5 Reasons Why NY Hip Hop Doesn’t Suck – [July 2010 Edition]

Last month, I wrote the first post of what I hoped would become an ongoing series highlighting specific examples of why, despite certain perceptions, New York hip hop doesn’t suck. Ever the literary wordsmith, I titled the post “5 Reasons Why NY Hip Hop Doesn’t Suck“. In that article, I once again proclaimed my faith in the unheralded greatness of the New York hip hop underground, and made what I believe was a pretty solid case for the cause. I mentioned the uncannily talented Homeboy Sandman, the preeminent hip hop showcase in all the land, End of the Weak, a young man who I happen to feel is a rising star in the game, YC The Cynic, one of the hardest hitting lyricists (and performers, as evidenced by a phenomenal showing late last month at the On Smash Invasion event at Highline Ballroom) around, Joell Ortiz, and lastly, but certainly not humbly, I gave credit to me, for founding, and to those who help me maintain, Birthplace Magazine, a journalistic outlet born from what I saw as a depressingly large void in the documentation of all that is good about the NY-area hip hop scene.

So, in that spirit, I have returned this month to again share with you my thoughts, and provide five more examples why I feel that New York hip hop doesn’t suck.

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On paper, it sounds almost absurd. Take a performance space, schedule more than 100 largely up-and-coming rappers to get on stage and rhyme, four or so at a time, each taking turns, each peacefully yielding to one another, and after their allotted time has passed, swap them out with the next batch of four waiting in the wings, all while a rotating set of DJs spins instrumentals to rhyme over. Oh, and do it for 24 hours. Continuously. This is pretty much what happens every year for the past four years at the Rapathon, hosted by the Hip Hop Culture Center in Harlem. This carefully orchestrated verbal ballet actually spanned 27 hours this year, with a no cursing, aggression-free, lyric-filled exposition of verbal dexterity and harmonious, multi-gendered, multi-racial, family-friendly, peer-to-peer camaraderie in an event that in one day, single-handedly defies nearly every rap stereotype that has ever existed.

On its 15 year anniversary, Duck Down Records stands atop a hip hop legacy that cannot be easily overlooked. From the humblest of beginnings, the label has delivered some of New York’s most fabled classics, from the likes of Black Moon, Boot Camp Clik and Smif-N-Wessun. Surviving the often disasterous effects that the evolving music industry unleashed onto many independent hip hop labels, Duck Down persevered, and today, continues to deliver that ol’ boom-bap hip hop, from a strong collaboration between veterans KRS One and Buckshot, to releases from Skyzoo and the enigmatically entertaining Sean Price. They even have on tap what should be one of the more eagerly anticipated releases of the year, in Pharoahe Monch. New York hip hop owes a lot to this legacy.

The Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival, now in its sixth year, keeps getting bigger and better, and in 2010, the week-long celebration culminates in an all day Family Day/Performance Day featuring a slew of talented artists and the iconic De La Soul capping it off. Despite our tiny, personal axe to grind with Brooklyn Bodega, the administrators of the event, the big take away from this event is that it demonstrates that a large-scale, multi-day, hip hop oriented music festival in the heart of New York City doesn’t have to end up like a free Drake concert at South Street Seaport, and that, regardless of the individual success of the BHHF in particular, is a welcoming fact indeed.

In some ways, he epitomizes the underground New York hip hop scene. I first crossed paths with him a long time ago, in a small AM radio station on Long Island, where the Off The Top radio program was hosting an on-air, overnight freestyle session, in which he participated. Years later, Tah Phrum Duh Bush has amassed a strong and loyal following, both online and off, and has become a seasoned performer, well-liked by both audiences and fellow artists alike. He is an entertaining host, as I discovered at the album release party for Premonition’s The Build, and, I have also realized, he is a man wholly supportive of his peers, and of the New York hip hop scene as a whole, as I have seen him present and vocally supportive of several artists at events he is not directly affiliated with. He is a clever and charismatic MC (with whom I share the plague-of-a-million-thoughts-per-hour affliction) who also seems to be a generally good guy. I look forward to the August release of his new album (and book!).

A lot has been said about the falling off of New York hip hop, and while BirthplaceMag.com has long insisted that whatever the perception might be, there is indeed a phenomenal amount of talent in the under- and middle-ground of the New York tri-state area hip hop scene, NY hip hop still finds itself on the defensive. But despite the attention given in recent years by the rap music business, including mainstream media, label signings and radio play, let’s not forget that hip hop’s “A-list” has still included its fair share of New York artists in recent times, and continues to do so. Regardless of whether or not mainstream rap is your thing, or if you are more interested in the progressive sounds of the NY-area underground, we must not forget that Jay-Z, 50 Cent and G-Unit, Diddy, Jim Jones, Juelz Santana, Jadakiss, Busta Rhymes, Swizz Beatz, Talib Kweli, Cam’Ron, Vado, Fabolous, Raekwon, Ghostface, Nas, Red Café, Maino and yes, Nicki Minaj, all have had their share of hits, critically acclaimed releases and street favorites over the last few years, and all continue to rep New York in a big way.