Hip Hop and Basketball
Another illustration to how Hip Hop music is dead
Rap music and Hip Pop is alive and kickin it though…just not Hip hop Music
Hip Hop and The NBA has always been intertwined, look back to The Movie Wild Style…classic battle on the court
Kurtis Blow’s Basketball
Hip Hop…Jerseys, The Shoes, the Caps, and mad references
What would Jordan and The kicks be without hip Hop Culture? Nada…we rocked those Red and Black joints
LL had them on the back of his first Album Cover (Radio)
Some people will argue that Hip Hop is alive and well with the artists that are making music now…
They’re making music, and lots of money..things are just different…evolving like Basketball has.
Nah.
…well maybe, it’s just evolved into some bullshit is all
…my case:
If you use to love Basketball, do you still like it as much?
If you use to love rap music, do you like it as much?
…I’m thinking the answer is no.
Remember you had different types of MC’s
Funny: Biz, Positive K,
Political: KRS, PE, X Clan, PRT
Lyricists: Rakim, Kool G, Big Daddy
Those that did a little of everything: LL
Just like in Basketball you had different types of teams:
Pistons: Bad Boys…rough
Lakers: Showtime…flash and dash
Celtics: Fundamentals
Jazz: Consistent
You had stars that played their position…they didnt do things they shouldn’t couldn’t do
Forwards were under the basket not shootin 3′s
Guards were at the top of the Key
Perimeter players were on the perimeter
MC’s that couldn’t spit hard…stuck with the jokes
Kid n Play didnt try to make a Microphone fiend
KRS didn’t try and do a Just a friend type song
Biz didn’t try and get all the blacks together
…and they didn’t copy off each other to sell
NBA, all the stars do the same ish…same games..some a little taller…little faster but what’s the real difference between:
McGrady
Carmello
Kobe
Iverson
Garnett
…a few Rebounds here and there.
What’s the difference between
50
Jeezey
TI
Wayne
Jay Z
Mike Jones
etc etc.
(as far as subject matter)
…a few millions here and there
Bottom line is it’s just not entertaining..okay AS entertaining as it used to be/should be…people more or less listen because it’s on
…just like people watch basketball…cuz it’s on
Who’s your favorite Rapper?
…do you really have one…or is it a lot of people you listen to…or who ever has the hottest beat
Who’s your favorite team?
…do you really have one…or is it a lot of players you like…or who ever is winning or the hot team at the moment?
You USE to have a fav team (Lakers, Sixers, Celtics, and Bulls)
You USE to have a fav rapper (Rakim, KRS, LL, Ice Cube…later Nas, Jay Z, BIG)
…doesn’t matter anymore…people pay attention only when there’s beef or right when a new person comes out
…just like NBA people pay attention at the beginning of the season or in the playoffs
Cuz all that other shit don’t matter.
When was the last time a “Classic ” Rap Album came out? …a True Classic?
When was the last time a true dominant team was playing in the NBA… a true classic team
The Bulls in the 90′s … The 90′s about the same for Hip Hop Classics
That’s not saying that everyone that’s making the music is garbage…no! There’s still emcees making good music
They are just not getting the burn/airplay/respect/money that the people making bull is
…it’s like being the best player on the Raptors or something lol. You get your stats but no one cares or notices..no All Star Nods.
What is more entertaining?
Watching The Heat with Wade play The Mavs with Dirk and the boys…Lebron
OR
Watching The Classic Lakers Vs. Celtics Finals games …or Bulls Pistons Playoff games?
I’m saying the classics…good game play..stars at every position
Same with Hip Hop…you really rather listen to Lil Weezy rhyme anything over say.. LL: I’m Bad
…would you? Really?
Hip Hop music has always been a reflection of the youth…what’s going on, think about it.
Back in the day:
Street ish, political stuff…jokes, games, school, fun…intelligent word play…war on Drugs…Apartheid.
Now:
Street ish, drugs, money, jewels, cars, hoes…simple word play…dumbed down lyrics
It’s a reflection of the youth today…they just don’t know as much as they should/use to (as a whole)
We’re going to leave the future to THESE guys? The people that enjoy THIS music?
Not really…the people making the music aren’t trying to hit college and prepare for after music (They’ll just produce)
…the people listening may be IN college, but they’re too busy trying to be like the people making the music than pay attention to what matters
Remember when you would have a poster on your wall of your fav. player?
Remember when you would have a poster on your wall of your favorite rapper?
I dunno
Clearly I’m a hater…and I’m just too old to enjoy the Rap music for what it is, but damn, how you outgrow a sport?
Muze
March 9, 2008
good post e!
i’ll let the men chime in on the whole basketball thing, but i completely know what you mean. the youth today just don’t seem as smart as they were back then. everyone is trying to copy off one another and are looking up to are people with negative IQs like fifty cent and lil wayne’s syrup sipping butt.
i’m worried about my kids. really. lol.
Roddyykat
March 9, 2008
Thangs just ain’t the same for…anything. It’s a sad state of affairs.That’s why I limit the BS rap goiing on nowadays. Never thought of the B-Ball correlation.
Damn good post.
SimpleComplexity
March 9, 2008
I agree with you completely.
The basketball correlation was fabulous!
Bohemiandiva
March 9, 2008
Couldn’t agree more!
Things just aint the same……
Miz
March 9, 2008
That was so on point with respect to both basketball and rap…i loved the old batteles between the Pistons and the Bulls, and then the Lakers…and the Celtics, those were powerhouse teams back then, not one man, one player, one STAR teams…most of these teams today, i only know one or two names of the players. Rap, i had my favorites, and you are right, they had different styles…like your NWA’s, and i liked Kool Moe Dee better than LL Cool J (funny i thought he would have been the one to last…)…anyway great post!
Eb
March 9, 2008
Classic comparison and one of my favorite post to date. I feel you, I dont think I have watched a full nba game this season. It has most definitely lost my interest… so I guess B-ball did die when hip hop did.
The Jaded NYer
March 10, 2008
Great Post! You got me all nostalgic over here!
I’ve never been into basketball… but I remember being a kid in the heart of Bed-Stuy when Rakim and Big Daddy Kane ‘n them were blowin’ up, ran into those guys in the street like it was no thing. Talent shows at school were filled with boys tryna do “The Show” like Doug E Fresh, sittin up in my room playin’ my 12″vinyl of Dana Dane, LOVIN’ MCLyte to death.
Now? Hey, I listen to the new stuff, I dance to it, I may even know some of the lyrics. Do I miss the old? Of course, but this new ish is the product of evolution. Everything changes. Not for the better, but change is inevitable.
All I can do is teach my daughters that yes- TPain and those dudes are making the tunes that bring in the dough.. but come into mommy’s room right quick and let me play this record for you and show you what Hip Hop really is…
lovnlife
March 10, 2008
Never thought of it like that. Makes perfect sense tho. That’s why I read e’s blog!
harriet
March 10, 2008
so, so true. aww, man, i remember when basketball teams used to be franchises and not nearly as transitional as the military. i remember when beef between MC’s resulted in lyrical–not literal–bullets. those were the days. watching the pistons and the bulls play made me fall in love with basketball…not just the players on the court. listening to mc lyte’s “stop, look, listen” and watching scoob and scrap dance for heavy d made me fall in love with hip hop.
nothing inspires me to fall in love with popular culture these days. i’m getting a divorce. LOL
Charles
March 10, 2008
This post does bring up a point. Even though I do have a favorite team (Lakers…die hard, but I used to effs with the bulls hard, you can’t hate on Jordan) and a fav rapper (Jay…been effin with that since reasonable doubt), I do see the point. About the players, there are differences, but the best players have to do a little bit of everything. I mean, there aren’t dominant centers anymore, its like the 7 footers are out shootin threes…thats just how the game’s changed. You can’t survive in the league and become an all star being a pure position player. And with music, no one can survive being a pure skill rhymer either…they’ll just have their own niche. If you’re in music and want to be popular and rich I guess, you gotta make at least 4 club joints, some drug joints, one track about how your youth was and some dumb radio jams. Thats how the game’s changed…
But I fucks with Kobe…and Jordan…and Jay…
TheDame
March 10, 2008
Now:
Street ish, drugs, money, jewels, cars, hoes…simple word play…dumbed down lyrics
That’s all our “rap” music is now. I remember when every song out in the 90′s had “Peace in the Middle East” in it.
And what about songs like “Self Destruction”. Kool Moe Dee had one the illest lines ever relating to this post: “I never had to run from the Ku Klux Klan and I shouldn’t have to run from a Black Man.” Classic.
One day I was taking my mom somewhere and she asked me if I had any T-Pain. Just imagine the face I made.
And about b-ball: there are only a few players now who play for the love of the game and its changed the sport. I rarely watch b-ball its not Georgetown or the Wizards.
TheDame
March 10, 2008
Now:
Street ish, drugs, money, jewels, cars, hoes…simple word play…dumbed down lyrics
That’s all our “rap” music is now. I remember when every song out in the 90′s had “Peace in the Middle East” in it.
And what about songs like “Self Destruction”. Kool Moe Dee had one the illest lines ever relating to this post: “I never had to run from the Ku Klux Klan and I shouldn’t have to run from a Black Man.” Classic.
One day I was taking my mom somewhere and she asked me if I had any T-Pain. Just imagine the face I made.
And about b-ball: there are only a few players now who play for the love of the game and its changed the sport. I rarely watch b-ball if its not Georgetown or the Wizards.