Wonder Years

By zach • December 1, 2006 • Miscellaneous

“It[class division through capital] has drowned the most heavenly ecstasies of religious fervor, of chivalrous enthusasim, of philistine sentimentalism. It has resolved personal worth into a exchange value”
Marx/Engels

One can make mature decisions with their hat turned back just as easy as one can make immature decisions wearing a three piece suit. There is a fine line between assimilating out of necessity and making it necessary to reject hip-hop to assimilate. On “30 Something” Jay-Z speaks to the process of his maturation. Jay rattles off a laundry list of comparisons between him and younger heads: “I used to let my pants just sag not given a fuck…I used to wear my hood like that….Now I got black card… I’m all grown up” Jay-Z speaks nearly exclusively to surface changes to explain his transfer into a more high end social and capital class and in doing so he equates his status with maturity. Although I see the reasoning for such parallels it seems a narrow idea of what grown up means and offers a limited set of standards to determine one’s maturity.

I use this song as a example that suggests that abandoning certain elements of Hip-Hop leads to a transformation into a successful and responsible adult. Equating the process of growing up with specific alterations in appearance and finance undermines the intangible metamorphosis of maturation and reduces Hip-Hop to a surface image.

Becoming a responsible father or business person relies more upon remaining true to one’s identity than to conforming to an outsider’s idealized one. It would be naive to ignore the real repercussions of deeply engrained standards of social behavior and appearance and to believe that they will be altered for the sake of the increasingly adult Hip-Hop generation. However, it would be unfortunate to allow standardization to become a measuring stick of self-identity. Dealing with societal response to Hip-Hop is one thing, internalizing a legitimacy of such a response is quite another. A concern exists toward the position Hip-Hop is placed in when standardization means the necessary rejecting of Hip-Hop. As Hip-Hop and its patrons, and its culture and identity moves from youth into true adulthood, it seems unjust that the opposite of Hip-Hop is growing up.

I realize that one may hear “30 Something” as simply suggesting that as one grows up, one emphasizes certain things less than others. However, that does not seem to be the entire message of the song, or the status quo. There is an undertone that emphasizes rejecting a nontraditional image to assume an acceptable one (look at the intentions and arguments against the NBA dress code). The implication is that the process of moving from trouble making youth to law abiding adult hinges on a rejection of something seemingly irrelevant. It means that one will not be allowed to evolve socially without making certain superficial changes.

I do not mean to say one should wear a hoody to the board meeting or use slang with your banker; I simply mean, do not allow standards of success, empowerment, and most importantly, maturity, to be placed in a position polar to Hip-Hop.

* I Hate Herc stopping messing with Bubs! But I love Rory drawing at rory.roryandcraig.com

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