Nowadays, you might say hip-hop is the new sex: it’s everywhere and everybody’s doing it. Although we have our own perspective on the future of hip-hop, it’s great to get an idea of where our most favorite art is headed, from someone who is actually doing it well.
War Chyld, independent rapper from Philly, who gave us songs like “Google me Now,” and “Honeymoon” featuring Slim from 112, is no stranger to underground hop-hop ciphers, and the mainstream version of hip-hop we see everyday. “hip-hop is headed in a direction where, it’s what each individual fan makes it,” says War Chyld. “You can go to Walmart and buy a little poppy CD that’s all over ICarly…or go buy an underground legend like Sean Price. Hip-hop hasn’t gone away, its still here.”
I remember when hip-hop used to be a cult-art, where you could pick a fan out of a crowd from miles away could maybe guess what he or she was listening to and be right 90 percent of the time. “Hip-hop use to be just hip-hop, then they started using it in burger king commercials… and people started feeling like, ” well I could be a rapper,” says War Chyld. “They take our culture and say… take a 12 year old with a Mohawk and put him in a commercial, because it’s all good and anybody can rap. They made a mockery out of hip-hop, but to me, the heart of hip-hop still beats.”
It seems to me that there’s two versions of hip-hop now, the version we here on the radio, and the heart of the music, which you have to do a little digging to find. Click here for part II.