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Regional bias: Can you relate? · by Sach O
I remember when Hiphop kids hated these.
I was listening to the Pack’s Vans (which MTV is apparently not playing on account of it basically being advertisement, not as if that ever stopped them before) and was trying to figure out why I didn’t hate it. Now despite what you may think, I’m not so snarky as to hate first and ask questions later, but the song is basically snap music and I’ve never remotely liked any of that bullshit. I figured it was a fluke until I went on their myspace and checked out the rest of their stuff and low and behold, I didn’t hate that either! Clearly something separated these guys from D4L, Dem Franchise Boys, Da Yin Yang Twins and half a dozen other Atlanta club acts.
Then it hit me: I could actually understand what the fuck they were talking about. In addition to rapping about fly kicks (a universal subject), they ennunciated their words and presented block scenes unique to the Bay Area, but not all that alien. On the other hand, most Snap videos/songs might as well be in Chinese as far as I’m concerned.
To the Pack’s credit, their beats are a cut above the average D4L mess as well. Still, throw your average ATL strip club rapper on there and I’m fairly sure I’d lose interest quick. Now this isn’t a rant against Southern Hiphop, I’ve been vocal in my support of Houston’s music and I’m more than up on my Memphis shit (8 Ball & MJG’s Comin Out Hard=classic). Still, it’s a dirty little secret that the thicker the drawl, the less up north cats are liable to be feeling the music. Ludacris could spit his same lyrics with Kalage’s voice and I guarantee that most of his Eastcoast fans would evaporate into thin air. Unsurprisingly, the southern artists with the most NYC love (Outkast, Face, UGK, Luda, etc) have toned down their regional accents and only recently have cats with the thickest flows (T.I, Wayne) broken out as national stars.
On the flip side, hate against New York’s slang and style has been coming from all angles since rap went national. From Snoop’s “isn’t that money?” off New York New York to message boards calling out 5% rap for “not making any sense”, the North East has been paid back ten fold for the hate. As for California, Tim Dog released a single called Fuck Compton without even having any honest to god beef. Nuff said.
Hiphop engages audiences on an extremely personal level and the more cats can relate to what’s said, the more likely they are to become fans. A kid who feels Buckshot’s BK accented stories about smoking L’s on the subway probably won’t connect with club chants spit in a southern accent (and vice versa). Some can transcend their region (Biggie, Jay, Outkast) others develop intense local followings (Ghostface, E-40, Three 6 Mafia) but ultimately, with rap transforming into the art of selling one’s story, giving something the audience to relate to has never been so important.
Or maybe there’s enough drunk chickens who don’t care what the hell’s being said to keep ATL’s strip club scene going, even as the rest of us scratch our head. I’ll be busy listening to those weird kids with dreads talking about skate shoes. The irony of it all is that I never liked those kicks in the first place.
Comments for "Regional bias: Can you relate?"
Actually, us hiphop kids from the Bean used to rock Vans and other skater type gear back in the early 80’s. Jacking white boy culture and making it fly is as hiphop as it gets.
— triplikit Aug 18, 02:56 PM
Word, the relationship between skate kids and the Hiphop crowd tends to vary from city to city. Around here, the two scenes could NOT coexist for shit and any rapper on the Vans warped tour would get relentlessly booed (or so I heard, was never down with punk rawk).
Subsequently, the shoes never caught on with rap kids. Your point about counter-appropriation in Hiphop is valid though, even if I’ll stick with my Adidas.
— Sach Aug 18, 03:21 PM
Not to be confused with Van Full of Pakistans.
— SmoothJimmyApollo Aug 18, 09:04 PM
yeah, mtv allows “Air Force Ones” but not Vans, maybe they have connections with Nike
— Arjun Aug 19, 11:00 PM
I’m on my own shit. I wear Saucony Floorlords.
— DJ Flash Aug 21, 11:44 PM
Au contraire. Tim Dog was talking about the senseless colors related violence (lets face it, it does seem silly). Also it was a rap pissing contest which are never personal.
— eeax2 Aug 22, 10:21 PM