I’m Your Pusha Man
The popular mantra of the present day is a personal dissociation from Hip-Hop as a passion. Hip-Hop is the product, the medium of occupying wealth utilized by individuals who identify themselves as hustlers on wax. While the result may be an increased authenticity in the voice of the romanticized project hustler in his pursuit of the American dream, what is lost is the connection between the artist and his art – like a pimp who can no longer recognize a female’s humanity, and only see the potential for her financial production trappers lose their emotional drive towards hip-hop. What concerns me is the attraction of rejecting Hip-Hop, yet continuing to view it as a means of personal upward mobility. Perhaps it is naive to assume that those who engage and excel in a medium must have a love for it, but lack of love does not translate to degradation: Sugar Ray Robinson said he hated to box but always threw the prettiest flurries, J.D Salinger disappeared from novel publishing but kept writing in solitude. The point is that one does not need to have an undying passion in order to operate with an understanding of the need for compassion for the dignity of one’s art. There is a major difference between an artisan and a salesman. An artisan, although producing a product they may intend to sell, will find intrinsic value in the nature of the piece they create (holler at the Clipse). The beauty is not dictated by the market. A salesperson is limited to the sale itself; without the sale the product has no value.
The potential for the development of a conditioning in which one no longer embraces Hip-Hop, but rather degrades Hip-Hop as simply a vehicle, has dangerous implications. Hip-Hop certainly can be the hustle, but what about when Hip-Hop itself is getting hustled? Not wanting to be identified as a rapper means that rap is no longer a source of personal pride and self respect. Consequently the art itself is approached without the respect needed to uphold its value. Once the music is no longer a platform of narratives and descriptions of hustling and has become the actual hustle it has undergone a transformation in which it is equivalent to any hustled product itself: the product which attracts demand of consumption. Rather than producing the voice of the emotion and experience that a world of hustling inspires, the language and focus leads the consumer to feel more like he is being hustled. If the music is valued as such there is a scenario in which the music is strictly produced for the artists [perceived] betterment rather than for the fans or the enhancement of the music itself.
The phenomenon of the trapper era is that it is received as the voice as well as the aspirations of the people; a relatable and tangible struggle which has triumphed. But just because someone speaks like you doesn’t mean they speak for you. If the audience today thinks that this line of thought is for their betterment, then they are not very astute hustlers themselves. When’s the last time a drug dealer cared about his fiend? A far cry from Jay-Z who actually spit pure china white and told us “I’m just a hustler that knows how to rap.” Today’s hustlers are cutting their 16’s with baking powder.
note: Art by Rory Panagotopulos, for more from this talented dude check out rory.roryandcraig.com
4:50 pm on August 31st, 2006
Very fitting last line, couldn’t have said it better myself.
8:57 pm on August 31st, 2006
I see what you’re saying, but isn’t this what rappers and businesses in general are taught? If you’re taught or live a lifestyle of “hustling”, things get old really quick and the value you place on things you used to love fade and rot away. I mean, I understand the main point of Hip-Hop was self expression, but there was no way in preventing the popularity and spread of rap into a commercially accepted or tolerated ways of making money. Just like Raekwon said “rhymes like retail, make sure shit sells”.
2:10 pm on September 1st, 2006
It’s a sad day when Black Eyed Peas “My Humps” wins Best Hip Hop Video, even if it was just MTV’s VMAs!