Hip Hop's "Purity"

If nobody profitted from Crunk juice, pimpin, etc. would we still reminisce about the good old days when hip hop was "pure"?

What is hip hop purity? My unintentional quest to answer this question began when I attended the Harbourfront Centre's World Stage Festival Flying Solo. While the idea of a one-person show conjured up images of self-gratifying soliloquy full of flowery prose and intellectual masturbation, I took a chance and attended Benji Reid's "13 Mics and Style 4 Free".

Going in to the show, my assumptions were that the British based performer was well versed in the foundation, progression and evolution of hip hop culture. I assumed that 13 mics each represented something- an era, a school of thought, a number of pioneers. And, if that didn't work out I figured that at the very least, "Style 4 Free" implied something about the exploitation of this beloved culture. However, when the show was over, I realized that I had clearly read too much into it.

Benji's performance sounded a lot like the calamitous disquisition of the 30+ crowd who wear really baggy [insert "urban" name brand here] t-shirts with their hat turned back and shell-toed Adidas, in a last ditch effort to "represent" for their "dying culture" reminiscing about the good old days when hip hop was pure- when hip hop was political.

I asked Benji about this politicized hybrid of hip hop that he seems to love and miss so dearly. With his Manchester-tinged accent, slender frame and dark skin glowing in the gracious spring breeze, he responded that hip hop needed to go back to it's origins, when each song had a message of mobilization and resistence exclusive mainstream norms that often ostracized those who were in racialized and/or impoverished communnities. Now, I am no hip hop historian, but if you're going to sit there and tell me that the origins of hip hop began with Fight the Power, then I'm left with no other choice but to humiliate you, even if the humiliation is only witnessed by me. Well, I shared my opinion about his performance, the (mis)use of the 13 mics and questioned his views on hip hop culture. Given that he'd just performed for an hour, we agreed to talk about it in further detail on another day. Apparently, nobody chose to challenge this man on his views or the messages that he was putting out about hip hop's origin and destination.

Do people not realize that this tolerance can lead to moments where left-leaning activists claim hip hop to be the autobiographical depiction of their lives in complete ignorance because of the assumed parallels between their political struggles for a better world, and hip hop's misunderstood origins as a tool for political resistance? These mixed messages often lead to anger from the African-Canadian/American community about the presence of white fans at conscious rap shows (I still am interrogating the issue within myself).

Hip hop purity doesn't exist. As long as money is involved in the equation, I am hard pressed to find the "purity" that everyone romanticizes about in hip hop's past. If you have a definition for purity, please share it with me, because at this point, for me, talking about hip hop purity is like buying light cigarettes- it causes a slower and more painful way for you to suffer for something you love too much to abandon.