Monday, 30 March 2009

• Currently Tails By Lisa Loeb see related

  Culture and Change

  Sometime in the near future (May 19, 2009) Lil’ Wayne will release an album that will be a marked departure from the typical Lil’ Wayne “sound” that pop music fanatics are familiar with.  By pedigree, Lil’ Wayne is a rapper, specifically of the Southern variety and of the “Cash Money Millionaires” species.  His new album, which is transcendently titled Rebirth, will be a venture into rock music.  This move is somewhat expected by Lil’ Wayne fans as he has expressed considerable interest in rock music recently.  Last year he was the featured performer on Kevin Rudolf’s self-proclaimed rock track Let it Rock, and many times throughout the year he was seen performing with an electric guitar slung over his shoulder (he even played it sometimes).  Only time will tell if Lil’ Wayne will be a successful rock star, but legend has it that last summer he received guitar lessons from Kid Rock, who, in the 1990s, was another rapper turned rocker.  It should also be noted that Kid Rock sings country music now.

  While the nation’s current economic downturn has forced many Americans to pursue other careers, I doubt that the recession has anything to do with Lil’ Wayne’s decision to flip formats.  Even with the genre shift, I suspect that Lil’ Wayne will still be perceived as a “rapper” and that his “rock” album will be considered a logical progression in his evolution as a rap artist.  This notion is debatable, but what is clearly evident is that rap is changing.  This should not be a surprising statement as every genre of music inevitably goes through change.  But what is happening with modern hit music is that the barriers that separate one genre from another are continually being breached.  While it’s widely said that Run D.M.C. and the Beastie Boys broke the barrier between rock and rap in the 1980s, it wasn’t until the 1990s with bands like Cypress Hill (rap to rock) and Rage Against the Machine (rock to rap) that this trend really took off.  In 2009, the distinctions between musical genres are like the political border between the U.S. and Mexico:  the boundaries are becoming increasingly blurred.  Maybe that’s why Morissey has an inexplicably huge Hispanic following.  How the hell should I know?  I’m not on the border patrol.

  It’s easy for old school fanatics and hiphop “purists” to hate modern rap music.  In regards to the style of beats and the content of lyrics, it sounds nothing like it did in the 1970s or 1980s. Current groups like Jurassic 5 and Blue Scholars emulate this sound with their simplified beats and poetic lyricism, and this is probably why most hit music fans have never heard of them.  The traditional hiphop sound has generally not been successfully marketable, unless you’re a middle class white kid like Asher Roth.  (The irony of the music industry is the kind of people a style of music doesn't initially appeal to are the kind of people who will eventually make money off that style.)

  The fact that modern hiphop music is commercially marketable doesn’t make it any more or less “hiphop.”  Rap music is an extension of hiphop culture, and just like any culture, it will inevitably go through changes.  As someone of Filipino heritage who lives in America, I’ve certainly experienced issues with culture.   On numerous occasions I’ve felt contempt from some Filipinos for not knowing how to speak the language, for not eating the food every day, and for not having visited the Philippines in over twenty years.   It’s been implied by more than one person that I am “less” Filipino than someone who does speak Tagalog, enjoys eating diniguan, or visits the islands yearly.  I generally think that people who think like this are intellectually repressed barbarians.  What they don’t want to realize is that culture isn’t restricted by geopolitical borders; it’s constantly expanding.   My life as an American is uniquely Filipino and my experiences add to the dynamic that is Filipino culture.

  It’s human nature to be scared of change, but I don’t really know why.  I don’t know why some people are annoyed that I’m not their brand of “Filipino” and insist that I’m “white.”    I don’t know why people are afraid to have a black president or why these people snarkily refer to Barack Obama as “Chocolate Jesus.”  I don’t really know why people roll their eyes when they hear a rock/rap band (unless it’s Limp Bizkit, which is understandable).  Culture can’t progress without change, and change can’t happen without crossing boundaries.  Barriers exist so we can break them.  Without change, Lil’ Wayne would still be rapping about “backing dat ass up” instead of pretending to be a quasi-rock star with a little guitar strapped around his torso.  If things didn’t change, Asher Roth would probably be a black guy rapping about growing up in the projects of suburban Pennsylvania instead of being a white boy singing about getting tossed at college keg parties.  Without change, I probably wouldn’t be typing this, and if I were, it would probably be in Filipino.  If change didn’t occur, culture would be static and a stereotype of itself.

  We may not always like change, but the only thing we can do is keep living, creating, listening, and writing…

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