It happens every day — flip the channel to MTV and there is a rap video playing. Female booties shaking, guys singing (or speaking) unintelligible lyrics as they drive their opulent cars while surrounded by multiple women. While the videos are entertaining and the songs are catchy, few viewers stop to consider the history of hip-hop over the last decade.
Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, music journalist and former editor of Source magazine, brought the issue of the evolution of hip-hop to life last night at the Cambridge Forum at Harvard.
During the forum, Hinds said he believes that hip-hop today is different from what it was 10 years ago, likening the evolution of hip-hop to a Clint Eastwood movie title: ‘there is the good, the bad and the ugly.’
Hinds found the good during a conversation with a friend in high school, who suggested that ‘at least [hip-hop] is something to talk about.’ According to Hinds, the bad aspect is the numerous ‘cookie cutter artists’ present in hip-hop culture today.
‘The ugly is the crashing of hip-hop and the worst pathologies of hip-hop life,’ said Hinds, who witnessed the murder of rap star Biggie Smalls. He said, however, he does not believe that hip-hop culture itself encourages violence.
‘I don’t believe that hip-hop has a violent culture. Focusing on hip-hop [as a scapegoat for violence] is a cop-out,’ Hinds said.
He said he believes the hip-hop image has changed for the worse since its ‘golden age’ in the ’80s.
‘Hip-hop has de-evolved into this sort of hyper-criminal, hyper-sexual thing,’ said Hinds, noting that he believes the general reaction to hip-hop has shifted over the past decade.
‘[Hip-hop] is still attacked by society,’ Hinds said. ‘But there is a better reaction to it now than when it was first introduced.’
The reason for the rising acceptance of hip-hop is twofold; the industry has grown so large that it is impossible to ignore it, and the current journalists who write about hip-hop are those who grew up in the ‘golden-age’ of hip-hop, Hinds said.
Hinds also spoke of women’s roles in the development of hip-hop. Although he said he does not feel that women have enough of a role yet, there have been periods where women have contributed significantly.
‘There was one revolution in the early ’90s. There was another one in the late ’90s, with female stars like Lil’ Kim and Foxy Brown,’ Hinds said.
The greatest problem, Hinds said, is that ‘hip-hop is bedeviled by its own misogyny. Most female rap stars appear as sex kittens or gangsters.’
Hip-hop is something that Hinds has observed for much of his life.
‘Hip-hop has been in my life for nearly two decades,’ Hinds said.
Born in Guyana, Hinds moved to Flatbush, N.Y., where he had his first taste of hip-hop culture.
‘I grew up down the street from Busta Rhymes. [Flatbush] is where I witnessed hip-hop grow,’ Hinds said.
After graduating from Princeton University, Hinds went on to work for The Voice, a small weekly magazine. Although he was hired as a music writer, he spent much of his time writing city news.
‘One day I got my break my boss came over and handed me a new album to review,’ he said.
Reviewing the album jump-started Hinds’ career as a music journalist. He eventually quit The Voice and began working for The Source.
‘Four years at the Source gave me a bird’s-eye view of how hip-hop evolved from what it was back in Guyana,’ Hinds said.
Out of all the hip-hop he’s experienced, Hinds said the true nature of hip-hop can be found in bands such as the Fugees, a group he saw perform in Hati.
‘I stood on the stage and there were about 70,000 people rallied around us. I thought to myself, this is hip-hop.’
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