The Hip Hop Generation Gap: I Cram to Understand

What in the name of patriarchy is Ice-T talking about?

Cop Killer Ice-T? Law and Order Ice-T?

It isn't clear to me whether Ice-T is more angry at Hurricane Chris's
and Souljah Boy's perceived lack of "black thug" masculinity or at the
their inability to measure up to Rakim, Das Efx and BDK as emcees.

"Man Up"?

"Take those beads out your hair"?

Please take a moment to understand the irony of a gangster rapping black
man pulling his Cop Killer song amid political controversy, turning around
and acting as a police officer on a television show, then criticizing
myspace rappers for ruining hip hop.

It took me a minute to tie that together. Irony is bugged.

Why did societal pressures influence Ice-T to pull cop killer,
but there is not nary chirp about 50 or Prodigy rapping about killing
20 dudes on Thursday after breakfast?

Because the murder of black men fails to enrage us.

Talk about the public performance of "The Black Thug".

Ice T has been moving in some real, ahem, non thuggish,
circles for the last 8 years so he comes across as putting
10 on 2 for telling someone to man up.

Granted, I will note that he has performed as recently,
as 2006 as a rapper.

However, it would be interesting to see how he performs his day
to day masculinity on the set of one of his Dick Wolf projects.

What Ice-T and many of us fail to understand is that, since Mc Hammer,
in general, and since The Chronic specifically, since the advent of
Soundscan, Hip Hop is like property in Downtown Brooklyn,
Oakland or Chicago.

Its worth a lot of money to those who own the rights to it.

Capitalism performs a specific function with precise efficiency.

This function is to obtain the most profit out of capital (productive
property).

Sometimes that capital is a rental house other times its stock in Viveindi
Universal Studios.

Let me ask you this.

Why is a cd that cost $3 cents to make $15.99 in the stores? Profits.

Why is the rent $1100 this year, when it was $850 three years ago? Profits.

Why is gas $4.20 per gallon? Demand, Supply shortages AND Profits.

Quality control, culture or People be damed.

There is a comment on a three year old post on Hip Hop Blogs, ironically
on the hip hop generation gap which sums up why 2008 is not 1988.

The commenter interestingly named, Iamtheskidwad writes,

I think it's important to see that the exceptional 1% comes to represent and define an era. 99% of artists today are just as wack as back in '89 (when there was just sunshine).

Overall, I think the quality of rap music overall has remained solid to this day. But I definitely agree that we don't have that special 1% anymore. This is old news, but I think the optimism and the sense of possibility was a big part of it. The music had an expansive consciousness. There was a balance between the individual and the group. Rappers still had a little restraint. They were still conscious of their role as representatives of black people and the struggle. Now the attitude is like, "Of course I'm part of the struggle... I'm black."

I also think the audience in the 1980s was looking to rap music to address a wide range of issues. The music had a multi-dimensional social and cultural purpose. But now the music seems to have a much narrower purpose: hedonism and typecasting.

I know this might strike some people the wrong way, but back then I think it was more about being a person, an individual. Now, it's way more about being black in this very self-conscious and superficial way.

I find it ironic that now that a lot of the artistic chains have been lifted, black artists can say anything they want... and yet somehow precisely the opposite is what happens: a lot of rappers seem to be reading from a script on "how to be Black." sorry, i just had to say it.

Upon rereading that I moved by both the honesty, eloquence and sincerity.

Rappers had a little restraint.

Now rapper turned actor-rappers are telling the myspace rappers to man up.