Dumbing Down?

Wassup, to all those out there in the blogosphere, from everywhere across the globe, on every coast, continent and hood. This is ya man Q Sincere. The creator and publisher of the State of the Hip Hop Union blog at hx2coalition.blogger.com. As you all know this is the blog where I express my views of politics, business, social, and cultural issues while using the platform of our culture of hip hop as a means to convey these views and message. This is also about chopping it up in convo with fellow bloggers who have similair or different views on issues so feel free to view my blog and hit me up, this is what it is all about. Today, as indicated by the title of the post I want to discuss the state of hip hop and the dumbing down of lyricism in the art. In my post before this one entitled "The Power of the Mic" I discussed a panel on BET which I watched that was entitled "State of the Hip Hop Union". In the post I mentioned the guest which included rap artist, executives, and intellectuals alike who were discussing some of the negatives of current hip hop artistry, one of the problems being lyrics that nowadays lack actual substance (except from a select few classic, underappreciated, or "underground" artist) being that they are either aimlessly loaded with overly violent or misogynistic undertones (keyword is aimlessly), or that these rhymes represent an overly clueless style of hip hop which trendy beats and dance steps are the main subject of some artist and not a trace of the actual meanings of the words. While I dont have anything against the artist who are all about the entertainment and recreational style of rap (because every form has its place) I do want to discuss why today's modern rap culture is so dominated by what at times is such non-sense, and in my opinion while artist and executives still share alot of responsiblility for this influx of goofiness, it is not solely on them, nor is it any particular region's fault, as so many blame artist claim. In my opinion a real inconveinent truth that all of us are attempting to ignore is that a big part of the reason this type of hip hop has become dominant is because we as a culture have develop a "dumb it down" attitude toward life itself. Yes, thats right! History shows that music, fashion, and entertainment culture as a whole has always been a reflection of the times and the mindset of the people during those times, of course there are always exceptions but for the most part this is very true. Even before the creation of hip hop culture entertainment reflected the issues, styles, and attitudes of the day. With the 20's 30's and into the early to mid 40's the main music we fashioned ourselves around was the swinging jazz music and look, conks, zuit suits, and the like. Many jazz songs had coded titles or messages in those songs that not only talked about the issues of race and poverty (which every other genre of black music addressed as well) but, the hieghtened attitude towards sex during that 15-20 year period of time. From the mid to late 40's through the early 60's the attitude toward sex was still a topic in society but in music and entertainment it had softer more crooning undertone with the introduction of R&B and groups like The Temptations, Smokey Robinson and The Mircles, and the Chi-Lites. The emphasis in style and music was more fixed on the methodical wooing of women and smooth dress. As we entered the mid to late 60's into the 70's the tone of songs and style of dressed turned just a bit more blue collar. Artist like Marvin Gaye and Donny Hathaway often created songs aimed at more social concerns of life like Hathaway's "Ghetto" or Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On?". In the late mid to late 70's through the 80's due to increasing social problems, race, drugs and crime, the underground then "subculture of hip hop was born. So in essence music has always reflected the life and times of the people. I say that to say this, maybe the reason for alot of the bland tones in hip hop or the overtly and aimless explicit tones in rap can be attributed to the short attention span and lack of emphasis on intellegence in America itself. The attitude of most of today's American culture is that of keeping up with short-lived trends or gratification. Unlike cultures of yesteryear who used intellegence to make dynamic changes and create innovative solutions to problems, we live in a time where everything is already programmed and convienient for us, therefore forcing no critical thinking about, what we watch, what we listen to, or who we follow. The advancements in our life are great and I'm not knocking them, however, it seems to be getting to a point where its effecting our ability to grow as a culture and be intellegent and different. Its evident in the music on a wide scale. For instance, if we were to critically look at some of the lyrics to some of today's most popular artist, alot of us would probably feel immensly foolish that we even consider it meaningful. The higher ups at labels (who I say again could help somewhat change some things) understand the short attention span of Americans and therefore gives us a half-assed artist with a half-assed product, and it usually succeeds, while talented all around artist struggle to find a way in the doors to fame and fortune. Also, in this country, and as a people, it is my opinion that our standards have become very low. We don't have as much regard for our minds as we used to because everything is systematic and set up to do most of the work for us, so as a result we are entertained or mesmerized by the simplest of things (myself included sometimes, but at least I know). The "dumbing down" problem is also evident in television as well. Modern day televison has become a barage of "reality tv shows" (which used to be cool when they were reality), "baby mama drama" talk shows, and just all out side shows like Jerry Springer. These genres of TV dominate the market and are some of the most profitable to networks, and while smart programs haven't been completly wiped out, there is alot less emphasis on them. All of entertainment is not bad might I remind you, however, it has to be said that the popularity of non-sense is surley as much our fault as anybody's. It is a new day, and with all of the advancements we have made I feel that if anything, we should be stepping our game up mentally, socially, and financially. These modern advancements can be our best friend or our worst enemy if we allow it. Don't forget that contrary to popular belief, corporations don't control the market, consumers do and if we step up our game, so will go the principles of the market and entertainment can become decent again and not downright ignorant. Thats my word, whats yours?