Pete Rock believes that Hip Hop's monetization has taken away from the craft he cultivated, pointing out that it now determines the music artists make.
It’s a degenerative cycle too. All those rappers pushing the idea of “hustle” and the need to get money by any and all means, have helped create an audience that only values the trappings of perceived financial success. Hustle culture isn’t hiphop’s fault but the two have fed each other for decades to reinforce a terrible system of exploitation at every level.
This is a point I wish more people understood. People say rap glorifies this street stuff (and it does) and that is why there is so much street violence in some places. But art doesn’t create reality, it reflects it. People make art about what they know and what they see, so of course they rap about it.
There are exceptions, dudes who didn’t grow up in that life rapping about it, but that is again a reflection of their life. These are guys who were big in to Hip Hop who created art mirroring what they grew up with, which is rap about a violent life style. They are also the exception, not the rule I feel.
It’s a degenerative cycle too. All those rappers pushing the idea of “hustle” and the need to get money by any and all means, have helped create an audience that only values the trappings of perceived financial success. Hustle culture isn’t hiphop’s fault but the two have fed each other for decades to reinforce a terrible system of exploitation at every level.
When the only people in your neighborhood who ever have money are pimps drug dealers and hustlers what do you think you’d grow up to want to be?
Rappers aren’t a reflection of rap they are a reflection of their environment and neighborhoods.
This is a point I wish more people understood. People say rap glorifies this street stuff (and it does) and that is why there is so much street violence in some places. But art doesn’t create reality, it reflects it. People make art about what they know and what they see, so of course they rap about it.
There are exceptions, dudes who didn’t grow up in that life rapping about it, but that is again a reflection of their life. These are guys who were big in to Hip Hop who created art mirroring what they grew up with, which is rap about a violent life style. They are also the exception, not the rule I feel.