Big Think

peter mcnally on November 4, 2009, 6:17 PM

Russel Simmons created and runs an empire built on hip hop,he needs to step away from the plate to give an honest view on the death of hip hop.
My opinion, who’s the new voice ? who’s taking hip hop to newer places ? I don’t see it…..
Rap is a form of the blues,hip hop is a result of culture, Jay Z and the others use the ghetto as a symbol, the street to them is Wall Street,hip hop was the street and always will be.
They have all been products of the street and I’m glad they have set positive examples for kids today but they are not the street,the street today is as bad as ever.

Nicolas Pineda on November 5, 2009, 9:34 AM

The problem with the statement “hip hop is dead” is that you have to know what hip hop is before announcing it’s death.

Hip Hip – the ground breaking cultural phenomenon fed from the bottom up – D E A D

Russ knows very well that there is very little in Hip Hop that comes from the streets sans for the violent and derrogatory images. I still live in the ghetto and can tell you first hand that there is a lot more than that going on.

Hip Hop- the machine that (like rock) generates millions, if not billions of dollars, is controlled by a white majority and has little to no social awareness- ALIVE and WELL

Russ, who clearly isn’t white, is part of that majority. In fact, if Hip Hop were Rome Russ could arguably be Ceasar. He has power, but not necessarily control. So, to ask Russ this question is to ask a Ceasar if Rome will ever fall.

cato rock on November 22, 2009, 11:59 PM

what do you mean by hip hop? rap music? what alot of ppl dont know or fail to realize is that hip hop is not just rap, hip hop is a culture, a movement. real hip hop is raw energy channeled through four different types of expression. music, writing(rap), dance(breakdancing, and art(graffitti). these four elements, these four ways of expression, is the essence, the driving force of what we call hip hop. the energy that fuels the four elements is raw emotion and the need to express it. an example of real hip hop is going to a jam, hearing the dj mix and scratch your favorite break beats booming out the speakers, listening to the rhymes and reasons from mc’s who rap of lifes pleasure and injustice. watching bboys hit thier favorite dance moves to the beat. and absorbing the colors and imagery created by graffitti artists is real hip hop. what we see in the current rap videos is not. luxury cars, half naked girls, mountain stacks of cash on your dinning table which you see in rap videos are more related to hollywood’s mafia and gangster movies. this false persona of hip hop is whats leading rap music to its death. unfortunatley the rap industry is held hostage and commercialized by ppl who dont care or who dont have a clue of what hip hop culture is. the death of hip hop? not likely. so long as ther is the hunger for music to be made, rhymes to be said, backspins to be spun, and colors to be sprayed. as said by the great AFRICA BAMBATA " dont stop the rock"