To me, hip hop is an art; it necessitates the holistic involvement of an artist to produce. Furthermore, it engages its audience in a similarly holistic manner, involving mind, body, and spirit. Rap, on the other hand, is the uninspired, run of the mill Easter egg to hip hop's Faberge. Rap is devoid of passion, consideration for true aesthetic value, and the impact it has on its audience and is thus susceptible to commercialization, exploitation, and a contributor to negative portrayals of young African American culture.
Through my writing, I hope to infuse this sense of reverence for hip-hop as an art on a wide scale to achieve two main goals: to get audiences and critics of hip hop to understand the distinction between hip hop and rap and attain a deeper respect and appreciation for hip hop and to challenge hip hop artists to continue to produce their art and deter individuals from aspiring to become impassioned rappers.
KRS-One once said that "hip hop is something you live, rap is something you do." Many, however, have understood this to mean that hip hop encompasses break dancing, deejaying, graff artists, and MC's. While all this encompasses hip hop culture, the music produced out of this culture, I believe, is hip hop music--something that I have lived since buying Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life in 7th grade.
With this distinction in mind, I am pleased with the direction that hip hop has had throughout its history, but I remain distraught by the path that rap has taken. Often times, though, the lines are blurred. With each post, I hope to make this issue clearer.
