Pimpin' stylez

Hip hop. I’m willing to bet there isn’t a civilized (and some not, even) country in the world which hasn’t been hit by the phenomenon. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if National Geographic ran a cover story on rapping pygmies!
“I’m a P-Y-G, you can call me Rick. Only 3 foot 9, I got a 10 foot dick!”
Catchy, you say?
Hip hop has steadily been gaining momentum for the last decade or so, growing from its basic rap roots, with countless posers infiltrating the bastion of artists like Dr. Dre, Salt ‘n Pepa and Snoop Dog. More recently, there have been more new hip hoppers than I can count. But the most amazing part I’ve found is that there have been more successes than there have been flashes in the pan, which would indicate that hip hop music has been something of a short cut to success. “Get Rich Or Die Trying” somebody said. “Somebody”.
That seems to be the prevalent attitude of most wannabe bad boys breaking out on the music scene. What about the music? Oh wait…this is hip hop. Somebody, please keep reminding me!

What has any of this got to do with me? Nothing really, other than I have to see it everywhere I go and know that it’s here to stay, no matter what I have to say.
What’s my problem? Why can’t I just live with it? Yeah sure, like the rest of the sheep. Sure the bling is attractive and the skimpily dressed girls obviously conjure up wild fantasies. But what has society come to when we reward the objectification of women and advocacy of irresponsible sexual behaviour, with zooming record sales?
There was a time when most everything that was bad in the world was blamed on rock and roll. Violence, teenage pregnancies, anti-socialism... Rock music always took the fall. And not a parent would have disagreed. Give me that time any day. I prefer the time when men acted like men and women fought for empowerment instead of dressing like sluts and “belonging” to their men, thus the pimp – hooker relationship that is being so freely advocated by people who are held up as idols. Rockstars had their share of women without having to strut around in music videos, followed by a bevy of semi nude skanks and “singing” to their fans about what Casanovas they were.
And if rock music could have been an instiller of violent behaviour, rap doesn’t exactly take a back seat. The cases of Tupac and Notorious BIG speak for themselves. But still, it’s projected as cool to walk the roads adorned with rings and chains, with pumped high tops, floating in the oversized sports gear of a winning basketball team and the butt of a hand gun protruding over your waistband. Now that’s hip! Or is it hop? I never know…

This isn’t an attack on the West; it’s a remark on how this so called culture seems to be eating away at the established cultures of the world. A de-evolution of sorts. Morals are diminishing to nothing more than a topic relegated to the classroom and Sunday school discussions. And there are very few vanguards of virtuosity left in the world. I don’t want to sound like a preacher because that’s the last thing I could ever be. I just want the world to not collapse on top of everything that it has built for itself over these nigh on countless years. Call me a prude, but I would never want my kid aspiring to be a “Pimp” or a “Ho”. And yet, kids/teens are huge consumers and, I’m guessing secretly, a major part of the target audience for the propaganda that is gripping every continent.
No doubt, awesomely talented performers do exist in this field. Dre, Tupac, Notorious BIG, Snoop Dog, Eminem, 50 Cent and the like have carved out massive names for themselves in the music industry, not by any luck. Irrespective of the lifestyle they portray, they are geniuses in their own right and do have my respect.

I don’t want hip hop to go away. No, I listen to it myself! It is fun after all. And everybody wants to envision a hedonistic lifestyle for themselves, where they can drive down the street in a blinged out Lowrider with their personal set of beauties in the back seat. But my world wouldn’t exactly come crashing down if I didn’t have those images in my head. All I’m wanting here is some form of human realization of the direction that we’re heading in. As it is, I’m already pretty sure that all those prophecies of inevitable doom are just waiting to be proven right and they’re being helped along by every technological advancement that we make. But what’s the point in living till the end of days if civilization itself breaks down?
Today I can still enjoy music that was created in the time before my parents even. I don’t think that 30 years down the line I will have much music of my own time to choose from.


Motorhead – The Game