Left Critics Made Hiphop Keep It Real

There's a bit of a discussion about the romanticism of Old School Hiphop over at Blackprof. I weigh in. (and wish they would turn on trackbacks)

The Old School of hiphop was not politically expressive, it was dance music, and those of us who got sick of those annoying talk boxes used by Midnight Starr and Newcleus couldn't be happier. There was no real message in hiphop until De La Soul and Public Enemy around 88. Before that, the'deepest' message from hiphop were the exceptions of 'The Message' and then 'Friends' by Whodini. (Produced by the late lamented Arif Mardin, who also worked with Herbie Hancock at the time). If there was a renaissance in hiphop towards the 'intellectual' it was the now long dead era of 'gods and earths' exemplified by groups such as Brand Nubian, Rakim, Wu-Tang, X-Clan et-al. On the more popular side were Arrested Development and PM Dawn (yes PM Dawn). All of this was done in closer communication with the Spoken Word movement, and if there ever was a golden age of conscious rap, it was right there between 90 and 92. Including Gangstarr and ATCQ, Latifah and the Native Tongues, who through Jimmy Jay started to take rap international and bring non-English speaking rappers into the American fold.

But the death of that era came with the LA Riots and the incredicble concession that Ice Cube and NWA were prophetic, that Gangsta was more in touch with the 'reality' of blackfolks than somebody like Speech from Arrested Development. That KRS-1's militant posturing was an authentic expression of the deep seated frustrations that plague inner-city at risk youth in America today.. you've heard it a million times.

So if hiphop became prostituted into violent misogyny and to quote the now vindicated Cornel West 'nihilism', it is because so many left intellectuals conceded to the artistic expressions of those hard streets. All it took was a modicum of talent (Tupac) and then no matter what rappers like Onyx said, the critical response was "I ain't mad at ya".

Left critics are responsible as any for cosigning that which was 'keeping it real'.

There were some bright spots of hard resistance to the ugly directions of hiphop, most notably the protestations and steam roller of C. Dolores Tucker. I honestly can't remember what my reaction was at the time, but I've always had a gripe about the distance critics had from it. The only person I thought who really had a handle on all of the implications of the messages and artistic sensibilities of hiphop was Greg Tate. If anybody on the planet ought to be blogging, it should be Greg Tate,. I should find out where he stands on this particular issue. I'm sure his ideas are not static. Obviously I didn't read The Source or much of Vibe so I was never hip to Danyel until I became informed by Jimi. I'm sure there was an anti-censorship contingent making noise at the time, but it was too late for Tucker anyway.  Black critics didn't nurture hiphopers and so there was no stopping them by the time they became commercially successful.

Remember that even in the heyday of Public Enemy, hiphop's longevity was still in question. Quincy was still trying to make that point when 'Back on the Block' came out. But the Tevin Campbells of the world were sunk by the time there was a body of critical literature on the genre. At this point, the intrigues of the The Source, Vibe and the hiphop industry are a fasciating subject, and Jimi Izrael is the online factotum.

The cultural revolution that is the bomb that hiphop dropped on American pop is a mixed blessing for sure. In one way it formed a multi-racial context for American youth culture that was once only sustained by the Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder and EWF. In another way it hardened anti-black stereotypes and corrupted the very idea of what is legitimately political. In that context despite the complete destruction of KRS-1 by a black female intellectual whose name escapes me, I find the Left responsible for goosing along these rebels.

The Right on the other hand has been completely dismissive of rap as not music at all. And their alramist predictions about Public Enemy as well as their advocacy of political harrassment of Ice Cube by the FBI was reactionary and foolish. In the end they were no more wrong than Tucker or Tipper Gore, too much of rap is in fact degenerate and has, without question, lowered the standards of decency of commercial radio. But their default in delivering that message in a manner appropriate to music criticism is yet another great failure.            

One is left to wonder how much energy of American youth has been misdirected into the 'politics' of hiphop. I tend to believe that it is another species of ignorant and youthful rebellion given too much attention and gnashing of middle class teeth, like the most lightweight of 'radical' hippies of the 60s.

In the wake of this legitimation of the commercial aspects of youth culture, we are left with 'Kidz Bop' and other mindless pap. Maybe country music will save us from ourselves.