catapult magazine

I am by no means an expert on or participant in hip hop culture, but a few months ago my wife called me away from brushing my teeth to see a most amazing performance on Conan O’Brian’s show. It was Bone Crusher. The guy seemed to be laying his whole soul on the line. It was so refreshing after seeing 50 Cent’s passionless performance on Saturday Night Live a few nights before.

A recent Father’s Day edition of Chicago’s “Rolling Out” magazine featured the fatherly advice of Bone to the hip hop community concerning the way to beat media stereotypes about slacker fathers in the African-American community: “The media definitely is going to over exaggerate [negative images] because it’s black folk. That’s just real. Black men are definitely slacking in areas, but a lot of black men aren’t. So, it’s just a situation where those that are doing well, we have to commend them and those who aren’t, we have to help them get to the point where we can commend them. That is what it is all about…It is not a situation where we should be pointing the finger and say, ‘Yo man, you need to be doing that and that.’ You got to show them how to be a father. They may have never been around a man to know how to be a father.” Bone Crusher displays his fatherhood proudly in the magazine with pictures of him and his 5 kids and talk of the importance of giving children opportunities to grow by sending them to camp, ballet and karate classes. Hip hop needs to be reminded of its fathers, as The Roots’ newest album indicates, if it is to sustain what has made it great in the first place.

So maybe this would be a good place to mention some of the great hip hop fathers that some of the *cino listeners have discovered (D.C. Talk does not count, unless you’re talking about the early stuff—“God is doing it, yo who’s doing it?”) Who are some of the hopefuls in hip hop of today and yesterday? Let’s see some lists.

Reading this strand I couldn’t help thinking of “The Jerk,” where Steve Martin says, “I was born a poor black child.” Only this “poor black child” just didn’t have any rhythm. Hilarious!

I’m like Joel, I can’t think of any white person that sounds black. Perhaps the issue of race and tradition are interrelated. A black person is naturally more likely to have grown up around black people with their traditions, including music. If I remember the interview with him on “8 Mile” correctly, Eminem grew up around black people rapping, but he lived in the white part of the neighborhood. Part of the difference may simply be explained by how hard it is to ignore completely the difference in skin color. It’s so obvious…who could miss it. Perhaps the difficulty is simply that we call “black music” black because it’s created by black people. Perhaps it’s natural to want to receive the influence of other races’ music, but make it your own, changing it for your music. For some reason it seems to me that it’s easier to find blacks that sound white, such as Adam of the County Crows.

Just some random thoughts for the discussion.

I, also, am not an expert or participant in hip hop culture, but I just heard half of the new Outkast double album, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. (I heard “The Love Below”—Andre 3000’s disc).

Is this the future of hip hop or just an anomaly? It’s definitely not traditional hip hop. Sounds at times like Frank Sinatra or something.

I know this topic has been around the block a few times, but I just had reply to laryn’s post. I just heard Hey Ya! from The Love Below. I don’t remember the last time I was quite so shocked (in a good way!) about a piece of new music. It’s just so new and different! What a great sound. I must have listened to the part where Dre goes “allrightallrightallright” twenty times twenty times. If this is the future of hip hop, I’m not complaining. Now I have to get the CD.

I just got the new cd because it’s going to win album of the year at this year’s Grammies. It is so great so great so great so great so great so great so great so great. Now all you ladies in the house, you know what to do. The Love Below has the most positive view of women I’ve ever heard in a hip hop record, though I definitely have not heard all hip hop records in the world. And Speakerboxxx, the other disc, displays Antwan Patton’s amazing rapid-fire flow and style. Apart from the singles, the songs Church and Flip Flop Rock are true stand-outs. I don’t know if it’s the future of hip hop, but Eminem says he’s always waiting on Outkast’s next album because it’s always a breath of fresh air—and Eminem is already the future of hip hop. After listening to Outkast’s album over and over again for the last three days, I think if hip hop wants to be as refreshing as this, its artists have to listen to as much music as Outkast obviously does. I hear Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Lou Reed, Beck, Prince, various jazz influences in addition to all the funk brothers from the seventies represented in their work. That’s a sure way to come up with a refreshing hip-hop sound and the best way to forge a new path for the future of hip hop.