Here is a really interesting article about electronic artist Kaskade in the NY Times. It’s interesting to me because he’s LDS like me, and he went to BYU, like me. It’s also very interesting he felt very out of place at BYU, like me. And he left BYU in part for that reason, like me (I moved to Arizona and went to ASU). Now that I’m back in Utah, I think BYU has changed a bit. There’s quite a few electronic and hip hop heads at BYU now. But because we’re both old cats and attended BYU back in the day, urban music was pretty wacky stuff for the folks here in the mountains of Utah back then. It’s very interesting because he has survived in a drug-filled industry while still maintaining his morals. Now that to me is AWESOME. Myself and other LDS artists like Shawn Phillips have always tried to walk that line of maintaining our values, while at the same time thriving in an urban music culture that promotes behaviors that conflict with our values. That is just amazing and I give mad props to Kaskade for maintaining his moral standards, regardless of the nay-sayers on both sides of the fence. That’s mad inspiring.
Perhaps the most fascinating part is that he attributes his success to the general rise of electronic music, which is in part because of “hip hop fatigue”. I have lamented here on my blog before about how “Hip Hop is Boring Me” and “Has the Demise of Hip Hop Actually Arrived” but this is fascinating because it seems to be a nation-wide epidemic. Hip hop is played out. I have talked to several friends in the past month who used to produce or MC and all of them have fallen out of love with hip hop. I dunno what it is– there’s just nothing new that really gets you excited anymore with hip hop. And it’s true with me too. I listen to more electronic music now than hip hop! What is it?? What’s wrong with hip hop??? Anyone?? Anyone?? Bueller?? Bueller??
November 11th, 2011 at 12:45 pm
I don’t know man, I’ve kinda fallen back in love with hip hop. Nothing else really speaks to me. I do agree that production-wise there is a bit of a void because everything is pushed so hard in your face, or is just plain wack to begin with to cater to the masses. But still, I can go to Pandora and put on a Jazzy Jeff station or whatever and be moved as much now or more than ever. Good hip hop will always be with us. It’s timeless. Hopefully we haven’t reached a point where nobody makes any more of it though.
November 12th, 2011 at 11:42 pm
Hey brotha! Thanks for the input. See I think the problem is that there is no longer a “sub-culture” that hip hop music emanates from. Before hip hop became so mainstream and part of American culture, it was a sub-culture. There were fun little things that kept the culture unique and interesting. Just little things like Snoop Dogg using the double-dutch talk in his rhymes, Das EFX rhyming with their “diiggity” style, Puffy sampling 80′s music, producers sampling classic rock, the Aesop Rock/Atmosphere/ Sage Francis “emo” style rap– all of those things emanated from a unique sub-culture. It seems that sub-culture is so watered down now, there is nothing unique anymore. There hasn’t been anything different added to the progression of hip hop in like 5 years now.