Hip Hop For Sale
A Once Authentic Street Culture Goes the “American Way”
Story by Hector Gonzalez // Art by Fernando Amaro Jr.

For years, Hip Hop has been interpreted as a social phenomenon. Countless books can be found on the subject as well as documentaries, and everyone from sociologists to professors have contributed to the dialogue to try to define Hip Hop and determine what to make of it. Often times people associate Hip Hop with a rebellion, with a political take, and in the conscious Hip Hop movement, it is viewed as the strongest tool for political and communal organizing. Simply stated, Hip Hop is neither of these things, Hip Hop is the exploited version of an organic street culture. Acrobatic tribal dancing has always been there, poetry and rhyme have always excited, beat making the same, and graffiti has been around since the beginning of civilization. Hip Hop is simply what packaged it and sold it to you.

I have written about many subjects in the past, and many of them have offended many people. In the process of trying to explain myself, I would like to say that in this article, Hip Hop is only the medium that I will use to explain my point. So if I offend you because you are a Hip Hop fanatic, understand that I am using Hip Hop to analyze our society as a whole. Everything has its price, and everything can eventually sell out in America, especially Hip Hop, a culture that is so loosely defined.

Hip Hop was and still is a great part of my life, I would be lying if I told you that I didn't have an appreciation for it. In middle school I watched “Rap City” religiously and in high school I was introduced to the underground, social conscious, and spiritual hip hop culture that was taking place in the West Coast underground scene. ‘97 was a good year for independent hip hop as I recall -- countless amounts of tapes were being circulated from the Bay to L.A.,   MCs like Of Mexican Decent, Chillin' Villain Empire, Living Legends were making a name for themselves. Medusa, a Black Lesbian MC had brought awareness to the underground by sharing her experience as women, a lesbian, a spiritual person, and a true Hip Hopper. The group Living Legends had managed to make a name for the themselves as well, touring the United States and even Japan by selling tapes out of their backpacks. Their slogan was “don't be a sheep.” Meaning, don't be a follower, separate yourself from mainstream culture. That was the mentality back then, and it was the essence of the culture -- underground and independent.

For a young person who questions the world they live in, this culture made so much sense, underground and independent, for a free thinker, a free spirit if you will. If you notice, after this generation, say when the teenagers of 97' would become young adults, a hand full of DVD documentaries where released: “Freshest Kids,” a documentary on breaking dancing, “Style Wars,” the 1982 New York graffiti documentary was re-released, “Freestyle the art of Rhyme,” a documentary on MCing, and “Skratch” about DJing. All were released between the years of 2002 and 2004.   I graduated from high school in 2001. These films were directly documenting my experience, and although all these films might have come out at the same time by coincidence, it is not a coincidence that the subject of independent and underground hip hop was all in the movie makers consciousness all at once. They all knew that independent and underground culture would become a sought after commodity, and sure enough, it has.

It is important to understand that what was underground and independent then, is now slowly becoming the norm. This is most evident in clothing. Then, clothing was about originality and individuality and style, things that at this point have all become exploited. Graffiti stained pants was part of an identity, now paint drips are purposely designed and put on a t-shirt. Clothing lines are making a name for themselves using the title of Hip Hop, selling clothing with graffiti over tunes when the artists themselves never did graffiti, or if they did it was on sketch books as opposed to walls, the real essence of graffiti, but I don't want to say no names. Mind you, all it takes is Photoshop and money to make T-shirt lines that are being sold for anywhere between $25 to $50.

For the past couple of years, I've been contemplating on Hip Hop and its place in society and what it really means. Up to this point, I had always been told that Hip Hop was the expression of the streets, of poor people and of the ghetto. Maybe this was true at some point, but it's no longer the case. The legitimate Hip Hop fashion of today is by no means affordable to poor people, or in no way is it a reflection of the ghetto or of struggle. You could find it at mall stores like Urban Outfitters or Workmen's, who carries T-shirts for no less then $26, and hoodies like LRG that cost up to $165.00. To be a full fitting B-boy today is by no means cheap. Shoes, hats, t-shirts, belts, hoodies, all are probably created by independent designers, but most likely none of these designers are Black or Latino, and most probably come from middle class families with a college education.

The concept of underground is long gone, and independent is no different then corporate if when all is said and done, independent is all about the money. In reality my concern has nothing to do with Hip Hop, what I'm wondering is if there is anything in America that could live up to its integrity, when not even something so proclaimed and romanticized about being from the streets and from the poor was able to keep it real . But I'm not hating, selling out is the American way.

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