DiscoMusic.com » Disco 101 » History » Hip Hop-Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow

Hip Hop-Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow

By Barry Lederer

This article will be brief for I am still in the process of gathering information, much of which has been supplied to me by my many hip hop friends. To begin, I must confess that I am not an expert on this subject. So what follows are just some personal thoughts on this part of music history which has made a tremendous impact on so many lives. I definitely would like to hear back from anyone on this subject for what i will say are only my personal opinions.

Hip Hop / Rap has been around for more than 20 years. In its' beginning stage, many thought it was just a fad and would soon fade away (as did the grunge years). However this did not happen.

What started in the South Bronx was a musical expression that would be adopted world wide and have both good and bad effects on all of us..

The early years seemed innocent enough with local djs doing parties for their friends at homes, parks, and anywhere they could be heard.

Break dancing became a hot item, and several movies were made that brought this element to a wider national audience.

Hip hop finally started to get notice through the use of mixtapes by, again, local djs and by the artists selling their records / CDs straight out of their car. Master P is a perfect example.

For what happened next, is that the music finally caught on to a mass audience. When MTV finally got in the game. It was now official. The Hip Hop Rap era was now a mainstay of music history. Many artists had immediate success and at the same time a bad downhill fall.

The stories of MC Hammer and Salt And Pepper are perfect examples. They made tons of money, shared it with their friends, spent it lavishingly on "Bling bling" and cars and cars and cars. They were not business savvy and got taken advantage of by their record labels, management and others around them. The result: Money here, money gone.

However there were some smart people in the business who had the foresight to see the future. Russell Simmons, Damon Dash and Jay Z were smart enough to invest their money in restaurants, clothing and other avenues of revenue that were more staple. Simmons in particular made it to HBO with a series of Def Poetry. Dash did the same with a clothing line. Many others lent their names to a brand (sneakers, sodas and other endorsements).

However these are exceptions. If you tune into MTV, you see MYV Cribs, which is more or less a show where you see the luxurious home of a rap star. To be honest, the homes were fabulous and so was everything else. But, the extreme they went to was unbelievable. The homes were too big, there were too many cars and the like.

Naturally, one can say well they suffered as kids and when they finally got some money they went a little crazy. But to me that is skating on thin ice. Why not invest it in something substantial like savings, or land or whatever has a lasting value. But most important of all, why not give some back to the community where they came from?

I am sure there are plenty of needy children in schools who could use computers, areas that could be built up as parks and playgrounds for the younger children to play and so on. Let me qualify this by saying that many artists do give back to community and this article is not a condemnation, but just an observastion.

Then we come to another point whiich has hit the newspapers like wild fire. Violence, violence, violence. We are all aware of the unfortunate deaths of Tupac and Notorious B.I.G., Plus the East vs. West controversy as well as numerous artists being shot all around the country. Some may think it is cool to carry a gun, but in no way does it give you more respect for it only brings death.

The above mentioned artists are considered great and their lives were cut short too early. However we are in a no-win scenerio. The artists know their compatriots will be "Packing" so to speak, so another group does the same and so on and so on.

Many artists like Spike Lee in his first film "Doing the Right Thing" brought us face to face to what it is like to live on a simple block in Brooklyn and what could happen when matters got heated and out of control.

Russell Simmons who is involved in the next Hip Hop summit is trying to bring everyone together and try and stop this madness.

There is much more to say on this subject and i hope to get to it soon We all live in a crazy world. It will take a long time to heal the wounds of racial tensions and religious differences, but we must make a conscientious attempt. I am only one voice, but if someone else joins in and then another and another, perhaps we will eventually see a differnce and a new day

Peace
Barry Lederer

About the author:
Barry Lederer is a former writer for Billboard's "Disco Mix" column during the 1970s as well as being a principal owner in Graebar Sound, which outfitted many top clubs in the 70s and 80s with critically acclaimed sound systems. He is still involved in dance music by way of the Dance Music Hall of Fame and regularly contributes articles and various commentary for DiscoMusic.com. You can find out more about him by reading this interview.

Submitted by Barry Lederer (7)