How Hip-Hop Saved My Life

I think a lot of people got into Indie-Rock the same way I did, through someone older (my sister). As a child, I was content listening to the radio, soaking up the pop of New Kids on the Block, Kris Kross, and Paula Abdul and my sister was insistent at force feeding me The Replacements, REM, and Jane's Addiction. In the end, she won (not that I'm complaining). Then came the Nirvana obsession, then the Radiohead obsession, and so on.

Growing up, a lot people would unfairly criticize the music I listened to. Some would categorize it as "devil worshipping music" (absolutely false), other would call it gloomy (while true, these bands were much more complex than just "gloomy"). It didn't matter that I also listened to Pavement (rarely gloomy) or Sebadoh (hopelessly romantic), or Archers of Loaf (really sarcastic), since most people don't know who any of the aforementioned bands are/were. This is part of the reason that I hate the question "What music are you into?", because there's a good chance that I will mention a bunch of bands that you've never heard of making my answer a complete waste of both your and my time. I know that this is very much the indie-rock attitude: to keep your favorite bands a secret for fear they will be discovered by less-deserving hipster idiots (like The Shins after Garden State).

This attitude goes against every fabric of the hip-hop paradigm. Hip-hop is about celebration (money, drugs, the fact that they got shot a dozen times and didn't die, women, whatevers) and about self-promotion. Rappers are about ethos as much as they are about skill or lyrical content. In fact, a lot of rappers rely on nothing but ethos. So musically, I weave a very tangled web. On one hand, I listen to the reclusive self-depricating indie-rock bands that are so good that they don't need self-promotions, and on the other hand I listen to Lil' Wayne who talks about how he's the greatest MC in the game on pretty much every song.

My love for hip-hop started around the time that (in my opinion) Indie-Rock's golden age was about at its end. Pavement and Sebadoh released their final albums in 1999 and there was definitely a musical void that needed to be filled. Luckily, the same year a group called The Roots released their breakthrough Things Fall Apart and Mos Def released his solo debut Black on Both Sides. If that's not impeccable timing, I don't know what is. By the way, if you're looking to get into Hip-hop, these are two great "gateway"albums, along with Midnight Mauraders by A Tribe Called Quest.

The truly great thing about The Roots and Mos Def is their respective "family trees". The Roots have their Okayplayer community and Mos Def (part of the Okayplayer himself) had the Rawkus label, both of which produced excellent music and made the transition to hip-hop even easier. I immediately was exposed to Common, Talib Kweli (and therefore Black Star), Erykah Badu, and later Kanye, Lupe, and Little Brother. This is where I'm extremely fortunate. If Jay-Z was my gateway, I'd get stuck being exposed to Beanie Sigel, Memphis Bleek, and Freeway. While they aren't terrible, they're definitely not as easy to get into as Common and Kweli. I would say with the exception of Atmosphere, all the hip-hop I listen to can be traced back the The Roots. For instance Jay-Z: The Roots --> Mos Def (guest on "Double Trouble" off Things Fall Apart) --> Talib Kweli (Black Star) --> Kanye West (produced "Get By" for Kweli, Kweli guests on College Dropout) --> Jay-Z (shows up on College Dropout, Kanye produces lots of his material). Of course the Roots also were Jay-Z's backing band on his Unplugged special, but I'm just outlining my path.

I was also fortunate to stumble upon the mixtape, which is really an artform in itself. The mixtape is released in between albums and is designed to keep the artist relevant (like I said, it's all about the ethos). It also gives rappers at chance to rap over other people's beats, work with rappers that they aren't necessarily normaly associated with, and basically put out some b-sides and feelers to see if their new direction will be accepted by "the streets" (no, not Mike Skinner). Usually a DJ "hosts" the tape and will occasionally be more of a detriment than a benefit (especially when they're giving shout outs to their homies for "holding it down"). Every now and then a rapper gets creative like Talib Kweli, who has The Beautiful Mixtape, which is hosted by Dave Chappelle as Rick James and some really interesting tracks, like Kweli rapping over Elanor Rigby ("The Lonely People"). This is definitely something that rappers can do that rockers can't (probably for a lot of legal reasons), and while I haven't given up on indie-rock at all, hip-hop has definitely found a place in my heart and is looking to stay. I have something to balance out the gloominess. It's a celebration bitches.