Classifying The Hip-Hop Community and their Yearnings

by Demi

Written by Demi Oye

 

The Hip-hop community; More than a culture, More than a Movement, Beyond the sonics and lyrics represents varying School of Thoughts. While we can chalk it down to “everybody likes a good rap song”, it goes deeper than that.

This piece will provide a glimpse of the different categories that make up the hip-hop community.

 

The hip-hop community is divided into 3 factions-:

I. The Hip-Hop Purists

We have the hip-hop purists are a staunch sect who strongly opine hip-hop should stick to its grassroots, which emanates from jazz/soul music of the 60’s/70’s then to b-boy’ing, dj’ing, beatboxing, then spoken words later known as rap. Lyrical dexterity is of utmost importance. Themes should spread across issues of immediate and pressing concerns such as racism, police brutality, unity, ghetto tales. The art shouldn’t be over-commercialized, It should in an in-house fraternity. No standing on the sidelines, If u are keeping it real, keep it real. To this sect, artistes such as Rakim Rakim, public enemy, Talib Kweli, Nas, ice cube, wu tang clan crew, amongst others.

ii. The Hip-Hop Fans

We have the hip-hop Fans: who simply love bass beats accompanied by a consummate slick flow. They dig lyrics, Some are hip-hop heads, but they feel the need to be entertained. A 48 bars verse talking about any of the varying problems faced by the society becomes a little boring at a point. They cherish the rap beef, live for it. Regular hip-hop fans can also can tolerate a few singing notes by the rap artistes, share their playlists with other genres of music, Nevertheless, they can recognize wack from dope easily. A less judgemental on artistic outputs. Artistes such as jay-z, 50 cents, Eminem, Missy Elliot, Kanye West, j.cole, d.m.x, LL cool.J amongst others.

III. The Hip-Hop Bystanders

We have the hip-hop bystanders: who know nothing about the culture, history or it’s founding fathers. A slick, easy, easy to relate verse with a pop-like chorus would make do for this group. This group finds it hard to relate to those intricate punchlines, mind-splitting metaphors, pop-culture references that the dope rapper lives for. Music is basically entertainment and fun, not a learning medium. They make up the majority of the music-listening populace. Statistics show younger adults born within the 90’s and at the turn of the new millennium are more likely to be hip-hop bystanders. Artistes such as drake, tory lanes, Bryson tiller, Nicki Minaj, future, Travis Scott and a host of others

 

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