This guest stuff is nonsense on a number of levels. If there is a guest in Hip Hop, it’s the music industry and all that comes with it… At the same time, one might equally argue that Hip Hop is a guest in the music industry. Many of us who consider ourselves practitioners made a decision for any number of reasons to engage and participate in an industry we don’t own and, for the most part, has been hostile to us.
Professionally my Hip Hop experience and wisdom got involved in commercial radio, magazines, and media… Others signed to labels, while others got involved with concerts, promotions, etc…
Did we collectively change the aesthetic and musical landscape? Yes! Do we own that landscape from top to bottom? Not really.. sadly, we have adopted many of the worse traits of the music industry…Even how we discuss our history or how we value artists are usually based on standards and practices set by the industry, which, theoretically, we are guests…
I guess if artists like Eminem and Macklemore showed up at a block party at Bronx River, Eden Wall, or Soundview, they would be guests…When they show up on platforms established by the music industry, they are basically at home.
With that being said, the question we should be asking is, what do we ultimately want? Do we want a set of expressions that no one else can do? How do we police that? Does it start with us not using the master’s tools and rebuking any and all industry practices, or are we trying to walk both sides of the fence?
I, for one, am glad that both Em and Macklemore have always acknowledged those who came before them and big upped their influences.. that’s a lot better than some grizzled industry executive who has pimped hip hop, exploited its practitioners, abandoned its pioneering class, but looks like you and me.
written by Davey D
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