a brass band starts playing across the street with people in a building behind the band staring at the scene of the break up.
The film is full of symbolism and is deep beneath its simple exterior. I can't recommend it enough. Anybody reading this should go out and watch it ASAP.
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