Ice-T & KRS-One Shoot On State of Hip-Hop

TWO LEGENDS SPEAK

ICE-T & KRS-ONE are not just legendary rap artists. They’re also gatekeepers to the genre. As Hip-Hop turns 50 this year, who better to speak on the culture and where the movement is going than these two pioneers. Ice is the original gangsta who helped to elevate Gangsta Rap and KRS would usher the Boom Bap style of rap.

Three days ago the Essence Festival of Culture took place in New Orleans. People Magazine reports that the two artists took time to speak with reporters. They spoke on the essence that is Hip-Hop, it’s meteroic rise and how it is undeniably the most influential genre of music.

KRS-One admitted to some foresight on the genre’s future saying “Fifty years ago, some of us knew this was going to happen, most of us did not know to the magnitude it would happen. But 50 years later proves that first of all, you can do anything with your mind and secondly, culture is probably the most magnificent strategy for human development known on the planet.”

Ice-T spoke on the longevity of the genre. He said, “When we started Hip-Hop was just a fad. It’s great. Hip-Hop has grey hairs. The beauty of it is that it’s still here, still flourishing and people still love it. Hip-Hop is a platform to express themselves and give insight to it’s listeners.

HAS HIP-HOP LOST IT’S WAY?

Over the course of fifty years, Hip-Hop has taken several turns that altered the appearance of the artform. It is a “young man’s game.” In that vein the consensus is whether or not that fact is making the genre lose it’s way. Ice-T was quoted saying, “I think people from my generation are really upset with what’s going on with the youngsters because every week somebody’s going to jail. People are dying off drugs, killing each other.”

He continued, “My generation, we lost Tupac, we lost Biggie and we got the memo. Everybody calmed down. We all figured this out. We [were] rapping to get out of the streets.”

KRS-One finds the transformation from Hip-Hop’s origins to the current state deplorable. “Real Hip-Hop is free. We ain’t with no corporations, none of that. Our culture was built from the center, now we’re billionaires. We don’t [care] what people think about us.”