023: The Most Important Lesson Hip-Hop Taught Me...
Keeping it real is more important now than it ever was...
For many, hip-hop might just be music, which is fine. For some, it’s an identity, and for others it can be a lifestyle. This can stretch into being a philosophy, principle and even a mental model to conduct every-day life from. For me, it was always a mix of all of these things, with each facet increasing in different periods of my life. Throughout this newsletter, I’ve tried and wanted this approach to be applicable for you all. Hip-hop has always had much more to it than meets the eye.
A consistent trait amongst hip-hop’s players - fans, artists, champions and everything else beyond and in between - is a fundamental stance of reasoning and rationale. Think of sayings like “All that glitters isn’t gold” or “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer”. The messages conveyed in these famous quotes advise you to stay alert, pay attention and always be prepared, because life has a mysterious way of throwing surprises at every juncture. This is a school of thought that’s been present in human history across all cultures and domains. In the world of hip-hop, this lesson and mindset is preached through the phrase “keeping it real”.
Authenticity is the ultimate human goal and fascination. To be that one-of-a-kind maverick who enters the game of life and takes it by storm in their own unique way. Blaze a trail like no person has before you and leave a mark that lasts forever. Hip-hop has taught us (or at least, tried to, and in some instances pleaded) that keeping it real stands you a good chance to scale your heights with total freedom. This way of thinking is something that hip-hopers in any domain - the music, the b-boying, the graffitiing, the reporting (the proper ones and not your two dime vultures) - all strive to abide by in some capacity.
You can argue that sharp increases in social tribes, personality cults and overall, gung-ho individualism means there’s need for a standard of keeping it real more than ever before. Or perhaps there isn’t, because not everybody is going to be, or trying to be a trailblazer. In previous articles where I’ve touched on the current societal climate, I’ve alluded to the collective responsibility, and blame, on both creators, consumers and those at the forefront and background of where we find ourselves in today’s zeitgeist. The world runs on capitalism after all, so demand will play a big role in everything around us. The way I see it, it’s the people who bear the brunt of keeping it real more so than influential figureheads, who will have some involvement or agenda overlapping with the machine regardless of how likeable and authentic they may seem.
I’ll use Elon Musk’s buyout of Twitter as a real world example that is far beyond the the world of hip-hop that required me to put all of these concepts around keeping it real into practice. This specific course of events acts as a good case study that requires audiences from any viewpoint to consider many nuggets of information altogether in order to reach their own conclusions, as opposed to surface level headlines, soundbites and buzzwords that play on peoples’ emotions.
Musk has an army of staunch, and at times, radical followers and supporters. He’s incredibly influential. As far as the world’s news and media circulation goes, he’s a hot commodity for all things engagement, hype and attention. He’s obviously well connected and can have a significant say in how his image is portrayed, should he choose to exercise this. His words are praised and torn apart in equal measure from all corners. He does some brilliant things and some stupid things. It’s difficult to figure him out.
This makes establishing what side he’s really on quite challenging. This isn’t the first time either. In the past, he’s been very blunt in how much he opposes a lot of socialist and left wing ideologies, yet Tesla and SpaceX have benefited massively from government funding and tax breaks. It’s fine to align yourself to political and socioeconomic schools of thought, but to then profit from the same thing you’re supposedly against is dishonest. I don’t think that’s keeping it real, but then again he is also quite the infamous troll. Maybe the game of Twitter back and forth is too good to turn down, but arguably someone in his situation should know better.
Musk’s more recent crusades have been around the topic of freedom of speech. This was a catalyst for his Twitter buyout which has been quite a circus. First he was buying it, then he wasn’t, then he was, then he wasn’t again, before he eventually became the owner of the world’s favourite social media app. While I have no doubt he is probably trying to implement and innovate areas of the app (he is a businessman after all), what he’s choosing to put on display and air out in public makes for bizarre reading and following. From bans and reinstatements, coupled with his previous antics aimed at his detractors, one can be forgiven for being sceptical around his real, true intentions, and who he’s really trying to serve in this current venture. This becomes a more important question after his recent jibes at “wokeism” as well - a dog whistle issue at best.
Ultimately, I don’t really know what Elon Musk is trying to do and where his loyalties lie. In all honesty, I don’t particularly care either. My main concern is that the public is setting itself up to be duped yet again by the lowest hanging fruit or common denominator that is obviously designed to divide and play on emotions. Hopefully we can all keep it real and not bite, so these things run their natural course and fizzle out organically. This isn’t the only area where this is an issue, but its the most current and high profile one, which can have ripple affects across different domains.
Do yourself justice, utilise your mind.
WhosAria