I came across an interesting forum discussion today. The topic was “Why don’t the majority of blacks support pure hip-hop?” As overly-discussed as this issue may be, I always find these debates not only informative, but entertaining at the same time.
Some of the questions posted in response to the forum were “What do you consider pure hip-hop?” by several individuals, and “Is this a subliminal way to bash the mainstream?” by others. Though I believe that there is no one answer to this question, I will share my sentiments nonetheless.
Google has several definitions for the word pure listed. Depending on sentence context, pure means “without flaws or sins,” “free from extraneous elements,” and the list goes on. When I think of something that is pure [from a broad perspective] I think of something that is innocent, clean, organic or natural.
When it comes to hip-hop, I don’t think using the term “pure” to describe it at its current state is appropriate; whether underground or mainstream. When a child is born he is said to be pure because his mind and soul has not been infiltrated by the world’s ills, and I believe hip-hop as a culture and as a form of music follows the same classification in this regards.
Like any genre of music, hip-hop is the reflection of the society that embodies the culture, so the traits you hear in the music are more than likely the traits you will see in its people; but in recent years there are many exceptions to this rule. G ... Read more »