Wu-Tang asked, “Can it be that it was all so simple then?”, while waxing nostalgic on their 1993 debut album Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). Although they were only looking back toward the late eighties, truth be told, we can ask the same about hiphop as a whole. The most dominant and pervasive cultural force in the world today is one which few people, even those who fervently support it, truly understand.

Its easy, useful, and extremely tempting to confuse one aspect of the culture as its sum and total. For example, purists decry the common sin of elevating one of hiphop’s four elements over the others, as is done when we overemphasize rapping at the expense of b-boying (breakdancing), deejaying, and ‘writing’ (as graffiti practitioners refer to their art). What leads to more confusion and bad conclusions, however, is when we mistakenly believe the styles and aesthetics of one particular era of hiphop music are exclusively representative of the genre. I’ve certainly been guilty of that, myself, having had to come to terms with the fact that hip hop’s Golden Age (roughly from ’87-89’) which saw a tremendous burst of both musical creativity and political consciousness -- while it may have been a zenith -- was not the only valid phase of hip hop, and certainly did not encompass its full definition.




peace & blessings,

x.

"I'm on the Zoloft to keep from killing y'all." - Iron Mike