On YouTube’s “comments” section recently, beneath a video clip for the song “1999” by Common and Sadat X (one of the scheduled artists for this week’s Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival), a passionate viewer posted the following: “This song is one of the many that personifies hip-hop at it’s prime....for the most part today’s hip-hop is all commercialized garbage...and it really breaks my heart. It’s like watching your first true love turn tricks on the corner.” This attitude, prevalent among many longtime fans of the genre who are turned off by Lil Wayne and most of what’s currently popular in rap, sums up the dilemma facing hip-hop today. Whether it’s simply a victim of its own success or the graying of the hip-hop generation, the Bronx-born global musical force, now in its fourth decade, has found itself at a distinct crossroads. Hip-hop is having a mid-life crisis: something that the organizers of the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival (July 10 to 12) seem all too well aware of, as they present a series of shows, collectively featuring over 30 artists, that can somehow bridge the gap between the music’s disjointed audiences, while simultaneously helping to restore hip-hop’s image.
“People think that hip-hop is all about lollipops, and popping bottles and rappers getting arrested,” says Wes Jackson, the executive director of the 4-year-old festival. “We are out here to say that hip-hop is so much more.”
At the main event on Saturday afternoon/evening at Dumbo’s Empire Fulton Ferry State Park, Jackson has planned a broad lineup that represents various stages in hip-hop’s existence. New artists include L.A. duo Blu & Exile, Harlem’s 88-Keys, Brooklyn’s Fresh Daily and Bronx-born Mickey Factz. The “golden era” is also represented, with performers Sadat X, Buckshot and DJ Premier, with the old-school connection c/o hip-hop elder statesman “blastmaster” KRS-One. The event host is “Uncle” Ralph McDaniels, whose influential “Video Music Box” show premiered on local New York TV in 1983—back before many of the day’s performers were even born.
“We want to try and create a 360 of hip-hop, for the old school and new school to gather together. If you are 35, a guy like me,” says Jackson, “and you grew up on KRS-One you shouldn’t feel alienated by the new.”
Sadat X agrees. “There should be room for all different types of hip-hop,” says the emcee with the unique twangy flow who found fame as a member of 1990s act Brand Nubian. When quizzed on the YouTube commenter, he responded, “He might be older and think that way about hip-hop, but my daughter who is 16 may not feel that same way. She might think that Lil Wayne is what hip-hop is.”
It’s no wonder his daughter would have no reference for older artists. If she listens to popular radio stations like HOT 97—their Top 25 Playlist last featured five slots occupied by Lil Wayne—with other Southern rap acts rounding out much of the other airplay positions. On Sadat X’s brand-new song, “The Okeedoke,” he raps that young New York artists, as a result of hearing all this Southern rap on local radio, “got niggas really thinking that the South is the way to go.”
“But you can’t blame them,” he tells me when I asked him about the lyric.
The influence of large media outlets like HOT 97 or BET, whose playlists are dominated by Dirty South rappers, has indirectly caused problems for the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival: Noise complaints from its affluent Dumbo neighbors almost brought an end to last year’s event.
“It’s difficult when you have million-dollar condos bordering loud hip-hop music,” explains Jackson. “These guys have bought these expensive properties and don’t want
noisy crowds.”
The complaints led to compromises including “reeling in” the attendance numbers to a more controlled size (2,000 fewer fans will attend this year) and also adding a “Hip-Hop Family Day” from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, July 12. But the real culprit, Jackson suspects, is the current image projected by popular media.
“If you just look at BET and MTV, your perception of what the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival could justifiably set off some alarms. Images of people popping champagne and women gyrating onstage,” says Jackson. “My task is to go in and say, ‘Nothing against Lil Wayne, but that is not what is happening here.’ Hip-hop is a lot more complicated that Emmis Broadcasting or Viacom would lead you to believe.”
That’s why, in addition to bridging the gap between hip-hop’s different age groups, the festival is also about rectifying the general perception of what hip-hop actually is. “It is about reclaiming the image of hip-hop,” says Jackson.
Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival: July 10 at Masonic Temple in Fort Greene; 8, $25; July 11, at powerHouse Arena in Dumbo; 6-9, free; July 12 at Empire Fulton Ferry State Park at Plymouth & Main; Noon-3 for Family Day, $10 donation (for family day) & 4-8 for main event, $10 donation; and at Southpaw in Park Slope at 9; the closing party “Detroit Comes To Brooklyn” $15. For complete information visit brooklynbodega.com
“People think that hip-hop is all about lollipops, and popping bottles and rappers getting arrested,” says Wes Jackson, the executive director of the 4-year-old festival. “We are out here to say that hip-hop is so much more.”
At the main event on Saturday afternoon/evening at Dumbo’s Empire Fulton Ferry State Park, Jackson has planned a broad lineup that represents various stages in hip-hop’s existence. New artists include L.A. duo Blu & Exile, Harlem’s 88-Keys, Brooklyn’s Fresh Daily and Bronx-born Mickey Factz. The “golden era” is also represented, with performers Sadat X, Buckshot and DJ Premier, with the old-school connection c/o hip-hop elder statesman “blastmaster” KRS-One. The event host is “Uncle” Ralph McDaniels, whose influential “Video Music Box” show premiered on local New York TV in 1983—back before many of the day’s performers were even born.
“We want to try and create a 360 of hip-hop, for the old school and new school to gather together. If you are 35, a guy like me,” says Jackson, “and you grew up on KRS-One you shouldn’t feel alienated by the new.”
Sadat X agrees. “There should be room for all different types of hip-hop,” says the emcee with the unique twangy flow who found fame as a member of 1990s act Brand Nubian. When quizzed on the YouTube commenter, he responded, “He might be older and think that way about hip-hop, but my daughter who is 16 may not feel that same way. She might think that Lil Wayne is what hip-hop is.”
It’s no wonder his daughter would have no reference for older artists. If she listens to popular radio stations like HOT 97—their Top 25 Playlist last featured five slots occupied by Lil Wayne—with other Southern rap acts rounding out much of the other airplay positions. On Sadat X’s brand-new song, “The Okeedoke,” he raps that young New York artists, as a result of hearing all this Southern rap on local radio, “got niggas really thinking that the South is the way to go.”
“But you can’t blame them,” he tells me when I asked him about the lyric.
The influence of large media outlets like HOT 97 or BET, whose playlists are dominated by Dirty South rappers, has indirectly caused problems for the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival: Noise complaints from its affluent Dumbo neighbors almost brought an end to last year’s event.
“It’s difficult when you have million-dollar condos bordering loud hip-hop music,” explains Jackson. “These guys have bought these expensive properties and don’t want
noisy crowds.”
The complaints led to compromises including “reeling in” the attendance numbers to a more controlled size (2,000 fewer fans will attend this year) and also adding a “Hip-Hop Family Day” from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, July 12. But the real culprit, Jackson suspects, is the current image projected by popular media.
“If you just look at BET and MTV, your perception of what the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival could justifiably set off some alarms. Images of people popping champagne and women gyrating onstage,” says Jackson. “My task is to go in and say, ‘Nothing against Lil Wayne, but that is not what is happening here.’ Hip-hop is a lot more complicated that Emmis Broadcasting or Viacom would lead you to believe.”
That’s why, in addition to bridging the gap between hip-hop’s different age groups, the festival is also about rectifying the general perception of what hip-hop actually is. “It is about reclaiming the image of hip-hop,” says Jackson.
Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival: July 10 at Masonic Temple in Fort Greene; 8, $25; July 11, at powerHouse Arena in Dumbo; 6-9, free; July 12 at Empire Fulton Ferry State Park at Plymouth & Main; Noon-3 for Family Day, $10 donation (for family day) & 4-8 for main event, $10 donation; and at Southpaw in Park Slope at 9; the closing party “Detroit Comes To Brooklyn” $15. For complete information visit brooklynbodega.com
