If a Savior for Hip Hop Materialized, Would They Be Accepted with Open Arms?

For a few years now a debate has been raging over the health of the hip hop/ rap community. Even the name itself carries its' own debate as some feel that hip hop and rap are interchangeable terms whereas others feel as if they are distinctively different, therefore for the sake of argument lets just refer to it as the "urban music" community at this point in time until we delve into the reason for the separation further into the article. The urban music community is more or less very similar to religion.

Just as with religion, in the urban music community you have your fundamentalists and your radicals, your left wing, right wing, and in between followers. Some people live, sleep and eat urban music whereas others just think it is "cool". Just as with religion, the movement has its followers, some more dedicated than others and just as is true with religion; every follower of the "urban music" movement has his or her own beliefs about said movement. Furthermore, once again just like with religion, anytime the subject is brought forth a debate will inevitably ensue as no compromise can ever be agreed upon.

Although some followers feel as if hip hop is at its' peak and has simply evolved, the majority of followers are detractors to that belief and feel as if hip hop is in a state of peril or at least regression. Most can agree that the state of urban music just isn't what it used to be and is in dire need of some quasi super hero, rapping phenomenon to bring it back to its' glory days when music was full of substantive material, witty, oft times genius lyrics, and the oh so missed multi-platinum album sales. Although this is what the masses claim to want, is it really what they desire or do they more thoroughly enjoy gripping and complaining about what is wrong with hip hop and rap?

Although some people will surely state that the current state of hip hop and rap is fine, spouting some statistical fact about Soulja Boy's digital album and ring tone sales, I undoubtedly digress from said opinion as I know that those people clearly aren't old enough to remember what it was like to listen to music on a .45 or cassette. For now, let's not talk about whether or not hip hop and rap need a savior but whether or not we would accept said savior should they mysteriously appear. In order to do so we first need some definitive answers to what actually differentiates hip hop and rap and whether or not one singular individual can combine the two successfully.

As far as I am concerned, rap and hip hop isn't the same thing and never has been. When I think of hip hop I think of Sugar Hill Gang, Run DMC, A Tribe Called Quest, Mos Def, Talib, and most recently SlaughterHouse. I think of 1520 Sedgwick and of break dancing, beat boxing, graffiti artists and people who "couldn't live without their radios." When I think of rap, I think of Jeezy, Weezy, Soulja Boy and The Game. I think of the lower ninth ward of "Nawlins", College Park, Georgia, and of Compton. I think of baggy pants and tall tees, Crank Dats' and Stanky Legs, and people who can't live without their iPods. To me hip hop is the 80's and early 90's whereas rap is the late 90's into the new millennium. To me the mid 90's is where hip hop became profitable and some ingenious Caucasian began experimenting with Petri dishes in a lab somewhere and bioengineered a seedling which turned into rap. That is the Tupacs', the Biggies, the Nas', and the Jay-Zs' Those artists were hip hop to an extent hence "brenda's Got a Baby", "Hypnotize", "It ain't hard to tell", and " Dead Presidents" but were also rap as well, hence " Hit em up", "Ten crack commandments", "Nas is like" and "Big Pimpin". Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with those rappers, personally they take up four of the spots on my top 5 dead or alive list, but what made them that popular is their ability to connect the old generation with the new generation. With that said, is there anyone that can still accomplish that daunting task or has the gap between the two grown too far apart?

Now with it substantiated that the two are separate entities, lets' decide whether or not we would willingly accept a "hip hop/ rap savior." Personally I don't think that we would. If that were to occur, where would all of the people go who post comments on urban music sites about whether or not hip hop/ rap has died? They would cease to exist or serve no purpose. Furthermore, would it even be possible to properly satiate everyone's idea of a savior rapper with one person? No. Some people think dwindling album sales is the cause of the problem and that if someone could come around and sell 7 million albums like Em did or 50 did or hell Nelly did, then urban music would hop off of its deathbed and start doing the rigor mortis leg dance. My question to them is this: is dwindling album sales the cause or effect of the current state of hip hop and rap?

Other people believe that Nas got it wrong when he said hip hop died and that he should have said rap died. I believe this as hip hop was never about going platinum, having the number one album on the Billboard 100, having the most played single on the radio, or making a lot of money. Hip hop was about the expression of one's self via spoken word masterfully intertwined with music, rhythmic, choreographed body movements on a piece of cardboard that somehow successfully convey one's emotions, and the use of artwork to visually evoke real emotions. Rap is the one who wants to be ultra marketable and commercially viable and therefore rap is the one failing to live up to its' expectations.

There is an old religious parable about a man who lives in a house. One day it begins raining monumentally and the man's house begins to flood. Soon a rescue team comes by and tells the man to get into the truck-the man declines, stating that God will save him. Pretty soon the flood waters start to rise and the man is forced into the second floor of his home. A boat floats by and the pilot of the boat pleads for the man to get it. Once again the man declines the offer and says that he is waiting for God to save him. The water continues to rise and eventually the man is forced onto the roof of his house. As he stands on his roof watching the water rising, a helicopter flies by and drops down a rope for the man to grab onto. For a third time the man turns down help and the helicopter flies off to safe ground. Eventually the water engulfs the home and the man drowns. Once the man gets to Heaven he stands before God and asks him "God, why didn't you save me?" God replies to the man, "I tried to save you three times but you turned me down. Why didn't you save yourself?"

That parable can be applied to multiple instances within ones life as well as to the current state of hip hop/ rap. Hip hop and its followers are the man and a few rappers in the game are the three methods of saving that were dispatched. Before we delve into this philosophical debate much further, lets' define what exactly a "hiphop/rap savior" is. To me, in order to qualify, one must possess certain qualities that are seemingly naturally the antithesis of one another- the savior needs to appeal both to the commercial community at large as well as to the underground scene. Lets' be honest, majority of the urban music that is actually purchased instead of just downloaded is purchased by the suburban, Caucasian demographic. Now the real question is whether or not an individual exists whom can both appeal to the white masses as well as simultaneously earn the respect of the black community at large. I believe there are several people who fit this description but whether or not they could successfully fulfill the rap savior prophecy I don't know.

One example of said rapper is that of Jay-Z. Jay-Z has been around for quite a while and in the current world of urban music where a rapper can become highly successful, sell hundreds of thousands of records and then become defunct and irrelevant in the course of a few months, Jay-Z can probably be considered the Methuselah of rap as in rap years he is like 900 years old. He appeals to the suburban market as well as the urban consumer and even Oprah likes him. He always goes platinum and can either body or go toe to toe with any MC in the game. He is a great spokesperson for the urban music brand as he is intelligent, business savvy, obviously marketable, and will get gully with you if you piss him off i.e. claiming to leave used prophylactics on rapper's children's car seats.

Another viable candidate for hip hop/ rap savior albeit a controversial one no doubt, would be Lil Wayne. Although he meets all of the requirements, some of his skills would need some more honing and refining before he would be as qualified as Jay-Z. Suburbanites love him, most urban dwellers love him, kids love him and other rappers want to be him He has great potential to unite masses with his cross over appeal, has an irreproducible work ethic, and can also outshine almost anyone on a track with the exception of the aforementioned Jay-Z and Eminem. Lately he has started to market himself to larger consumer bases and this has made him clean up his act a little bit which is a good thing if he is going to be a brand spokesperson. He has a legitimate chance at saving the urban music movement.

A third candidate although not as rigorously tested as the two previous mentioned candidates, is Drake. He is largely untested album wise but if mixtapes are a deciding factor, he has great potential. His current buzz is amazing and he has recently proven his ability to successfully navigate the music industry with his signing a contract worth a couple million that also allows him 100% control of his music and masters. This quality alone puts him above most rappers as he wouldn't have to deal with label execs telling him what to do and potentially shelving him if he went against the grain, unlike most rappers. Drake is almost too perfect to believe as he raps, sings, acts and is insanely marketable. He has the marketing potential of a pre rihanna fiasco Chris Brown, the lyrical ability of Wayne and potential of Jay, the singing ability of R. Kelly as well as the acting skills of Will Smith. Is he at Jay-Z's level right now? Of course not, but Jay-Z is about to be 40 and Drake is barely legally allowed to drink alcohol. With time he will undoubtedly have the skills of Jay-Z as he certainly has the potential and by the time he is Jay's age he would have been practicing his craft for almost half of his life.

So with those three rappers reviewed I think that Drake has the best chance at actually being the savior of the urban music movement. Jay-Z seems like a perfect candidate but he has been in the game for 15 years already and doesn't seem to want the task. Wayne would be a good choice but there are too many people who don't like him. A debate over whether he is a musical genius or musical jester could rage for hours and hours. We don't have time for all of that. Drake has the aforementioned skills already in hand and has the potential for unlimited growth. He is clean cut, intelligent, marketable, half Jewish, and light skinned- all qualities that will have suburbanites eating out of the palm of his hand. He can rap, sing, act, has lyrical ability and as mentioned before is intelligent- all qualities beholden in the urban music community.

Unfortunately, we don't live in a utopian society so everything you just read is nothing more than conjecture and speculation. In reality, we followers of hip hop and rap can't decide on anything uniformly so it is impossible for anyone to save us. There are and have been multiple people willing and qualified to do so but we are too busy analytically picking them apart and finding errs in their ways to realize that they are what we have been waiting for. We sound like that woman everyone knows who is constantly complaining that they can't find a good man but when one walks in front of her, she finds some minute detail about him she doesn't like and then hooks up with the guy who will end up using her for what she has and tossing her aside. All you here is Jay-Z is too old, Lil Wayne can't rap, and Drake is a tool being utilized by some illuminati like group bent out to take over hip hop. We are the man standing on that roof waiting to be saved and Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, and Drake are three different people who came by and tried to save us. When the day comes that the water finally engulfs us, we will stand in front of the hip hop God asking "Why didn't you save us", a statement to which he will quip "You idiot, I sent hova, weezy and drizzy but noooo they weren't good enough so silly people, why didn't you save yourselves?"