Firstly, let me define the term falling off. To fall off, is to decline from your former excellence; to be broken or detached from something; to become less valuable or interesting. (Well, at least that’s what the dictionary gave me.)  Anyway, falling of is not a new thing, in fact it's been with us since the beginning of time. It's human nature. 

Because we live in a fast-paced, consumer driven society, modern people today tend to be more trendy. We get bored mad quick, with anything from fashionable clothes to reality t.v. shows. 

Hip-Hop has become so lucrative, that lot of people are trying to penetrate this industry hoping to make cheese super quick. (Some not even having a clue what Hip-Hop is.) Thus die-hard followers of this culture have to compete with the mainstream and therefore forced to tamper with their art in order to survive. So by compromising many artists come out with a watered-down version of their true-self. Giving us (the fans) some unoriginal, no-name brand shit.

On the other hand, there are those staying true to their craft and still manage to be successful.  Like any good sports man/woman they have stayed on top of their game and have been consistent.

So my question to all you easily corruptible heads (artists) is.  How can you drop all that you stood for, for all those years in a fucking eye-blink? "I needed the money" , would probably be their first response. "My record company made me do it" or "My girl/boyfriend made me do it" would most likely be their second. Nine times out of ten, it's about money. Which makes it easy to confuse selling out , with falling off.  In some cases heads are guilty of both.

So why am I buggin'?, you might ask. Well, cause it seems to be an everyday occurrence. Heads are bailing out, just plain quitting Hip-Hop. Yes, I'm talking about that cat who you thought was down, that homie you use to hang with. You either wrote rhymes, banged walls or practised new b-boy moves together. Whatever you did together ceased, soon after he/she started hanging out with the yuppie crowd, that listens to Bon-Jovi and Kenny G. and hangs out at those upmarket pubs (the members-only kind) where everybody talks about their careers and how much money they make,… or some cheesy shit like that. Who was once a person of substance, has now turned into a zombie, succumbing to the everyday bullshit. Mainly cause they couldn't maintain.  They couldn't hang cause they were in it for the wrong reasons, I reckon.

So seeing that everybody around you be loosing their grip and falling - ask yourself whether you're gonna uphold your reputation as being that real, hardcore, non-conforming Hip-Hopper? Or are you gonna be the next one to fall da fuck off? Well, only time will tell. 

By This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it (Namibian Correspondent)

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