You take one little break from the fast paced world of media manipulation and everything around you goes nutty. Thankfully the news media is still the same ol', same ol'. And by that I mean it's old people telling other old people how awful the world is and how much better it was when they were young and how good it could be if they just figured out a way to rid the world of its youth. At least that much hasn't changed. It has always been that way. There is nothing like watching yet ANOTHER crippling comparison of 2007 to 1957 to bring hope to your day. (They always fail to mention their culpability in the changes.)
Youth is a time of being foul, which is not unlike the old age kind of foul: They both smell really bad. But this foul isn't caused by some rot or mysterious mold or mildew which is so common with old people. Youth smells foul because it doesn't care to smell good. Youth looks foul because they make unguided, unsupervised decisions. Youth sounds foul because they love dirty, shameful words that used to get soap in the mouth, but now can be used without punishment. But why all this foulness? Because not too many years prior, Youth wasn't allowed to be foul because Youth's parents were watching over their every move and bossing them around. Youth, set free, is pure foulness on a level that we will only ever know once in a lifetime.
Then we get older. Bills start to stack up. Rent, or the mortgage is due. You gotta work at 8, gotta be up at 7, gotta be in bed by 11, need to eat by 6. You need to exercise or you'll get fat and die or worse, no one will ever want to sleep with you again. Moisturize or you'll wrinkle. Save money for retirement. Get married or you'll get AIDS and die. Have kids so you can justify going over to your in-laws. Wear comfortable shoes. AND....
Never use foul language. Basically, you speak as old people do. The language of your youth is lost to conformity.
Whilst on vacation this past week, the "old school" rappers of the world have decided to come together to declare that they are "standing TOGETHER" (aka conforming) for a world wide KIBOSHING of foul language in rap. That's right, the rappers of the world want other rappers to stop cussing in their songs/raps. Of course, the people who decided that there should be less cussing in rap are the very same souls who cussed in rap before anyone else did and did it more than anyone else did and did it better than anyone else did. It's because of them that bee-atch, ho, niggaz, mutha-fucka and shee-it are all popular in our vocabulary today (oddly cunt was a word that they overlooked, I guess that's just TOO far over the line).
To show the depth of their dedication on this decision, they all gathered at a high rise building in downtown New York, sat at huge conference table, all of them wearing suits, jewelry and sunglasses that cost more than you and I make in a year, and were able to use their press agents to get the media to show up at the event. They then showed their solidarity on the issue by shaking hands and by repeating the refrain, "It just has no business in our industry. It brings us all down."
Old men.
Old men talking to old men.
Rap was black punk rock. It was created as an expression for those who had no way to express themselves. It was a bellow of frustration against a system that pushed them out. It was "uncivilized, unruly and unacceptable." It was frustrated Youth fighting against the conformity that was being asked of it. It was innocence fighting against great sin. It was filled with cussing, rage, and, most importantly, the slightest glimmer of hope. It wasn't until money and pussy and power was introduced to the picture that rap became "pop" and the punk soul was ripped out of its heart. Punk saw this same thing happen to it and to this day you can hear the "punky" songs of Avril Levigne(sp) on the radio. Then you can buy her cereal at Wal Mart. The old men win again. They are trying to take away that last glimmer of hope so you will have no choice but to conform.
The Godfathers of rap got old, as we all do and will, but rap didn't get old. Rap, and its punk cousin, is a state of mind and these can never grow old unless you turn your back on youth, on hope, on innocence, and embrace the staleness of conformity. Foulness is how you let The Old know that you haven't conformed and that you still have hope. "FUCK YEAH!" And they will know that you are still not on board. The words might not echo in their heads, but the spirit of the words will.
Youth is foulness. Youth is life being used and lived. Old is life in storage, on ice, in the closet on a shelf. It gathers dust, it molds, it mildews. Youth is freedom. Old is a world of gray, of being a part of the machine, of being lost, of being nothing but a shadow.
Those Godfathers of rap with their million dollar homes, million dollar wives, and million dollar lives, can suck my mutha-fuckin dick!
