Defining Hip-Hop: The Eternal Question Reignited by Yasin Bey's Controversial Comments on Drake's Status
Authenticity is the most valuable currency in hip-hop. Yasin Bey's recent comments about Drake have reignited the debate. Is Drake pop or hip-hop? The discussion centers around authenticity, values and the ever-changing nature of the culture. Hip-hop has evolved over decades, influenced by various forces and experiences. It's a culture, a movement and an art form that has permeated society. The question of who or what is hip-hop remains unanswered and perhaps unanswerable.
It is a question that is almost as old as the culture itself. It is a debate that outranks Nas vs. Jay, East vs. West and Tupac or Biggie. Are you hip-hop? Yasin Bey, formerly known as Mos Def, recently opened Pandora's box again on “The Cutting Room Floor” podcast when in an interview he was asked about Drake's status. His controversial answer struck nerves across the universe, especially since they were taken out of context of the larger conversation, but regardless it had the impact of a bomb being dropped on the internet.
“Drake is pop to me. If I was in Target in Houston and I heard a Drake song, it feels like a lot of his music is compatible with shopping. Or shopping with an edge, in certain instances.”
There are some things in the culture that can cut deep when you are accused of them. At one point, being labeled as a “sell out,” or a “biter” (a biter is someone who plagiarized or stole another person’s style or work) were scarlet letters that no artist ever wanted emblazoned on their starter jacket, or Versace coat, depending on the era you were in. But to be considered not hip-hop at all? Excommunicado? That is a fate worse than death.
Instantly, the internet was ablaze and the war was on. Drake coyly hit back in a tweet and a post of an old Method Man interview, but in the world of X, Instagram and whatever other social media platforms exist, the eternal question was once again put on the table, Who or what is hip-hop? It is easily the greatest offense in the culture to not be considered authentically representing and a part of it. It brings into question everything you do and are as an artist. Being hip-hop certifies your power, your reach — and to be removed from it, clearly, as judged by a fervent public conversation that raged for a few weeks, calls your entire legacy as an artist into question. Now, that might be a romantic exaggeration, but the energy and emotion put into proving and disproving Drake's bona fides is something that has gone on with many artists for decades.
No matter how big an artist is, no matter how many fans they have or records they've sold, the idea of authenticity is paramount and both sides of the discussion will defend that idea to the death. Authenticity is the most valuable currency of all. The power of the idea of hip-hop changes Drake's legacy and his commercial power if he is or isn't included in it. It shows how important it is to be a part of this idea and why so many in so many fields vie and fight to be able to claim that. It means careers, wealth, influence and access. To be considered authentically hip-hop opens (or closes) pathways to power that never even existed years ago. This is why so many defend it.
The interesting thing is that the allegations have come for different reasons. In some cases, it's about the identity of the artist. Few remember the debates in the eighties and nineties about whether or not you could be white in hip-hop or, at least, rap. The commercial success of the early nineties, then the mid-nineties and all the way through to the current time has been about whether pop could be considered hip-hop. When you get into the nuance, what it has always come down to or been about is, does the artist, does the music represent the values, ethos and aesthetics of the culture?
And it's that final question where things (for some) get murky and hard to pin down. Who made the definitive rules and laws about what or who is or isn't hip-hop? It also brings up the question, is hip-hop a culture? Or is it just entertainment? Is it a movement? Or is it a genre of art and music that has permeated every aspect of our society? It is unlikely, I'd even say impossible, that you'll find definitive answers to any of these questions that will be universally accepted by everyone who self-identifies as such.
For me personally, I probably would be identified by some as a traditionalist and a purist (also very much slurs in today's pop culture vernacular) and as a modern apologist of contemporary music by others (those very same purists who others would consider me a part of). As living things continue to exist, they undoubtedly, through their experiences, change. Depending on their values and convictions, they decide if those changes are beneficial, detrimental or neutral to their existence. When it comes to hip-hop, after decades of existence, it has come into contact with all types of forces, influences, circumstances, traumas, attacks and regenerations. Arguably, hip-hop has been the predominant culture expression for every generation since Generation X and maybe even late late baby boomers. That is a lot of humanity who embraced the initial ideas, rituals, looks, styles, artistic and cultural elements and attitudes and added to (or drained from) it.
I’m beginning to wonder if there is actually a Hip-Hop multiverse. In the comic world of Marvel, there is a “sacred” timeline. A definitive reality that the universe can be traced to. However, the infinite nature of the universe and cosmic events created splits and branches to that reality that look, feel and evolve almost identical to that sacred timeline, but on a closer observation there are stark differences, differences that clearly make it something maybe related, but more like a broken mirror, reflecting back a slightly imperfect version of what appears in it’s visage. So, maybe there isn’t one definitive Hip-Hop, or rather there is, and it’s spawned almost infinite versions of that original idea, that aren’t quite the actual reality of the culture, but no less relevant as the life that goes on within those variants is very much real. Now, in the marvel universe, these realities interacting and colliding with one another or the sacred timeline create catastrophic results for all realities involved, even extinction level events. Depending on what reality of Hip Hop you exist in, you probably believe that the incursions of the Drake’s and pop artists of the world, will end in those same results. The saga continues….
