Noel Gallagher’s a dick inee?, asking J-HOVA for a scrap round the back of the cow sheds for the hearts and minds of a 150,000 strong army. There was only going to be one outcome, but he should have read the Hip Hop Instruction Manual before waging war on an entire culture.
Page 1. Point A. ‘We know how to rock a party’.
Having said that Hip Hop is in a bit of a state, like the way rock went in the eighties, messy, well trodden and full of more shit than the Pyramid stage swill on Friday. A culture, which in at its core is inclusive, allowing all to partake in all of its many faceted outlets, now looks more like a Happy Meal promotion. The all singing, all dancing way of the dollar. No great surprise there, it’s just the final, predictable chapter in a beautiful story of talent, empowerment and politics. But as we turn the final page to find out whodunit – Who Stole The Soul?...I’d like to think it’s as yet unwritten.To have Lil Waynes ‘Lollipop’ the full stop to thirty summat years of the most focused and determined art form in my lifetime is just plain daft.
For all it’s pointless, skewed notions of what empowerment is, the sexism, occasional racism and lambasting of all those other ‘fears’ as truth, the language of hip hop will always remain an essential forum. There’s never one defining argument as a thousand voices respond and bring it to the cypher. Self-policing democracy in action, but for those who hold the spotlight, some remain silent. Yo, Bum Rush The Show!
Some declare Hip Hop dead before claiming the crown to its saviour, only clamouring for the same flattering glow of those dead presidents that Fiddy counts in his (fucking) Candy Shop. But for every blustering gob-shite, there’s a Rising Styles or Slip Jam B that doesn’t need to roll on chrome 22’s to prove its worth. Keeping hope alive, like.
No doubt, the ‘hip hop moment’ of
‘We know how to do ‘beef’’
,and while that frustrated little man and his band of hairy Muppets ,dummies flying everywhere, demand ‘their festival’ back (that bloke from Kasbian wants his say too – see you in the comedy tent!); Jay Z performed hip hop to all of its glorious strengths and weaknesses. Elating, empowering, funky and yes, occasionally pointless
But, don’t look back in anger, eh boys.
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