Hip Hop Aint Rock N Roll

So I hear the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame has deigned to consider Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five worthy of entrance. A couple of friends as well as some complete strangers have been gushing about, chests poked out like some first grader getting his first 'A' mark. I'm not receiving the news so well.

First, Hip Hop is not Rock n Roll. They are separate and distinct genres with very little structural overlap. They have separate musical traditions, separate histories even if they are both roted in African-american culture. The key guideline the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame voters use in their consideration is "the influence and significance of the artist's contributions to the development and perpetuation of rock and roll". Maybe it will be relevant for genre mashers like Limp Bizkit or Korn (hm, that ballot should be amusing), but who in all seriousness can put forth an argument that GM & FF advanced rock n roll? No one, it's a fraudulent move. Allow me to further illustrate: KRS One is considered a Hip Hop Legend. There is no disputing his relevance to the genre nor his place in its history. Does he meet the criteria? How about LL?

My second point: why? Why induct hip hop artists into the RRHF? In a word, revenue. You see, hip hop was easy to ignore in the late 70s and 80s when it was emergent and looking every bit of "just a fad". That dismissive attitude prevailed right up until the 90s when it started to become clear that hip hop music wasn't going away and worse, was taking a permanent hold on the charts and even permeating popular culture. Just as the Grammys had to finally respond to the appearance of the Source Awards and other venues for recognition of the genre's artists, so too does the RRHF, which is in the business of co-opting music history for profit, have to pursue this revenue stream. People who don't give a shit about Mick Jagger or John Lennon will probably want to come $ee an exhibit of "The Wheels of Steel".

Final point: Should hip hop artists and fans care? Do we still after two and a half decades need validation of the genre? Will this really convince someone still holding out against hip hop to go pick up a few discs and "see what all the fuss is about"? I doubt that. Frankly, this feels like a land grab to me. There are plenty of other venues which are dedicated to recognizing the genre and its artists and milestones. So, I'm disinclined to throw a parade for invaders, no matter how shiny their chariots and how many pretty baubles they bring to honor us.

Barak Hussein *Stevens*

Meh. So I picked a slow day to start blogging. I could bitch about my IT job but I'm pretty well-paid and fairly content outside of my job not matching my title due to office politics. and it's done elsewhere more interestingly than I could pull off. I'd aim for Office Space funny and land on Dilbert trite. Even bashing Dilbert is pretty weak so let's keep it moving and talk about Barak Obama.

He isn't electable. Now, if you want some dense political wonking about his 'thin record' or the question of race, look elsewhere. He's unelectable because his name is wrong. And not because it resembles the first name of that guy we didn't hang and can't find who actually set in motion the attacks that provided the pretext for the Iraq War. You know who I mean.

So why's his name wrong? Let's review the names of all the presidents. Ha, again wrong blog. Let's just look at the last ten and you can do the rest at home. Here we go: Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter, Ford, Nixon, Johnson, Kennedy, Eisenhower. With the possible exception of Eisenhower, these names have a simple commonality in their plain and forthright sound. Nothing too ethnic. It's the same reason we won't see a president Guiliani.

Ok, I'm being a bit facetious but not really. I think that there is a subconscious factor to the comfort-level voters have with a candidate that relates to his or her name. It's not the only factor and I'm certain many people are able to ignore it. My out-there metaphor: If you think of a candidate's appeal as a recipe, consider their name an ingredient that people can taste but not name and it either serves the dish or undermines it. I'm sure there's some obscure branch of sociology that covers this but I have no idea what it is.

So I think that people look for comfort with a voter and for some, they just won't be able to get comfortable with Sen. Obama as President Obama. And they'll proceed from that misgiving to finding rationalizations for their misgivings. And they won't even realize they're doing it. The truth is in their gut, to paraphrase some guy with a funky name of his own.

Oh ... notice how I didn't even mention middle names? Stay for the quality ramblings.

Hi (again)

And here we are. This represents my third attempt at a blog over the span of about 6 years. Now that the trend is safely over with, this attempt might actually go somewhere. I'm one of those people who exist at the cutting edge of technology but refuses to embrace it until long after even the most clueless of people have had their way with it. For example, I only just this weekend finally let go of my cassette tapes. 500+ cassettes. That's commitment. I'll probably be 90 before I give up VHS.

I wanted this first entry to be short and pithy. Failed miserably so we're off to a good start. I don't have any special insights, passions, or philosophies I plan to discuss in this blog. And I'll explain the name sometime in the future. Come for the catchy name, stay for the bland musings.