Rappers should “keep it real” by being realistic

Shake that laffy taffy, lean back, heck, you can even tootsie roll to this one; that’s right,… Shake that laffy taffy, lean back, heck, you can even tootsie roll to this one; that’s right, welcome to my hip-hop column. Recent events in the “rap game,” mainly a statement made by DMX claiming that hip-hop music has become “fake” in recent years, has prompted me to consider the validity of his statement. According to Mr. X, all of the talk about women, “bling,” cars and money is not real life.

For those of you not in the know, “keeping it real” is probably the most important thing you can do in the rap world. Problem is, however, that most rappers can’t keep it real without coming off soft. DMX is claiming that since his 1998 debut solo album, “It’s Dark and Hell is Hot,” the rap game has gone soft, or commercial. My question to DMX is this: Do you remember 1998? Do you remember anything other than your own albums from any time period for that matter?

One of the high points for hip-hop’s king of bling P. Diddy was in 1998. In ’98 we witnessed Ma$e’s rise to stardom as well as Diddy’s solidification as a hip-hop icon. Let’s be serious, the slogan of the time was “It’s all about the Benjamins,” and everyone knew that with “mo’ money” you got “mo’ problems.” I just don’t understand where Mr. X claims the realism was lost. Essentially, what has changed? Shiny suits were everywhere, and then “It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot” came out, drawing allusions to the gangsta persona and style of the late Tupac Shakur. This same juxtaposition of gangsta with soft not only exists now as it always has, but is primarily responsible for making hip-hop such a dynamic genre of music.

For Mr. X to claim that music about love or money, cars or clothes is not real life is ludicrous. Especially if he is singling out those forms of music in an attempt to make gangsta gun talk and braggadocio the only acceptable real hip-hop. It’s entirely unrealistic to believe or expect the general population to relate to killing people and barking over darkly orchestrated instrumentals on any kind of level. Unfortunately for DMX, most people aren’t killers, nor do they share the same fetish he seems to have with their four-legged friends.

It is because of the dualities in hip-hop music that your average suburban teen-ager can relate and appreciate the music. It’s because of the love songs in rap that women continue to listen to a male dominated, overtly sexist and many times blatantly offensive genre of music. If rap was all gangsta stories about killings and drug deals gone sour, not only would the creativity, which is a driving force behind the success of hip-hop, be lost, but it would also turn the music into a “how to gangbang” infomercial, which is definitely not needed, especially in the young black community in which hip-hop music is so prominent.

Furthermore, DMX himself is no stranger to love songs or other commonly considered commercial themes. Perhaps the biggest hit from his debut album was a song titled “How’s It Going Down” featuring Faith Evans. This was not a gangsta move by any standards, however, hip-hop fans understand that chances like that – and making loves songs is definitely a risk when you are trying to be considered one of the hardest rappers in the game – must be taken in order to reach commercial success, which is ultimately every rappers’ goal.

Besides, the whole bling movement brought the fun back into hip-hop. And as a fan of hip-hop and music in general, I appreciate the variety of topics that are discussed in hip-hop all the way from Mos Def and Blackalicious to Young Jeezy and Jay-Z. It is this variety that keeps the music current and relevant to the masses. Perhaps Common said it best in his song “Resurrection” when he admitted “I ain’t never shoot nobody, I ain’t never stab nobody, it wasn’t us it was them!” Keep it real, the majority of the rap world has never shot nobody, or stabbed anyone, etc. For DMX to claim that telling these lies is reality is incredibly inane.

So Mr. X, think about the comments you make on national television. While you may be all for the whole gangsta motif, you need to understand that it’s not real life, and that love and chasing women, trying to get bling and cars, is possibly a more realistic aspiration for the majority of hip-hop fans.

E-mail Brandon at ble3@pitt.edu.