Is Stockton hip-hop dead?

Ian Hill / 209Vibe editorPosted May 4 at 07:31 AM

One of the best parts of my job over the past three years has been writing about Stockton rap. When I first arrived the scene was energetic and alive with young artists hungry to make it big, and they worked hard to earn the spotlight.

They took advantage of modern rap's essence as a recorded - rather than live - medium, releasing new tracks quickly on the Internet as local rock suffered due to a lack of venues for live shows.

And, best of all, Stockton rap had something important to say. It described the social inequities in the community in a direct, in-your-face manner.

Unfortunately, that sometimes brought out the worst in both local rap fans and the establishment.

Still, it was exciting and fresh to hear local artists with that message. Fans agreed, at times packing clubs for the few shows that were held. And I tried to make sure the community at large knew what was happening in the scene through my coverage of local rap.

In the last six month, however, local rap seems to have nearly disappeared. The energy I felt in the scene is gone; it's been replaced by a general malaise among musicians and fans. The calls, emails and messages I used to receive from local rappers seeking coverage have slowed. There are now even fewer shows held - and they're drawing smaller audiences.

So what happened?

I don't buy the hype in the national media that the decline in rap CD sales is a result of fan indifference. The reality is that rap fans are younger than fans of say, country or modern rock, and as a result they've been quicker to transition from CDs into digital music.

You can see it in the iTunes singles charts, which are a better indicator of young music fans' habits than the Billboard charts. Hip-hop - both in rap and R&B - remains strong on iTunes; Chris Brown, Usher, Ray J and Lil Wayne all are on that service's singles chart this morning.

I think it's more likely that, 30 years after its birth in the Bronx, rap across the country and in Stockton has stalled creatively. The music has become more about making money and being huge in the club than artistry.

It's exactly what Nas talked about in "Hip-Hop is Dead," an album that was used completely out of context by the national media.

It's also something that's happened before - in rock 'n' roll.

In the mid-1970s and early '80s - about 30 years after its birth - rock had turned into pop and stalled. The genre once described as an evil influence on America's children had become pedestrian.

Hit singles in 1975 included "Love Will Keep Us Together," "Lovin' You" and "That's the Way (I Like It)."

Of course, Led Zeppelin also peaked in 1975 with "Physical Graffiti" - but five years later they disbanded after the death of drummer John Bonham.

Fortunately for modern music, some young artists reacted to the sad state of rock by building new, exciting genres.

The Ramones, The Clash and the Sex Pistols made punk a phenomenon; Blondie helped establish new wave; and, in the Bronx, Kool Herc introduced hip-hop.

Today, rap both in Stockton and nationwide needs its own Sex Pistols - an artist or group who is going to bring a new creative fire to the genre. It could mean going back to rap's roots and focusing on verbal artistry instead whether or not a song is a club banger.

There are some good candidates for that job, including Pharoahe Monch, Atmosphere, Aesop Rock, Brother Ali and Hieroglyphics. In Stockton, Icarus Jones, Neglected, DJ No Shame and Greyspace have helped bring an exciting artistry back to hip-hop.

You can check out No Shame, Greyspace and Icarus Jones when they play a free 209Vibe show at 7 p.m. May 9 in Downtown Stockton's Janet Leigh Plaza.

Show them your support - and help breathe some life back into local rap.