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Before Hip-Hop Was Hip-Hop

I keep coming across old essays I wrote that seem to have disappeared off the face of the planet--this one was for a high-school textbook. Glad to see it's holding its own.

Tell me what you think:

BEFORE HIP-HOP WAS HIP-HOP
by Rebecca Walker
© Prentice Hall Literature Textbook

If you ask most kids today about hip-hop, they’ll spit out the names of recording artists they see on TV: Eminem, P. Diddy, J. L o, Beyonce. They’ll tell you about the songs they like and the clothes they want to buy. They’ll tell you about the indisputable zones of hip-hop like “EO” (East Orange, New Jersey), the “ATL” (Atlanta, Georgia), and the “West Side” (Los Angeles, California), neighborhoods they feel they know because they’ve seen them in all the glossiest, “flossiest” music videos. Hip-hop is natural to these kids, like air or water, just there, a part of the digital landscape that streams through their lives.

I watch this cultural sea change with fascination. It astounds me that hip-hop has grown into a global industry, a force that dominates youth culture from Paris to Prague, Tokyo to Timbuktu. I can’t believe that in small, all-white towns like Lincoln, Nebraska, high school boys wear their clothes in the latest “steelo”: pants sagging off their waists, sports jerseys hanging to their knees, baseball hats cocked to one side. Even in the pueblos of Mexico, where mariachi bands and old school crooners still rule, it is hip-hop that sells cars, sodas, and children’s toys on TV.

The vast empire of hip-hop amazes me because I knew hip-hop before it was hip-hop. I was there when it all began.

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July 5th, 2009

Comments:

Comment #1 by Super Amanda on July 5, 2009 - 10:51am

I love this essay so much. It really sounds like a fun school too! Despite a vibrant music scene, I'm afraid most of the Bay Area I recall in the early days of hip hop was very segregated racially and musically, though I think Berkeley High had a bit of your 141 in it from what I heard through friends, seems as if no city competes with Gotham in that regard.

Bling culture seems to kill off most progressiveness in the arts especially music. Rich kids and those who aspire to flaunt garish wealth ultimately never make it as truly dynamic and complex entertainers-intrinsically devoid of edge and struggle I guess.
Still, the stereotype smashing effects of Hip Hop are fascinating. May its more prominent stars cease to be stagnant (Beyonce et al and their made in sweatshop clothing lines) and actually get much more political, hopefully...

Comment #2 by BrownImani on July 13, 2009 - 2:43pm

Hey Rebecca !! I am about 12 years ahead of you and East Coast for real. I too remember early hip hop. I also remember rap before it morphed into hip hop. It was culturally relevant and political (not all of it of course) and all of the living generations of Black people could relate to it on one level or another. Black women were Queens and sisters. I can not say the same for what is playing out here now. THe "music" seems to be for $$$, entertaining "others" and not for teaching truths or history and perpetuates the worst stereotypes of Blk people and especially our women.There is still rap and "real" hip hop but the young people are not getting to hear it. The old heads know where to find it but the young ones aren't interested. Sad. I hope like Life that hip hop will come full circle and return to it's roots and the airwaves. Soon. Thanks for this post. I'd like to hear some more of your early work.

Comment #3 by rebecca on July 17, 2009 - 7:03am
Thanks Imani! I've written so much, sometimes I'm amazed to come across these pieces. I think I'm going to bring back some of my posts from my motherhood blog atThe Root, too. Most of them were lost when the site went through redesign (!!) but I think I will begin to bring back what I have.
Comment #4 by Umm Sarah on November 16, 2009 - 2:21am

Thank you for posting this ! I am a homeschooling mom who has been trying to locate this essay to use in a lesson with my daughter. I had almost given up looking for it.

Comment #5 by someone on February 3, 2010 - 3:46pm

heyy rebecca ...wuzz up..we are now taking your story at school and i have some question about the story....i wish u could answer them soooon...1:why are u amazed by the fast empire of hip-hop ...2:why was it so important for you and your friends to define ur selves through dress,,slang,,dance,,muzic....& plz tell me about you cuz ur new for mee....:p:P..btw nice to know you and meet you..hope you read it...and what do you mean by before hip-hop was hip-hop??

Comment #6 by Charine and Jacquie on February 9, 2010 - 5:52pm

we think your work is great! we are working on it for a school project, soo awesome ^^

Comment #7 by PENIS on February 17, 2010 - 7:06pm

penis

Comment #8 by Anonymous on April 5, 2010 - 9:37pm

this essay is orrible very long

Comment #9 by Anonymous on April 5, 2010 - 9:38pm

this is too long

it sucks
i hate your work

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