I am a Rapper. I have been one off and on for more than three decades. I have seen Rap music EVOLVE many times over the years. I have witnessed “The Message” singlehandedly legitimize Rap as an art form, helping it to mutate from mere party music to a rhythmic form of social commentary. I heard RUN-DMC bringing forth a new rhyme style, one where rhyme partners are now sharing rhyme lines, often overlapping the other’s Rap to complete a phrase, line or sentence. I was blessed to hear Rakim elevate the unpredictability of the rhyme pattern. He also was responsible for increasing the graphic nature of Rap, to the extent that one could almost visualize the scene that Rakim was verbally creating.
I heard Public Enemy (PE) bring us screeching sounds that served as rhythms that were unprecedented. Additionally, Chuck D. was responsible for introducing a powerful baritone that we had up until that point never heard. With it he paired political references that gave his voice an authoritative tone that was equally startling and thrilling.
Visually, X Clan as well as Arrested Development, gave us images of Pan African longings that were reminders of the desire for self-determination that sprang from the 60s.
I heard early 90s Rappers like The Wu- Tang Clan, Nas, The Notorious B.I.G. and others usher in a new “flow” that reflected a tendency to now spit rhymes off the top of one’s head. This verbal improvisation led to more fluidity being a common observation in Rap deliveries, in much the same way that improvising on one’s instrument ultimately leads to a more instinctive and fluid playing.
I say all these things to say this: Rap has always EVOLVED. Everything that I previously mentioned enhanced Rap in that the aforementioned mutations led to a more advanced art form, one that was growing ever more complex and layered. Rap, like any other art form, was becoming more challenging to perform or replicate. To be a dope emcee now required study and practice.
Sadly, the desire to be unique no longer exists in Rap. Everyone now wants to “ape” Drake or Future. To be accepted today (in mainstream Rap, anyway) requires that your delivery be nasal and monotone. Mainstream radio has no patience or appreciation for unique rhyme patterns anymore. Everyone flows the same. What few understand currently (but they will in time), is that uniqueness paves the way for legacy. No one will ever forget the tone of MC Lite that made it challenging to initially identify her sex with certainty. The unforced rasp of Method Man is immediately recognized as his own. The world-weary tone and delivery of Scarface will be discussed 30 years into the future. The story telling of Common will forever be the centerpiece of discussions that address those parallels between Rap, poetry and conventional literature.
Unfortunately, many current Rappers will be forgotten tomorrow as they are essentially indistinguishable from their peers in tone, flow, and poetic additions. It saddens me to further concede that Rap has been reduced to the extent that people perceive Rappers as being nonintellectual. This is the very opposite of what emcees in the past desired. We worked mightily to prove that Rap was an art form and that the participants were some of the most progressive minds in music. It saddens me that much of this no longer matters to many.
#hiphopculture #musiclegacy
Free Thought Zone 