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| Minna Gallery graph shot SF! |
"You have to be into hip-hop to go underground" wise words spoken by a music cat I build sound with. On the surface it struck me like it was the heaviest shit because of it's simplicity yet almost profound truth hidden in the statement. Feel it for a second: Hip-Hop is now like many storefront sneaker boutiques. While walking by... the occasional hip-hopper see's a rapper in the storefront (top 40 listed, on your "hip-hop and r&b, quiet storm" station) manickan rocking the image they can get with, maybe the beat makes em dance, they girl loves the dude on the mic especially after the dj spun that single @ the party last night, so they walk inside the store maybe not even being able to identify with the message, the lyrics just surface enough to make em nod they heads, no questions without simple answers etc. They get the latest sound casting a spell and go on they way....Meanwhile the discerning hip-hop listener, fan, beat lover etc walks by the same boutique hears the same cat standing in the store front window, knows his music is used to it, and recollects how they too begun with that in they rap starter kit, but decide to go into the boutique store, but not for the storefront mcee, they since have since moved on, they walk through the store, sliding through the hangers on racks, vinyl in stacks looking for that thing that takes them back, yet inspires the new. The same cadence aint gonna save it from being deleted off of they mp3 player, so they figure they must search for that different pitch, abstract with a twist hard, refreshing reminding them why they love "that thing" by the time they look up to find what it is they are drawn to they are in the basement of the boutique.
The stairs that led them down had the words "underground" graphiti'd on the brick wall. Incense burning, they know the simple will no longer do for them, and not only that when they tell their top 40 friends about the kicks they picked they have a hard time following the flow, the delivery got them scratching their heads. See they never went past the cash register in that boutique never seen what it looks like when it aint for a deal, money, or fame- never thirsted for more, as they are still chewing on the mass produced and well marketed. Like how your first beers might have been a Mickies, or Corona but you learned to appreciate the finer pilsners, pale ales and malts got hipped to the red stripes, fat tires, graduating to guiness with chocolate. when ya into hip-hop the beginners brew fades and you learn about the complex tastes of the underground giving meaning to the statement: "You have to be into hip-hop to go underground!"
