Found this video (click link above) of a Lewis Parker and Raekwon interview. At 6:20 Rae talks about Hiphoppas being into sneakers and hats; that they are flawed characters who seek sanctification through the practice of Hip Hop. I think this sums up the tensions of Hip Hop well: "we got issues, but we deal with them, and we let the music soak up all that negativity into a positive." Dude knows what hes talking about for real.
Hip Hop undeniably has the power to "therapize", but what about those seemingly peripheral elements that Raekwon mentions: sneakers, hats, smoking, and drinking? Are these peripheral or integral? Are they just unnecessary elements, or do they have real, almost sacred, value to the Hip Hop community? In my love of Hip Hop, which involves collecting records, spending time on Hip Hop blogs searching for those slept-on gems that I may have missed, and making beats of my own, I find I also love sneakers, caps, certain brands of clothing, drinking cognac and smoking cigars. Is this just mad materialism brought on by immersing myself in something for so long? Or do these things have a value similar to the way certain objects are cherished by religious communities?
Speaking like a street preacher, Raekwon instists that "you GOTTA know that sneakers is always important to Hiphoppas." Whilst not everyone is into everything, I know few Hiphoppas who aren't into at least one or two of the things he mentions. So are we simply vain consumerists, or do these things we crave and flaunt have a deeper significance? Could it be that they are tangible objects that symbolise the sanctifying qualities of the culture that has impacted us? Alternatively, is it a form of religious veneration like the Islamic tradition of imitating the habits of Muhammad? Are we imitating the outward aesthetic of those legendary Hiphoppas who've gone before us, so that we might attain to their immortality within the genre? Is it just the result of a culture born from urban decay and poverty that means we seek small liquid indicators of wealth and success? On the reel-to-reel though, I'm not sure what the answer is. But I know I'm gonna keep rocking dope trainers for as long as I'm into Hip Hop, because for me, for whatever reason, the two go hand-in-hand. Peace
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