In many ways, new-age hip-hop artist such as Lil Yachty and Lil Uzi Vert are just like Zeke, Shao Fantastic, and the Get Down Brothers in that series. As explained in my breakdown of The Get Down, that “scratchy shit” was a pain in the ass before it became the legendary roots of today’s most popular subculture. Netflix’s The Get Down did a great job of depicting what the backlash to hip-hop’s beginnings looked like: street kids fucking with beautiful disco records, making a mockery of “real music”. But wouldn’t they be misrepresenting the times if they didn’t acknowledge Soulja Boy’s presence? And maybe today’s young hip-hop fans will rave about Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and J.
For instance, ’90s hip-hop fanatics will rave about Pac and Biggie, but wouldn’t dare mention the platinum-selling Vanilla Ice. It’s easy to have a “good ol’ days” mentality about music when looking back because the only parts of past eras anyone ever talks about are the iconic ones.
The 90s was not as golden as figures such as Pete Rock like to think, and hip-hop’s roots are a slap in the face to other forms of music in the same way some of today’s popular hip-hop acts are to older figures. While Brent challenges Pete Rock’s statement by pointing to today’s successful acts that have shown clear awareness of hip-hop’s roots, I’m going to reach back into history.
“These kids don’t give a fuck about the culture.”Ī write-up by Brent Bradley on DJBooth assesses the accuracy of this statement made by legendary hip-hop DJ and producer Pete Rock.
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