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bedroom breaks and fraudulent fakes

© Steve Juon

The 90's have seen hip-hop get ever more and more divided. Recently on the newsgroup rec.music.hip-hop somebody classified the division as "WalkMan MC's" i.e. people who rhyme great on tape but can't rock live vs. "Performers" who may not have the best skills but know how to rip up any show or party.

This begs the question: Are you really a hip-hop artist if you never performed? Is it really a hip-hop song if you can't rock it live?

Sometimes I wonder that about cats like Ma$e. To me he seems to be a "made" rapper; somebody who never had to pay dues because he had a producer on a major label who could already put his shit out. I can't see Ma$e rocking a club. Sure you can argue that he's live in concert now or whatever, but that's because he's got a million dollar show and a million MTV fans who will jock his every move; but I bet you at the Latin Quarter he woulda got that ASS whupped.

At the same time, there is something to be said for bedroom beats and homegrown MC's who came up outside the "traditional" means of becoming fresh in the hip-hop genre. Sometimes they come from bumfuck locations nobody would expect live hip-hop; and in those places there probably WEREN'T venues to perform live at. Doesn't mean they wack. Doesn't automatically non-legitimate their shit. In fact the non-trads probably have a better chance to be fresh BECAUSE of it. Being outside the loop means you won't be trying to bite the hottest cat's style or one-upping DJ whoever on the wheels; you'll just go do your OWN thang and not give a fuck. Tell me that Mad Skillz would have been that fresh if he was an MC from New York. Hell no. Tell me that DJ Shadow wouldn't be so ill if he wasn't off inventing his own beats while everybody else rocked George Clinton -- what do you think?

You can't automatically raise and praise one while you diss and dismiss the other. Hip-Hop needs live performance to weed out poor artists; but Hip-Hop also needs the independent internet MC's and bedroom beats to keep creativity flowing and keep the music original and strong. When you have one without the other you have an incomplete equation.

Peace, Flash

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