Is Hip Hop Dead?

It wasn't too long ago that rapper Nas released a new album entitled, "Hip Hop is Dead." In releasing an album with a title such as this, the words "Hip Hop is Dead" have rung loud from so many radio stations and from many American lips. Unfortunately, they are ringing from this article as well.

When I heard this title, I couldn't help but feel a little sad. I mean I've noticed many things in Hip Hop culture just getting worst and worst and marketing efforts surrounding the music just becoming more and more disgusting. But, for a rapper I respect so much to make a statement such as that one; it saddened me in the same way that I was saddened when Biggy Smalls died. Something just felt a little empty inside. You may not have agreed with everything that person stood for and preached, but it was still a part of you as a young Hip Hop kid.

When I was in high school, Nas' first album came out. My friends and I thought of him as nothing less than an amazingly talented poet. I frequented many local Hip Hop venues in Washington, DC and even met Nas when he made an appearance at the local independent radio station I was working at, WPFW. I'm sure he won't remember that; but it was a significant day in my life. For me, that is Hip Hop. Before the bling and all the objectification of women was mandatory; Hip Hop was this music and this culture that was just me. It was what me and my friends listened to and what we believed and where we came from.

Even when Hip Hop shifted to include Biggie Smalls and Little Kim, and I was exposed to West Coast rap and more adult themes that my family wouldn't let me listen to when I was younger. That was still me. It was my friends. It was our community. It was how we or people we knew lived. They may not have described the best of situations; but, I loved rappers like Ice Cube, Snoop, and Jay-Z. Hip Hop music to me is beautiful because it always makes me want to dance and it's deep within my heart and soul as a young African American woman.

Nas stated that: