What we haven't passed on: Hip Hop culture

“Brother Danny,” one of my charges asked, “can we listen to the radio?”

Now even my own flesh and blood know not to ask to mess with the radio buttons. It's either NPR
or the classics bumping out of the whip. I decided it would be okay since my charges don't live with their father and don't really get a chance to go out as much as they want.

“Go ahead, bro,” I answered.

He tuned into the local “where hip hop lives station” and the latest track by the latest cat who begins his name with “Lil'” came one.

“This is what we listen to, Brother Danny,” he said as he began to bob his eight year old head. My 38 years of age began to weigh in on me as the little brother rocked to a song that was as alien to me as the latest bluegrass song. I did as any hip hop head would do. I slid back in my seat and listened to the track. I tried to listen to the lyrics. I noticed the artists lack of wit and delivery. The horrible cadence and rhyme scheme made me sick to my stomach.

It would be easy to write a piece lambasting these young turks who are trying to make a name for themselves but I would be over looking a much needed critique. Whereas the age set my charges are a part of (middle school to high school) see hip hop music as a form of expression, many of my peers see it as a culture. Don't get me wrong many of the teenagers my oldest son, Magnetik, hangs out with see hip hop as a culture comprised of several elements. My son has also explained that most of his friends don't see it that way.

So members of my generation, and this does not imply all of us, have a worldview that suggests that hip hop is much more than music while some members of my son and my charges generation see it as something altogether different. While it is natural to have generations look at a particular subject differently, there can be an explanation to this. As in any generation gap, there is always a debate about what can be considered art or culture and what is authentic, influential, and viable. While the younger generation might see something as old fashioned and dated, the older generation might see it as relevant and important. At the same time, the older generation might see something new as corrupt and vulgar, the younger generation might see the same thing as wonderful and vibrant. Fortunately, both groups tend to be wrong and right on several levels.

So there I was sitting there trying to absorb what was coming out of my speakers. I immediately wanted to turn it off. First, I didn't want to be seen listening to whatever it was that I was listening to. Second, I noticed that every other word was a cuss word and I realized that there are some people who cuss more than I do. Finally, I notice that the little brother was reciting the lyrics like he wrote them just like I did when I first heard “Rock Box.”

While I might consider, think, research, discuss, and debate the history and aesthetics of the culture, this young boy just sees someone discussing the realities in our world. He is a product of the crack cocaine era. His father is in and out of jail for drugs. He lives in a poor neighborhood and attends a public school that provides a lackluster education. To be frank, at his age I saw hip hop music as something where people who looked like me expressed themselves in a world where our opinion didn't seem to matter.

It is too easy to dismiss what he is listening to. On many occasions, I have done just that. If anything, what I should be doing is asking my generation what are we going to do about it because it is obvious that we have failed to pass on the history of the culture to his generation. So before we are quick to write off young people and how they have no respect for history we need to ask ourselves if we respected them enough to pass that knowledge on down.

While much of what we hear in the radio or on video shows may not be to our tastes but what we watched as children were up to our parent's tastes either. We should also remember that this generation came up strictly on hip hop music while we can remember a time when the radio refused to play it. I think we should take this as an opportunity to share and build. In this instance, hip hop culture could bridge that gap.

“Who's this on the radio?” I asked.

He looked up and smiled before he answered.

It's time to build.