One of the biggest divides in hip hop is culture versus craft. By culture I mean, the appearance an artist will reflect to their fans by the quality of their music. By craft, it’s mainly about the lyrics and how powerful the rhymes an artist can put together are. Many famous artists believe that they should have the appearance of hip hop culture rather than worry about what they have to say. They try out new things in their songs by imitating the beat with their voice. Its what they use to stay creative and to keep their fans to continue on listening. They also take the approach to ignore their voice and focus on the sound of the music. The artists who choose culture over craft pay less attention to their voice and more attention to the music. Other artists would rather worry about what they have to say. They mainly focus on their lyrics and figure out what words go together to make their song powerful. Although, I believe a true hip hop artist has to be motivating, lyrically speaking, rather then worry about creative new ideas to make their music presentable. This divide between craft and culture is a never ending story. There are various artists who go in both directions to suit whatever their hip hop image is. When a hip hop artist does use their creativity to emphasize their music, it can sound great but the words are just irrelevant. I do think that the lyrics of the song are of more importance because it grabs your attention more than the awkward noises and bizarre voices. People can choose to listen to a song that emphasizes their creativity but have absolutely no idea what the artist is trying to say. I would rather listen to a song where I can relate to or where there’s an impressive story in the rhymes. I’m not saying using creativity in their songs is bad because it can be catchy when you listen to it. Those types of songs catch your attention because of the beat and the rhythm. However, the choice of words are important. The choice of words is what helps you determine whether the artist is great or not. If an artist can pull words together and make a great song it shows that they are passionate for the world of hip hop. It also shows that they are very much capable of maintaining their status in the hip hop world. The things that hip hop artists choose to rap about is what ranks them to be number one or become at the bottom of the list. Aside from hip hop artists being able to rhyme it also matters what beat they use. The beat helps to emphasize the lyrics, it helps the words to flow together. This shows that craft and culture do not necessarily need to be separate from each other. Many artists choose to use both. This growing divide can change the way that people interpret the world of music. Rapping will always have a role in hip hop but it is up to the artist on which route to choose.
Hip hop is not even close to being one of my favorite’s unless you put the word Christian in front of it. Toby Mac is one of the most popular Christian Hip Hop artists presently and one of my most listened too.One of our class mates wrote about what I like to call Hip Hop Humanitarians. I would love to see a positive movement within the Hip Hop community take place. A merging of Christians with Hip Hop artists that want to help the hurting and the needy people of our world. When one thinks about it we can fully understand the expression “When much is given, much is required.” With the platform these artists have it could be used for good. Can you see the serving diva? Or our desire to acquire all the bling bling to feed the hungry and provide for those less fortunate? You definitely wouldn’t be considered a diva waiting on other people and worldly cool does not embrace selflessness. So should we care about the content of the music? The beat is okay but what if we are shaking our booties and bobbing our heads to profanity and filth? A lot of people say it doesn’t matter as long as the beat gets ya movin’. That is why the industry says the lyrics cannot prompt to action because a lot of the lyrics are junk and they think the people aren’t listening. That is just another excuse for them to avoid their social responsibility. The culture and the craft can reflect one another with an imperfect balance. With that I mean a little less craft with more attention to culture or vice versa. What cannot not be imbalanced without regret of effect is the message being preached and the selfish lifestyles being communicated and embraced. To see a swing in the any one of the industries would delight me. That the people would humble themselves, which is repent, and pray to God that our land would be healed. Praying to God with repentance is an admission that the way we are living is wrong. That the land is cursed because we are producing a curse with how we live. The miracle would be the change in our thinking and behaviors. We would be empowered by God and His Holy Spirit to accomplish His agenda of love on earth. To operate in love with no selfishness is what God is calling us to do. The highest calling is love and if you have not that whatever you do is worthless and that includes Hip Hop.
ReplyDelete