The Importance and Future of Hip Hop’s Voice in Media

by • September 18, 2016

The 2014 VH1 documentary The Tanning of America: One Nation Under Hip Hop does what no other hip hop documentary has done before. Most have focused solely on the growth of hip hop from an underground creation birthed in the South Bronx to a worldwide popular culture phenomenon. But Tanning expands the lens of hip hop history much wider. It highlights important musical and cultural advancements while expressing the impact that hip hop has had on worldwide social issues and politics. The documentary also comments on the distribution and consumption of hip hop culture through various forms of media, especially television and film.

Hip hop is now officially considered an art form consumable through any medium thinkable. For example, stories about personal journeys through hip hop are being told through film at an increasing rate. From 8 Mile and Hustle and Flow to Notorious and Get Rich or Die Tryin’, hip hop’s impact on the big screen cannot be overlooked. More recently, of course, is the monster phenomenon Straight Outta Compton, and the Pharrell Williams-produced sleeper-hit Dope.

An increasing amount of television shows touch on hip hop’s past and present as well. There’s the current Netflix hit The Get Down, a fictionalized account of the early days of hip hop and the heyday of disco in the Bronx in 1977. There’s the VH1 made-for-TV movie The Breaks about the growing business of hip hop music in early 1990s New York, told through the eyes of label owners, radio personalities, academics, and journalists. The Breaks is set to become a series on the channel in 2017.

There’s the Donald Glover-produced Atlanta, primed to become a hit on FX. There’s everyone’s’ favorite hip-hop-inspired guilty pleasures in Empire and Power on Fox and Starz, respectively. And of course, there’s no shortage of reality shows, with One Shot and Moguls on BET, The Rap Game on Lifetime, Growing Up Hip Hop on WE TV, Sisterhood of Hip Hop on Oxygen and, yes, the ever-controversial Love & Hip Hop franchise on VH1.

When you consider the fact that adults will spend five hours and 24 minutes each day watching something on a screen, it is no surprise that it is movies and television that hip hop is conquering next. But the current influx of hip hop’s representation in movies and television is mostly due to an increase in cultural understanding and acceptance. There’s also the younger generations’ desire for diversity, as well as the growing power and influence of hip hop icons and veterans like Nas, Dr. Dre, Pharrell, Jay Z, Will Smith, Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, and Puff Daddy. Overall, hip hop has expanded to become a global popular culture phenomenon. The recent explosion of hip-hop-centered movies and television shows is undisputed proof of that fact.

But while it is important that the story of hip hop continues to be told from these perspectives, it is just as important that the range of stories shown on mainstream media widens to include the entirety of hip hop’s diverse history. Such history includes monumental contributions from women, Latino and Asian populations, a wide range of sub-genres such as grime and Christian rap, and the negative aspects of historical connections to drugs, violence, sexism, and misogyny. So then, what is the future of hip hop’s voice in media? What should it look like? What are the next stories that need to be told through film and television? Here are a few ideas of hip hop-inspired stories that need to be told.

1. A Hollywood biopic on a Latino rapper

Throughout history, Latino emcees have helped to make hip hop more powerful and more viable. Artists like Fat Joe, B-Real of Cypress Hill, and Joell Ortiz are no slouches. But the one emcee that likely deserves a major movie biopic is probably the Bronx’s own Big Pun, the first ever Latino emcee to go platinum. Much like Biggie with Notorious, N.W.A. with Straight Outta Compton, and soon 2Pac with All Eyez On Me, Pun’s story is one that would breathe new life into the music movie genre.

Truth be told, it would be a huge task to bring Pun’s story to the screen. Challenges include creating the right script, determining who would direct and produce, and deciding who would portray Pun. But Hollywood still loves the story of a music icon that reaches his or her peak, only to die too soon to see it all come to fruition. And Pun’s story fits the bill to a tee.

2. A foreign drama about a popular international hip hop scene

Brazil. Canada. Colombia. France. Japan. The Netherlands. South Africa. There are hip hop scenes that are growing and thriving all over the world. They incorporate all the elements of breaking, DJing, emceeing, and graffiti. They have their own slang, their own style, and their own way of creating art and music.

Hip hop is an American invention that has spread around the globe, through language boundaries and across ethnic and regional borders. With thousands of artists from Israel to Istanbul making beats, songs, mix tapes, and albums, don’t we deserve a dramatic telling of a hip hop story from an international point of view? With artists like K’Naan, Dizzie Rascal, Lady Leshurr, and even Drake representing their international hip hop hot spots to the fullest, we can almost be certain that there is a version of 8 Mile or Hustle and Flow from a foreign land that’s yet to be told.

3. A reality show about battle rap

The ending battle scenes in 8 Mile may have helped make it more relatable to a wider audience. But battle rap was a culture on its own long before Em’s semi-autobiography. And it has become a pay-per-view level phenomenon in the last few years alone. With charismatic figures like veterans Loaded Lux, Charlie Clips, and Hollow Da Don, battle rap is only set to grow even further.

There are loads of battle rap leagues around the world — some of the most famous being King of the Dot, URL TV, Grind Time Now, Queen of the Ring, Got Beef Entertainment and Don’t Flop. Wouldn’t it be dope to see in-depth, behind the scenes footage of the days, weeks, and months leading up to a large-scale battle rap confrontation? The preparation. The subliminal shots. It’s only a matter of time before someone creates a documentary-style reality show in the vein of All Access: Floyd Mayweather for battle rap.

4. A Netflix dramedy film set at an annual hip-hop festival

With all of the hip hop festivals to choose from — be it A3C or ONE Music Fest in Atlanta, Afropunk in Brooklyn or London, or the Roots Picnic in Philly — there are likely eight million stories to be told at such events. With the release of the festival-centered XOXO on Netflix this past August, who’s to say that a hip hop-focused film wouldn’t also have success?

Consider this: a hip hop-inspired coming-of-age story about four teens headed off to college going on a road trip to one of these festivals where they learn about love, loss, and hard life choices. Maybe hip hop’s version of Dazed and Confused or Almost Famous. Music festivals are always breeding grounds for drama and hilarity. Setting said story to a hip hop soundtrack could make for a film that’s very special. Think: a fictional movie with the heart and soul of Dave Chappelle’s Block Party. It could happen.

5. A dramatic series about the history of hip hop radio

The history of hip hop on the radio is diverse, dramatic, and complicated, and such stories always make for great media. From WBLS back in the day to Hot 97 and Power 105.1 now, from Frankie Croker to Angie Martinez, hip hop radio helped to shape hip hop music and make it a daily listening experience for millions. What if VH1 did a series based on the early days of hip hop breaking into the airwaves of mainstream culture? With the right writers, resources, and source material, it’s an idea that could have some legs to stand on.

Hip hop’s representation in mainstream media has a varied, vast future. The perspectives of business people, radio personalities, taste makers, and fans are too interesting to be discounted. The number of stories yet to be told is almost endless. And in the end, the history of hip hop is still being written.

The Importance and Future of Hip Hop’s Voice in Media by Ron Grant. Edited by Kristen Burns.


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