BY LARA MOSES
I once loved a culture that is now a commercial mashup of 50 cent wannabes, made-not-played beats and big screen movie bitters. People who have so much talent but choose to do what they see others do instead of pushing themselves to be greater than who they are. Attending hip hop events left me standing in total disgust as I remembered what hip hop was. A memory that made me want to go back to when there was the handful of heads that truly appreciated the art.
Hip Hop dancing - picture by Taryn Carr
I remember the very first time I appreciated hip hop culture. I was 16 years old and sat in total awe of the flips, tricks and sick beats that were placed before my eyes and ears. I grew within this culture that hardly knew me but accepted my appreciation for what it was. The culture became my definition as I attempted all the elements. Sprayed walls with my crazy love of graffiti, stood in a packed Saturday night at Marvel just to feel a bit of the DJs soul and attempted to figure out the boys as I sat around watching them beat box and break dance. I became a head. My work, play and love became hip hop.
Picture by Taryn Carr
As I grew, the culture grew and we slowly found ourselves on different paths. I wanted to love the culture, my definition, but what it was becoming something I didn’t want to be associated with. I had grown out of what once defined me and into the world that now loved everything about this culture that I hated. It was in 2008, at the biggest hip hop event in Africa, my love died. After seeing the influence of American commercial hip hop on our South African culture, I finally realized that this baggy-pants-bling-fake-American-accents culture was the present state of my first love. And the true heads — those that were there when being a MC, breaker, graffiti artist, DJ or beatboxer was an art form and the battles fought were left on the mic, floor, wall and turntables — had grown to love the memory. Silently they fight to get hip hop back to its real state.
Lara Moses is The Soapbox’s contributing editor.
Tags: 50 cent, american culture, break dancing, dj, graffiti, hip hop, rap
One Comment
hey lara i so feel you on this. i feel sorry for them actually – it just shows how easy it is to actually brain wash a nation. it seems its all about copying what they see on TV. but – respect to all those true hip hop heads out there still doing and loving the true art.
peace!