I'm Getting Old.


I chose to experience an activity about Hip Hop Culture, and for referential and contrast opinion, I spoke with my nephew John about his feelings about Hip Hop Culture, Indie Culture, and compared these with my own notions of what these two popular cultures are.

On February 15, 2008 I attended a Black History Month event, “Our Youth – A Time For Positive Change in a Multicultural Society Speaking and Understanding Our Language,” from 7pm to 9:30pm at Neptune Middle School, Neptune, NJ. The event consisted of a panel of speakers and viewing the film, “Hip Hop: Beyond Beats And Rhymes,” by Byron Hurt. The purpose of the event was to engage young people in the effects of sexism, homophobia and violence within the Hip Hop community. Discuss violence, materialistic and sexually explicit cultural issues through Hip Hop Culture. The facilitators included Luke Tirrell and Pat Cooper, and the panel members were Richard Harrell from Living Word Christian Fellowship; Karen Gillispie from 180 Turnaround [Sexual assault and violence prevention group]; A. B. Zoonton, WSOU FM station manager, Richard Comack, Kean University Counselor, and Jason Whitley a local music producer. In attendance were the Mayor of Neptune, the Principal of Neptune Middle School and some of the faculty, Neptune township committee people, parents, and children of the Neptune Middle School. The other activity I attended was a discussion with my Nephew John, who is in High School right now. John has two bands that he contributes to, playing drums and guitar. John is an wonderful resource for cultural definitions in pop culture and has made music a part of his own cultural definition. Drawing from these two experiences with co-cultures and discussions of the definitions and impact on each other, I intend to explore how these cultures affect each other and my own culture.

My first impressions about Hip Hop culture were mixed. I was around when Hip Hop emerged on the music scene during the late 1970’s and early 1980’s as Rap artists were a novelty. Along with this were break-dancing and street percussionists who would play plastic buckets in the street for change. It was creative and vibrant. As Hip Hop developed into a genre and then a culture, it lost it’s creative edge and eventually became very commercial and mechanical. There were many creative artists but as time went on the direction of the genre became too commercial for my taste and I lost interest in it. Indie Culture is something of a mix of different genres but I was aware of only the pop musical side. There was much more to it than that, as I was about to learn. My nephew John stated, “Hip-hop now in my opinion is the worst kind of music because it is too commercial and not very good. It is heard on any radio station that plays, “Hits.” It used to be the poetry of the streets, but now it’s more about “bling” and parties. There’s not much variety in it. If you listened to 50 songs you mainly will hear people talking about how much diamonds they have around their neck. At the time it was emerging it was more important because it was more interesting than what was happening on the rock and roll scene. 2pac or Public Enemy were good: Something with a message. But that type really doesn’t exist anymore. “

I believe the Hip Hop event I attended was important to the Hip Hop Culture because it defined it’s self through the film and allowed parents to gather a better understanding of what Hip Hop Culture has become and to be aware of the Sexism, Violence and Homophobia which is a part of this commercialized evolution of Hip Hop. The film was excellent in that it drew attention to what was going on in the industry of Hip Hop, and how it has become mechanical rather than creative. Likewise I believe my conversation with John was important because I learned a lot about the influence of Indie culture on music, film, clothing and culture. Being much older than most people in my Sociology class has placed me in an interesting position of learning. I can learn a lot about what is new in cultural direction, as well as take the knowledge of my past experience to create a bridge of communication across cultures.

For example, last year I was working with several young men down in Houston, TX. These young men were listening to the radio while we were working and I heard a Hip Hop song come on which had a rather extensive sample from a pop music song from 25 years ago. When the song came on, it simply sounded like an updated version of this older song, and I was singing along with it. My young co-workers were shocked that I knew all of the words. I said, “Oh, that’s an old song….” To which they replied, “No, that’s a new song!” I had to explain that this was a sample from a song from a few decades earlier, to which they were surprised to learn was true. In these ways Hip Hop Culture was similar to my experience, however it was through education that there was a connection.

Indie culture is more in tune with how I define my own culture. Progressive, experimental, innovative are much more of the types of words I associate my own experiences with. Hip Hop Culture is currently formulaic, deliberate and commercial, violent, bigoted, and homophobic which is why I have little in common with it. My nephew states, “I like all types of music, including Indie and Hardcore subculture music. But Indie rock has more variety. Groups like Animal Collective, Death Cab for Cutie and Bright Eyes, are Indie but, they’re also sort of the same. Animal collective is really out there. Deer Hoof is like that also. Examples are: Death Cab For Cutie creating music styles in polar opposites on each album. Also, Bright Eyes released 2 cd’s at the same time. One was Folk. And the other was more electronic and synth music. That was unique because you won’t see one band release such polar opposite music on the same day.

Indie music as a culture has influenced a lot of aspects of music and media. Now there are Indie production companies with bands like the Shins, influencing an Indie culture of music and popular clothing styles. Sort of like in the 60’s with the hippie culture [Art, fashion, music], I see that with the Indie culture. It is also influencing mainstream media.”

Members of these cultures may have preconceived notions as to what my interests are based on how I look, and the fact that I am probably the same age as their parents. When they discover that I have interests similar to their own, or have a knowledge of what their culture is about, they take me into consideration. Members of Hip Hop culture communicate with each other in hyper masculine machismo ways. There are hand gestures they emulate from the artists they see on television. There is a definite vocabulary, posturing, and cadence of speaking to each other. Indie cultural enthusiasts are very much eclectic in conversation and outlook, but still have a, “Look,” of their own. Indie culture tends to be inclusive and multi-cultural.

What most surprised me about Hip Hop culture is the extent that it is formulaic. I had no idea how music producers overtly provided a blue print for they type of music they expected from their artists, which is surprising, knowing how violent, sexist, and homophobic Hip Hop lyrics are. It is commercialized corruption. On the other hand I had no idea how Indie culture has changed the way music is produced, films are made, and clothing is created. I discussed this with my nephew. He stated, “Indie culture is going from underground to the mainstream. Like grunge in the 90’s. Altogether Indie is more influential than grunge because it is influencing art and media and the way music is distributed, clothing: I’ve noticed when I first got into middle school, middle school mimic’s High school and style trends were more Preppy. Now Preppy styles have collided with Indie bringing more clashing colors and patterns. It’s dressing like an old person, with slacks and sweater vests, like a hipster. As an example, I was wearing a fedora when I was 12, and now I see more and more people are wearing them, so I don’t wear it anymore. Now skateboarding companies and surf companies are making fedoras, not just hat companies.

“Indie culture is influencing movies also Indie movies, like Darjeeling Limited, Juno, Little miss Sunshine, are breaking into mainstream markets, even though they were independently produced. Movies like Lost in Translation, Indie movies are not so interested in mass profit so Big actors can get into much more challenging film roles, meet up and coming actors, and play off each other.
“In high school, the preppie groups are most popular, and Hip-Hop is not so big because of Indie influence, but ultimately, Preppie and hip-hop cultures are the biggest. Within Indie culture, there are artistic kids, kids in bands who don’t dress like the rest of the kids, Hardcore kids and Emo kids. All are part of the Indie culture. “

My opinion about these cultures haven’t changed drastically, but I believe that my understanding has increased quite a lot from these experiences. I believe my culture could learn that we should expand our knowledge to understand and contribute much more with each other.

Music plays a very large role in my life, and in the lives of many young people in this country. It is how they define themselves and identify their personalities. Young people do not have real life experiences yet, so they bind with a philosophical outlook based on what they identify with at the time. My nephew is involved with two garage bands, and he defines his cultural outlook in these ways, “The band I have is influenced by the hardcore genre, which is another thing with the Emo subculture helped along by the Internet. It has a blend of emo and metal music, so it’s toned down metal with bands using a synthesizer in parts. Bands like Carnesex, death metal music. Lamb of god, slipknot, Slayer, Sort of like Pantera, and Metal Core genre: Bring Me The Horizon, and As I Lay Dying. Hard Core is also becoming a genre for Christian music.

The other band I have is influenced by punk rock and electronica, Like the Misfits, Black Flag, and just trying to get weird sounds out of my guitar, experimental progressive. Bands like “Minus The Bear” can turn their guitar into a piano, and other bands are influenced by Tom Morello. He is the guitarist in Rage Against The Machine, have done a lot of innovative influence on music. On guitars, he will turn one of the master volumes down, and he will play something and switch between pickups so that type of stuff is unusual, and not heard usually except for bands like Buckethead. Coheed and Cambria are cool because they cross over media, because the lead singer also writes comic books that go along with the story line of the cd’s that they produce. So Claudo Sanchez (the artist he is referring to in Coheed and Cambria) is an artist of multiple talents. Prideside Inferno, is another band Sanchez is in: Acoustic and electronic genres. Variety of art. He writes and draws. He’s a cross over artist in multi-media outlets.

So, these co-culture experiences are very influential in popular youth culture. In some ways I can identify with the interest that is generated by these styles and art forms, however I don’t feel the immediate validity of identification with the commitment with one cultural genre over another the way that young people do. The expression, “To identify with,” comes to mind here, however for myself I would prefer to simply remain neutral and enjoy my pick of entertainment without the commitment of identity.