The Comment Factory

“Rappers spit rhymes that are mostly illegal, MC’s spit rhymes that uplift their people”
KRS ONE, “Classic”

“Hip Hop must die, go the way of Punk and disintegrate”, a despondent and pessimistic Hip Hop fan lamented in my presence last week. Everyone has their irreconcilable beef; the homogenised and sanitised culture, the increasingly formulaic and circumscribed narrative, the shameless profiteering. The list is endless and by no means limited to the consumers of Hip Hop. Many rappers themselves are invariably wallowing pathetically in Hip Hop’s current malaise whilst recycling a nostalgic narrative to sell more records. Nevertheless, over the last thirty years Hip Hop has provided some of the most insightful, multifaceted and pertinent social commentary. In its detail and scope, no other music genre has approached the cumulative influence of Hip Hop’s incendiary and uncompromising criticisms of the iniquitous criminal justice system, antiquated and impoverished neighbourhoods and entrenched, intergenerational economic inequality. Its relative melodic simplicity has allowed a speculative, ponderous lyrical content, covering a multitude of social issues, personal concerns and often marginalised perspectives.

Through its indignation at its relative isolation from mainstream popular culture and civic life, Hip Hop developed an enviable propensity for scepticism and critique. This has enabled Hip Hop to ride roughshod over the sacrosanct, the idealised and the conventional within American popular culture. Though such attributes have never been noticeable within all Hip Hop artists, the current trajectory of the scene has made the continuation of such a tradition near impossible.

Paradoxically many artists have tried in vain to keep such traditions alive; scornfully discrediting “the system” while developing increasingly reactionary and self interested justifications for its perpetuity. In delighting in the virtually unrestricted opportunities for the creation of wealth, many rappers criticism of the status quo reeks of dishonesty. The result is a frustrating paradox; an attempt to idealise and identify with the poor yet a ritualised debasement and ridicule of those who either fail to accumulate wealth or simply do not sufficiently value such endeavours.
The confusing relationship between Hip Hop artists and mainstream political culture is equally long rooted. In many respects, considering Hip Hop’s origins, it is unsurprising that that lyrical content has so consistently expressed an unswerving distrust and disapproval of mainstream politics. Many artists have nevertheless preached the mantra of proactive engagement with politics, particularly through radical identity politics but also with voter registration campaigns.

However, such endeavours have often been overshadowed by a much more pervasive tendency towards pessimistic disengagement. This approach emphasises the futility of political action in a world in which political structures foster insurmountable social iniquities.

For every irrepressibly hopeful and positive 2pac lyric song about the rights of women’s right to abortion or the immutable brotherhood of black people in “Keep ya Head Up”, one cannot help dwell on the pervasive despondency in both this song and much of his output, epitomised in his conclusion that “we ain’t meant to survive because it’s a set up”.

Even with probably the most well known political MC, immortal Technique, a strong conspiratorial theme is evident which gives the listener a distinct feeling of powerlessness in the face of a labyrinth of organised state and corporate power. This mindset has been influential in the development of UK Hip Hop and Grime. A huge array of artists have constantly and flippantly reiterated the unsubstantiated accusation that the UK government is distributing drugs and weapons in black urban environments to entrench their turmoil; an example being Big Narstie’s genuinely good Coldplay remix, Spun a Web:

“So I spun a web, why not you done it to me and my people,
Yo they put drugs in the hood its deep,
They put guns in the hood its deep,
Put who cares?
Who I am I, another black statistic”

Unfortunately what has developed in much Hip Hop was and is a perspective in which corroborating evidence, reasoned opinion, let alone facts, are secondary to un-scrutinised diatribes on state conspiracy. Such viewpoints seldom elucidate much of significance, except in highlighting the artists profound ignorance of current affairs and the seemingly eternal attraction of an all encompassing and accessible logic. A healthy cynicism can only be beneficial if it facilitates or encourages an engagement with politics, a desire to find and report abuses of power. However Hip Hops distrust of mainstream politics has become undeniably nihilistic, leading to the prevalence of a range of unsubstantiated and bizarre ideas, which need no scrutiny as they re-emphasise the acceptable premise of political corruption. The effect of nihilism has also affected the political considered. Just witness the torrid performance of my idol Mos Def on Bill Maher with intellectual heavyweights Salman Rushdie and Christopher Hitchens.

It becomes increasingly clear that Mos Def’s willingness to internalise the ubiquitous cynicism and nihilism in Hip Hop has circumscribed both what he engages with politically and also what he dismisses. He had to be equivocal about the threat of Islamicist terror not just because he admits to not knowing about the Taliban (and confusing them with Al Qaeda) but because to do so would be to commit the unforgivable faux pas of accepting a dominant narrative legitimised and framed by the mainstream political apparatus and media outlets.

It is absolutely fine to think that Al Qaeda was not responsible for 9/11, as Mos Def and KRS ONE notably don’t, if you can give coherent reasons why this is the case, but to dismiss it out of hand is deeply regrettable. Unfortunately the idea that political conspiracy and corruption needs not be verified, but is a truism and a constant, makes political engagement pointless because an explanatory logic, which only needs bolstering by a few arbitrarily chosen “examples”, defines political developments as pre-determined and irresponsive to popular pressures.

The effect of Hip Hop’s nihilistic ethos and perspective can also be painfully disheartening for their gross moral inversions and irreconcilable contradictions. Much of Non Phixions output is notable for a disorientating dichotomy in which egalitarianism and the empowerment of the disenfranchised is heavily idealised whilst, simultaneously, sexual violence and female subordination is forcefully and unrepentantly defended.

Dead Prez’s new album, the tastefully named “Revolutionary but Gangsta”, includes the hit single “Hell Yeah”. This record perhaps takes the unprecedented position that it is the duty of the selfless political radical to unscrupulously immerse oneself in the pursuit of financial enrichment to undermine and eventually cripple capitalism. Though obviously presented with a well judged dollop of humour, this is, in case you may be wondering, through the medium of low level credit card fraud, dodgy welfare claims and decadent clothes purchases.

Whether all these examples are simply indicative of an occasionally oscillating, unstable moral compass within much Hip Hop or simply a propensity for an unrefined, contradictory output, the evident constant is the constraining paradigm of an increasingly nihilistic counter culture ethos. This serves to inoculate an array of viewpoints from internal criticism or scrutiny and facilitates a profound political incoherence.

Various important political developments have now passed Hip Hop by without adequate comment. It subsequently feels that Hip Hops disengagement from things outside its direct experience and its restricted and laboured description of extensively documented social problems is making the genre appear increasingly predictable and parochial. Many issues discussed are not just a regurgitation of previous ideas but critically a reiteration of an acceptable and financially profitable narrative created and maintained by Hip Hop music. Though providing an enviable and rare opportunity for personal perspective, much lyrical content has critically undermined alternative perspectives and dissent, particularly from those which challenge or contradict the dominant paradigm and world view. For those who pine for political relevant, well considered and evocative Hip Hop it may be therefore be the ideal time to destroy and rebuild.