what happened to the DJ?

having just recently visited our nation's capital (washington, dc for the slow) to party it up with some of my friends from college i was moved to write about the state of the DJ. the club i visited had almost everything you needed to have a great time: ladies, liquor, and music ('almost' being the operative word in this sentence). the ladies, they were fly (what up philly!); the liquor, it was flowin (champagne campaign 2005); and the music...well let's just say it was something to be desired.

now it's true that i can't remember most of the music played at the club, after all the champimple was flowin and the ladies were on fire (he-he alriiight), but i know i walked out of the club KNOWING, that with the exception of the one rakim song i was vibin to and a few throwback snoop/dr. dre tracks, the DJ was officially gabage (that's beyond garbage for those who don't know)! what i realized is that ANYONE can pass as a DJ nowadays. to sum it up, the DJ was whack. no ifs, ands, or buts about it, he flat out sucked.

in hip hop’s earliest days in the 1970s, DJs were the most important component of the culture, front and center keeping the party going. DJs were the men and women who brought the culture to the masses. in essence, it is the DJ who instigated the rap revolution. the responsibility of the DJ was to create the sounds to which MCs and b-boys (and where are they nowadays?) would rhyme and dance to. the importance of the DJ has become over looked in the last decade-and-a-half with the MC reaping much of the reward and public exposure, and producers creating the sound that MCs rhyme over.

from hip hop's inception the party couldn't and wouldn't start without the DJ. in 1981, had a DJ demanded that people get up and party while mixing the sounds equivalent to techno-reggaeton and nelly-esque hip hop (that's what it sounded like) he would have been dragged out of the building and beaten like a dog (this is a hip hop club people). in fact, i would have treated my dog nicer than the DJ. the sad part is, he is not the first DJ to play whack music at a party i've been to, he's just the most recent. today the DJ, for all intents and purposes, has been relegated to the back corner of clubs hidden behind a thick fog of smoke or the bar. in this particular case, the DJ belonged there. hell, he wasn't even a vinyl DJ, he used CDs. call me old fashioned but you can't even mix and scratch a record the way it needs to be with CDs.

it is obvious times have changed. CDs are replacing vinyl and producers have replaced DJs as the creative force behind the music. we can blame technology and commericalism, but these are the sign of the times. maybe i should just roll along with the punches. HELL NO! then i wouldn't be me. but i suppose it really doesn't matter, after all these are only my thoughts ladies and gentlemen.

what moves the masses?

that is the question i beg of you. by now, we should all understand that hip hop has not only provided the disenfranchised with an outlet against social prejudices, it has affected middle-america and those spared of violent lifestyles in which hip hop was birthed. in little more than thirty years, hip hop has grown into a forceful and unavoidable voice which has taken over the world. anyone who suggests that hip hop is a voice of violence and disrespect fails to realize that though its origins were birthed in a time of violence and despair, it has successfully transformed into an art form that transcends all races, regions, religions, and generational gaps.


hip hop music has been an influential form of expression for over thirty years, but let's face it, in the last decade, hip-hop has lost some of its validity. commercialism has transformed it into a commodity rather than a platform for political expression. some rappers, though their initial intention is to stay true to hip hop’s classic form, are too willing to conform to industry standards, standards that are not in keeping with traditional hip hop. therefore, they compromise the art form or genre in order to ‘make it’ in the music business. significantly, commercialization has marginalized, or completely excluded, hip hop’s political platform.

in the time leading up to hip hop's explosion in the fall of 1975, new york city was a sad mega-city consumed in government corruption, crime, and poverty, and drugs and gangs were found on almost every block in the ghettos of every nyc borough. however, for every thorn there is a rose, and from the streets that spewed grime and immorality, came the foundations of hip hop, which spread by way of block parties and gym/park jams.

the idea of hip hop, as it is known today, is dominated by the dream of big houses, fancy cars, women, and money, all components necessary to making it ‘big’ in the business. however, hip hop IS a culture, a way of life, not a measure of material goods. the culture of hip hop is now becoming absorbed in the commercialization of the art form that started as a means of communication, not profit. what was once a voice of political advocacy and social change is now used for personal gain at the expense of the ‘little people’ that made hip-hop a lifestyle.

so where did we go wrong? when did the MCs stop MC-ing? rapping and MC-ing are, in fact, different. the past decade has shown that anyone can rap. not everyone is an MC. MC-ing consists of being able to convey a feeling to your audience. if your audience feels your pain or your joy, then the artist has MC-ed his rhymes to you. jay-z, nas, wu-tang, scarface, black moon, mos def & talib kweli, tupac, and biggie are just a few of the handful of rappers who could, in fact, MC, unfortunately many of the best MCs will not get their time to shine because they are not ‘commercial enough for big labels to market, like say...50 cent (i'm tryin hard not to be a hater, but he makes it so easy).

the cultural movement has not fallen to the wayside. it is in fact strong and the movement is going to come back stronger than ever. as poet-griot-author gil scott-heron said, “the revolution will not be televised. the revolution will be live.” but maybe i'm buggin in thinking we can go back to good ole days, but as always these are just my thoughts ladies and gentlemen.

october shine

in this day in age it's difficult to find an emcee who's style and flow doesn't sound like the next man's, however, this month i've found the perfect candidate for my monthly shine post. that man is "mr. whacktose intolerant" himself, rhymefest.

this cat hails from the midwest, another chi-town born, but indianapolis-raised, kanye west protege/artist. you may have heard his single "brand new," blowin up across the airways, but this dude is no novice in the game. he already has a grammy for co-writing kanye's "jesus walk's" in 2004, and that was before he even released any single of his own. it is also reputed that he battle eminem before he blew up and lyrically destroyed hip hops illest white boy (that's just what i heard).

his album "blue collar" will be released later this year (winter) and with his dope production and savvy flow, we can expect this cat to make an impact in hip hop in the years to come.

more information can be found at www.rhymefest.com.