intergration is great, the new south africa, the global village -great, being able to eat...a great necessity no qualms about it. Not so great is the ideal that a lot of 'underground' heads can enjoy the event without denouncing aspects of it that are less than appealing to their acquired tastes for definitive acoustics. The ideal that tolerance can easily be substituted with pleasure to create this 'fair' balance.
in my opinion & experience of SA hip hop - however narrow minded it may seem, alternative hip hop artists and faithfuls do not dig being spoonfed commercial rap music full stop and the same applies with commercial fans. in spite of our different preferences, ideas & feelings about hip hop, underground & commercial cats do have similar interests & form partnerships/relations, be peoples based on other shit - personality, business interests, favourite soccer teams, whateva! My friend/ex room-mate (like my entire family) couldn't stand the hip hop i listen to & i wasn't exactly thrilled about her collection either but that's okay coz we was good on so many levels. so while we'd often go to live jazz events together, we'd never be in attendance @ the same hip hop gig...just sayin', this not hate speech.
Nascent i get what u say about it part being about adjustment & extending the fanbase and i do respect it coz it comes from a good place but realistically we're just not there, a lot of us don't wanna get there, just because we don't see this sudden need 4 damaging amounts of hospitality. I alone can't think up a single good enough reason why we should be jumping on this wagon, considering that it requires a certain amount of compromise, a compromise that alienates some.
Wouldn't work better perhaps to invite artists from other equally or similarly orientated creative genres, introduce them to the hip hop we like, enjoy what they have to offer instead of sharing our aero moments with artists within the genre but who r at an opposing side of what we do? I'm not saying promoters should not do it this, not hating and not saying they should not accomodate this kind of hip hop & i'm certainly not saying ideas should be created without the possibility of expansion. But the main issue here is these are 2 different worlds- the messages r different, the sounds are different, the aim and so to appreciation. The one message cannot completely thrive or suck in the necessary nutrients by the roots if the other keeps casting blue crystals in the same patch of soil! For the same fan's attention. Which of the 2 points is being driven home here? Coz that are a few ways to live a little, in the many forms that underground hip hop is. some of us r comfortable & satiated in what we're used to & love to love - just that pure inexcusably explosive innovative feeling from an all sorts of limitless underground hip hop bill. But the fan is not my only concern, the artist too coz the value monetary or in terms of exposure is always given to the commercial rapper, the home side if we can call it that, stay hungry coz a few hundred is usually the mark of their worth when the two are up on the same stage, at least 90 percent of the time. I can understanding this kind of thing like some1 said when it comes to events like Hip Hop against Xenophobia or such initiatives.
As Jules put it into perspective, some of the original following is, whether we likes it or not, in polar opposites with syrupy rap & at loggerhedz with some or all things bearing the commercial sartorial of hip hop. This image of supposed harmony doesn't render fully necessary for the reasons given. It is no doubt viable for commercial interest in promotional strategy & in that sense has many gratifying benefits but not so for the fan. Among those mentioned, the expanding fanbase. I won't be surprised at a major success to come from such an event i mean from the trajectory i've seen hip hop take over the years, this intergration mission is likely to work well especially with the younger, bornfree generation with all this insurbodination & fresh quirks about sharing & caring. admittedly i got a less-than-tropical, more unorthodox view & i enjoy the bias. Almost as much as i enjoy being at a particular kind of event without even as much as the peripheral of what i don't dig.
but as some cats pointed out, it's what the fest used to be, what it used to represent, flag, encourage & push that gave it that special appeal to you the fans. This quicksand shift is leaving some in neglect thanks once again to commercialisation and the legion reasons why commercial rappers are more entitled to 'eat', first from the very shaky hands that feed them monotony, & now from alternative platforms too??!
that said, knowing the organisers/founders who have over the years promoted the more alternative side of the artform...who i look up to as key players, respect as veterans in SA hip hop. Seeing that they are coming uncaged from the seemingly onedimensional way in which the likes of me see progression in indie hip hop ( black-or-white with an acceptable margin only of overhearing the JRs of this world from a pa**ing taxi); i would have to guess that does in itself lend hope to this idea that such an environment can be created, conjusive to the attraction of these contrasting sides.
for that reason, i'm urging myself on to go thru, but also meet up with peoples, network & support those i dig that are sowhat worth the compromise...there's no telling wut it's gonna be like though, it will be my first polygamous experience/ment with hip hop on that scale. The last 2 times i went i didn't stay long enough to witness much of the other side or to develop a taste for cocktail.
