HIP HOP Music: A Tune-Up for the Future!

It is the perfect time for those who are currently participants in the Hip Hop genre to look back.  I have long been a lover of the greatest songs in Hip Hop music.  It is time for the scope, and vision of this music to become much more broad and expansive.  Music can entertain, inspire, motivate and even be a catalyst for change in individuals and society.  Mainstream Hip Hop (in my opinion) has become so narrow in its focus that you can reduce the substance of it down to a commercial formula.  There are songs that I like and may spark my attention, but very few give me goosebumps or move me to share the experience.  Spreading the songs by word of mouth does not even enter the conversation.  Hip Hop needs a tune-up!

I have participated in this music in many forms.  Whether it be as an MC, Producer, Publisher, Writer and complete promoter of the best of this music.  I am not just an outsider presenting an overly critical and biased opinion without a decent foundation to stand on.  There are times when a mental tune-up is necessary for a musical genre to grow and expand.  Especially when that musical genre (Hip Hop) has been around for more than 30 years.  The very ingredients that were poured into the foundation of Hip Hop will be able to re-ignite the original spark and passion in a current form.  I would not advise going back to an older sound.  But to update today’s sound with an eye and ear that studies the tones, accents and feelings of past greatness would be interesting.

Today if a rapper has a unique rhyme style, 10 other MC’s will come forth with a similar style and subject matter.  If a producer or production team has composed a “sound” for the masses, many other producers will by osmosis  generate a similar sound.  Of course this seems to be done without a sense of shame or even acknowledgement of the originator of the sound.  Today’s artists and producers in Hip Hop need to recognize that there is at least 30 years of history in the form of songs that have been played around the globe.  Those songs are the library, database, and sound reference which an artist or producer would research to get an idea of what this music sounded like from the beginning.  If anyone cares about the longevity of Hip Hop they would notice common traits and  patterns of the successful Hip Hop artists of the past.  Studying the past can help today’s musicians to listen and mine (dig for) golden nuggets of musical wisdom hidden within the tempo, melody, harmony, and overall feeling of that music.  A tune-up for Hip Hop implies that there is a possibility to re-ignite the sound and quality of this musical genre by soaking up the charismatic energy of previously released masterpieces.  You take what you have learned and upload bits and pieces of the data and infuse that magic into a newly transformed piece of musical art.  We have no interest in living in the past, but we are making today a bit more rich by using a tried and true map to help us get to a new destination.

The tune-up for Hip Hop will only work if the idea of “old school” is completely wiped from our consciousness.  Greatness in art cannot become old, stale and useless.  Musical art at its highest level eventually becomes timeless in its ability to generate an emotional response in the listener.  It never gets old, but lives on through the consistent enjoyment of the listener.  This post is written for individuals who are looking for answers, as to where the future of music is going.  The  artist and producer will not move forward  unless they have a firm grasp on musical history and its importance in creating the art they are participating in.  They are literally standing on the shoulders of past greatness.  Take some time and study the masters who created the art you participate in.  I am not not being critical of today’s artists, but sharing a gem that has and is even helping me in my musical journey.  An artist or producer will be nothing without respecting the past.  The past is the genetic link that makes our existence even possible.  Let us honor and respect it highly.

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