AGing Headz

[TATEguru v.2K9]

I really disagree with your view that all newbies cant spark an intellectual convo.

I wasn't saying that newbies are incapable of sparking intellectual convo on these boards. I was saying that they chose not.
I personally, & from some of the responses on this thread some of the older (not age-wise but time on AG-wise) headz, find it hard to relate to what is being discussed here these days.

This is not a personal attack on any newbies more of a reflection by an aging head based on the reasons outlined above. I'm sorry if anyone took offense none was intended.

Its a fact that there appear to be more posts about chasing girls, gossip, boozing etc than there are about B-Boying, Graf art, DJing & emceeing now more than a year or 2 ago.

[Supafly]

I have been feeling like this of late too, Tate.

I am older, my priorities and responsibilities have changed. I don't have as much time to just dedicate to keeping up with developments in Hip Hop (which has also expanded). But while I've grown older, Hip Hop stays young; it remains the artistic expression of young people if not 'young ideas'.

What has really been bugging me out is that even if I switch myself off to the new music and new trends, I have even been struggling to connect with what used to be the music of my youth.

I might be wrong in this a**essment, but I get the feeling that I am increasingly finding Hip Hop more interesting to think and talk about, than experience, listen to and feel.

[sunchild]

Greetings tate! True that most threads on here are about shagging, hunting down girls and girls being fascinated with male physic, I guess some AGians just bring this topics up to escape all the seriousness and try to lighten up, well that is the impression i get from the likes of spacevein probably the first AGian to start this type of threads back like 2 years ago and I use to get pissed off but now 1 get use to it and if the post is not meant for your interest than i guess we move on to an appropriate thread. That is their expression of what goes on in their heads and lives.

Damn ! yeah we are aging man come on we steppin the 30's now or soon and don't blame you for having these thoughts it touch's everyone at some point.I don't think we stop being headz like 1 B-boy in P.E is 48 and Bra can he still rock even new power moves like the air flare and at a cypher for Mc's he just enjoy himself listening to Mc's I guess that is what still keeps him looking and feeling so young and he is married with kids.

It is all choice at the end of the day.

[TATEguru v.2K9]

The problem is that the not so relevant posts are dominating & people may actually start coming to this site FOR posts like "Girl Advice"; "How many times a day" or "confused"...

Before we know it AG will be full of 17yr old groupies. Remmeber when AG was a haven for Skwatta Kamp groupies?...I see it happening again..

SUPPORT YOUR RELEVANT THREADS!

[BHLAKHROZE]

true most threads on here are about...and girls being fascinated with male physic

* she puts up her hand. i suppose this would me *

do not crack me up. please. geez. that thread is revolutionary maaayne. and there aint too many of those. go and check.

this is hilarious.

[briCK]

what can you really talk about thats Hip Hop related? In the three plus years I have frequented this site the issues around hip hop have been the exact same. the majority of cats who have posted here are a bunch of house heads who have no idea why they like the art or even know anything about as evidenced by the arguments we have seen, I'll admit my earlier threads used to be about hip hop related till I found myself either talking to a 12year kid in sme surburbia somewhere telling me that "sampling is old school" uncreative and the past.

While that is they valid opinion and view I have NO room to engage in shit like that and the fact that some people think those are valid topics or overviews it tell one thing we bump hip hop for different reasons, but the only reason i still post in this forumn is coz well we ALL to some degree have something in common otherwise why waste our time comming here but if us ask me what i'd rather do i'd rather look at half naked pictures of ladies and have a few laughs as i pa** my time at the office than go back and forth about Hype magazine which is VAGUELY hip hop and its Editor and his choice of articles to defining something that is already fully fledged or compare peoples mindstates in the "Art" ...ha


hip Hop for me has been always more than the "creative" side but more the union of like minds in disscusiing petinant issues like race relations how we can as a people overcome our pasts, where we going as a people...its a movement a vessel to mobilize like minded individuals using creative arts and activisim and a dose of reality which is the unserious part of it all..

PEACE

[briCK]

T8...

whats wrong with this place being Skwatta Kamp Groupie havan? It would be a reflection of what Hip Hop really is like,,,as much as we all would like to fool ourselves into beliving that it aint happening truth is that is the state of Hip Hop, I have to go through this shit day in day out when I walk around. no-one knows Ben-Sharper, except the "elite" is a forum or medium which is public is not allowed to reflect what it is like there whats its use.

Hip Hop is bigger than what we all hope it to be its is a self sustaining living entity and the more you try to carve it to reflect what your Utopian ideals the more it will slip through your hands and before you know what has happened its hit the ground a dream has dissapeared..live and let live don't be a spokesperson as to what it is or NOT


I'm done!

[Dpleezy]

I think that there's a lot of Hip Hop-related stuff talk about; new music, the politics of hip hop in SA, music awards, production techniques, new artists, the business of music in SA, connecting with like-minded heads, the struggles we go through as artists, gig information, press releases,,, the list is almost endless actually.

Then there's all the cutural stuff around Hip Hop; politics, feminism, fashion, clubs, cars etc.

While I agree that we shouldn't have rules about what is talked about here, I do believe we should think about what we risk turning AG into by constantly posting subjects not related to Hip Hop.

Sure, the internet is an open communication space, but AG is a Hip Hop board - its value goes down the more the 'signal to noise' ratio goes down. Quite a few times I have seen special-interest boards deteriorate from great resources into nothing because no one stayed focused on keeping shit on point.

[TATEguru v.2K9]

Maybe the reason is not that we are getting older but rather that there is little quality hip hop music coming out these days.
This year very little hiphop music has truely impressed me (Game Theory, Dilla - The Shining...can't think of anything else now...).
I imagine part of the reason is that I am reprioritizing as I age but I'd like to believe if Illmatic or The Foreign Exchange - Connected were released today i'd be as goo goo gaa gaa as I was back when. But *sigh* they are not..

*Cues Nina Simone's "Don't Smoke in Bed"*

"I left a note on his dresser..
By my old wedding ring..
Goodbye old sleepy head.."

[TATEguru v.2K9]

Who is really making music for the older headz these days anyway? Look at the top 40:

Chamillionaire;
CHingy?..
Skwatta?..
Prokid?...

Guess older heads really have nothing to talk about now?..

[taxa]

Sad state of affairs indeed!
Is there any body  that puts effort into making good music out there?

Surely if you put work to a track/album, it will be evident to those who hear it,right?  
But then again maybe most people arent interested,
Maybe the larger ma**es just couldnt be bothered with that sort of stuff.
Maybe A 808 drum set and some loud yells will do!?

[Dpleezy]

you can't be all things to alll people.

KONFAB and Ben Sharpa definitely put effort into making good music,,, but not everyone is going to like that music.

No point bitching about it tho

[Vexer]

I think being an aging head is both a gift and a curse.

The curse is u become more critical of the music being put out but the gift is u're now in a position of power in Hip-Hop.

What I mean by this is u're able to contribute to the culture bcoz now u can be more than just a fan.

So aging headz r music producers, label owners, artists, magazine editors, artist managers and internet entrepenuers, webmasters and moderators who keep Hip-Hop websites such as this one up and running etc.

Therefore at the end of the day being an aging head is good from the standpoint of your capacity to give back to the culture through ur own input on the Hip-Hop scene.

Ultimately I feel its what u do with ur time that matters the most and how that impacts on the culture.

So being an aging head doesn't necessarily have to feel like a bad thing.

Also what is our definition of "aging/aged head". I don't think being 26 (which is also how old I am) makes u an aging/aged head coz a lot of people in Hip-Hop have come to realise their full potential at around this age e.g. Jigga put out his magnum opus "Reasonable Doubt" when he was 27.

Its been straight to the top since then and it doesn't look like its gonna stop given that his new album has sold 850 000 units in its first week already.

Same goes for Dr Dre he's 41 now but the Aftermath era is when he has truly become his own man after the NWA and DeathRow era.

This also goes for 50 Cent who got to the top only in the latter part of his twenties.

So it all depends on how u choose to look @ it.I feel like now is when we actually have the power to be conduits for change and influence instead of being a fan on the receiving end being constantly influenced by the vision of others.

I guess this means when "aging/aged" headz say "the music that's coming out today is not as hot or as dope as what we used to listen to back in the day" (which I'm prone to doing) we're essentially dissing ourselves coz it's us sitting in the studios behind the boards and grinding the shit out. So if we don't make it hot who is?

We should look @ that shit as an indictment of ourselves and not someone else outside of us and the culture we're helping build everyday.
 
I feel like our Hip-Hop souls are still intact and burning but we just need to channel the energy in a direction that will give us fullfilment and thereby benefit the culture.

For me this is a process that's gonna go on until the day I die.

Although I've ditched the "Fubu", "Karl Kani" and whatever gear they have these days my love for Hip-Hop is more than skin deep and @ the end of the day u can't fight against ur own evolution.

For those that still show their Hip-Hop essence thru sweats, hoodies and baggie pants its all good that's their headspace for now.Everyone evolves but when its all said and done its what's in ur soul that counts and how u've expressed ur soul within the culture.

There will always be an infinite number of ways to express your soul in Hip-Hop no matter how old u r. D-Planet bears witness to that (No offence intended D).

So to all those that consider themselves aged or aging headz I say relax, the journey has only just begun. Also instead of us critiquing the state of the culture let's focus more on what we can do to make it represent what we feel it should represent.

[Dpleezy]

hahah,,, no offence taken

yeah,,, i'm loving hip hop more and more every day. To me it's got just as much energy and creativity as it did when I was 11 (and yes, that is a long-a** time ago).

I just did my first Grime/ Hip Hop collab with Ben Sharpa, Terror MC and two up and coming artists from the UK. That shit sounds new and fresh to my ears. Likewise, I'm working with Terror (a rapper who spits in Afrikaans and reps the Cape Flats) - that's new to me too.

It really is up to the older heads to pa** down the knowledge (whether that is production techniques, business practices or whatever),,, and it's up to the younger heads to push the boundaries and be experimental.

I have never been one to look back at the past and think things were better back then. If you start thinking like that you get left behind. Things move forward - we need to embrace that, not fight against it.

[Da Intrikate]

The game is changing at a rapid rate, real emceeing is hecoming a myth. We need that Boom Bap resurection!!!!!!
Look out for the first part of the Beast against the beast album

BOOM BAP RESURECTION!!!!!!!!