When the People Cheer: How Hip-Hop Failed Black America By Questlove

[MikeHawk]

It's a shame that essays by important writers are considered 'too long'

Important work like that deserves to be read without the tl;dr worries

 

[jono]

Twenty years ago, when my father first heard about my hip-hop career, he was skeptical. He didn't know where it was all headed. In his mind, a drummer had a real job, like working as music director for Anita Baker. But if I’m going to marvel at the way that hip-hop overcame his skepticism and became synonymous with our broader black American culture, I’m going to have to be clear with myself that marvel is probably the wrong word. Black culture, which has a long tradition of struggling against (and at the same time, working in close collaboration with) the dominant white culture, has rounded the corner of the 21st century with what looks in one sense like an unequivocal victory. Young America now embraces hip-hop as the signal pop-music genre of its time. So why does that victory feel strange: not exactly hollow, but a little haunted?

I have wondered about this for years, and worried about it for just as many years. It’s kept me up at night or kept me distracted during the day. And after looking far and wide, I keep coming back to the same answer, which is this: The reason is simple. The reason is plain. Once hip-hop culture is ubiquitous, it is also invisible. Once it’s everywhere, it is nowhere. What once offered resistance to mainstream culture (it was part of the larger tapestry, spooky-action style, but it pulled at the fabric) is now an integral part of the sullen dominant. Not to mention the obvious backlash conspiracy paranoia: Once all of black music is associated with hip-hop, then Those Who Wish to Squelch need only squelch one genre to effectively silence an entire cultural movement.

And that’s what it’s become: an entire cultural movement, packed into one hyphenated adjective. These days, nearly anything fashioned or put forth by black people gets referred to as “hip-hop,” even when the description is a poor or pointless fit. “Hip-hop fashion” makes a little sense, but even that is confusing: Does it refer to fashions popularized by hip-hop musicians, like my Lego heart pin, or to fashions that participate in the same vague cool that defines hip-hop music? Others make a whole lot of nonsense: “Hip-hop food”? “Hip-hop politics”? “Hip-hop intellectual”? And there’s even “hip-hop architecture.” What the hell is that? A house you build with a Hammer?

This doesn’t happen with other genres. There’s no folk-music food or New Wave fashion, once you get past food for thought and skinny ties. There’s no junkanoo architecture. The closest thing to a musical style that does double-duty as an overarching aesthetic is punk, and that doesn’t have the same strict racial coding. On the one hand, you can point to this as proof of hip-hop’s success. The concept travels. But where has it traveled? The danger is that it has drifted into oblivion. The music originally evolved to paint portraits of real people and handle real problems at close range — social contract, anyone? — but these days, hip-hop mainly rearranges symbolic freight on the black starliner. Containers on the container ship are taken from here to there — and never mind the fact that they may be empty containers. Keep on pushin’ and all that, but what are you pushing against? As it has become the field rather than the object, hip-hop has lost some of its pertinent sting. And then there’s the question of where hip-hop has arrived commercially, or how fast it’s departing. The music industry in general is sliding, and hip-hop is sliding maybe faster than that. The largest earners earn large, but not at the rate they once did. And everyone beneath that upper level is fading fast.

 

[jono]

I was ready to shit on him based on the title but after reading it, I kind of understand his position.

I made a comment when the Steve Stoute documentary was jumping on BET, I made the statement that hip-hop is being co-opted by the people it was meant to attack.

When one of those crackers in that documentary showed me how hip-hop is differentfrom other genres that look to buck the dominant culture, rappers look to integrate the system and join in (he used the words capitalist and socialist). This is how he found he could relate.

Public Enemy's message of "fight the power" and all the ideals that came with it are now missing and has been replaced with pro-dominant cultures voices and people who look instead to imitate those that PE wanted to fight.

 

[Lustchyld]

the red text is a turn-off

 

[BeerRoids]

I was ready to shit on him based on the title but after reading it, I kind of understand his position.

I made a comment when the Steve Stoute documentary was jumping on BET, I made the statement that hip-hop is being co-opted by the people it was meant to attack.

When one of those crackers in that documentary showed me how hip-hop is differentfrom other genres that look to buck the dominant culture, rappers look to integrate the system and join in (he used the words capitalist and socialist). This is how he found he could relate.

Public Enemy's message of "fight the power" and all the ideals that came with it are now missing and has been replaced with pro-dominant cultures voices and people who look instead to imitate those that PE wanted to fight.

They aren't missing just because other ideologies are promoted more. Dead Prez, Immortal Technique, Paris.. a lot of rappers have been on that tip.

 

[jono]

I was ready to shit on him based on the title but after reading it, I kind of understand his position.

I made a comment when the Steve Stoute documentary was jumping on BET, I made the statement that hip-hop is being co-opted by the people it was meant to attack.

When one of those crackers in that documentary showed me how hip-hop is differentfrom other genres that look to buck the dominant culture, rappers look to integrate the system and join in (he used the words capitalist and socialist). This is how he found he could relate.

Public Enemy's message of "fight the power" and all the ideals that came with it are now missing and has been replaced with pro-dominant cultures voices and people who look instead to imitate those that PE wanted to fight.

They aren't missing just because other ideologies are promoted more. Dead Prez, Immortal Technique, Paris.. a lot of rappers have been on that tip.

Those people barely exist. You missed the point.

You have a handful of voices that go along the lines we are talking about here then you have three times as many who preach the opposite and they are multitudes more successful and have higher profiles.

It's easy to say immortal technique exists, he exists but so what? Rick Ross promotes the opposite ideology and hes everywhere all day everyday. Which do you think has more influence?

I'm not talking about whether I can find the artists I'm looking for, it's about the influence others have.

 

[32DaysOfInfiniti]

Black people failed black america

 

[BrilliantRapscallion]

Black people failed black america

In a lot of ways this, in essence we can blame our brethren for completely selling out what made being black so damn cool to everyone in the first place. The fact that despite hundreds of years of subservient conditioning, we still had the balls to find the voice to speak up against the oppression we faced as a people, against the majority who still fights so hard to keep us down to this day. All the virtue and honor that went into portraying the hurt and sadness our people who live through that everyday and frame it in a way that could be so palatable to the masses. In the same way that was a benefit, is the same way it became a curse.

The fundamental principle of hip-hop, the reason it came to being, that flicker is still there. However, with all the bullshit that has resulted of the last decade, there's no wonder why people were saying that Hip-Hop is dead; too much evidence of people selling out and making a mockery of ourselves, promoting imagery and ideas so counterproductive to any form of progress. It drowns out those who still want to have a voice to inspire some kind of change, and in turn, it makes them want to sell out too because they still have to live and they aren't doing so being true to themselves. Such is the price to pay when we live in a society who is based on the concept of privilege, where people are too afraid to rock the boat to care enough to want to change anything. As long as they get paid.

 

[jono]

A lot of mainstream rappers promote that "YOLO" shit and the lack of forethought into life. Decadence is the norm and labels actually pay these people to portray caricatures of black people.

 

[Ear2DaSt]

Hip Hop opened so many doors.

 

[CantBanTheSoulMan]

Black people failed black people.

Hip hop was born from black folks. If the child goes astray, than isn't the parent usually to blame?

"The largest earners earn large, but not at the rate they once did. And everyone beneath that upper level is fading fast."

Of course not. The only people still buying music are those who still have no clue how torrents work (in 2014 no less smh) or those who buy music so they can pat themselves on the back and feel good about themselves.

 

[Ear2DaSt]

it's not that expensive

 

[I Self Lord & Master]

Eh watever. Ppl invest too much stock into artists, program directors, etc when they are nothing more than expendable employees and or pieces of stock in a sense. They do what they are allowed and what they are instructed to do. Those are tge fortunate few who are successful enough for us to see.

It aint that deep. Fuck music. Black ppl failed when we traded in our synergy to,live wit white,ppl wgo dont want shit to do wit us leaving the only successful ppl on tge block street niggas and asian merchants. All that extra shit is extra shit

 

[loch121]

Great article

Once hip hop/rap was put in the pop arena it lost some context and became cliche'

It went from a niche' to worldwide and it was like airing your family's dirty secrets to the world in some cases

Also like Cb4,once controversy became a selling point,it had a snowball effect of having to out ignorant tha last ignorance.

There are still plenty of great things about hip hop though

 

[SneakDZA]

Eh watever. Ppl invest too much stock into artists, program directors, etc when they are nothing more than expendable employees and or pieces of stock in a sense. They do what they are allowed and what they are instructed to do. Those are tge fortunate few who are successful enough for us to see.

It aint that deep. Fuck music. Black ppl failed when we traded in our synergy to,live wit white,ppl wgo dont want shit to do wit us leaving the only successful ppl on tge block street niggas and asian merchants. All that extra shit is extra shit

That's a pretty bleak attitude for an adult to have in 2014. Maybe the block isn't the place where successful people want to be?

 

[I Self Lord & Master]

Block, neighborhood, ,community watever u wanna refer to it as.

cmon use ur fuckun brain it aint dat deep

 

[SneakDZA]

I was giving you the benefit of the doubt... if you truly believe the only successful people in a black neighborhood are "street niggas" and "asian merchants" that's beyond bleak.

 

[jono]

Black people failed black people.

Hip hop was born from black folks. If the child goes astray, than isn't the parent usually to blame?

"The largest earners earn large, but not at the rate they once did. And everyone beneath that upper level is fading fast."

Of course not. The only people still buying music are those who still have no clue how torrents work (in 2014 no less smh) or those who buy music so they can pat themselves on the back and feel good about themselves.

No. Autonomy in the art comes Into account at some point.

 

[_Goldie_]

He put too much on it with that "hiphop failed black america" bullshit. Hiphop has indeed taken a large fall quality and content wise, but like the brother Michael Eric Dyson stated " if you want great art, be a great listener" . In the late 80s and early 90s , you couldnt get on the mic talking a bunch of bullshit about nothing. You had to actually be talking about something. Even the party niggas like slick rick still had "hey young world" etc. We as the listeners need to stop cosigning the bullshit, and make our pioneers who these younger artist look up to , lead the way with bringing music with a message back to hiphop.

 

[jono]

I can agree that listeners take some blame but the radio and marketing machines brainwash people.