Madonna @ MindSay

With the perceived proliferation of negative messages pervading through much of what is called ‘mainstream’ Hip Hop music it is often the case that the ‘underground’ is looked to for balance and positive thought. Certainly there are aspects of this Hip Hop underground that spread negative messages and also areas within the commercial mainstream that provide lyrical sustenance to an audience that is fed a steady diet of guns, bitches and drugs. Also, of course, not all rhymes that deal with such destructive themes are themselves glorifying a ‘thug life’ but are instead acting to report on hardships faced by some communities, while others can pass under the radar on the strength of their skill. With such exceptions to an easy classification taken into consideration it still seems that the civil rights informed era of mainstream politicized and positive Hip Hop that prevailed during the late 1980s to early 1990s has disappeared, while the grip of the media (including Hip Hop) over the minds of our societies has increased. 

As a generally white owned media has taken control of Hip Hop’s promotion it seems to have sought to control the messages that are presented in heavy rotation on radio and television. Where once Hip Hop was seen as a mere fad, a passing interest, the musical genre was largely given space to set it’s own agendas with results that spawned the work of acts such as KRS One and Public Enemy: work that seemed to frighten and threaten corporate (white) America. It has been argued that Gangsta Rap undermined the political aspects of Hip Hop to the scene’s detriment, but this theory is not as clear-cut as it would seem. N.W.A., while at times adding an exaggerated bent to their music, still managed to unnerve through tracks like ’F*ck The Police’ while Ice T and Tupac Shakur also found themselves at the sharp end of an anti-rap backlash. Elsewhere, tracks such as Public Enemy’s ‘Burn Hollywood Burn’ saw an embracing of Gangsta Rap’s aggression, not least by allowing Ice Cube time to rhyme, “Red and blue lights what a common sight, pulled to the curb getting played like a sucker, don’t fight the power (gunshot) the motherf*cker.”  Alongside the anti-establishment messages Gangsta Rap certainly maintained a braggadocios air and also glorified negativity, proclaiming itself a menace to society but more tellingly often to it’s own community. However, as mainstream media embraced the money-spinning style it seemed to provide less of a platform for externally aimed aggression in favors of a more self-destructive bent. ‘Burn Hollywood Burn’ became ‘Burn Compton Burn’ and as the dollars came in so the fear diminished. 

Hip Hop has not always dealt with politics and it would be wrong to argue that it has been the sole aim of the music to elevate consciousness as of course there was a healthy dose of party and bullsh*t added to the mix, but with tracks such as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s ‘The Message’ there has also tended to be a politicized edge to it’s rebel music shout. But a glimpse at MTV could cause consumers to feel that as Hip Hop has been steadily co-opted into pop it has seen its anti-establishment edge eroded leaving just so much vacuous bling in it’s wake. 

Hip Hop’s forefathers and those that carried the torch into the 1990s were informed by the civil rights movement, by Malcolm X and Martin Luther King and by the power of a struggle that saw past a purely materially minded focus. This grounding, as it were, is something that seems to have lessened as Hip Hop’s newest creators move further from the 1960s and 70s. Perhaps those born under the yoke of Reaganomics have taken on the do-for-self attitude that the era embodied, a greed is good aesthetic that has little time for a more unified and altruistic attitude. Furthermore, as the 1980s saw a breakdown of family and community values under the pressure of the crack epidemic so more people were forced to turn to the media and the streets for succor. Not to say that this breakdown was total or occurred everywhere but as society shifted so too did it’s role models. Without anyone else to turn to many children looked to their peers and the streets, while the images portrayed by the media acted as parental guidance. This can still be seen today, not just in America but also across Western society as governments seek to step in through legal action and the power of the media to guide their citizens,. This cultural shift has in some places even gone to the extent of banning certain fattening foodstuffs that are harmful if eaten in great quantities, as if the populace is not able to make informed decisions as to what to put in their own mouths. Sadly, it seems that many are not.

So here we are, with Hip Hop having become an all conquering musical and cultural force but in so doing being altered and manipulated until it’s mainstream message has become watered down. As stated at the beginning this is not happening across the board, but for every uplifting song there are hundreds to counter it. Plus, how often does a track with a positive message get put into heavy rotation? Unless music that contains more positive messages is being marketed and played in the same quantity as more negative ones how can we hope our children hear them? To simply create and release positively charged music is not enough as it is merely preaching to the converted. If you have to actively seek out such music there is little chance of an impressionable youth stumbling across it. Instead, children who either lack the means, the guidance or the will are to find themselves exposed to an MTV world of candy sticks, whips and stacking chips. The media looks likely to maintain a grip on our society even while we seek to claw back a real community spirit and so shouldn’t we ask that it provides more than one view of this society? This is not to advocate widespread censorship or even to argue that all negatively focused media is wrong, there is a right to expression after all and, yes, much of it can be entertaining and desirable. Perhaps it is instead time for us to take more responsibility over what those in power send to our children and so rather than “fighting the power” it is time for “righting the power” by arguing that there should be more important things to them than making dollars. Like day and night or yin and yang there needs to be balance, and while the media seems to hold such power should we not try to work with them to help create this equilibrium?