A few days ago, I was listening in on a conversation between two colleague of mine from the hip-hop journalism circle. They were talking about the new form of hip-hop video "journalism" and how things have changed since the days of magazines. This discussion made me pose a question to myself; what happened to the journalism part?
These days, everyone is looking for the next rap beef or video model to "confess" in a book or on camera. Is there really any substance in this stuff at the end of the day? It's a hearty debate but my opinion skews more to no. For the most part, it's nothing more than journalistic junk food, something you'd see on the night time gossip shows that you'll forget about before the credits roll.
Legendary sports journalist Scoop Jackson once told me a long time ago, that when you write as a journalist, you're documenting history. What you put down on paper is what someone decades later will pick up and use as a source of what happened the time it was written. If that is the case, then right now as I type this blog post, hip-hop's contribution to the world is rappers banging video models, rappers getting their chains stolen and a few songs about Barack Obama.
If you think that sucks, think about the way these subjects are covered. You have video clips of guys foaming at the mouth about some random crime they were either a victim of, done or plan to do. Either that or a half-naked woman talking about how big or small some rapper's member is. The folks doing these interviews can barely grasp the concept of grade school grammar much less put together a comprehensive story.
One of the things that was great about the older days of hip-hop journalism was that our culture was held to the same high standard of writing as you would see on story about a politician. Even better was the skill to talk about issues that effected hip-hop in a smart way without coming off corny or snooty. That made me proud. That made me want to write. Think of how ill it would be to see this new generation of voices do the same thing. I'd like to see someone straight out of the streets of Miami write a story on correctional officers who are a part of the hip-hop community and how they feel about the "police" stigma more than another video clip of someone dissing Rick Ross. That's just as real as the criminal element of hip-hop that gets way too much shine. You want to be trill? Be trill enough to bring up those issues too.
Yup, that would make me proud.
-The Blackspot