Friday, February 08, 2008





Underground Hip-Hop has become pretty gay

A popular misconception when it comes to Young H is just because he doesn't listen to the radio, that he's a backpacker or super underground.

To clarify:
Young H loves good beats
Young H loves good lyrics
Young H has a pretty good ear for both, no matter if your label's Def last name is Jam or Jux.

Young H also loves women and frequents venues where you cant get in wearing a t-shirt and Timberlands (not that I'm opposed to that dress style, but there's a time and place for everything)

Lately I've been going out trying to support my local Hip-Hop community, and a lot of its inhabitants are lowlifes who want to stand around "keeping it real" and would probably become homosexual if that kind of thing were more widely accepted in this society.

Here's where I don't fit in:

- I don't drink beer (I'll have a little liquor here and there, but most of these spots dont even have a decent bar.)

- I don't like to celebrate Hip-Hop with random dudes I don't know and probably never would kick it with

- I don't smoke cigarettes or weed

- While I don't make it my point to get a number every time I step out to go somewhere, memorable eye candy is always a good thing and these scenes are severely lacking.

If the scene in your city is anything like mine, you'll be sure to find:

- MCs performing only to impress a small crowd, with no buzz outside of that local insulated community

- A 5:1 ratio of men to women, and just about every woman came with a dude who's on stage rapping that night. Not to mention the cutest girl in the room is a 7 at best.

- Songs about weed, how hard life is, and real hip-hop over murky beats.

- Ciphers in the corner where everyone is standing around huddled up and getting open off of rhymes that are off beat.

- The one dude outside at the end of the night politicking about the realities of real life, smoking a cigarette with one foot back against the wall. His man is acting like he's saying some deep shit too.

If Hip-Hop is something you do as a hobby because you love it, cool.

If it's a dream of yours, you should be chasing it harder than your weekly open mic. Artists like The Roots, Mos Def, Talib Kweli and Common had sense enough to put on their businessman hats and go for theirs, actually proving good music can gain an audience.

Yes the radio is corny, but at least radio artists are making (corny) songs about women.

These underground cats need to listen to Babyface and learn something about romance, get haircuts and clean up their whole style. I love Hip-Hop with all of my being, but I'm not so engulfed that I've lost sense of what a grown man should be.

4 comments:

Danny! said...

Co-sign to the 80th degree.
I've got a song on the new album that addresses this.

i want to be a doosh said...

which party is this in reference to?

if it was thursday at liquid charm..

i wouldnt judge everything by that

if it was reef & friends last week then..

ionno..

i had a blast

Me said...

definitely not Reef & friends

no further comment

i want to be a doosh said...

lol.. go in son!

i will say this..

i have a tough time cutting up on folks who put together a FREE party where aspiring artists can get booked to perform. even if its just for their friends and a bunch of dudes.. it is something yknow?

ive been there on better nights and worse nights but... i still admire that they are trying to support art and artists with it and build more avenues for folks

that said.. yeah.. i can see your POV.

you should start drinking beer tho