Maybe the heat/humidity is making me ornery, but I am loving the snark over at We Are Respectable Negroes.
Their newest post celebrates the Venn diagram overlap between hip hop and hipsters, and presents a timeline of hip hop history according to hipsters. My favorite entries:
1982: Lil Wayne Born
1983-1987, 1991-1992, 1994-1995: Nothing of consequence happens
1999: MF Doom releases Operation: Doomsday, a creative masterwork blending 80s easy listening R& B, monster movies, and cartoons. And he does it all while donning a metal mask as part of his character’s back story. He’s essentially doing ghetto performance art!
2000: Wu Tang falls off: their fans are all suburban wiggers and old “keep it real” types
2004: Lil Wayne drops The Carter, which is really fucking great!
Wu Tang is back! Well, Ghostface is, at least
Common is the antichrist: he dresses strangely and panders to a pseudo-intellectual, racially insecure fan base
The Streets, MIA, Dizzee Rascal wow music fans. The UK is the future of hip hop
2005: Advances in Cool Edit Pro and FruityLoops empower anyone to DJ and make hip hop music!
Lil Wayne drops The Carter II, which instantly becomes the greatest rap album ever
Several great rappers emerge from New Orleans, Miami, Houston, Memphis. The American South is the new UK!
It’s officially OK for white people to say “nigga” as long as they’re ironic and not really racist
2008: Lil Wayne drops The Carter III, which instantly becomes the greatest rap album ever
Race, gender, region, skill, access to equipment no longer barriers to rap success; knowledge of rap no longer a barrier to writing hip hop music criticism. Hip hop finally becomes the embodiment of the democratic ideal!
Not much more I can add, really.
Of course, privileged white folks have always loved authentic Black music, as long as it comes with an off switch.
[Lil Wayne pix via coolchaser.com]
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