An intellectual romp through the mind of a dilettante, or bullshit? You decide Webstar is the Black Angel of Death I have seen the end of the culture, and I hardly knew it. Yes, dear friends, I am back.
Alive and well. Actually, I'm not well. True to form, I return to rant, bitch, whine, moan, gripe and complain about something.
You see, I formerly had no love for the culture that is Hip Hop. Just a bunch of niggas (in this case, the term is used to mean a completely ignorant African-American) talking about how many hoes and/or expensive baubles they possess, while opining about the days when they used to sell crack. It was then that I discovered the true origins of Hip Hop culture.
I discovered that Hip Hop was a reaction to 'white flight' or suburbanization, leaving inner cities despondent and forgotten, with no business to bolster the economy. I learned that Hip Hop culture was born of spoken word poetry and the sort of art that can only come from bored creative young people. It was ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT.
It was the antithesis of the Reagan 80s. I like to refer to ghettos in the 80s as the dirty puddles into which Reaganomics trickled down, and Hip Hop as the fist rising from these puddles to scream 'You cannot kill us.' How horrified am I, now, that the end has come so soon.
You may ask, what is this end that you speak of? Do not mistake, the end has been in sight for a long time. Those who are serious about the art have forseen it for years like prophets screaming at doubting sinners.
The beast with three 6's on his forehead (not to be confused with the Three 6 Mafia) is named DJ Webstar. His trumpet's call of the end times for Hip Hop is a song called 'Chicken Noodle Soup'. Now, you don't believe me.
I'm still new to this magical box called a computer, so I'll just post the link to the video, courtesy of our good friends at YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=7qljIi-4ZEU I dare you to watch and not find a strange sensation in your back teeth. Revelations spoke of this. 'But, waitaminute,' you misspell, 'how is this worse than Lil Jon or the Ying Yang Twins, or Ja Rule?
' Excellent questions. I am equally impressed that you or anyone else remember Ja Rule. The reason that this song is worse is that its geared exactly, irrevocably, unabashedly, and directly towards kids.
Yes, a great deal of Hip Hop is geared towards teens and tweens. But let's look at this from a grander point of view- During the Renaissance, there were works of art made only so that the artist could make money, but even then they took their opportunity to use the preferred medium of choice and voice to speak to something grander. If a simple portrait were requested, they tried to capture the essence of the person they are painting for posterity.
You see, back then, everyone knew that they weren't going to live forever, so when they got the chance to speak to the world, they made it count. DJ Webstar has no meaning. He has no purpose.
He has no message other than give me money. And like any sugar coated confection that will eventually rot some part of your body, kids are lapping it up. Let's not even get to the reprehensible hook of the song.
Getting Hip Hop appreciated and accepted as an artform and a medium has been a difficult struggle. There are those who believe there is no art in it. They tend to overlook groups like the Roots, who perform all of their own instruments live on stage, or the operatic and/or soulful qualities in voices such as Lauryn Hill, or Mary J.
Maybe I've got a stick up my ass. Maybe this is harmless entertainment. Maybe it won't be so bad.
I said the same things in November of 2000 when Tom Brokaw said the name George Walker Bush. If for no other reason, I gripe now because I'm flat out embarrased that such a song can exist. I fear for kids who can't see that this is, in fact, bullshit.
But most of all, I fear for a culture that can ill survive such ignominy. Big ups to my people in Seattle, in Saratov, Los Angeles, and, as always, Austin, TX. My body's here, but my heart is there.
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