Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Misinformed NZ hip hop journalism cant be stopped (pity)




This is a response to this blog post as written by a long-serving local DJ, producer, hip hop musician and part-time contributor Exile

You blow your own horn. You have no idea how tough it is on the streets and where the origins of Hiphop began in NZ, this is apparent in your tone and use of poor gramatical structure for balance of opinion in your article to describe the feats that people have made as Hiphop artists in NZ. You have taken the easy path of discrimination towards a genre of music in NZ, namely hiphop.

Before Scribe and before Deceptikonz NZ had not accepted its own people to make a brand of hiphop that could be even be considered as influential, to the point where the multi nationalists companies are willing to put foward offers for marketing, promotions, advertising to help spread the fact that the Hiphop artists you refer to actually have talent thats good enough to carry itself both nation wide and world wide.

In terms of lyrical content, music is a form of expression and hard times exist on the streets of South Auckland, West Auckland, Central Auckland, East Auckland infact in all the impoverished suburbs of NZ, and this is reflected in the lyrical content, hiphop in NZ is not young indeed but the artist are, and infact as the artist grows then so does the demand for intelligence in the lyrical content as there are more and more hiphop artists raising the standards. Ladi 6, King Kaps, Sunshine Soundsystem, Coco Solid, Flowsion, Hayley J Hansell, Mikey Rockwell, Kolab, RockSolid DJs, the list is goes on.

I am not defending the artist you are refering to however I am stating that the artist that have come before me have laid a solid foundation for the Hiphop genre to evolve into concious hiphop like that of African American artist Common or Mosdef or even De la Soul or on more of a political stand point Paris or Public Enemy. It is a matter of maturation that is required of our artists that are going to be the next generation to join the hiphop scene.

Hiphop is not just a genre, Hiphop is a culture in NZ and has been that way since Kool Herc left Jamaica to reside in NYC.

In summary, rather then judging what you mostly see on T.V,what you hear on the commercial radio and making a poor effort to reveiw an album by the artists you refer to, look a little deeper because as you have fallen into the commercial trap yourself by making weak comments on how NZ hiphop is over.

Look into the NZ hiphop scene a little more closely and you will hear that it is thriving more so then ever.

Hiphop - Freedom of thought - EXILE 2009

Stop begging for hits on your site make better use of your time.

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