You can’t be Hip Hop by wearing diamonds in your mouth. Hip Hop won’t be found in a Bently or an Aston Martin. Wearing brand names like Coogi, Roca Wear, LRG, or Sean Jean won’t make you anymore a part of Hip Hop than rocking gear from LL Cool J’s subdued family-oriented clothing line, which is exclusively available at Sears. Lingo, slang, swagger, jewelry, playing violent video games or even DJ Hero, won’t make you anymore Hip Hop than spitting game (rapping) will make you legit. It’s ironic that today’s so called “Hip Hop heads” rely on corporate entities to tell them what to buy, how to act, and what to do to be Hip Hop. Most don’t understand this, but they’re taking cues from corporate suits who sit in conference rooms and strategize in midtown Manhattan boardrooms on how to have you dress, what you should drive, eat, and listen to in order to be Hip Hop. In reality, Hip Hop isn’t something you can buy into with a credit card. Regardless of what rap videos, marketers, or even your hip friends tell you, those things are not and will never be Hip Hop.
So, what is Hip Hop?
I’ll let the Dondi White tell you. You’ll notice he never even says the words (Hip Hop), but he was a living, breathing, example of what that is. He wasn’t a rapper, a DJ, a trendsetter, or a mogul, but he was indeed Hip Hop.
-Vasquetelle
