Love Old School Hip-Hop? Listen to Kendrick Lamar
My friends often joke with me that I love ‘old people music’ and that said, my taste in music is odd to put it simply.
The following best describes my ‘music shuffle:’ One minute, you’re going to get some Alice Cooper, then you’ll get some N.W.A., followed by some David Bowie, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, and then you’ll end up at Biggie Smallz, eventually get to Eminem and repeat a similarly eclectic mix of genres that really don’t have much to do with one another, as classic east coast hip-hop and classic west coast hip-hop are nothing alike.
Non-hip-hop heads might try and deny this but, really, the samples used and subject matters on those songs are worlds apart.
While old school hip-hop will forever have a special place in my heart and, truth be told, I’d much rather put on classic Biggie Smallz any day than sit and listen to new music I hear on the radio, I have to give credit where credit is due.
Kendrick Lamar is indeed a new school hip-hop artist but his music honors the very roots of classic hip-hop and should be appreciated as such.
What I mean is Lamar is putting out conscious lyrics rather than focusing on the rap music trope of ‘money, hoes, and clothes’ which is something that goes back to the capitalism-love-affair-filled music that Biggie and Jay-Z became known for.
It’s very true that Jay-Z and Biggie have a duet together called ‘I Love The Dough,’ but that was their way of playing off of that ‘capitalism love-affair’ mainstream radio had with their music and therefore, selling to more than just hip-hop fans; that ‘success of having made it’ trope resonated with whoever seemed to turn the radio on.
Recently, Kendrick Lamar released his fourth studio album, Damn, which is stylized as DAMN. Yes, with a period at the end. I personally enjoy the stylization of the title and made it a point to edit the information in my iTunes library accordingly.
Sure, I liked a few songs of Kendrick Lamar here and there; more specifically, I liked his collaboration with Eminem on Em’s last album, The Marshall Mathers LP 2. My initial reaction was: Alright, this Kendrick guy can spit it outside of Poetic Justice and that ‘drinking swimming pools song’ (which I really only listened to because of a cool Rick & Morty mashup I saw of it).
When I made it a point to dive into the guy’s music, I discovered ‘King Kunta‘ from his last album, To Pimp A Butterfly. On this track, Lamar was taking a shot at his haters all while ‘fighting the powers that be.’
Besides Biggie, my go-to old school rapper is Nas and my favorite lyric of his ever is probably from his track, ’N.Y. State of Mind‘ where he details living a life “parallel to hell” but having to “… maintain” in such an environment.
Sure, ‘King Kunta’ isn’t the same exact kind of track, but that gusto and passion behind Lamar’s bars very much show honoring old school hip hop and all, therefore, give even more reason to listen to Lamar’s music.
Plus, Lamar’s track ‘Complexion (A Zulu Love)’ especially honors old school hip hop where it all begun what with Afrika Bambaataa’s Zulu Nation that was based on peace and indeed inspired several people who would grow up to become hip-hop stars to use that music to pave their way out of those hellish environments.
Hip-hop might not be everyone’s cup of tea but if you’ve got a love for old school hip-hop, check out Kendrick Lamar: he indeed honors the livelihood of classic hip-hop and serves as a reminder that hip-hop music is much more than bragging about money set to music.