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KRS-1's Battle Statement to Nelly & Corporate America |
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"The Real Hip Hop Is
Over Here!" (Battle statement by: KRS-ONE) Well,… after speaking with Nelly's management, and after consulting with a few other un-named associates, in addition to some hard contemplation of my own, as well as after reading many of the e-mail responses and hearing some of the radio responses to Nelly's performance on the re-mix of "Rock the Mic"," I've come to the conclusion that a battle (or rather a response) to Nelly's comments may just be good for Hip Hop after all. The last thing I wanted to do was look like I was using a battle with Nelly to somehow boost my career. However, my personal wants may be unimportant in the larger scheme of separating real Hip Hop from fake hip-hop for future Hip Hop historians. I had put forth an "olive branch" statement which Nelly, and his management, ignored! I had kept as quiet as I could. Even though I am well prepared for any threat, I chose to practice restraint. His management and production team had even sent me some tracks for my Kristyle album (only later to take them back). Now I am wondering what makes Nelly think he can call me out like this? What made the staff of Universal, Roc-a-Fella or Def Jam records think it was wise to allow Nelly to appear on such a re-mix and make such a statement? As I listen to Nelly's weak dis, and as I read some of these ignorant e-mail responses, I constantly hear a repeated reference to KRS-ONE being old and trying to make a come-back .Many of these ill advised comments miss the whole point that I make when I suggest that we, as Hiphoppas, have an important responsibility to the future preservation of what we call Hiphop. How long are we (Hiphoppas) going to sit quietly and allow these major recording institutions to validate what success is for our culture and way of life? How long are we going to allow rap music performers to participate in our cultural degradation and international humiliation? I'm not talking about what a rapper's video looks like, or the content of a rapper's song. I'm talking about the idea of an industry of rappers, deejays, music editors, radio programmers and television producers allowing cultural elders to be disrespected by new-comers when such disrespect breaks Hip Hop's cultural continuity! Even if my critique of Nelly's image is debatable, where is the respect for my cultural seniority and acquired wisdom. Do I not know what I am talking about? Or are we at a point in hip-hop where cultural contribution takes a back seat to record sales? Normally, I would have just sat this one out. But as I think about it, there seems to be more at stake here than whether I am perceived as arrogant, contradictory, or trying to make a come-back. The lesson that must be taught to those recording corporations, doing business with Hip Hop Kulture, is that they cannot think their artist can disrespect a cultural elder and not expect a fierce cultural retaliation! Nelly is only a symbol for rappers that are willing to trample over the achievements and developments of over 30 years of Hiphop Kulture! However, the real battle is with those major distributors of rap music that care little for the preservation of Hiphop's culture, and actually disrespect us as they exploit us! This is unacceptable! Nelly may perform in ignorance because he is new to the game. But someone, knowledgeable of Hip Hop's history, should have fore-warned him. Unfortunately this did not happen and as a result, he (and his distributor) will serve as an example to all recording corporations that allow such mistakes to occur. It is of extreme importance that all true Hiphoppas concern themselves with the idea that being an elder, being a classic, being an adult, being a longtime contributor to Hip Hop's cultural continuity is not something to be looked down upon; but in fact, it is something to look up to. Such a status is something to look forward to. A community that respects only what is young and new, lacks even the wisdom to continue itself. It cannot even learn from its own past successes and failures because it does not respect the collective voice of its experienced leaders. Such a community is bound to continuously repeat the mistakes of its past, or trap itself in continuously re-inventing its own wheel-- never learning, never growing, never developing. |
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