Rza recently said in an interview "It's ironic that hip hop has changed from the voice of catalyzing change to the voice of submission" (paraphrased), this is what I see happening, the "pseudo fundamentalists" who also happen to be bandwagon hoppers most of the time are condemning advancement.  Ironically they bumping cdr's from their own boys copied from MP3s downloaded from the net - f***ing chumps. If by now you still don't see the direction in which this article is heading, well I will put it literally for your lazy asses, I am talking about the "Internet aint hip hop" bullsh*t that people keep talking.

I will credit you with that, it is true the internet is not hip hop, neither is a tape, tape deck, sp1200, two turntables, mp3's etc.  It's intangible but thru these mediums it is manifested, without the sp1200 your favourite producer would not have been able to lace beats for your favourite mc to spit rhymes into, so they could save midi files, that would later be converted into wavefile / mp3 files that can be put on either wax, for your favourite dj to play on his two turntables or copied into cd for you to bump.  You follow?

Whether you are at home, work, in the streets, on the net or in your broads ass and you happen to be an MC then you ARE an MC, just coz you busting a nut don't change the fact. If you are on the internet and you are an MC then you are an MC.  So this needy sentimentalist bullsh*t about the net is f***ing hip hop up, creating netcees, etc is the fruits of a seed that fell onto barren land which happens to be someone who has no clue what the f*** they doing in hip hop.  Just another sheep in the preverbal hip hop flock. If you let the real world leave you behind coz you clinging onto some non-existent fundamentals then bra, you on your own, but know this no-one is waiting on your ass and really no-one cares to bring you along coz it's a conscious choice that you yourself made, but don't be surprised when your favourite MC or the person that inspired your love for the art writes you an e-mail with a script that he just wrote.

[Interlude - compressed evolution of Hip Hop]

- Traveling West African(Mandingos. but that is another article) Griots play drums, made from animal skin, wood and sticks other accompanying rhythms from pretty much anything they could use.
- To Slaves in Slave ships on they way to greener cotton pastures, cuffed using they chains and stomping on the decks (okay I know this is a bit extreme exaergrated and what not..creative freedom motherf***er but whatever)
- Jamaican Dub musicians play percussion breaks in clubs - Jamaican immigrants modify Dub into "Hip Hop" in South Bronx, amogst which one is DJ Kool Herc.
- Rock-n-roll also emerged from the same path incidently (Mos Def -Rock-n-Roll)
- Due to advancement in technology at the time so evolved "Hip Hop"..the essense did not just the medium.
- Rock-n-Roll due to its commercial appeal(Elvis f***ing Presly) to white America grows faster influencing way music is made, concept of sampling invented…
- Hip Hop catches onto the idea of sampling - Beastie Boys and RUM-DMC get into the spotlight
- These artists had big budgets and studios so they could afford sampling machines and sampling, but hip hop was still going on and the less popular artist could not afford sampling machines so they improvised hence the birth of INTERPOLATIONS IN HIP HOP, and also gave birth to the confusion we call mainstream and underground, that's why the two always sound different anyway.
- Kool Herc and Hollywood are both credited with introducing the Jamaican style of cutting and mixing into the musical culture of the South Bronx. By most accounts Herc was the first DJ to buy two copies of the same record for just a 15-second break (rhythmic instrumental segment) in the middle. By mixing back and forth between the two copies he was able to double, triple, or indefinitely extend the break. In so doing, Herc effectively deconstructed and reconstructed so-called found sound, using the turntable as a musical instrument. *****

[End Of Interlude]

After this long history lesson I feel less inclined to complete the picture for you lazy f***s that cling onto bullsh*t self created, self preserving fundamentals.

Long story short - mediums for hip hop expansion will keep popping up and dismissing them unlike those who built hip hop.  The ones you base your life around will guarantee you been left behind.  If Kool Herc had said f*** sampling where would hip hop be, if DJ Hollywood said f*** turntables where would hip hop be, If you say f*** the internet where will hip hop be?

briCK 2004 August

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