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Southern Rappers: Running/Ruining the Game
Loading ...“You know why I’m rhyming simple as tic tac toe.
Cause niggas is dumb and that’s the shit that blow.”
-Saigon, “Come Again.”
I love hip hop. I am hip hop. I was born hip hop. That is my culture. I am not a fan. I am not a casual listener. I grew up in Bridgeport, Ct. Schooly D. Erik B and Rakim. My aunt taught me the Sugar Hill Gang song. My cousin had the Beastie Boys album with the plane crashed on the record cover. She also showed me L.L. Cool J’s Walking with the Panther album. Tight. Fat Boys in Disorderlies. I went to the movies to see that horrible picture. We danced to Chubb Rock’s “Treat Em Right.” The big topic was when Scott Lerock died. And when one of guys from Heavy D and the Boys died. I am hip hop. I am an artist. My name is Dubar. I’ve recorded. I’ve done shows. I’ve battled. I’ve also pop and locked. My boys back home used to tag—that’s graffiti for the casual hip hop fans. I am hip hop.
I am a lyricist. I can put multi’s in a verse and make them coherent—yes they make sense. I can throw punch lines that don’t involve killing someone. I use 5 cent words and 2 dollar words. My flow is consistent. I can rhyme fast, slow, double time. I am hip hop.
So listening to me speak on how “I am hip hop” I feel obliged to give my opinion on southern rappers. For the most part, they are being true to the hip hop’s essence. Yeah, I said it. I am a die hard hip hopper. I do mixtapes, underground and mainstream. I am an “East Coast CD in the car, bumpin’ till the repo man come” type head. But I’ve been thinking about this one for a while.
Despite the oversaturation on the radio by southern rappers (more on that later), what they are doing is exactly what hip hop started as, ‘back in the day.’ No matter how cliché the phrase, it holds true. That ‘back in the day’ hip hop was about more than just raps. It was about the music, and the dance and the words, to get you going in block parties and the energy, that electricity that kept you there. DJ’s used catch phrases and easy hooks because you had to be recognized. MC’s called out dance moves in their lyrics to get the crowds up and partying and if they got did, they would remember the MC.
Since then, emceeing has taken different connotations. Then, you could say mike controller, move the crowd, or master of ceremonies. And by all means, you can call some of the southern rappers masters of ceremonies because they definitely move the crowd. Hip hop needs that. There is, will be, and always has been a place for that.
There was a time when everybody needed that street cred so they had to rhyme about it in their songs. Hip hop was getting lost in all the violence, so much so that the battle rappers turned to guns even in their raps. Hip hop was losing its fun and ingenuity. It was becoming mundane and everybody wanted to be ‘gangsta.’ Like society, hip hop falls into a cycle of trends. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be variety once radio sinks in its clutches. Some people’s opinion is that there’s far too much good music out there, and this southern, simple hip hop is dumbing down the game. Can you blame southern rappers for their style? Its how they make their living and what gets them those ever-coveted spins. And at the day we need something to counter the “heater spit nine millimeter clip” gangsta shit. But what the media tends to do is saturate itself with one thing. They milk the teat dry then move on to the next nipple.
We can’t blame the casual hip hopper for enjoying popular southern music either; they don’t have the passion for the music. If the beat sounds good then play it. But there are plenty of great beats with a message that aren’t getting any play. That is why I respect those artists whose styles range the hip hop spectrum. Don’t blame the southern rappers for your inability to diversify. I’m not saying go out there and start saying “I’m ‘bout it” and start calling Lil John. But rap about more than just guns; rap about more than just revolution. Rap about more than club hopping and slinging crack. Lupe Fiasco got spins with a song about skateboarding and we’re stuck on southern rappers rhyming simple? Like they say, don’t hate the playa.
Maybe what we see is a reversion to ‘back in the day’ artists like the Sugar Hill Gang and Afrika Bambaata with rappers from a different region. Maybe we are too serious in the northeast. I can say, though, that we do need balance, but that’s not going to happen until the complainers stop whining and start rhyming and bringing that true lyrical heat. So we can listen to D4L and Dem Franchise Boys in the clubs and I can turn on the radio for once and have an East Coast banger bumpin’ in my car till the repo man comes.
-Originally published at rapaholics.com by Dubar
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