Respect the Architects (?)

*the following contains commentary of a scorned, explicit, scathing manner. Those with guilty consciences are invited to read, then either do something about it, or promptly delete their life from the world’s play list. Thank you.*

So.

What happened?

What happened to the days when you actually had to be NICE to even get on at a street corner cypher, let alone a STAGE?

What happened to when Hip Hop was like a fraternity, a sacred order even; new jacks were subject to challenge and question at any given moment, and your rep was only as strong as your knowledge of the culture FIRST, THEN your talent?

What, in the F^@#, HAPPENED?

I don’t understand. How did we get to such a LOW? How did our culture become so… diluted? Our image so… tarnished? Our integrity, so… scant?

Was it greed? Definitely. Reaganaomics? Absolutely. Bushshit? No doubt.

But socioeconomic factors are ever present, even during the Golden Era, jerk wads. So try shifting the blame all you want, you know who the culprit is.

Is it the fans that continue to support nonsense? Of course. Is it any one artists fault? Like, say, Soulja Boy? Sure. (If it makes you feel better about yourself.) Is it DJ’s not taking a stand against playing bull? No doubt.

But you’re still deflecting, still hiding, still running from the cold, hard truth.

HIP HOP
IS

DYING.

And it’s ALL. YOUR. FAULT.

You, the Hip Hop ‘purist’. Who wont let Hip Hop continue to GROW and BLOSSOM, but would rater keep it dirtball, grimey, ‘real’. But you yourself ain’t dirtball & grimey no more. You moved on up. To the East Side. To a De-Luxe new life with your head in the damn sky. So why cant Hip Hop evolve as well? You detest what it’s become, yet when is the last time you went BACK to the neighborhood to catch a TRUE Hip Hop show of underground talent? When’s the last time you actually BOUGHT an independent, local artist’s cd, FULL PRICE, without haggling or bs’n him, and circulated it and made sure everyone you knew got ‘put up on’ this new, amazing raw talent? Where’s you’re INVESTMENT BACK into Hip Hop, you selfish bastard?

You, the Hip Hop journalist. I’m not even going to go there. But you know where & why you’re bogus. What are YOU doing to reinvest into the culture you ‘love’? When will your passion again replace your cash-in? Call it what you want; you know I’m right. Write about THAT. Hold cats accountable. Starting with your REFLECTION.

You, the Hip Hop mogul. Only mogul’s I’ve seen that seem to still give a sh!t about Hip Hop’s integrity and these young cats doin the knowledge is Russell, with all of his initiatives, and Diddy, who SONNED the first Making the Band cast for not knowin ‘Juicy’, and forced them to DO. THE. KNOWLEDGE. Yeah, I’m sure the rest of you ‘claim’ to be doin stuff (exclusion: RZA’s been telling cats to do the knowledge for years thru the Wu, but he’s on a WHOLE other plane. Y’all can’t even fly in his airspace), but is it REACHING this new generation?

But most importantly, it is YOU, the ARCHITECTS. YOU are the ones held most responsible. Because when a school fails, they don’t blame the students; they blame the TEACHERS. The ADMINISTRATORS. And if the teachers aint TEACHING, then what in the world do you EXPECT to happen? OF COURSE they’re not gonna know to do the knowledge. This new generation hasn’t been taught about ’Each One, Teach One’, a founding tenet of ANY societal development, because they were born of the era of ‘I gotta get mine, you gotta get yours’. KRS, where are you? Afrika Bambaataa , where are you? Zulu Nation, members, where are you? WHERE ARE ALL THE TEACHER’S?

Corporate Exec’s, in Hip Hop, we are a Hip Hop NATION, and you are the governing bodies, Senate, House members, economists, and decision makers. And the Hip Hop dollar may be strong, but the Hip Hop Nation is ERODING. And just like America, the key is EDUCATION. Start putting some dollars behind giving a voice to those who ACTUALLY have something to SAY. Give them Credence, Relevancy, and assist in Influence. Make these ringtone cats do Hip Hop PSA’s w/ pieces of Hip Hop History nin them, y’know, like the old school ‘The More You Know’ or ‘GI Joe’ joints. DO SOMETHING. Because, just like the American economy, the Hip Hop economy is fading FAST. If we don’t reinvest into education and rebuilding the INTEGRITY of the Hip Hop Nation, you WILL. LOSE. MONEY. PERIOD. May not be today, or tomorrow, or next week, but it’s on the horizon.

So STEP. THE F@&#. UP.

Because if not, on some comic book stuff, we’re gonna enact a Hip Hop Registration Act, and these cats gon have to apply, be screened, pass tests, and be LICENSED to even PARTICIPATE or CONSIDER themselves a part of the Hip Hop Nation. Violators will have to forfeit all profits, proceeds, royalties, etc over to the Hip Hop Education Fund for Increasing Hip Hop Awareness & Integrity.

Think it’s a game if you want to.

Checkmate.