LISTINGS |  EDITOR'S PICKS | NEWS | MUSIC | MOVIES | DINING | LIFE | ARTS | REC ROOM | CLASSIFIEDS | VIDEO

Hip-hop history interview and podcast

Hip-hop journalism comes of age
March 9, 2006 2:20:19 PM

Jeff Chang's The journalist, activist, and SoleSides label founder Jeff Chang’s Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation (recently released in paperback) has been described by more than a few people as the best book every written on the subject. His next book, Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop, is due later this year. Brian Coleman is a longtime hip-hop critic (for XXL, URB, and the Phoenix, among many others) and DJ (on WZBC). He’s the author of the acclaimed oral history Rakim Told Me: Wax Facts Straight from the Original Artists. In advance of a talk Chang gave at Tufts University on March 3, the Phoenix got the two authors on the phone to talk about the state of rap criticism. See the sidebar at right to download the conversation in mp3/podcast form.

PHOENIX: You’re each writing about hip-hop from different perspectives. Jeff, yours is this broad, epic social history, and Brian, your book focuses on the specifics of particular pieces of music. The question is for both of you: what led you to these different approaches and what were some of the benefits and drawbacks of those approaches?

JEFF CHANG: My writing, going all the way back to 1990-1991, has always been influenced by my activism, so for me hip-hop was inseparable from who I was and what I believed in. The book came out the way it did just as a natural outgrowth — that’s who I am, that’s my voice, and that’s what I figured I was adding to the world. And it’s not to say that my approach is any better or any worse than anybody else’s — it’s just the way that I went about doing things.

The thing I love about Brian’s [book], the reason I love Rakim Told Me so much, is because it captures just the utter joy of it — of listening to that music for the first time. And it shows that there’s a craft to hip hop. People just think that, “Oh, they just sample this music, and they write some words, and they make it rhyme in couplets,” yada-yada-yada. But there’s so much to the art of hip-hop, and there’s not a lot of writing — in fact there’s very little writing about that, especially in the artists’ own words. So when I got Brian’s book I got just as geeked out as I was, you know, back when I was listening to the records for the first time.

PHOENIX: Brian, you billed your book as the liner notes for [those] records that were never written. It does seem amazing that nobody has ever tried to do something like this.

BRIAN COLEMAN: Well, Jeff, first of all, thanks a lot, and you know I think [for] both of us the key, really, to any subject, is to come at it as a fan, and that’s gotta be first and foremost no matter what you’re actually writing about . . . and I think that passion comes across in Jeff’s work for sure, and hopefully in mine too. So I guess in a way the idea came about before I even started writing, where you would have these records and you listened to them — personally, I always just wanted to know more. You’d get magazine articles here and there but you’d always kinda wonder. As I was [writing] different articles over the years I’d wonder whether, if you find out more about these artists and more about these albums, if that’s gonna demystify a little bit about what the artists are about, or about what the albums and the music is about, and that didn’t happen. I don’t think it happened even once in my experience, which makes it even better. My goal is to look at hip-hop producers and MCs and everyone who makes hip-hop music at artists. And especially in this day in age, the way that I think a lot of the coverage is, its not really done, and that’s really sad.

A lot of the parts of Jeff’s book that I really enjoy are talking about the beginnings of hip-hop journalism and talking about pioneers . . . you know the part about the Source is really fascinating I think — the way they started out, and obviously even in recent months how things keep getting weirder and weirder over there. It’s sad, but it’s also important to remind people about what true hip-hop journalism and what all music journalism should be about. It’s not about flash or people’s images, and I certainly tried to avoid that if I could, and just get right to the music, ’cause I think that’s what fans really want to know about.

PHOENIX: I think of you guys as being a sort of second-wave of hip hop criticism. But where do you guys see yourselves in the continuum of writing about hip hop?


pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
COMMENTS

Hi Carly, I am a journalism student taking a Master programme in International journalism in Cardiff University, UK. I am now involved in a magazine project called "source" for aspiring journalists. I am working on a feature about Hip Hop journalism. As a Chinese who is interested in Hip Hop culture, sometimes I found quite hard to get closer to it, though I always took part in Hip Hop dance and listened to Hip Hop music. It might because I, as Asian, have completely different gene from Africa-American. I failed to get deeper understanding of this popular and unique culture. But I am still quite interested in it. I am eager to know more about it. I've read your article online. So is it possible for me to ask you a few simple questions on that? I really need help. Q1: I think Hip Hop journalism is very different from the mainstream media and also from the other niche media. Hip Hop culture is usually not considered as pure “art”, it has its unique history, which is related to politics, racism and gangster, etc. Can you give us a brief definition on “Hip Hop journalism”? Q2: How did you get into Hip Hop journalism? And generally how to get into Hip Hop journalism? Q3: What’ the differences do you think between Hip Hop journalists and the mainstream journalists? Q4: What’s the challenge to be a Hip Hop journalist? Q5: Do you think to become a Hip Hop journalist, we need to be “specialized” in its every aspect? I mean, is it possible for a Chinese or Korean to become a real Hip Hop journalist? Q6: Hip Hop culture becomes international nowadays. As we know, it is sweeping across lots of countries, even Asian countries like Japan, Korean and most recently, China, where have not any similar background and history with the blacks in America or France. Do you think “Hip Hop journalism” will appear in China in the very near future? If it does, do you think it is meaningful? Thanks for your patience to read these tedious questions. Some of them might sound stupid. But I just want to try. I will be very grateful if you respond to these questions. Looking forward to your reply. Thanks a million! All the Best

POSTED BY Cheryl_q AT 03/24/06 11:13 PM

Login to add comments to this article
Email

Password




Register Now  |   Lost password

Best Music Poll 2008 Winners
BMP 2008 Party Info
MOST POPULAR

 VIEWED   EMAILED 

More
ADVERTISEMENT

BY THIS AUTHOR

PHOENIX MEDIA GROUP
CLASSIFIEDS







TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
   
Copyright © 2008 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group