50 years of Hip Hop- How Come?

Very good comment, @simao 

The silly stereotyping of Rap music (as in the quote that you included) is a dead giveaway of the cultural myopia to which you refer.

There are countless examples of Rap that shatter such stereotypes, and I will offer one that does so on a variety of levels: Anthony Joseph.

Not only is the music that Joseph produces (at times in collaboration) often very different from stereotypical Rap, but he teaches creative writing at the University of London (as in England), has published at least four volumes of poetry (which clearly inform his music), and a novel.

Readers should have a listen to TIME, which he produced in collaboration with the excellent NY-based American bassist and singer Meshell Ndegeocello.

I am not a fan of todays rap and hip hop. 
It is violent and misogynistic. 
It hits one emotional note: anger. 
And it’s been stripped of revolutionary rebelliousness. It is just product. 
 

it wasn’t always that way. 
 

The Last Poets are considered the founders of rap. The Original Last Poets were formed on 19 May 1968, the birthday of Malcolm X, at Mount Morris Park (now known as Marcus Garvey Park) in East Harlem, New York City. 

Their first LP was issued in 1970 on Douglass, the same label that introduced John McLaughlin. 
 

@unreceivedogma thanks for posting. There is a good history of hip hop in a documentary on PBS. IIRC Chuck D produced it?

Like you eloquently stated, there is a great deal of the genre that I don’t personally enjoy. Others on this thread are mistakenly confused…that if they don’t enjoy this genre it isn’t music when in fact its just music they dont enjoy.

I dont enjoy Ornette Coleman or Kenny G or Wagner or Guns n Roses or Twisted Sister or almost any C&W (but Bluegrass was different to me for some reason). I recall my parents threw up in their mouth the time they found a Lords of the New Church album in my room. The irony was that my father was borrowing some of my albums and the Lords album was sandwiched between the London Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic (I know, I should have had my albums filed by genre, conductor or piece of music). The moral is its music to whom its music. To bitch about it or debate it is silly. I think what really pisses people off is they think of all the starving artists who had deep talent and messages and yet, someone they view as lacking in both are buying multiple jets, vacation homes and other swag. Thats life and thats free enterprise.

@ghasley

I moved to the East Village of NYC in 1972. For one year, I lived upstairs from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe (where I got married 20 years later), where I met Miguel Pinero, Miguel Algarin, and many of the other founders of slam poetry, a closely related poetic and musical phenomenon.

I’m not a fan of Burt Bacharach, but I would never say that he’s not a great composer. It just sounds like muzak to me: why would I find “Close to You” interesting in 1972 sung by the Carpenters, when I was listening to David Crosby’s “Triad” in 1968, sung by Grace Slick?

Motown, the greatest soul that ever lived, along with the Philly Sound of Gamble and Huff, had at most a 15 year run. That entire period spanned my entire youth, even though I didn’t just listen to soul, I listened to everything, and knew all the groups from Creedance, the Mama’s and the Papa’s, to everything in between - You couldn’t miss it, for it was all over AM radio. The 60’s were far more than Psycho whatever, it was the most diverse period of music ever recorded.

That said, I still listen to my recording of Rapper’s Delight. Do you watch tv? The RD soundtrack, still some 53 years later, is used in several upscale fashion companies commercials that you would immediately recognize. Yes, hip hop still lives. Who doesn’t like Rappers Delight? I wasn’t into HH but a hit was a hit, and I still dug it!