What happened to knowledge of self in hip hop music, or in general.

usmarin3 · May 2012

There are plenty of rappers out there who spit that shit, the problem with a lot of backpack/conscious rappers are they don't know how to disguise the medicine in the food. Meaning their message come off as preachy and not entertaining, that's what made Pac one of the goats to me, he knew how to make entertaining music with a message. It's what a lot of dudes like Talib, Mos, Immortal Technique,etc lack imo, don't nobody want to get beat over the head with a message on dry ass beats.

At the ene of the day this shit is entertainment and if it ain't entertaining then i ain't listening. More of these so call conscious rappers need to do a better job of balancing their music, it's not only about lyrics but the total package.

Axel Realest · May 2012

Nowadays its cool to be stupid.... eg. Nig1: 'society is messed up, our generation dont know shit about the truth. Nig 2: fuck that shit, I dont want to know, I need to cop some Jordans.
Ignorance is bliss yet how blissful are the poor?

supersajinfo · May 2012

Black peopled developed a system of anti intellectualism ,we fell for the white idea of get rich or die trying ,get money spend and spend .We forgot that to nurture means to teach .They have been planning to destroy black minds for years.We let them control the record labels and the radio .

32DaysOfInfiniti · May 2012

Its the times, people live vicariously through each other these days... There is no individualistic pride.

smoothcriminal12 · May 2012

Conscious hip hop is over - the new generation ain't hearing it sadly.

J-GUTTA · May 2012

their concerts are full of white college students. Shit is sad

PRT put out the last classic in this genre of Hip Hop

H-Rap 180 · May 2012

Who buys the vast majority of hip hop albums?

Wild Self · May 2012

Gangsta rap that didn't have a message became popular in the 90s and that spread like terminal cancer. The 23-40 age group grew up in that time period where ignorance and negativity was the norm. I seen cats literally got stomped out unconscious for reading a book in school. Where cats got robbed or killed over some cheaply made Jordans. And turned to a life of crime so that they appear "real" to some bum ass niggas. Knowledge of self is a lost art in black America and I don't see that shit ever coming back.

TheFix · May 2012

All this bitchin in this thread like we dont know wassup. Cube told us all this in his first two albums, all the knowledge of self you want is in hip hop, ya'll know all of this shit is by design. All this complainin and dialogue aint about shit either, we been doin that since stop the violence, tellin the lil niggas how bad they are aint about shit either if we dont mobilize them. It starts in your house. Fix it, lead by example, all we do is complain. Fuck that.

Disciplined InSight · May 2012

When White executives, A&R who are mountain climbers playing electric guitars started to get involve and made Hip Hop more commercialize the knowledge of self got stomped down..but co-sign the posts @usmarin3, @moedays and @Dharmic X.

Bawse D.Lox · May 2012

RawAce wrote: »

The Chronic is what happened

No medallions, dreadlocks, or black fists
It's just that
Gangster glare
With gangster raps
That gangster shit

wtf?????

medallion

dreadlocs

black fist

Wild Self · May 2012

Disciplined InSight wrote: »

When White executives, A&R who are mountain climbers playing electric guitars started to get involve and made Hip Hop more commercialize the knowledge of self got stomped down..but co-sign the posts @usmarin3, @moedays and @Dharmic X.

It was dead long before that.

Dharmic X · May 2012

usmarin3 wrote: »

There are plenty of rappers out there who spit that shit, the problem with a lot of backpack/conscious rappers are they don't know how to disguise the medicine in the food. Meaning their message come off as preachy and not entertaining, that's what made Pac one of the goats to me, he knew how to make entertaining music with a message. It's what a lot of dudes like Talib, Mos, Immortal Technique,etc lack imo, don't nobody want to get beat over the head with a message on dry ass beats.

At the ene of the day this shit is entertainment and if it ain't entertaining then i ain't listening. More of these so call conscious rappers need to do a better job of balancing their music, it's not only about lyrics but the total package.

I disagree. With artists like Mos and Talib, they're very prominent and successful MCs and the music they've put out has been considered timeless by many; hell they've done songs with artists such as Jay and Kanye. Meanwhile, Tech's music has evolved over time and is polished, and he's also been very successful. He sells out venues that not even mainstream rappers can sell out, and does it by bringing together people from many different ethnic backgrounds, not just white people (as some people would like to stereotype underground concerts for being). Tech just refuses to work with major labels because he doesn't want to compromise his identity... and the way the machine works right now he would have to.

We can't afford these MCs to compromise at the end of the day. There's just no balance in the mainstream right now, so we need these type of truth-spitters to come raw and unbalanced in the opposite direction. That's a huge difference in the previous era and the current one; there used to be a balance in the past... now it's mainly just garbage on TV and radio.

young_reezy · May 2012

It was all by design. now we live in the information age and now it seems as if information as it pertains to knowledge of self is all but taken out of Hip Hop.

white715 · May 2012

Somewhere along the way niggas got the idea that thuggin and selling drugs to their own was being a rebel against society when in reality they're doing the white man's bidding. (And when I say that I don't mean all white men)

white715 · May 2012

Somewhere along the way niggas got the idea that thuggin and selling drugs to their own was being a rebel against society when in reality they're doing the white man's bidding. (And when I say that I don't mean all white men)

HyenaKilla · May 2012

Internal factors includes Indifference, Apathy, & Greed. External factors are Crack-Cocaine, Fast Money, Hoes.

spc4mack · May 2012

This thread brings me back to an old OC classic song called "The Chosen One", where on the second verse he says

"Influenced; but not by the ancient ruins of rap

A large percent of y'all fell into a trap

Trendsetter share with y'all a veteran's nightmare

Not for you to follow it but try and stand clear, bust it

Bein intelligent, means you a sucka

Bein wild as hell, means you a smart motherfucker WRONG

Analyze songs nowadays

Most rappers gunsprayed or hustled from night to day - fiction

I deciphered lots of rhymes, only to find

false info, just to see what it meant to Oh

Not for-real; no skill MC's

Mostly all under twenty, and I find it funny

That's why the seed was born to lead assume

positions like Noah, all aboard the arc with "

To me he was spot on with his assessment. Its almost like these days if your a rapper its not cool to be intelligent. I know we will never get back to the point where we are wearing Africa medalions, but i just wish some of the more concious mc's get some light shed on them. As a whole Hip Hop is not all ignorant but the way we are being represented is just wrong.

white715 · May 2012

HyenaKilla wrote: »

Internal factors includes Indifference, Apathy, & Greed. External factors are Crack-Cocaine, Fast Money, Hoes.

"Subliminal hypnotism and colonialism leaves most niggas dead or in prison"

Gen. Stasia · May 2012

Great thread. Knowledge of Self isnt embraced because there's no one teaching it to the younger generation. I think ppl don't realize how bad the Crack Era messed up the black family structure in America. And the basis of all stability is family. The Black family has been ripped apart and without a stable home the fundamentals of knowing your family history and knowing ur cultural history is not a major factor.

This is Bigger than Music but that's why I started my Kings and Qweens movement

Wild Self · May 2012

Gen. Stasia wrote: »

Great thread. Knowledge of Self isnt embraced because there's no one teaching it to the younger generation. I think ppl don't realize how bad the Crack Era messed up the black family structure in America. And the basis of all stability is family. The Black family has been ripped apart and without a stable home the fundamentals of knowing your family history and knowing ur cultural history is not a major factor.

This is Bigger than Music but that's why I started my Kings and Qweens movement

crack fucked up the generation that grew up in the middle of it. The young ass kids have a better chance. But many of the oldheads that grew up in that NWA/ Menace II Society era are still stuck in it and Knowledge of self takes a back seat to fast money and little fame.

young_reezy · May 2012

brothas didn't just come out the womb wanting money, cars, and hoes, most of the thoughts are programmed. People tend to play into sterotypes and certain living situations are systematically aimed at specific groups. the whole crack epidimic was a plan and I believe there are some people who have used hip hop as jail propaganda because they are invested in the prison industry.

Jamaica · May 2012

look what's being played on the radio today, you hardly hear any rapper speaking about knowledge. so these young dudes got influenced by what they heard and so this is why we are where we at.

i'm sure mos def, talib etc were influenced by melly mel, public enemy, ice cube etc who used to spit knowledge.

they took that away because "it doesn't fit the formula" we can counter this by spitting knowledge that sounds like the "formula"

Gen. Stasia · May 2012

@WildSelf Crack fucked up the parents of this generation which essentially fucked up this generation. But I do have to admit that the New generation (My Generation) deserves some credit even tho our music is shitty (even tho we are not making it for the most part) I hear a lot more of my peers talk about college than lets say my older siblings peers (Late 80s babies)

Wild Self · May 2012

Gen. Stasia wrote: »

@WildSelf Crack fucked up the parents of this generation which essentially fucked up this generation. But I do have to admit that the New generation (My Generation) deserves some credit even tho our music is shitty (even tho we are not making it for the most part) I hear a lot more of my peers talk about college than lets say my older siblings peers (Late 80s babies)

thats true. Im an 80s baby myself, and when I was growing up, if I even spoke about going to college, there would be niggas that would hate on it. Some people that I associated with are offended for even hearing about school. Now that Im older, there is a bigger reason why there is no other group like Public Enemy of my generation. Its bigger than just money.

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What happened to knowledge of self in hip hop music, or in general.

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