Comments on: The Globalization of Hip-Hop

By: Yo La La!

Yo La La! — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 16:31:47 +0000

For more on French hip-hop, check out my monthly educational podcast for English-speakers: http://www.yolala.org

By: rushay

rushay — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 02:50:28 +0000

thank you robin hopefully we can keep this dialogue open if anybody interested they can check out our radio show u can download from the link if you can listen live on sundays http://www.heusdens.biz/pt/index.php

By: JITNEYsound

JITNEYsound — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 17:06:20 +0000

open source did a great job whitewashing hip hop, promoting one particular vision of it and marginalising and maligning anything that didn’t fit into their idea of what hip hop should be. congrats!

By: Robin

Robin — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 18:48:27 +0000

Thanks everyone for the great level of debate on this show.

By: rushay

rushay — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 05:17:00 +0000

for anybody that want to see bout the hip hop movement in south africa watch BET

CATCH A FEATURE OF SOUTH AFRICA HIP HOP ON BET TODAY AT
11:30 AM Sunday and 8 PM Wednesday THATS EASTERN TIME ON BET

By: jordon

jordon — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 18:38:27 +0000

re: jitney’s comments and links about grime, i was dissapointed to hear NO mention of british hip-hop on last night’s show. artists like dizzee rascal and the streets are part of the most internationally popular hip-hop movement outside of the US.

By: Stephen Karmol

Stephen Karmol — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 04:08:15 +0000

I haven’t had time to read through this post…been listening to hip-hop for years, have sought out the most politically radical content that still brings lyricism and beats…

I live near Seattle now. The independent hip-hop scene is blowing up. I URGE everyone who hasn’t to check out Blue Scholars, Common Market, and Macklemore. Their honesty, politics, emceeing capabilities and amazing, complex beats will enthrall anyone who cares about social change/revolution.

By: RaggedRobin

RaggedRobin — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 23:43:19 +0000

Sure, there’s something oppositional about a lot of Japanese hip hop, but if that’s all we say about it, we ignore some major social differences about who makes and listens to rap music, whose reality sets the standard for a local hip-hop authenticity. Middle class, majority-community kids, rapping about the lack of graduate jobs in a depressed economy are doing something quite different from members of an ethnic minority (whether desi, maori or inuit) building a space to speak to each other, and for the community, or an urban, multi-ethnic community mixing languages and crossing boundaries, as seems to be happening in Kenya.

By: Ben Herson

Ben Herson — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 18:09:05 +0000

There’s some amazing music and movements out there!

Great to see so much interest on this subject from all over the world. Having been recording and researching African and Global Hip-Hop for many years now I must say I’m still completely inspired on a regular basis by the innovation, brilliance and sheer determination of young people the world over who use hip-hop in ways to better their lives and communities.

Peace and Respect to all the panelists and presenters. Looking forward to the broadcast..

Ben Herson
http://www.nomadicwax.com

By: iiicalypso

iiicalypso — Wed, 31 May 2006 03:05:42 +0000

It seems to me that the initial questions–

“Can an Arabic 18 yr old in a French ghetto identify more with 2-Pac or Snoop Dogg than French cultural icons? Why do oppressed people all over identify with the story of Black American ideas of struggle and success? What message is mainstream hip-hop music selling to the world?”

pose two contradictory and irreconcilable issues. To me, it seems that the idea that something can at once be mainstream and revolutionary is a bit absurd. Like all forms of art, revolutionary and mainstream may share a common ancestor, but they evolve in very seperate directions. While certainly there are exceptions, it seems more often than not that the MC5 devolves into Bon Jovi and Marvin Gaye begets Usher. Whether this is good or bad, I cannot say.

To me, the more interesting part of the question is the globalization issue. I have spent the past three years in Korea and Taiwan, and have watched with the eyes of an outsider the effect of hip hop. My thinking about it has evolved as my understanding of the cultures did. Without the language ability to listen to the lyrics, I spend a lot of time simply seeing how Asian hip-hop has adopted certain elements of the greater hip-hop culture (shiny cars, dancing girls) and modified others (less overtly sexual references, greater emphasis on dancing prowess).

As for the globalization aspect, there are two points that stand out especially strongly. The first is with hip hop fashion, which filters down through the mainstream all the way to elementary school students. The second, and more interesting to me, sign that hip hop has become truly globalized, is the fact that my rural county has taken to airing televison commercials extolling the virtues of recycling. The vehicle? A rap song.

By: chrisb

chrisb — Fri, 26 May 2006 14:44:09 +0000

There’s some Indian hip-hop that’s pretty good. Punjabi MC is probably the best case out there right now.

http://www.pmcrecords.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyTnBiq5Prg&search=punjabi%20mc

Then there’s the whole Japanese hip-hop grouping, such as Rip Slyme, the Teriyaki Boyz (signed to def jam), and Rhymester.

http://www.ripslyme.com/
http://www.teriyakiboyz.com/
http://www.rhymester.jp/

There’s a few videos available on You Tube that gives a sample of what’s out there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR7h965vBYI&search=Rip%20Slyme
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fBpqHTBQWE&search=Rip%20Slyme
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyQ8Mi_hEQc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gosEQkhERzc&search=rhymester

By: rushay

rushay — Thu, 25 May 2006 04:20:41 +0000

i believe there will always be someone that will manifest issues maybe u just been exposed to alot of bad russian hip hop cos most stuff thats massive in the selected areas is stuff that the media pushing and lets face the facts they know nothing bout hip hop culture!

By: MarcMcElroy

MarcMcElroy — Wed, 24 May 2006 10:02:39 +0000

I am a Mainer, currently in Moscow. I am a hip-hop fan who speaks Russian and I would have to say that Russian hip-hop is rather bad. Their language doesn’t seem to fit it, and the Russian accent, and tamber of the Russian voice, especially the male voice, is not suited to it. It’s sounds a bit silly with it’s rolled R’s and L’s and sounds from the back of the throat, and the overabundance of Russian words that end in vowels make the actaual rhymes rather pedestrian. Even worse, it constantly misses the mark of the best hip-hop which mixes messages of social and political ideas along with the atmosphere of celibration. Russian hip-hop seems like some bizzar “cargo cult” that has taken then look sound and bravado of hip hop, but doesn’t seem get it at all.

By: rushay

rushay — Sat, 13 May 2006 05:04:14 +0000

check this out its a 7 min tv feature on our hip hopscene in our city all the people are my friends in the feature http://www.filefactory.com/?d0c2d6

By: The Chukmeister

The Chukmeister — Tue, 02 May 2006 04:01:49 +0000

This topic got me thinking about my relationship with hip-hop since arriving from Nigeria. When I immigrated to the USA hip-hop was one of the first forms of American music I experienced. I listened to it on the radio so I did not get a sense of the whole spectrum of it. The Notorious Big drew me in at eight years old (and still at nearly 20). I thought his voice was cool. When I began to middle school age, I migrated to Korn and the Deftones. In high school, I started getting into A Tribe Called Quest when one of the main members Q-Tip tried his hand at a solo career. My interest faded again upon college as I got exposure to more kinds of music. Kanye West picked up my interest again in the music. I have started to listen to more of the semi-mainstream hip-hop. It seems I will never be able to shake it. I recently began an obsession with modern folk music, but I know eventually I will move back and find new hip-hop.

It seems to have found my home too. Last summer when I went home, I noticed that rap music was everywhere. That was the only form of North American music I noticed other than Celine Dion. Nigeria seems to have a strange affinity for her. I was in the village with my grandparents they had a TV with only four channels. One of the local stations was playing a Celine Dion concert. I was in one of the more remote places and I still could not get away from her. That was way off topic. I look forward to this show.

By: NineInchNachos

NineInchNachos — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 19:31:15 +0000

Yo yo yo yo yo yo!

By: nother

nother — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 15:51:45 +0000

So, “Serious Lee” logs in under a different identity and now we have to read this hatred?

Peggy Sue, I hope you will take your own advice and just ignore this crap.

By: Nikos

Nikos — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 05:52:37 +0000

Yo, deadguy — there’s a post awaiting you in the Alley.

By: deadforever

deadforever — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 04:45:26 +0000

Google Maps directions to Graceland from I-55

1. Take the US-51 exit 5B to Elvis Presley Blvd South – go 0.2 mi
2. Bear left onto the Elvis Presley Blvd ramp – go 133 ft
3. Bear right at Elvis Presley Blvd – go 1.2 mi
4. Turn left at Dolan Dr – go 0.1 mi

This comment broke the rules and has been Gracelanded.

By: peggysue

peggysue — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 15:48:36 +0000

Rushay,

Don’t let serious lee get you down. Some people are just rude and ignorant. serious lee takes a special pride in being rude and ignorant. It is often best to just ignore.

This thread has been in warm up mode for so long I almost forgot it was here. Glad to see you are still posting.

By: rushay

rushay — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 07:25:38 +0000

looks like yall are giving hip hop a bad rap!ignorance is a bliss if u havent grown up with the same oppression same struggles as those rappers u would never get it.who defines what is music adam or eve?

By: JITNEYsound

JITNEYsound — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 17:57:00 +0000

“Rap on you losers.”

a. congrats on getting the spelling of losers right on the second try in that post.

b. can we please hear more from serious lee? specifically, tell me more about these “badass men”. they sound hot!

sincerely,

weenie boy

By: serious lee

serious lee — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 07:11:13 +0000

Can’t resist. Listen you screw heads, rap isn’t music it’s pure crap. None of you have anything but the most rudimentary grasp of rhyme. There wouldn’t even be rap music if it weren’t for all the misguided white children filled with self hatred out there. All this gangsta crap is nothing more than a bunch of pussy loosers shooting their moths off about how bad they are. I’ve known some badass men who didn’t have to speak to scare the crap out of you weenie boys. Rap on you losers.

By: rushay

rushay — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 04:19:13 +0000

i think that would be more a commercialised form of rap for me hip hop is the art its more then just rap,hip hop is now the mainstraim art once it was the blacksheep its become more accepted.There is a clear distinction between rap and hip hop and alot of it that you would find in the clubs are mostly music made for partying not touching on alot of social issues.
http://www.filefactory.com/?e68ca1 download our radio show and check what we about

By: rterp

rterp — Sun, 09 Apr 2006 08:19:38 +0000

Hey Robin,

Have you been looking at hip hop online forums for material? I don’t know what kind of responses you’re going to get from the ones I give you. If you post, be prepared to get ignored or unleash a torrent of disdain. You may also get a good conversation going. That’s just how these things work â€“ itâ€™s up in the air as to how people with respond. But it’s def worth reading some of the posts and responses to find for material for the show.

http://community.allhiphop.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1

“The Reason” is the main all hip hip forum, but there should be a forum about international hip hop on there called the “Foreign Exchange.”

Also, you can look at, though I don’t know that much about it.

http://www.sohh.com/

As for my report, I’ve lived in both Argentina and Uruguay over the last year and a half. From what I can tell, rap and reggaeton are more popular in Uruguay. When you go to clubs they play a lot more of it, AND when they play it people dance like they know what they’re doing (as opposed to a general awkwardness towards letting loose to certain kinds of music that I saw in the clubs in BsAs). But to be honest, I don’t know too much about the hip hop scene in either place.

~xox

By: JITNEYsound

JITNEYsound — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 17:57:27 +0000

amen rushay. the politics of early hip hop were basically, party, wild out, be yourself and have fun while at it. now you don’t even get to go into the party if you don’t have the right clothes, the fronts, and the nicest shoes.

By: rushay

rushay — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 17:07:16 +0000

mos def hip hop started from parties but it also had a serious undertone behind that partying lyrics was also messages lately hip hop has become more concerned bout the bling about what u have on ya wrist and if u see the effects of that on kids right here in south africa u would go this shit is massive.i was just tellin my friend if he noticed the amount of brothers round the way thats been gettin gold fronts who do we have to thank for that mr hip hop himself.its just crazy how the similiar sort of commercialism is influenced by american conglomorates all round the world it all evolves from economics man music has become more politicks then actuall musical art

By: peggysue

peggysue — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 05:28:35 +0000

JITNEYsound:

Hey Thanks! for those great links. Very informative and fun to read. And I especially like having an audio feature if I’m reading something about music. I’m liking the Reggaeton.

By: JITNEYsound

JITNEYsound — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 18:09:14 +0000

oops, forgot to post that last link. here it is:
http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0513,cepeda,62467,22.html

By: JITNEYsound

JITNEYsound — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 18:03:51 +0000

peggysue:

as far as foreign hiphop sounds, you should check out the following:

an NPR story about Funk Carioca, a style of hiphop influenced music from Brazil:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4765058

an article from the BBC about Grime, a British offshoot of hiphop, where you can listen to some grime songs:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A3299204

an article about Reggaeton from the Village Voice, with links to Reggaeton tracks and videos. Reggaeton is hiphop influenced music that’s mostly made in Puerto Rico, although there are many US based artists as well.