Underground Railroad and Progressive Hip Hop

One thing I'd love to see come out of the past week is a big push to promote all the progressive hip hop out here that's currently being ignored by mainstream media. A few positive rappers have broken through (e.g. The Roots, Jurassic 5, Common, Mos Def, Talib Kweli), but the mainstream really hasn't even scratched the surface of a vast thriving underground musical and cultural scene.

The crux of the hypocrisy going on right now is that the corporate media insists on promoting garbage and won't touch progressive hip hop, then they turn around and slam the Black community for the garbage they promote. It's ridiculous. If they want progressive hip hop, it's out there in droves.

Personally, the only hip hop show I listen to these days is Underground Railroad on WBAI 99.5 FM (NYC's only progressive community-sponsored radio station), which regularly features inspiring people and amazing music (incidentally check out Jay's video-blog take on the Imus situation). Just as an example, I recently discovered Natural Bliss.

I'll leave you with "Daydreamin" by Lupe Fiasco and Jill Scott, a track which does include the h-word but in a context which actually criticizes the regressive clichés of poser pop-rap.

Comments

[Sylvia]

Awesome! And it has streams! Thank you. Will be linking.

[Kai]

Cool, Sylvia, I hope you'll enjoy. As always it's hit or miss but all I can say is that a program like this has a far better hit-ratio than most!

[BronzeTrinity]

Hi there. I think that we have the same ideas about the issue of progressive hip hop. I have started a Positive Hip Hop Free Promotion campaign that you can read about on my blog HERE. What I propose is that everyone who wants progressive hip hop to become the mainstream pastes a slide show advertisement for new artists on their blogs (you can see what I mean if you look at my site). Then we can do the advertising for them, for free so that they get more exposure. People keep saying all hip hop is bad but it isn't so maybe we should help these artists out. All of the artists you mentioned in this entry are actually in the slide show :)

[nadia]

hi, this is really strange. i didn't leave that comment above, but it links to my blog. i think maybe she meant to link to her own blog, here: http://bronzetrinity.efx2.com/

[Kai]

Thanks, nadia, for the clarification.

BronzeTrinity, I just took a brief look at your site, looks very interesting. I look forward to spending more time and seeing what I can do to help out. :-)

[gar]

I much as I love the idea of progressive hip-hop becoming more mainstream, the cynical part of me fears that any "mainstreaming" of quality underground music inevitably causes their music to be bastardized and cheapened for the masses by large record companies. A good example of this are the Black Eyed Peas, whose discography can be dated as either BF or AF - Before Fergie or After Fergie. The difference between the creative genius of "Joints & Jams" and the crass club-pandering of "My Humps" is light years.

Thanks for the radio station listing... my only complaint is that they use RealPlayer. Bleh, I hate RP...

[Sylvia]

The streams I found are compatible with more than RealPlayer; but when I tried listening to the stream, they were playing in warp speed and sounded like DJ Mickey Mouse on the ones and twos... :-\ I'll have to see if it's something on my end or on their end that's making them play that way.

[Kevin]

Noice! Thanks for the heads up on the station. Even better, these cats have taken into account that some of us are on Linux systems. A progressive radio station that supports open source? I'm in love.

[Vincent]

In the vein of your post, here is an article on Associated Content (cool indie media site) on their top ten progressive hip-hop artists... http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/113200/top_ten_progressive_hip_hop_groups.html?page=3...

this where I found out about two artists that I dig: Jurassic 5 http://www.jurassic5.com (very smooth and groovy) and Common - http://www.common-music.com/media/ (this brother smokes!)

There is so much hot, positive, and provocative out there that gets no press.
peace,
v

[Nezua Limón Xolagrafik-Jonez]

Great point, Kai. I, too, also have Hip-Hop that is "Snoop-Free" in worldview. But I will always love me some NWA which blew everyone's minds back in 91 and such. I felt like that was a true reaction, a message about how some people were living, or even wanting to live that should have been explored by conscientious leaders. Cries from segments of society saying "fuck this, fuck this label you put on me, here is your ugly vision, here is the land wher eyou want to see me shrink and shrivel, here is the danger we bring"

Dreaming, yeah about leaders listening to artists, or even being capableo f distilling the right messages from them... And anyway, after NWA branded the outrage, it got so caricatured that before long, white kids from bethesda were talkin about Compton warfare n shit...by now it's just a mire of wannabe killers and abusers, this genre. there is no message anymore, no cry from the crime-ridden streets, and even if so, nobody's listening but the eminem crowd.

[Temple3]

One thing I'd like to see is a big Phuk You to the media for even asking the question. You are always in the right place Kai...and you nailed it.

Where were they in the early 90's when most of this stuff got ugly - on the sidelines, doing what they always do - suggesting that all of the music was the same...they did that even though it was clearly different than all the hip hop they'd lambasted in the late 80's for being "afrocentric." Two years and a total flip flop.

Phuk the media...to quote Pac, "they can eat a dick up."