Rap’s Ever Growing Generation Chasm

Hip-Hop was a youth culture, meaning many of the early graf writers, B-boys, DJ’s and Mc had relatively short careers. A lot of early legends essentially aged out of their respective disciplines like Menudo.

However, Hip-Hop culture had a built in mentorship/apprentice program so the previous generation would teach and prepare the following generation of participants, who added their own style evolutions. They would in turn pass on their knowledge to a new generation that would do the same. This is essentially how the culture worked between 1973 and 1984 until the outside world (read: the corporate world) became interested in it.

By 1985, media oversaturation forced B-Boys underground, thus removing one of Hip-Hop culture’s elements from us. B-Boying relied on the older cats teaching the youth about finding and developing their own styles to express themselves. In addition, it taught them how to dance to the record and accentuate it as opposed to doing power moves or acrobatics to wow an audience. With that key discipline and opportunity to mentor the younger generation removed, we were left with graf writing, DJ’ing and MC’ing on the slate.

In urban music, a new generation or wave happens every 3 to 5 years. 

Even though graf writing was the first of the four elements in existence and the first to attract any media coverage, it’s been saved by the fact that it’s an outlaw culture and it’s illegal. This means that it’s extremely tough for corporate interests to infiltrate it enough to change it’s actual culture. However, it’s still susceptible to being exploited and used for commercial means. The mentorship program that’s existed with graffiti is still alive and well after more than 45 years of existence.  Younger writers have been tracing older writers outlines and practicing hand styles, control & spraying techniques for close to 40 years.

In a similar manner, older DJ’s mentored younger ones and sometimes they’d introduce or discover style evolutions that forced the previous generation to fall back. This was true with both Grandmaster Flash and Grand Wizard Theodore, who ended up taking the audiences of their idols, mentors and even their own family members due to their technical brilliance and showmanship behind the wheels of steel.

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The same was true in Rap where the old school MCs that rocked the park jams, school gyms, CYO’s, PAL’s and even the clubs would meet their match at the hands of younger more dynamic and lyrical MCs. The New School rappers eventually eclipsed the Old School evarieties. It was essentially like Darwin’s Theory Of Evolution meets a Shaw Brothers Kung Fu film.

Rap music is an urban music form in addition to starting out as a youth culture. Young people typically develop their sense of taste or preferences in music, art and film or begin to assert their individuality between the ages of 9 and 13. Incidentally, in urban music, a new generation or wave happens every 3 to 5 years. Black music became album based between 1967 and 1968, around the same time graffiti first spread throughout New York City.

In the summer of 1973, Hip Hop culture had it’s beginnings in the Bronx, NY. In Fall 1979, Rap music went national thanks to Sugar Hill Records in Englewood, NJ . By 1984, Rap went mainstream thanks to several Hollywood films and the success of Run-DMC’s debut album. Between Rap’s introduction and it going mainstream there were two distinct Rap generations in that five year span that split into two factions; the Old School and New School.

As the speed of communications technology got progressively faster, the generation gap between Rap fans ultimately became a chasm.

The Old Schoolers that came up performing at block parties, jams, school gyms and moved their way up to clubs resented those that recorded and made LP’s before them since they’d paid their dues. They really resented the New Schoolers who didn’t spend years honing their craft in the same fashion they had to, yet were eclipsing their popularity.

In turn, a generation of kids that were the new Rap audience didn’t remember a time before records when they had to rely strictly on secondhand tapes from jams. To them the so-called “New School” and “Old School” was indistinguishable, they just preferred some Rap groups and MCs to others for various reasons. Rap had new “generations” every three to five     years that forced many emcees and groups to tap out because they couldn’t compete with the new breed of rappers, emcees and producers or adapt to the new Rap terrain following the newest innovations, technologies, techniques or style evolutions.

When Rap/Hip-Hop were still considered “youth culture” it made sense that teenagers were capable of making classics so the young lions could actually best the old lions and usurp them. It isn’t much different from when new skateboarding tricks sprung up in the mid to late 80’s that forced several previous generations of pro skateboarders out of competitions who weren’t capable of frequently landing them. If you typically begin paying real attention to music between the ages of 9 to 13, this is likely when you began your personal journey as a Rap fan.

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If you started early enough (bonus points if you have older siblings that aged you up so you began paying attention sooner), it exposed you to more generations of emcees and producers. The next key component in the present Rap generation chasm occurred between 25 and 30 years ago, it’s commonly referred to as the “Golden Era.” Some believe it was one continuous period that stretched from 1986 to 1996. Others (myself included) maintain that it was two separate eras with a transition period inbetween. The first period lasted from 1986 to 1989 and the second spanning from 1992 to 1996. The keys to understanding the widening generation gap in Rap music can be found by studying this period.

The main reason the Golden Eras are key to understanding the present day generation chasm is because the widely accepted aesthetics for what constitutes “classic Rap/Hip-Hop” were all established between the years of 1986 to 1996. So-called “Rap/Hip-Hop purists” cling to this era and many of them dismiss any Rap that doesn’t follow a similar formula or sound comparable as garbage. The first solid lines in the sand in regards to the many generations of Rap fans were drawn here.

A perfect storm of new recording and music production technologies, ground breaking production innovations and techniques, lyrical style evolutions and the fiercest level of competition coupled with Rap music becoming album centric between 1987 and 1988 all led to this explosion called the “Golden Era”. Most MCs or producers who are widely regarded as legends today either survived this era, thrived in it or were heavily influenced by it (I’m referring to either individual Golden Era or the extended period of 1986 to 1996).

This time period lasted more than a decade so there was time for between two or three new generations of Rap fans to either enter the fray or lose interest altogether. If you consider all the benchmarks and classic recordings made between 1986 and 1996 it’s no surprise why those who experienced this era would advocate for it so fiercely. Then everything in the Rap world seemingly changed overnight.

Beginning in 1997, the aesthetics of Rap transformed and a new era dawned that’s often referring to the Jiggy Era. It was a complete departure from the previous decade of Rap and it set into the motion the second half of the process that created today’s generation gap in Rap, the eventual separation between the Mainstream and Underground Rap worlds.

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Again, Hip-Hop culture had a built in mentorship program. Older cats would mentor the youth and pass them the torch or the new cats would just force them out of the game for one reason or another. New Rap listeners were either introduced to Rap by an older sibling or relative. This was pretty much standard from 1979 to 1996 (although there was a stretch of upheaval during the transition period between the two Golden Eras).

In 1997, a new rift began opening that has become the chasm I’m trying to explain. Hip-Hop culture had the underground which helped to provide checks and balances necessary for the artform’s growth. Without the underground there would’ve been any Golden Eras. However, fallout resulting from the signing of the Telecommunications Act Of 1996 aided in the eventual state of Hip Hop Apartheid that exists today. Two Rap industries existing at the same time, both separate and unequal.

When radio stopped playing certain artists that were once popular and the overall sound and aesthetic of Rap music began changing, listeners who remembered how things were during the Golden Era(s) or  before took a pronounced step back. Many Hip Hop heads retreated underground as it still upheld what they believed to be the desired sound & feel of Rap music harkening back to the Golden Era(s). Some older cats just became disinterested altogether and focused on other genres of music like Electronica. What about the new listeners and the younger fans whose introduction to Rap was the Jiggy Era?

There was a clear splintering within distinct generations of Rap listeners during this period between 1997 and 1999. Those old enough to remember the entirety of the second Golden Era didn’t much care for the Jiggy Era while those slightly younger who only caught the tail end of it were split. However, those even younger than them had no clue that any drastic change had even occurred. It was the music on the radio and all over the Viacom networks so it was just the Rap that was popular at the time. Nothing more, nothing less.

In previous years (with the exception of the aforementioned transitional period between Golden Eras) older siblings influenced the Rap their younger siblings listened to but an odd change occurred where the older sibling retreated underground or delved into R&B or Electronica leaving their younger sibling to their own devices along with their entire peer group.

This generation of Rap listeners never owned cassette tapes and only owned CDs. This same generation of Rap listeners grew up with the Internet being present as children rather than as adults. The Internet was the tool that helped to widen this generation gap in Rap. As the speed of communications technology got progressively faster, the generation gap between Rap fans ultimately became a chasm.

Three independent Rap albums in 1997 denoted the beginning of a divergent era for Rap music, Lateef & Lyrics Born’s Latryx: The Album, Company Flow’s Funcrusher Plus and the Rawkus compilation Soundbombing. These albums didn’t appeal to younger Rap fans but there was a college aged crowd and older which gravitated to Rap along these lines. Those that preferred the mainstream Rap that was gaining favor all but eschewed underground Rap and soon it was remanded to indie labels.

An older brother played Company Flow in his headphones while the younger brother played DMX in his. As time passed they would have fewer and fewer of the same favorites MCs, Rap groups or producers in common. One of the earliest indicators of this generational gap is how many younger Rap fans regard It Was Written as being as good as Illmatic while older Rap listeners maintain it was an obvious step down quality wise. That’s just the tip of the iceberg…

Why is the Rap generation chasm such a big deal? Well, for one think about “classic” albums and how it’s affected them. Between 1997 and 2003 think of all the Rap albums released that are across the board revered as “classic” albums. There are a significant number of indie Rap albums that don’t get the same distinction only because mainstream Rap listeners never heard them.

You might wonder why that’s weird considering indie albums don’t sell a great deal of units? In actuality, most of the albums from the Golden Eras that are universally accepted as classics didn’t sell very well either. The difference is there wasn’t a split that occurred which affected the way these albums were processed by Rap fans as a whole.

This becomes a larger issue every year following 2004 where the quality of mainstream Rap releases gets worse and worse musically but more and more of the best quality Rap releases are made by indie labels. The generation chasm prevents indie and underground Rap albums from being regarded as “classic” material simply because no more universal agreements can be made about what constitutes a “classic” album anymore.

This rears it’s ugly head when Rap journalists largely constituted of the post Mainstream/Underground split era are asked to write classic album lists or list classic songs. Since these multiple generations of Rap listeners weren’t exposed to the full diaspora of Rap music going back as early as 1997 they have a limited knowledge base to draw from. This is how Cam’ron’s Purple Haze ends up often being viewed as a classic album over Madvillain’s Madvillainy and why so many deserving indie and underground releases end up missing from Rap albums lists.

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The proliferation of the Internet has played a huge part in this generation chasm phenomenon in regards to Rap listeners as well. Older heads who were present during the Golden Eras usually don’t understand the appeal of Max B, Lil’ B, French Montana, Future, Migos or many other rappers popular today. Let’s finish this by going back to my point about how Rap is still viewed as being a part of a “youth culture.”

One of the key issues Rap is having (besides it being at it’s all time low point both creatively and lyrically at the mainstream level) is many of the top MCs have been in the game in excess of a decade. In the early days of Rap, having a 10 year career was astonishing. Now Jay-Z and Nas have been around since the early 90’s and several other rappers that are still relevant are holdovers from previous eras. When the biggest star in Rap music is 44 years old and the genre has appeared in recorded form for 35 years at some point it ceases being a “youth culture.”

When Rap was the dominion of young, hungry, inventive MCs that would push the boundaries of the artform to the point the previous generation had to hand over the reins it was different. In 2014, MCs like Black Thought who have careers spanning two decades can still dispatch any young lions in the game.

The fact is, the new waves of MCs can’t force the old ones out of the game anymore. This puts Rap into a new space that it’s never before experienced. This resentment from the younger cats that can’t take the game over adds to the generation gap. What we’re currently left with is a huge chasm akin to the Grand Canyon in width and depth.

The fact of the matter is that my generation, the one that retreated to the underground like the Morlocks from the X-Men comic books is in large part to blame for this generation chasm. We’re the ones that broke away and didn’t do for the youth what the older kids did for us. We let our little brothers, sisters & cousins gleefully recite “Bling Bling” and instead retreated to our headphones and played Common & Sadat X’s “1999″ to combat it rather than actively bridging the gap. Now I’m just left sitting in front of a MacBook wondering “What if?”…

One.