Is hip-hop real music? A few days ago I got in a facebook conversation about this very question. Of course the topic starter was playing devil’s advocate (do you think I’d associate with a hip-hop-hating music snob). He just wanted to spark an intelligent debate amongst his hip-hop loving friends. But his counterpoints were surprisingly strong. Hip-hop is not founded upon live instruments. It is built upon directly borrowing from other music. And it’s not founded upon classical musical ability, in the sense that the average rapper/producer/DJ knows nothing of major scales and the rest of music theory and arguably doesn’t need to know to this stuff to perform their function. Of course, as hip-hop heads, we know this to all be misdirected if not completely wrong. My purpose is not to rehash this argument, so moving on…
There was one counter-point that my friend made that struck me deeply. Hip-hop isn’t studied. Hip-hop is one of the most popular forms of music worldwide, yet as an academic study it severely lags behind other genres. Few colleges offer hip-hop history courses. Even fewer schools, if any at all, offer hip-hop as a concentration in their music programs. Not that I expect this to happen soon, hip-hop is only around 40 years old, and jazz took a long time to assume such a place of respect as to be studied in universities. But just because it’s not formally studied yet doesn’t mean that we can’t informally study it, right?
So Knowledge to the rescue, and my intro almost to an end. I intend to analyze the best hip-hop lyrics, to show that a true emcees’ lyricism is all you need in order to call hip-hop music. Even if all the other arguments against hip-hop as music were true (which they aren’t), having an emcee spit something ill makes it music, period. Music is artistic audible communication using instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner. An emcee structures words and inflections and such together to deliver an idea. Hence all hip-hop is music. Middle finger to all haters.
So tomorrow, expect volume one of Why We Love H.E.R.
~Knowledge the Hip-Hop Professor
Great post yo!
I just want to outline some things about what your friend said in the following:
His counterpoints were surprisingly strong. Hip-hop is not founded upon live instruments. It is built upon directly borrowing from other music. And it’s not founded upon classical musical ability, in the sense that the average rapper/producer/DJ knows nothing of major scales and the rest of music theory and arguably doesn’t need to know to this stuff to perform their function.
While it does show versatility on a producer’s part to know scales, arrangements, or anything in music theory in general, what I don’t think your friend realizes is regardless of that fact, he has to understand what Reganomics did for folks who turned to hip-hop to make music. Borrowing/Sampling so to speak was a direct result of that. Tricia Rose’s “Black Noise” outlines this a lot especially in Chapter 2, albeit very poorly (save to speak she thinks the TR-808 is digital. Nice try Trish.)
As far as this one:
I intend to analyze the best hip-hop lyrics, to show that a true emcees’ lyricism is all you need in order to call hip-hop music.
Nas’s “I Gave You Power” is a perfect example.
Waddup! Remember that son was playing devil’s advocate. But anyway that’s a really good point that I hadn’t thought about before. These people didn’t even have the opportunity to become trained musicians in the first place. I’m gonna have to cop that book.
Your example has been logged. ?I think you’ll be very pleased with what I chose for the first volume
I can understand the Devil’s advocate theory, and while its a good one, its kind of the common argument when it comes down to why some folks don’t like rap. “Oh it’s not even music, it’s just borrowing from everything,” well yeah, but what about those remakes Rock ‘n Rollers pride themselves on? And what jazz musicians did with jazz standards such as “My Favorite Things”? We don’t consider those sampling. I look at what we’re doing like a jazz standard. Like when folks recite Rakim lines in their verses, that means they have become legend and a standard so to speak.
it’s the same old argument, but it’s fun to hear new retorts to it. Such as the comparison (which I love!) of Rakim lyrics to Jazz standards. Especially because we as hip-hoppers gotta be ready for this stuff, ready to defend our artform. I had this argument with a friend in high school and was caught off-guard. Never again!