Digital Frontiers

One thing about music is that when it hits you feel no pain (unlike most rappers’ gunshot wounds). And from money, to the cars, to the clothes, and tantalizing women in their videos, hip-hop artists have always symbolized the epitome of success to me. I met the hip-hop game at an early age and since then she’s changed and grown into a full-fledged beauty. Now, I would love to do her when I grow up.

Origins

Most people think of hip-hop as the club banging, pistol whipping , bedonkadonk shaking, head bobbing, stickin it to the man kind of music which has grown to describe the lives of a disadvantaged sect of Americans: middle-class, white teens. However, this is only partially true. In order to understand where hip-hop is today and how I can become the king, we must understand where it originates. We can trace the origins of hip-hop back to block parties in ancient New York City (circa 1970) where local DJs used to mix funk and soul music. Eventually, DJs started to “jack” baselines and set them on a loop repetitively so that a speaker also known as an “emcee” could brainwash his or her audience into believing what it is he or she was trying to say.

Hip-hop music has become the language of suburban youth

Recording

Along the way, “artists” discovered a technique that would allow the world to understand how truly awesome they were.” Artists such as Sugar Hill Gang and Grandmaster Flash started recording songs that told the world of how awesome or “ill” their music was. It was all good in the hood as this new, innovative music found its way into the urban discotheques and people of all different colors starting rocking it to the bang bang boogie and to the rhythm of the boogie, the beat.

As hip-hop progressed, it kept its roots in club banging, but eventually started being expressed by those with criminal records and who spoke out against oppression by The Man or “Whitey.” This musical style made popular by artists such as N.W.A., Tupac, The Notorious B.I.G.,and 50 Cent among others became widely accepted among the suburban communities of the United States as upper middle class white teens began to fight against the oppression of their parents.

Rappers often speak out against oppression from guys like this also known as "Whitey" or "The Man." You can find them in their corporate offices telling the real brothas how to make music or in classrooms where they brainwash young, impressionable students.

How I WILL take over hip-hop

1. It is important to note that hip-hop developed from taking old music and using their baselines and instruments to make new songs. I’ve already grown accustomed to taking music that isn’t mine and singing over it as seen by my experiences at Karaoke night at Grog. I will continue to do this.
2. Rappers such as Soulja Boy appeal to an ingorant sect of the American public. In order to appease my audience, I will cease to read any books which brings me to my next step in becoming a hip-hop mogul…
3. Rappers like Kanye West gave up school to pursue a career in music. That is why I’ve decided to stop attending classes and eventually get kicked out of school so that I may eventually dedicate a song to all the teachers that told me
   I’d never amount to nothing, and to all the people that lived above the buildings that I was hustling in front of that called the police on me when I was just tryin’ to make some money to feed my daughter.
   Which brings me to my next point…
4. I’m going to start hustling. What I’ll be hustling I don’t know but even if I did I wouldn’t disclose what I was hustling for fear of The Man holding me down. But, I’ve heard it on many rappers’ songs. And Rick Ross even named a song about it.
5. We’ve all heard the story of 50 Cent getting shot at 9 times and we’ve witnessed what that has done for his career. We’ve also seen what Kanye West’s car accident has done to elevate his career (he made a song while his mouth was wired shut, which put him on the map). That brings me to the conclusion that I must endure a painful, freak injury. I was thinking something along the lines of walking the streets on which I’m hustling in a neon pink shirt with a target on the back. Hopefully, someone will get the point.
6. Then, as we’ve seen with rappers like Maino, becoming a member of the elite State Penitentiary Club does wonders for connections. So, why not let myself get caught “hustling” outside of my neighborhood police station or an elementary school?
7. While in prison, I plan on using my spare time to becoming as jacked as possible by using the bench press in the yard and working on my ups on the basketball court.
8. After getting out, I’m pretty sure that A&Rs will just flock to me after I put out my first EP which will be titled the “The Documentary of the Realest Man Alive.”

My first EP cover

Changes in the Industry

I foresee many changes in the industry. For one, hip hop has become viral. With the advent of internet technology, artist will no longer have to succumb to “The Man” (who tells rappers what to rap about)  to give them distribution deals. Instead rappers may comment on the real chronicles of “the streets” without fear of retribution or backlash. Furthermore, I can already envision hipsters influencing hip-hop to the point of no return. Like everything, when hipsters get a whiff of something cool, they begin to creep into the picture until they have poisoned the genre completely (see Kid Cudi).

Hipsters like this often come to ruin everything they touch.

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