Old School v. New School

Welcome to the match of the century.

Whenever something new breaks onto the scene, people slow at the intersection, take a breath and charge to one of two places: what they know or what they don’t. And here lies a debate that cycles through any industry: The new and the old. The pupil and the student. The Morty & Rick.

When does the new wave take over? And when does the ‘old’ establish itself as a foundation?

Namely, within hip-hop, the larger debate between those siding with ‘Old School’ hip-hop and those embracing the ‘New School’ hip-hop. So let’s talk discuss what we mean when we talk about ‘Old School’ & ‘New School’. Typically, the ‘old’ style is thought to want to stick to its familiar boom bap roots.

But maybe what isn’t fully realized is that the culture (and music) of Hip-Hop will never be the same. The culture has expanded to all parts of the U.S. and beyond (to varying degrees of success). Sub-genres emerge every day as everyone wants to carve out their own legacy in the culture of Hip-Hop. We’re no longer bound by boroughs of New York. Areas have evolved to the coasts (East, West, and of course the Dirty South) and still have ways of weaving and blending.

East Coast

We’ll can start by putting it in reverse. This thing we call Hip-Hop spawned out of the ghettos of New York in the early 70's. A response to the issues of the time (E.g. Vietnam War, influx of drugs, etc.), people turned to the streets to create a culture in their neighbourhoods that brought art, breakdancing, and music.

The pioneers that carved out their own movements started with: DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa each gave us pieced that built a community and create the foundations of the culture (and namely the music).

Herc, was the leader of a number of elements that still serve Hip-Hop today. He is credited with developing break beats, the use of funk records, and the early beginnings of rapping. Grandmaster bestowed the gifts of scratching, punch phrasing, and the backspin that lent itself the future techniques of modern producers. Afrika Bambaataa (who’s recently run into some controversy) created the Zulu Nation that promoted peace, love, and unity in the context of the art form and was partly responsible for expanding the reach of the culture worldwide.

Herc, Flash & Bambaataa

West Coast

And now we’ve come to the West..which has garnered a rebirth in both talent and popularity (similar to that of Chicago’s Second Renaissance) in recent years. Artists like Kendrick Lamar, Vince Staples, Jay Rock (and frankly all of TDE) and YG continue to hold our already short-termed attention span.

A lot of the early push that came from the West Coast (most notably in and around California) spawned previously unrecognized perspectives in the way of Gangsta rap and G-Funk. The new styles and uses of synthesizers gave the East Coast a direct opposition and divided a lot states into siding with one of two factions. East v. West. Tribe vs. Tribe.

And at the end of it all, the divisions didn’t matter. Rappers more often strive to collaborate with other artists or producers of varying backgrounds. A New Yorker can mix with a California native and put out quality music together (take A$AP Rocky & ScHoolboy Q for example). And oddly enough it’s enough to push the culture forward.

The Dirty South

The South has had to fight for an identity since Hip-Hop’s early days and now its primary identity is with Trap Music. Partly in thanks to T.I., the South has brought an entirely new class of artists to the forefront and lending itself to the emergence of a huge culture. From the time we spent in the late 80's with the Geto Boys to listening to Chief Keef list things that he “Don’t Like”, we’ve seen shifts in the way that Hip-Hop is packaged and presented to the masses.

Minds of Some Lunatics.

We’ve witnessed artists rise, fall and resurrect as their sound and style develop. Killer Mike, for example, who was once a member of OutKast’s Dungeon Family in the early-to-mid 2000s has experienced a resurgence in his career being one-half of his politically-charged group backed by El-P, Run The Jewels.

Legend Has It.

All of this is happening while a younger class (like Migos, 21 Savage, Young Thug, among others) contribute to a space for a new generation’s ear. Regardless of age, emcees can create spaces to lay poetry over an instrumental similar to the way that young or old can drop party anthems that you don’t have to expend any further brain activity towards.

Conclusion

Nas proclaimed hip-hop’s death on his 2006 album Hip Hop Is Dead because the styles at the time were being regurgitated so often, it seemed to cheapen and degrade what had been built before it. He tries to use the project as a lens to look back at a time when the genre was about the artistry, and not the business its become. We have to remember (and acknowledge) that mindless Rap does in fact exist. This isn’t the only industry that this happens to (and won’t be the last). Not every artist that charts is in it for the artistry.

But that’s the thing: these can co-exist in the same place.

Fan hype is an entirely different issue and lends itself to what do you need to prove that you’re a ‘real fan’. Because the internet took a lot (if not all) of our attention to consume music the way we used to, it has given us the gift of access to all a lot that we could never dream of getting goosebumps to. Not every early MC from the early 70's and 80's every reached the top, just not every rapper today is lyrically inclined to push the genre. There have been and will be artists that just coast in any era you choose.

There might always exist a divide between the old hip-hop heads and the new. And that’s just a staple of where we are. Some people just have different tastes in the same genre of music. Some can completely overlook features within a genre. Subject matter, lyricism, and performance can take a backseat to the breakout artists and thrive within the culture. The weird personalities of Slick Rick or Ol’ Dirty Bastard will be lost on people that don’t want to pay attention to notable icons of the culture they reside in.

But then again, who’s the authority on it all? Sure, we have assumed ‘Godfathers of Hip-Hop’, but we can’t even agree on who’s the King..And even if we have a Hall of Fame of the Greats, the question remains: Should we be putting out the same content or push for some newfound element?