I met this dude once, claimed he was into real hip-hop. I actually bumped into him quite often. The first time we met was in the mid-90’s, sometime before the beginning of what some call the “downfall” of hip-hop. He was new to my block and claimed to be a strong advocate of the hip-hop culture.  Well, he was at first, but boy how people change.

When he first came out to the neighborhood park he seemed to be a cool cat. He had his CD Walkman with the huge Sony headphones, the baggy jeans, the unlaced black Timberland boots, an over-sized tee and backpack full of dope hip-hop. From appearance alone, dude seemed down.  

Between games we would open up all the doors on the ride and pump only the best hip-hop we had, arguing over which artist had the hottest verses and other topics of that nature. Surprisingly, this cat made many of the most valid points on why the person he thought was the hottest was the hottest. I actually started believing in him.

We ended up going to neighboring schools, skipping classes, meeting girls, doing the usual two step of a typical high-schooler. We both seemed on the same page about many things especially hip-hop. Close to the end of our high school years we began to take hip-hop seriously. We both wanted to be rap artists and obviously we both began writing. We began earnestly studying the great artists that were in the game and used their careers as templates for ours.

As time moved on I began to notice a change in my new friend. He no longer bumped the classic artists that we grew to love. He began to bump what was consistently on the radio. He didn’t come to the court anymore with the backpack full of dope hip-hop, but instead drove pass the court and gave us the peace sign, with mainstream artists blaring from his radio.  He even disposed of his usual neighborhood slang and began speaking like the cats he was listening to.  The sad thing was he didn’t realize he was changing. What I failed to realize was not only was he was changing but his definition of real hip-hop was changing as well.

His change wasn’t gradual nor was it a change for a better. Dude simply jumped ship; he completely ignored his true love for real hip-hop and embraced the ugly side of mainstream hip-hop. He saw the quick money and attention cats were getting and clearly wanted some of the same. He no longer enjoyed music that took a bit of intelligence to enjoy. He went from listening to songs that did the hip-hop culture justice to listening to songs that pulled the culture back a few steps with every track change. I never confronted him about his transformation; I simply watched from the side and kept with my grind.

While I was consistently speaking what I felt was the truth in my music, he began speaking the opposite. While I was still following and supporting the artists who inspired me to keep moving forward and up, he began supporting artists who inspired young folks to pick up a gun and kill, to call women bitches and hoes. My attitude continued to improve and my mind began to open. I learned to accept others opinions and views, to embrace the concept of faith and love, to use money as a tool to live comfortably but to more so help others, sharing this concept in my music. His attitude and outlook changed; he ignored his past and the reason why he fell in love with hip-hop in the first place. He didn’t see music any more, he saw business. He no longer understood the concept of soul music, but instead music for hire.

As much as I try to balance the politics and business with art and culture, my friend’s change to this day still bothers me. Can a person change and grow with a culture without losing the attributes that caused him to love that culture in the first place? I strongly believe that as hip-hop continues to grow, those of us who truly believe that there is a difference between real vs. mainstream hip-hop can grow without losing touch to what caused us to love hip-hop in the first place. But the power of money and attention is strong, and it takes a lot of will to not fall into the trap of the system.

Where my friend is now is a case of The X Files. Regardless, I hope at some point over the last ten years he has returned to his roots within the hip-hop culture. I believe we all have to go back at various points of our lives to move forward. I try to reflect on my mistakes regularly so that I can avoid those same mistakes in the future. Being that I am an advocate of hip-hop, the biggest mistake I can make is to sell out hip-hop for personal gain. I strive to never sell myself short, nor sell this culture out.

by Guest Author: ScholarMan
Copyright © 2007. C. Schmidt. All Rights Reserved.