Hip-Hop isn't ours

We Define the Culture
Post 2 "Something deep and shit"

    Every conversation that I start turns into a debate which ends up as an argument. "Hip-Hop" to me has no definition, it was created by the people for the people, right? Honestly, anything you relate to in the realm of hip-hop, is hip-hop. From Eminem murdering with a Charleston Chew, to ODB liking it raw, to Immortal Technique teaching you more than your History Professor, to that weird kid who always raps about food. That's all hip-hop! To think our culture is the main one that has inner circle squabbles over insights that rarely hold weight is saddening. People still fight, actually fist fight, over bars...

     Music is a central release for our generation, past generations, and future generations. The act of externalizing inner issues is a form of therapy and music is a creative version of that said act. Imagine someone telling you that your inner haunting written down and delivered over instrumentals could grant you steam and finance, that's real. The artistry of "rapping" spans so so many forms: from chopping to slam poetry to hardcore to trap; it's all a verbal proclamation of an inner feeling or ideology. Now knowing we all have a sense of entitlement to songs, artists, genres, regions, albums, and what we think "hip-hop" is, release it. Anything in the world larger than a set group of individuals is no longer able to be owned and is an entity of it's own.

Hip hop just died this mornin'
And she's dead, she's dead

Yeah, people smoke, chill, party, and die in the same corner
Get cash, live fast, body their man's mama
Quick fast, trigger fingers, on the llama
Revenge in their eyes, Hennessy and the ganja

Word to the wise with villain state of minds
Grindin', hittin' Brazilian dimes from behind
Grindin', hittin' Brazilian dimes from behind
Grindin', hittin' Brazilian dimes from behind

Whenever, if ever, I roll up, it's sown up
Any ghetto will tell ya', Nas helped grow us up
My face once graced promotional Sony trucks
Hundred million and billin', I helped blow them up

Gave my man my right, I could have went left
So like my girl Foxy, the kid went Def
So people, who's the top ten?
Is it MC Shan? Is it MC Ren?

If hip hop should die before I wake
I'll put an extended clip and body 'em all day
Roll to every station, wreck the DJ...

Read more: Nas - Hip-Hop Is Dead Lyrics | MetroLyrics

      

      With new times comes new struggles, and with new struggles comes new solutions. Music today has a role in the financial world, a larger role than it had when it first began in the late 70's / early 80's. At one time people thought this "hip-hop fad" would die out, yet it still rises. Watching any engine run you'll see kinks in operation over time and can help or hinder its production. Music is an engine which fuels the masses by relevance and feeling, we truly live through music, and the music lives through us. With such loud outcries of "radio" this and "garbage" that, all that is being down is verbalization and no action. The people have a larger influence on any and every platform, artist, label, festival, and organization. Instead of belittling who you don't like and voicing so much energy toward the negative benefactors streamlined 24/7, uplift the individuals truly striving to create art!

Follow the independent machine and fuel it's workers!

Everyday try and find a new artist,  new song, a new something! 

#RiseWithUs

From one independent kid to another.

We Define The Culture

Post 1 "Lost in the crowd"



       In our modern era of music, whatever you may be inclined to like, it seems as though a larger percentage of the consumer/fan has began to gravitate towards "what is in". As an independent artist myself at times it feels like I have to practically force people to support what myself and fellow musicians are doing and I feel lost, do we just suck? ( we definitely might...) The wild realization is the subject matter and individuals that I see the masses gravitating to, it's bologna over steak to me, bologna is cheaper... When you turn on your radio, I-pod, smart phone, Mp3, TV, or blue tooth device, what do you listen to? With that all said what are you willing to actually buy? What do you want to support? What type of individual do you want to succeed? You do have more power over that matter than you know.

       Independent hip-hop is a circuit of unorganized showcases, scattered openings for "famous" artists, a social media assault on your peers/family, and a whole lot of well wishing to be honest. When an "artist" takes the steps to create a couple social media pages, record some "studio" tracks, shoot some photos, harass their video buddy to shoot/film a video, (for free) and slap on the  label of "rapper" the journey has begun. I'm thirteen years into the Frodo-ish saga of one track to break it all, and to be honest I've begun to reformat what my idea of "making it" is. The bulk of individuals embarking on any type of hip-hop hood dream think they'll become an overnight success, I know at one point in time I did. Most men and women losing sleep over a dream believe; one night one person, one event, one day, or one track will be the catalyst for all of Midus's gold in a mind as fresh as an oasis we'll never touch. This is the brilliance of dreaming, it may happen, but if it doesn't the way you've always imagine why not form success to your own life.

      Staring at the back of a thick dusty curtain my hearts pounding like six junior high kids thumping "Grindin" by Clipse when it first hit the air ways. We start at precisely ten-thirty and it's five minutes till, to us this was the first day of the rest of our lives, it always is. The curtain opens, the crowd screams, the sticks count us in, and we begin to live what we call life... We headlined House Of Blues in San Diego, we'll never do it again, at least not all of us together. I stared at a legend holding a vacant microphone calling for some one to claim it, a hand pushed me on the small of my back and I began walking forward; five emcees, twenty minutes, and a fever of bars later I won. I won a mini freestyle battle before KRS-1 was about to perform held by Nick V from The Baka Boyz, that was seven year ago. I hated staring in the mirror why did I do this to myself, "what if..." "why not..." "some day..", all I want is a shot. When I was six-teen all I wanted was to make music and be heard, now at twenty-five that's exactly what I do, is it enough?

     Success and goals are funny aspects of the growth process of every individual. We set goals that we feel we deserve and hope we'll succeed while obtaining them. No matter the size of the goal the act of accomplishing it is the true fruit behind all of the work; it proves to us that we can truly set, seek, and finish. Now the backing to obtaining many goals on the avenue of music/artistry in many cases never comes with a price tag. Looking back at all the aspirations I sought out as "younger" me I rarely paralleled any to financial security. Now that I'm older I see the need for income in the world of music and what it can do even if at times the product isn't moving at all, the shifting world around us has a huge influence on what we all do. To succeed in our modern society honestly isn't to feel the purpose of one's life goals being met, but to obtain the material, physical, and statistical means of a successor. Are you succeeding? Are you succeeding in your own eyes? Are you succeeding in your peers eyes? More importantly does it matter?

      "I don't want to make music that simply moves you! I want to create music that MOVES you! I want to be a voice for individuals that will not, can not, or have not been able to speak. If I can create something that helps even on person in a time of need than we've succeeded."

       Success should be an internal victory that platforms you to unspeakable heights. What you do with your life should echo to lives around you and cause an infectious force rippling through souls. Do not limit who you are! Do not put limits on what you can do! Think larger than the oceans and deeper than the galaxies we'll never roam. Open your mind and drown any bystander with the beauty you have locked within. Rise to heights so high even if you fall you'll merely go back home.

      The world around us is a forest set on fire by those who never climb trees. The cities we roam are built upon the energies of those who founded them drowned by concrete, expose the real. Speak in volumes so soft individuals will quiet down to hear and so loud they'll heed each word, yet speak words worth the air lost. Create masterpieces written in the color encapsulated behind the pain like bars in your mind and never stop running. Push away the dark of night and the wretched evils of old and embrace the new dawn. From one independent kid to another, I feel lost in the vast crowd, but it's alright I know those who hear my subtle sounds.

-JP

We Define The Culture



We Define The Culture

We Define The Culture.
7/31/14

Hello! Here at "We Define The Culture", we are striving to serve the dreamer in you!

Are you an artist in the Hip-Hop culture?

If so follow these instructions below

Any individual may be able to earn a feature on our site!

Email us a short bio, a photo, any links to your music, and any information you feel important to your artistry to us at:

Info@WeDefineTheCulture.com

Follow our Instagram @WeDefineTheCulture

Like our Facebook "We Define The Culture"

Read and listen to what we have to offer

& Contribute!

Hip-hop is the community of individuals creating a voice, action, movement, and artistry from an organic avenue. Whatever you relate to in the realm of hip-hip is that to you!

We want nothing more than to be a hub for culture, music, and insight!

#RiseWithUs

-JP