Today BINACT is going to feel like a journal. I've been beating myself up from being ghost for another couple weeks. Same life struggles from 5 months ago resurfacing (see pep talk). The important thing here is I'm okay, I'm inspired, and I'm writing.
I've been listening to your favorite podcast for music news, reviews, and conversations aka Runaway Jukebox for a year now. After each episode I leave with a valuable take away and insight about music and art as a whole. This week was no different. I feel the need to address some key points made in this episode. I need more than 140 characters to do so.
Check out the whole episode where they review Travis Scott and Isaiah Rashad's new projects or just skip until 57 minutes; whatever floats your boat.
The question at hand is, "How do you feel about today's hip-hop?"
I'm going to air out my dirty laundry and say a couple things about myself and my hip-hop background. Art wasn't something I was interested in as a kid/adolescent. I was all about school and extracurricular activities. I didn't grow up on art therefore I didn't grow up on music and I damn sure didn't grow up on hip-hop. My fondest hip-hop memories involve my burnt College Dropout CD and listening to Bombs Over Baghdad when my older brother would allow it. Other than that I received all my musical knowledge from radio hits while taking trips with my double dutch team on the weekends.
The iPod changed my life. It's the only Apple product that has my loyalty. That (and Limewire) opened up an entire new music world for me. I could make the songs I heard on the radio mine and hear them over and over again. I could get singles from my friends when I heard it on their mix CDs and Myspace pages. What a time to be alive! No Future.
I may not know much about hip-hop but I can attest that today's hip-hop is very different from the glimpses of hip-hop I remember from my childhood. As stated in the podcast, current hip-hop has so many different directions and sounds. There are many options to choose from to get your fix. In the "gimme generation" it's refreshing to know there are an abundance of artists and songs to tickle your fancy. Hip-hop rarely gets my attention these days BUT that doesn't mean hip-hop is losing its luster. In fact it might be just as shiny as it was in the good ole days.
The option to have choices is a blessing. As consumers we can benefit from our ability to choose what we enjoy. As a return to my soapbox I would like to remind you of two principles that BINACT follows:
1. If the music makes me feel something, I dig it.
2. Promote everything I love and nothing else.
This stands true for hip-hop and all genres. If you love it, support it. Support it with all your might. Tell your friends, post on social media, write about it, go to a show, buy a poster, DO SOMETHING. Give new music a chance. Or don't. Stick to what you know. Just keep the negativity to yourself.