The Hip Hop Recession

"Cash, Money, Cars, Clothes
This is how true ballers roll
Sitting on thangs, thugged-out chains
Coppin' them whips, Stacking them chips"

-Ruff Endz (Cash, Money, Cars: 2001)

I missed out quite a bit on the nightclub scene in my younger years- not that I regret it, I spent much of that time bolstering my microscopic social life by cracking articulate but filthy jokes in quieter surroundings- to the gentle clinking of wine glasses and chamber music. Hip Hop to me, for a long time was an expression of lavishness, with many of the videos showing young men driving USD 100,000+ automobiles, doing the most grotesque things imaginable with champagne, and wearing jewellery that would make any metal detector at an airport pop up in big letters on its display "You've got to be fucking kidding me"!

I always felt that entertainment and religion were two industries that were somewhat disconnected from the mainstream economy. That when things went bad, people still needed to be entertained and people still needed God... ok... perhaps alcohol, entertainment, and religion.

Imagine my surprise the other afternoon when I heard the words: "I don't need the cheese or the car keys, boy I like you just the way you are" I peeled my ears and listened hard- yes there it went again: "Baby its alright now you ain't gotta floss for me". I'm given to understand that "flossing" in the hip hop context has little to do with dental hygiene and more to do with a show of prosperity. I got my hands on the music video to study this very different song. I plead the Fifth Amendment on divulging the source of this video.

The video itself is interesting, and consists largely of a group of young men in white shirts and ties (laid off stockbrokers entertaining themselves?) kicking around a soccer ball in a damp tunnel. There is no sign at all of all the trappings of Hip Hop wealth- no jets, no luxury cars, no jewellery, and absolutely no strippers. A very pretty Keri Hilson explains her point of view. The music is set to a sort of souped up retro disco beat with lots of electronics, but it is still hip hop! And wait, we haven't even started with the man's words yet!

"I ain't got no money, I ain't got no car to take you on a date, I can't even buy you flowers, (is that a boast?) but together we can be the perfect soulmates"! Soulmates?! Soulmates??? Whatever happened to The Dream and "Now I got her talking like this, in a falsetto, she like ooh ooh baby aah aah aah". Wow! No more "moving keys" or "making Gs" and "car keys"... Has the recession hit Hip Hop?

Being broke has become attractive, finally! Does anybody have Keri Hilson's phone number?
Ajit Nathaniel
Dec 2008