KRS One and the H-LAW: The Miseducation of the Hip Hop Nation

KRS One the Teacha definitely has a way with words. It's analysis he lacks. While I constantly struggle with his 9 expressions of hip hop (does that mean that the 4 elements exist as foundations and the other 5 are by-products of those original 4?), I have finally chalked up enough courage to share my sentiments on KRS-One's hip hop lectures.

Granted, I never grew up in the Bronx, or the United States for that matter, but to provide no other cultural context from which hip hop was created reveals an inexcusable form of ignorance. I speak about this as a first generation Canadian of Jamaican extraction and it is from here that I find the flaws in the Teacha's analysis and interpretation of hip hop culture.

When speaking about the "Early Years", KRS One neglects to show the relationship between Hip Hop's beginnings and Jamaican sound culture (with selecta's and DJ's, known today as DJ's and MC's respectively), dub culture, roots music, the emergence of dancehall and the emergence of other Jamaican artforms that influenced Herc's actions in the Bronx? In the "Early Days" lecture, KRS One addresses the social and political climate of the United States but severs the connection with it's Jamaican origins. This is problematic for me because this creates a foundation of ignorance that contradicts some of KRS's following lectures (the H-LAW). It's a lack of awareness, and with his power and influence, he is passing this on to those who follow his "teachings" without any question. While this baffles me, it's the previous lecture that really leaves me spinning and questioning, wondering if it's only me who sees these critical errors as potentially detrimental to the hip hop consciousness that KRS One is so eager to spread.

Then there is the H-LAW, an acronym that stands for Health, Love, Awareness and Wealth. In this 1:18 short lecture, KRS shares the belief that those who follow Hip Hop should only engage in activities that reflect positively on their physical health, their ability to give and receive love, their awareness of self and the world around them, and their financial stability.
I don't disagree with the essence of what's being said here, but I do have issues with his ideas around a few things, namely KRS One's definition of a "hip hop head" and notions around financial stability. The claim to hip hop's fame is that it was created in the streets by impoverished youth and then endorsed by the mainstream. As KRS concedes, it was an expression that was so passionately loved by the pioneers that they even risked (and often went to) jail for hip hop. I have yet to hear about the avenues of financial stability that hip hop provided in those early days until Sylvia Robinson decided to cash in and Blondie decided to nibble on the culture.

It wasn't until majors realized how profitable hip hop (rap, in particular) be that hip hop lead to economic stability. This is a known fact by any average hip hop head. The result was that more and more people, out of a genuine appreciation for the culture and money, became rappers in hopes of being signed and receiving the windfall of cash, assumed to be attached to any chart topping rapper. People wanted to be employees of hip hop.

I might be wrong. Chances are I'm not though, because today as hip hop turned 30 the discussion on the table was "where oh where has hip hop gone since the days of yester-decade?" complete with complaints about the irresponsibility of rappers and their lyrics, the commodification of women and their body parts, and the large middle-class suburban audience who has made hip hop the multi-billion dollar industry that it is today. To many hip hop has become a genre where the right image can half-ass the skills and make their millions without paying "true homage" (read: recite hip hop's historical legacy) to hip hop culture and its pioneers. But is this not a quest for positive economic stability?

When a culture is created by impoverished people becomes profitable, chances are those who experience the same destitute predicament will try to use the culture to get out too. Besides having an unclear definition for what constitutes a "real" hip hop head, H-LAW doesn't seem to recognize that with the pursuit of fortune comes a by-any-means-necessary perspective on the culture by those whose only way out of their dire conditions is basketball or rapping.

If KRS One is going to include financial stability, I wish he'd take an extra 1:18 on that lecture to address the fact that (mainstream) hip hop has become the lucrative success it has because of action that has resulted positively on the financial stability of an impoverished person. And still, despite this, hip hop is still at the crux of the discussion about hip hop's purity, authenticity and original purpose.

I'm still listening to the lectures. More updates soon to come.